Time for the 1986 election...the year Marty Blank and I both graduated from high school.

Choose the ten most deserving artists, based on records released through the end of 1985.

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, 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 have the option to nominate up to three people for the Backstage Wing. This isn't required.

Deadline for ballots is Sunday, February 22, at 6:00 pm US Central time (midnight GMT).

Voting is now open.

1. X – Most votes for X have been of the 10-point variety. If you are not voting for X, is it because you don’t like their music or because you have not heard their first four albums? This is not a knock on other voters. I’m just curious.

2. PATSY CLINE – The first major female country music star (unless you count Kitty Wells).

3. GEORGE JONES – Probably the greatest country music vocalist. Definitely the greatest drinker.

4. THE SUPREMES – More big hits (of quality) than any other excluded act.

5. RUN-DMC – They followed Grandmaster Flash, but they were both more influential and more prolific. Just less hip.

6. THE MINUTEMEN – Another underrated 1980’s American punk band.

7. HUSKER DU
8. T. REX
9. XTC
10. THE SPECIALS

Backstage: John Peel

1. LOVE - I can't give up on them yet. They deserve all the votes they can get, having made an album like Forever Changes.

2. KATE BUSH - The weirdest girl in music, but she's wonderful weird, not weird weird.

3. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - Some of the trippiest stuff to come out of the sixties, which tells a lot. Some people do drugs, I just listen to Jefferson Airplane.

4. VIOLENT FEMMES - Angry, rough and catchy. Great!

5. ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN - Dreampop. There were a lot of good bands coming out of the 80s, but few were this good.

6. GANG OF FOUR
7. MOTÖRHEAD
8. DEEP PURPLE
9. GRANDMASTER FLASH
10. BUZZCOCKS

1. Warren Zevon
2. Jackson Browne
3. George Jones
4. John Cale
5. Todd Rundgren
6. Hall & Oates
7. Randy Newman
8. Cheap Trick
9. Woody Guthrie
10. Lynyrd Skynyrd

backstage

1. Hoagy Carmichael
2. John Peel
3. Norman Whitfield

hey schleuse - next week i'll trade ya an x vote for a jones vote hehhehheh

Re: HOA: 1985 voting thread

1. THE MOODY BLUES - Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this band probably made a blip in the late 60s on the eligibles list before disappearing, which is too bad, because they're probably the last band from that musical era that isn't inducted. A lot of bands from the Beatles onward got props for incorporating orchestras and strings, but for me nothing quite captured the sweeping majesty of classical music and cavernous sounds of orchestras in pop music like the Moody Blues. The release of their last halfway decent album in 1981, Long Distance Voyager, is a good a time as any to put them at the personal top and see how long they last.

2. BUZZCOCKS - Singles Going Steady presents such a wide spectrum of interesting punk sounds. Autonomy and Ever Fallen in Love? are the standouts but band combined artistry and attitude.

3. THE CRYSTALS - Fitting to give this group props after I finished listening to the non-Christmas Back to Mono set. Beautiful infectious pop melodies. Who cares if I get them confused with the Ronettes.

4. RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS - There's something real dark to the elements of the Wall of Sound, which make the booming choruses and orchestrations so timeless. You hear You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling and while you are uplifted with romantic sentiments you also have a sense that something in lingering around the corner to remove you from your fantasy. Maybe it's growing up on Lynchian film images that borrow from sixties sentimentality and the sounds that go with it, but this is powerful dramatic music.

5. THE SUPREMES - Motown's finest sounds so smooth and polished despite the recording technology that existed back then.

6. CREAM

7. LOVE

8. JETHRO TULL

9. GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE

10. X

A sophisti-year for me…

01. THE STYLE COUNCIL: it’s the second time I put Paul Weller on top (I did it with The Jam in 1981). Probably I’m the only one thinking that (the public and critic approval is being cold as ice especially overseas), but to me The Style Council are almost as good as his first band, with an eclectic approach to exciting genres as sixties pop, Motown soul, smooth jazz, bossa nova, French pop and synth pop and with a decided social content. And, at the risk of sounding frivolous, I like the way he dresses (particularly this jacket on the second clip).
My favourite album: Café Bleu (1984).
My Top 5 Songs: My Ever Changing Moods (1984), Shout to the Top! (1984), The Paris Match (1983), Walls Come Tumbling Down! (1985), Headstart for Happiness (1983).

02. PREFAB SPROUT: more sophisticated sounds, the clever songwriting from Paddy McAloon meets here with the ellaborate arrangements of Thomas Dolby with awesome results.
My favourite album: Steve McQueen (1985).
My Top 3 Songs: Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny) (1985), Appetite (1985), Faron Young (1985).

03. EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL: sophistication, elegance, style, class, sweetness, smoothness, lushness, everything. But the girl.
My favourite album: Eden (1984).
My Top 3 Songs: When All’s Well (1985), Each and Everyday (1984), Night and Day (1982).

04. KATE BUSH: too complex, too literary, too intricate, too arty, too sophisticated for a pop artist? Definitely not, the complexity of her work makes it only more attractive and appealing.
My favourite album: Hounds of Love (1985).
My Top 3 Songs: Cloudbusting (1985), Wuthering Heights (197 , Babooshka (1980).

