Last HOA election before the alt-rock deluge: 1991.

You may want to check out the top 100 eligible candidates. For a reminder of who's already been inducted, see the results thread. (Tried a couple times to insert links here...still having trouble.)

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

Please please please please remember that 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 have the option to nominate up to three people for the Backstage Wing. This isn't required.

Deadline for ballots is Sunday, April 19, at 6:00 pm US Central time (midnight GMT).

Voting is now open.

01. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: a truly genius. Nick Cave is forging during almost a decade (including his work with Birthday Party) a solid and fascinating body of work, displaying a disturbing universe filled with biblical images, Southern gothic, death and violence. His lyrics are his best weapon but we cannot forget the superb backing of the Bad Seeds, with musicians as brilliant as Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Barry Adamson or Kid Congo Powers playing an angular but epic mixture of blues and post-punk.
My favourite album: The Good Son (1990).
My Top 5 Songs: The Mercy Seat (1988 ), The Ship Song (1990), The Carny (1986), In the Ghetto (1989), Tupelo (1985).

02. PET SHOP BOYS: they achieve something that seemed impossible, sounding cool despite using the most kitsch and cheesy sounds coming from synth-pop, euro-disco and house. You can blame it to their detached, elegant and ice-cold attitude.
My favourite album: Behavior (1990).
My Top 3 Songs: Being Boring (1990), West End Girls (1985), Left to My Own Devices (1988 ).

03. DEPECHE MODE: enjoy the sounds.

04. NENEH CHERRY: she was part of the afro-jazz-punk-funk band Rip, Rig & Panic but now she has suddenly became a pop star with her fresh and unprejudiced mixture of dance, pop and hip hop.
My favourite album: Raw Like Sushi (1989).
My Top 3 Songs: Manchild (1989), I've Got U Under My Skin (1990), Kisses on the Wind (1989).

05. THE POGUES: spending a Summer in Siam (1990).

06. DE LA SOUL.
07. TALK TALK.
08. XTC.
09. THE NEVILLE BROTHERS.
10. RADIO FUTURA.

And at the backstage:
01. ANDY WARHOL: we should have inducted him at the end of the sixties, but maybe is better doing it posthumously than never. He was the centre of a sophisticated but wild scene that included actors, musicians, painters, filmmakers, transvestites, starlettes and hustlers. Favourite song: LOU REED & JOHN CALE Hello It's Me (1990)
02. IVO WATTS-RUSSELL.
03. ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE.

schleuse, about posting a link go to this thread and see the post by John. Anyway you must write xurl=http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/yAcclaimed Musicx/urly but replacing x and y for [ and ][/quote]

1. Woody Guthrie - A hugely important figure in 20th Century music in terms of folk music and as a songwriter. Iconic. This could be his year.

2. XTC - They wrote a ton of great pop songs. In a perfect world they'd have been a bit more popular. I think they have a shot at admission, but the window is closing.

3. George Jones - The greatest country vocalist ever (which really isn't something with wide appeal).

4. The Zombies - They deserve consideration for Odessey and Oracle alone.

5. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Primary force behind the development of Western Swing, which is a fantastic style of music that combined big band jazz with a country flavor and was an important precursor in the development of rock and roll.

6. Wanda Jackson - She has a real spark in her voice.
7. Townes Van Zandt
8. Buck Owens
9. Doug Sahm
10. Lynyrd Skynyrd

1. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - The soundtrack of my teen years. Ask any of my friends, and they say they're sick and tired of that band.

2. PET SHOP BOYS - Great, timeless pop songs packed in glorious 80s sound.

3. DEPECHE MODE - I saw them live in 2006, and that was spectacular. By the end of 1990 they were at their best.

4. LOVE - Still gets some votes around here, but my hopes aren't very high. When I first got together with my girlfriend, I used to have a stereo at my bathroom. And for quite a while I kept my copy of Forever Changes locked into that CD-player, so I could listen to it while showering or using the toilet. And still, when I play 'A House is not a Motel' my girlfriend thinks of me taking a dump. She can't help laughing at that song, and no one else understands why (except me).

