The Hall of Acclaim enters its third decade with the 1980 election.

Select the ten most deserving artists, based on records released through the end of 1979.

When considering your vote, you may want to check out the top 100 eligible candidates. For a reminder of who’s already been inducted, see the results thread.

For your ballot to be eligible, you must submit a ranked list of your ten most deserving artists.

***IMPORTANT!***
Also, for your top FIVE artists (at least), you must explain why they deserve to be in the HOA. You may recycle your comments from past elections if you wish, but I want us to have a context for WHY we're selecting these artists. Ballots without comments for the top five will NOT be counted!

In addition, you may nominate up to three people for the Backstage Wing. This is optional; your ballot will still be eligible even if you don’t vote for Backstage candidates.

Deadline for ballots is Sunday, January 11, at 6:00 pm US Central time (midnight GMT).

Voting is now open.

1. The Zombies- One of the greatest albums ever and a few other singles should put them in right now... I'm sure they'll get in later if not now. Maybe not.

2. Harry Nilsson- One of the guys the Beatles raved about and his solo career (well his only career) was better than any of the Fab Fours. Any Beatles fans who don't have him on their list should take a listen to Aerial Ballet and Pandemonium Sideshow.

3. Paul McCartney- Ram and Wild Life are his two underrated classics but McCartney and Band On the Run should have put him in already.

4. Buzzcocks- Almost everything on Singles Going Steady came out in the past two years. I'll be moving them up in 1980 once it's all out.

5. The Monkees- How are the Monkees not on that top 50 list? More of the Monkees and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones came out in '67 (Headquarters as well, but that's not as great as those two). The only thing essential that's missing is Valleri. EDIT: And now Head is out too. It would be a shame if they don't make it in.

6. Talking Heads

7. Todd Rundgren- Deserves to be in for Something/Anything alone.

8. Herman's Hermits

9. Neil Diamond

10. X-Ray Spex


Reminders for later years: Art Blakey, Nico, Cream, Phil Ochs, The Turtles, Lovin Spoonful, The Supremes, Cat Stevens, The Groundhogs, Alice Coltrane, Rod Stewart, Donovan, The Bee Gees, Warren Zevon, Hollies, ABBA,

Derek and the Dominoes- If all this band had given us was the song Layla they still would be on this list. but they gave us an entire great album. George Harrison's wife must have been and extremely unique woman to have that song written about her.

The Eagles- a band i generally skip listening to, but in all fairness, hotel california is one amazing song starting off a great album.

Jefferson Airplane- my friend once gave me surrealistic pillow telling me i must listen to it: and he was very right.

Carole King- Tapestry has some great songs on it.

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody is so epic it sometimes feels like it's going to collapse under the weight of it's own epicness, but it never does.

Supremes
The Greatful Dead
Cream
T. Rex
CSNY

1. Jackson Browne
2. Warren Zevon
3. Todd Rundgren
4. John Cale
5. George Jones
6. Cheap Trick
7. Randy Newman
8. Joy Division
9. Willie Nelson
10. Lynyrd Skynyrd

backstage

1. Hoagy Carmichael
2. Norman Whitfield
3. Eddie Kramer

1. Charlie Parker - It has been quite some time the last jazz artist got inducted, and probably not many will follow. But if one person should join Miles, Louis, Duke, John, Thelonious, Charles M., Billie & Ella, it's Bird. A giant on the sax and a fantastic, original improviser, he was one of the founding fathers of bebop and modern jazz.
2. Captain Beefheart - No wonder he's topping 1980's eligibles list; The Mad Captain wasn't only an inspiration to his best friend Frank Zappa, but also admired by punk and new wave stars like Johnny Rotten and Joe Strummer.
3. Queen - Mercury is one of the greatest, vocally most gifted frontmen of all time. Although they were already considered dinosaurs (the campy, bombastic kind) back in 1980, they are reaching their height of popularity. And "Bicycle Race" is just great fun.
4. Cream - Back in the day, they were the cream of the crop [pun quite likely intended]. Combining bluesrock with jazz influences, they brought a sense of creativity and experimental drift in the emerging prog- and hardrock scenes.
5. Fela Kuti - Africa's greatest artist, and the most important Third World act since Bob Marley and the Wailers. For the ones not familiar with his work: his 1976 record "Zombie" is probably the best way to get acquainted with his work. A satirical rant against the Nigerian military regime that was both a fierce attack and a catchy, even humorous piece of Abrobeat.
6. Janis Joplin
7. Talking Heads
8. The Eagles
9. Deep Purple
10. Blondie

Backstage:
1. Leonard Chess
2. Lee "Scratch" Perry
3. W.C. Handy

1. CHARLIE PARKER - At the top of any jazz discussion.

2. FELA KUTI - Greatest African pop musician?

3. THE ZOMBIES - Back (and with a bullet) after an extended absence from my ballot. I just listened to a bunch of their classic songs released before O&O. She's Not There is killer pop. I'm also a sucker for The Way I Feel Inside.

