Devo Nominated To Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation today announced the Nominees for 2021 Induction, and the nominees include art synth pop group Devo.

While Devo is best known for their earworm Whip It and their ‘Energy Dome’ hats, their work goes a lot deeper and weirder.

They were about to call it quits before they made it big, but their 1976 film, In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution, changed all that:

Soon they had a record deal and released their first album, Are We Not Men?, produced by Brian Eno, and were performing on Saturday Night Live.

The full list of nominees includes:

Mary J. Blige
Kate Bush
Devo
Foo Fighters
The Go-Go’s
Iron Maiden
JAY-Z
Chaka Khan
Carole King
Fela Kuti
LL Cool J
New York Dolls
Rage Against the Machine
Todd Rundgren
Tina Turner
Dionne Warwick

To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

Nominee ballots are sent to an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, historians, and members of the music industry. Factors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.

Inductees will be announced in May 2021. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2021 Induction Ceremony will take place in Cleveland, Ohio this fall.

28 thoughts on “Devo Nominated To Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

  1. how many of those nominees actually write or perform “rock” music? when was the last time a punk or metal or outre experimental rock band were inducted into the R&B, Pop or Hip Hop Halls of Fame? DEVO are much too smart for this marketing nonsense and I trust theyll decline the award if offered. And while Kate Bush and Fela Kuti certainly deserve more acknowledgements they too Im sure couldnt care less about this false praise and having some minor career artifact on display in a glass case in Cleveland.

    1. Rock n Roll is not a style of music. It’s a descriptor used to capture the Rhythm and Blues scene of the 50s. “Rock” could only musically be defined as music, typically in song form, that is in 4/4 and contained a strong emphasis on 2 & 4 using the snare drum. Therefore, all the styles you mentioned fit the definition of Rock, and more importantly, these artists should be recognized and adored alongside their peers. Separating musical accomplishments by genre is just another way for White people to keep Elvis at the top of the list of Rock “originators”

  2. because living in a era when sales touring and residuals could support an artist isnt enough for boomers. they have to set up their own foundations to tell them what magical special unicorns they are. does anyone under 40 really give a turd about the rrhof? does anyone at all? devo is just as good regardless. wish st would just drop it. you could start your own.

  3. Kate Bush… Genius. Carole King… Great at what she did.

    But the rest of that list really seems like they’re scraping the barrel. So so many great artists out there from through the ages and THESE are the best they can come up with?

    And as has already been pointed out, love them or hate them, Kraftwerk actually “changed” music forever…

    1. I like Kraftwerk but did they really change music forever? There were others that experimental electronic music before Kraftwerk, what really changed music was companies and instruments like Roland, Akai, Moog, sequential circuits, Fairlight, Emulator etc etc. Without more affordable electronic innovative instruments a lot of modern music would neVer have been made Kraftwerk or not.

      1. That’s like saying “Without electric guitars a lot of modern music would never have been made, Chuck Berry or not.”

        Yeah, the affordability and mass production of instruments is important but they’re nothing without the talent.

      2. Yep they did but partly unexpected I’d say; In the seventies their music was picked in the US in dance halls, where their tight rhythms brought along a new way of moving. And this lay the foundation for disco music. Giorgio Moroders sequencer in ‘I feel love’ might for instance have been influenced by Kraftwerk, although that is speculation from my side.

        1. Both Moroder and Kraftwerk influenced disco, house, hip hop and techno, but saying they „lay the foundation“ of any of these genres is a far stretch. All this music was originally created by black Americans and its roots are far older.

    1. Good question… she did accept a major Brit music award a few years back and made a grand appearance… she just seems so far removed from the whole music scene though that I wouldn’t be surprised if she passed on this one (assuming that she gets in)… wouldn’t mind seeing her fronting Foo Fighters though 🙂

  4. Boy, that yamaha DX-7 rhodes preset on all those tina turner songs really makes me wanna ROCK OUT, y’know??

    Seems like they should just change the name to popular music hall of fame.

  5. 35 years later, electro-pop is the new rock and roll!

    I wonder what music from today the rock and roll hall of fame will be relabeling as rock in 2056.

  6. Bassist John Entwhistle of The Who once said (IIRC) “I like playing heavy metal, but going back and listening to yourself do it is rather like smelling your own farts.” Award shows are a lot like that. Everyone on the list already earned their fame. Statues and plaques just need dusting. Sell ’em on ebay.

  7. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke. The mere fact that people like Brian Eno, Todd Rundgren, and Trevor Horn have not been in it for years SPECIFICALLY is a clear statement that it is crap.

  8. Out of all the 80s electronic bands, i just don’t get DEVO past those stupid hats they wore. Kate Bush would be my vote, in fact I’m surprised she’s not already included.

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