5. VIOLENT FEMMES - The 80s are over, but who can forget that truly great album they made back then..

6. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
7. NICK CAVE
8. ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
9. GANG OF FOUR
10. ERIC B & RAKIM

1. THE POGUES. It's officially past time. I think this has been said before, but let's do this now, while Shane McGowan still has occasional lucid periods.
2. XTC. By 1991, Andy Partridge is becoming kind of a weird elder statesman, actually.
3. PET SHOP BOYS. Extra points for actually yawning on an album cover.
4. BUZZCOCKS. Starting to ease them off my ballot, with a heavy heart.
5. JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. Looks like they might be in danger of becoming the Eagles of the 1980s--ranked near the top of the eligibles list but receiving few votes. Not sure why, exactly, in this case...
6. VAN HALEN
7. B-52'S. I didn't explain this last year, but I don't think their post-Ricky Wilson stuff holds up to their great work in the late 70s/early 80s. However, Cosmic Thing is still quite good, and it's enough for me to push them from "bubbling under" into my top 10.
8. TALK TALK
9. SINÉAD O'CONNOR
10. LL COOL J

Hate to disappoint Schwah and Rune, but I wasn't really seriously considering They Might Be Giants for the Hall; I just wanted to make sure they got at least one vote, and to raise awareness of them (guess I did that). I loved them in the 80s and 90s (and still do), but for me they're a personal favorite but not among the all-time greats (to raise that vexed distinction again).

Maybe after I've dealt with the onslaught of indie bands in the next few years, I'll get back to them...

Out of respect for this game, I think I will stop voting pretty soon, if not this year. As you can tell by my anachronistic votes (above), my taste in music runs very old. I don't like much of anything released after the early 1990's. (My fault, but still true.) So it's kind of pointless for me to keep voting for old artists, like Wanda Jackson, whose time has passed.

In case this is my last Hall of Fame voting year, I just want to give a shout out to the few more "recent" acts that I actually listen to (once in a great while) and would vote for: Beck, Radiohead, Lucinda Williams, Uncle Tupelo, LCD Soundsytem, M.I.A., Drive By Truckers, and Neko Case. Other than those few artists (and some random albums by others), I pretty much would be faking it.

It's been a great game! I will still keep reading. And I might vote next year if Woody Guthrie or XTC have a chance to get in and need my help.

1. Woody Guthrie - massively influential, iconic & funny
2. George Jones - best vocalist not yet inducted
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - american southern gothic by way of australia and berlin
4. Pet Shop Boys - just released their best album
5. The Blue Nile - "downtown lights" is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded
6. Warren Zevon
7. Jackson Browne
8. Dwight Yoakam - updated the bakersfield sound for the '80s and '90s. just released his best album.
9. John Cale
10. Prefab Sprout

backstage

1. Marley Marl - busy racking up credits with LL cool j, masta ace, biz markie and big daddy kane
2. Mutt Lange - ac/dc, the cars, def leppard...
3. Tom Moulton - the 12", the breakdown, the remix

1. The Pogues

2. Philip Glass

3. The Eagles

4. Woody Guthrie

5. Alain Bashung : I don't know why I had forgotten to mention him, but he was the best French singer after Gainsbourg

6. Depeche Mode
7. Robert Wyatt
8. De La Soul
9. Doc Watson
10. Janis Joplin

1. Woody Guthrie – This Hall is his Hall, or at least it should be. Kind of startling to realize he hasn’t been inducted yet, a real oversight considering his importance; I’ll happily follow the lead of others elevating him this year.

2. New York Dolls – Probably the last time I’ll have them ranked this high. They only made two albums, but they’re one of the all-time great bands, and their influence is huge.

3. Ornette Coleman – The music he was making in the late eighties STILL sounded like The Shape of Jazz to Come (the concept, not the album). A true visionary who, unlike far too many of his contemporaries, lasted long enough to become a living legend.

4. Aerosmith – For longevity alone (including what may be the longest second act following a comeback), they’ve earned a spot.