4. WILLIE NELSON - A great songwriter before becoming an iconic country hippie.

5. PATSY CLINE - Classy country gal with vocal chops and charisma.

6. T. REX - In addition to Electric Warrior, I also love 20th Century Boy.

7. PAUL SIMON - Has anybody noticed how many wimpy indy bands/artists are covering Graceland songs? I know that one is a few years off, but Paul's greatest hits of the 1970s are worthy of admission. I like his first solo album better than any S&G LPs.

8. TOM WAITS - Primed to scale the charts in the next few years.

9. THE JAM

10. THE BUZZCOCKS

Backstage: Lee "Scratch" Perry

1. Talking Heads : I'm not a big fan of their cold-funk style, but have to admit that they brought a lot to rock history. See Vampire Weekend ans TV On The Radio.

2. Fela Kuti

3. Tom Waits

4. Elton John : that would be unfair ifsuch a big star and songwriter wasn't included

5. The Eagles

6. Robert Wyatt
7. Serge Gainsbourg
8. Django Reinhardt
9. Captain Beefhart
10. Dick Annegarn

Backstage : Lee Scratch Perry

01. THE POLICE: they’re coming with the new wave squad, but they’re already an experienced band (guitar player Andy Summers began his career in the sixties). Anyway their fresh sound and their peculiar way of fusing reggae and rock made them absolutely contemporary and relevant for the new generation.
My favourite album: Regatta de Blanc (1979).
My Top 5 Songs: Roxanne (197 , Message in a Bottle (1979), Can’t Stand Losing You (197 , Bring on the Night (1979), On Any Other Day (1979).

02. CAMARÓN DE LA ISLA: simultaneously the last of the classic cantaores (flamenco singers) and the pioneer of the new flamenco, not only for introducing instruments coming from rock tradition as electric bass, but mainly for evolving from cante (chant) to canción (song).
My favourite album: La leyenda del tiempo (1979).
My Top 3 Songs: Volando voy (1979), La leyenda del tiempo (1979), Nana del caballo grande (1979). I can’t choose these Bulerías as favourite song (it was never released on record) but it’s the only filmed document of Camarón (the best “cantaor” ever) with Paco de Lucía (the best flamenco guitar player ever) playing together, an astonishing document that can show to all of you what is pure flamenco. Both musicians follow a palo (rhythm and chord pattern), bulerías in this case, but neither Paco nor Camarón know previously what they are going to do. The singer improvises the melody in this very moment using ancient couplets of popular poetry (with lyrics that a non-gypsy hardly can understand) and the guitar player follows him closely. When two giants like these ones reach this level of rapport, it’s pure magic. But flamenco is not that funny style for the tourists, it’s a rough and difficult genre that needs a deep introduction in it to be able to feel this magic that I’m talking about.

03. DIRE STRAITS: inside the select club of British pub-rock bands, Dire Straits are the best musicians and also the band with the best position to achieve massive popular success. It’s not by chance that Dylan relied on Mark Knopfler and Pick Whiters as part of the backing band on his last album.
My favourite album: Dire Straits (197 .
My Top 3 Songs: Sultans of Swing (197 , Where Do You Think You’re Going? (1979), Setting Me Up (197 .

04. CHIC: the most influential disco band ever, their funky groove and their trademark guitar and bass styles are being copied by legions of rock bands, from punk cubs like Talking Heads to rock aristocrats like The Rolling Stones. And they are responsible for the second best bass line ever!.
My favourite album: Risqué (1979).
My Top 3 Songs: Le Freak (197 , Good Times (1979), I Want Your Love (197 .

05. IGGY POP: Iggy is inducted already as part of The Stooges, but his solo work, especially the first two albums with valuable help and guide from David Bowie, are so great and influential that deserves a second induction. The father of punk rock…
My favourite album: Lust for Life (1977).
My Top 3 Songs: Lust for Life (1977), The Passenger (1977), I’m Bored (1979).

06. BLONDIE: please, don’t forget Blondie, the perfect reminder could be Dreaming (1979)
07. ELO: returning to my ballot if only for releasing Last Train to London, with arguably the best bass line ever.
08. TALKING HEADS.
09. EARTH, WIND & FIRE.
10. GANG OF FOUR.


And at the backstage:
01. BRIAN ENO: during 1979 Brian Eno produced the superb Talking Heads album “Fear of Music” and played a capital part in David Bowie’s Lodger. Still waiting?
02. TONY VISCONTI: the producer of the Berlin trilogy of David Bowie was not Brian Eno (he only was a collaborator) but Tony Viscont¡. And not only that, you can find him behind the controls in the American period of the White Duke and, of course, in the golden era of Marc Bolan & T- Rex. Favourite song: DAVID BOWIE Young Americans (1975).
03. LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY.

Damn Honorio, I forgot about Camarón...
Next year I guess...

Many thanks, Nicolas, but I got no hopes of Camarón being inducted…

1. TALKING HEADS. Like many of the other great bands, they had a lot of creative tension going on, and in their case, it sometimes seems like you can actually hear it in their songs. Twitchy never sounded so good.
2. T. REX. Not sure how much longer I’ll keep putting my chips on this number.
3. THE JAM. There are very, very few pop songwriters who can touch the young Paul Weller.
4. PATSY CLINE. Sigh. Still carrying a torch for the first lady of Winchester, Virginia.
5. THE SPECIALS. I absolutely love the Specials. Their first album is near perfection...makes me want to see if my old saxophone is still in storage.
6. WILLIE NELSON
7. BLONDIE
8. ELTON JOHN
9. THE POLICE
10. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART. Well, I was going to hold out until Doc at the Radar Station, but #1 is #1. This may be a lame justification, but I put too much work into the eligibles list to disregard it completely, and I do think that there’s not really a great reason for Cappy not to follow his pal Zappa into the Hall eventually.

I dropped the Buzzcocks. A great band, but I’m resigned that they don’t have a shot (of course, I’ve said that before…)

Honorable mention: Chic, Joy Division, Wire, PIL, the B-52’s, Madness, ZZ Top…and Michael Jackson, who released his best album in 1979. IMO.

Backstage: Just HILLY KRISTAL for now.

1. Charlie Parker

2. Fela Kuti

3. Django Reinhardt

4. Chic - I'm trying out some theories about funk and disco. I apologize if this is all nonsense: George Clinton once said that the disco beat was a funk beat. It's good, but it's just one beat in the arsenal, and it got overplayed. What makes P-Funk so compelling is the heavier emphasis on the one, as opposed to the four on the floor disco beat. It gives greater space for the musicians to do what they want with the song. With disco, the song is slave to the rhythm... great if you're on the dance floor, not as compelling as headphone music. Except if you're dealing with REALLY good musicians who can do something special with that beat. Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards are REALLY good musicians.

5. Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young)

6. Patsy Cline

7. The Staple Singers

8. Talking Heads -- They'll get in this year, with or without me. "Life During Wartime" is awesome.

9. The Grateful Dead

10. Queen

Backstage:
1. Irving Berlin
2. Lee "Scratch" Perry
3. Norman Granz

1. Talking Heads – After a more-than-promising debut, David Byrne and company hooked up with Brian Eno, resulting in one of the most fertile (literally, given Byrne’s lyrical obsession with birth and creation) artist/producer combinations in rock history. They might have made more innovative records in the future, but for my money nothing can top ‘78’s MORE SONGS…; combined with 77 that’s already enough to merit their induction. [ADDENDUM: And now they’ve released FEAR OF MUSIC as well. They would have vaulted to #1 regardless, but that masterpiece just clinches it even more.)

2. New York Dolls – They only made two albums, but they’re one of the all-time great bands, and their influence is incalculable. David Johansen and Johnny Thunders came off like Mick & Keith if they’d never taken off the drag from the “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby” video and started gobbling amphetamines 24/7. The Dolls were unabashedly hip, but there wasn’t a cynical bone in their bodies: they may have needed both a fix and a kiss, but you always sensed that the kiss was more important (even if that sadly wasn't true for some of them in real life).

3. Randy Newman – A master melodist who fully inherited his Hollywood-royalty family’s compositional gifts, and has spent his entire non-soundtrack career putting those gifts at the service of an astonishingly biting and ironic sensibility. No singer-songwriter has ever inhabited a wider variety of delusional, pitiable, or downright despicable characters, with so little regard for how he might be viewed by the confused among us who can’t separate the singer from the song.

4. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Now that most of the giants of the sixties and seventies are in the HOA, maybe the geniuses on the fringes have a better chance of sneaking in. Here’s a vote for one of the fringiest (and most original) of them all.

5. Ornette Coleman – And here’s another one, although by now (whether we’re speaking of either 1980 or the present) he’s largely transcended his whole-new-thing image and become a genuine elder statesman of jazz.

6. Wire
7. Can
8. The Supremes
9. Love
10. Blondie

BACKSTAGE WING
1. Nicky Hopkins
2. Rudy Van Gelder
3. Lee “Scratch” Perry

1. Blondie- Eat to the Beat sees Blondie at their pinnacle, in my opinion.

2. Donna Summer- Bad Girls is a disco classic!

3. Can

4. Chic

5. Nico

6. Joy Division- Unknown Pleasures is indeed good enough to land them in this competitive field with only one album behind them.

7. Sparks

8. Aerosmith

9. The Cure- Sure, Three Imaginary Boys doesn't tell the whole story, but the blueprint is there for one of the greatest bands ever, in my opinion.

10. The Cars

Blondie

come on gigi, i know you can do more !(please make comments if it's the first time you vote for an artist)