5. Pet Shop Boys – “I’m always hoping/You’ll be faithful/But you’re not, I suppose/We’ve both given up smoking/’Cause it’s fatal/So whose matches are those?” For those lines (from ‘90’s “So Hard”) alone, not to mention briefly reviving Dusty Springfield, they’d deserve induction. The masters of sarcastic ennui and hedonistic beats masking the deepest of emotions.

6. Love
7. XTC
8. Peter Gabriel
9. Wire
10. Can

BACKSTAGE WING
1. Nicky Hopkins
2. Rudy Van Gelder
3. Greil Marcus

Hooray, my top three entered the Hall last year. Thanks all for voting for Cream. I was afraid they were becoming my personal T.Rex.

1. Talk Talk - Utterly unique band whose earlier work is among the finest synthpop ever made, but whose later records lay out the foundation for what will be known as post-rock.
2. Woody Guthrie - Without Guthrie no Dylan, without Dylan no rock. It's that simple. Woodie's absence is the most obvious sign that folk is ignored too much.
3. Janis Joplin - Helped redefine the role of women in rock. Plus one of the greatest performers of her time.
4. Urban Dance Squad - Holland's finest, baby. The ultimate crossover, this band crossed, no, practically destroyed the boundaries between hip-hop, metal, funk, rock, punk... Finest songs: Deeper Shade of Soul, Fast Lane
5. Eagles - Founding fathers of the more laidback, smooth country-rock that dominated the mid 70s.
6. Deep Purple
7. Jefferson Airplane
8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
9. Nick Cave
10. Depeche Mode

Backstage:
1. Jerry Wexler - Should have been inducted by now. One of the most influential producers and industry men in the world.
2. Juan Atkins - The godfather of techno. Almost all the popular electronic musicgenres of '90 can be traced back to him.
3. Anton Corbijn - Pushing forward national product, part two. The photographer and video director of the post-punk generation, considered by both Depeche Mode and U2 as one of their bandmembers. 1990 gave us one of his most famous music videos: "Enjoy the Silence".

Regarding the "more laidback, smooth country-rock" of the 1970's, credit has to go to many artists, as it was a "scene," but one artist that stands out in addition to (and earlier in time than) the Eagles is Linda Ronstadt.

I second the backstage vote for Wexler. He was a hugely important producer.

two things before i vote:

Paul, you should feel free to keep voting older artists. I've been on that tip to a great extent through the 80's, and every once in a while an old artist builds a consensus (see Cream's entry last year). I think there is a tendency here to vote worthy artists in too soon, and I've been fighting the compulsion to vote for artists upon their debut. It would help to have a voice arguing for some forgotten gems as the onslaught of alt-rock heroes begins.

And 2d, I was voting for Wexler as a twofer with Ahmet Ertegun back in the day. I shouldn't have stoppes once Ertegun got in, and I'll get him backi n this week.

I just lost a whole bunch of comments and I'm really bummed.

Dinah Washington drops out (for the second time) due to lack of interest.

1. Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) - Not my most strongly felt #1, but they deserve to be in.

2. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The yin and yang of hip hop - Grandmaster Flash pointing one way, Melle Mel pointing another.

3. They Might Be Giants - I wrote a whole long list of reasons for their inclusions that I just lost. Can't do it again. Here's the summary: They write damn catchy tunes. They explore very nicely the critically underrated virtues of lightness and humor (like other artists I feel are relatively underrated like Ella Fitzgerald, Parliament, and Super Furry Animals). They actually are two pretty good musicians (even if one of them is an accordianist).

4. The Grateful Dead - I just think in the early-70's they had a wonderful string of songs.

5. George Jones - Not just a bone to Paul to encourge his continued participation. I've been considering him for a long while. Okay, maybe the top-5 placement is a bone to Paul.

6. Peter Gabriel

7. The Pogues

8. The Staple Singers

9. The Jackson 5

10. Pet Shop Boys


Backstage:

1. Jerry Wexler
2. Norman Granz
3. David Fincher - Still at the top of the video directors hit parade.