05. ORANGE JUICE: although they disbanded last year, their playful and humorous legacy is destined to pave the way for any band that wants to sound “POP”.
My favourite album: You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever (1982).
My Top 3 Songs: Falling and Laughing (1980), Rip It Up (1982), What Presence?! (1984).

06. JOE JACKSON.
07. RUBÉN BLADES.
08. DEPECHE MODE.
09. ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN.
10. THE POGUES

And at the backstage:
01. JOHN PEEL: he has introduced the British radio listeners in music styles like underground rock, punk, reggae or hip hop, always based in his own incorruptible and eclectic tastes, being or not appreciated by mainstream listeners. Favourite song: UNDERTONES Teenage Kicks (197 .
02. HAL WILLMER: the inventor of the modern concept of the tribute albums, gathering diverse names of jazz, classical and pop to reconstruct the song of composers as Nino Rota, Thelonious Monk or Kurt Weill. Favourite song: DAGMAR KRAUSE Surabaya Johnny (1985).
03. GEOFF TRAVIS.

Not a great deal of change for me this time:

1. X. Hmmm…will 21 points do it this year?
2. PATSY CLINE. She was really close last time, so I’m giving her a slight bump.
3. THE SPECIALS. They are not that close, although within shouting distance. I guess this comes down to whether we’re going to have ska represented at all…
4. HÜSKER DÜ. Like all your great punk bands, including the 3 others on my ballot, the secret is great pop songs which are perpendicular to the mainstream. Also, Zen Arcade is ten times better than Tommy (hell, American Idiot is three times better than Tommy).
5. T. REX. You know, I was tempted to just drop ‘em to #6 because I’ve run out of things to say.
6. VAN HALEN
7. BUZZCOCKS
8. RUN-D.M.C. Next year they’ll be cooking with gas.
9. KATE BUSH
10. MINUTEMEN

Also considered: the Mary Chain, Eurythmics.

Let me belatedly congratulate Chic and New Order, two artists I certainly would have gotten around to voting for eventually.

Backstage: JOHN PEEL. Yeah, I’ll jump on that.

1.TELEPHONE

2. The SPECIALS

3.RENAUD

4.GRANDMASTER FLASH

5.EAGLES

6. MADONNA : she's got to be in, even if she's not a personal favourite, at least for her political/cultural role.

7.Philip Glass
8.Iron Maiden
9.Joe Jackson
10.Grateful Dead

Backstage : Leon RUSSELL, the ultimate session man

Damn, two 9 points to The Specials just when I stopped voting them…

1. 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.

2. Husker Du – For a few years they were very likely the best band in America and maybe the world, melding hardcore with hooks in startling and frequently transcendent ways.

3. New York Dolls – They only made two albums, but they’re one of the all-time great bands, and their influence is incalculable.

4. Ornette Coleman - He really was The Shape of Jazz to Come when he emerged in the late fifties; by now he’s become a genuine elder statesman.

5. Madonna – Love her or hate her, there’s no denying her importance as a cultural touchstone or, at her considerable best, as an artist.

6. The Supremes
7. Wire
8. Can
9. Love
10. Sonny Rollins

BACKSTAGE WING
1. Nicky Hopkins
2. Rudy Van Gelder
3. John Peel

Still not feeling much of anybody this week, but very happy that Chic got in. Also happy with New Order.

Still too early for Madonna. If the premise of this HOA is to remain true (namely, we vote artists in after they have accumulated a body of work worthy of entry into a hall of acclaim), then she has to wait until at least Like a Prayer. I felt the same about U2 and R.E.M. two weeks ago and the Smiths last week. I think the problem is that there is not enough consensus around the older artists anymore.

Without any artist to really get behind, I'm bringing back an old vote of mine for #1. My brand new #5 vote goes to a personal favorite who I was sad to just learn we lost a couple of weeks ago.

1. Dinah Washington - I'm bringing back all my old lost votes.

2. Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young)

3. Patsy Cline

4. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

5. Blossom Dearie - Will explain in a subsequent memorium thread.

6. The Staple Singers

7. The Grateful Dead

8. Paul Simon

9. The Supremes

10. The Jackson 5


Backstage:

1. Norman Granz
2. Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn
3. Gamble and Huff

1. Eurythmics- It appears that I'm the last holdout for them. They will keep my 10 points until the end, in that case. It's a shame.

2. Grace Jones- Her 1980-1982 material is still too strong to drop her below #2.

3. Siouxsie and the Banshees- Not much happened in 1985, although the "Cities in Dust" single definitely is worthy.

4. Madonna- Her debut is flawless, and while Like a Virgin was a bit of a disappointment, her songs for Vision Quest ("Crazy for You" and "Gambler") in addition to her infectious B-side "Into the Groove" are all fantastic.

5. Depeche Mode- I'd forgotten to vote for them up until now, but there's no denying that they'd built up quite a number of great songs. Over the next five years, they'd add some great albums to their name.

6. Donna Summer

7. Can

8. Echo and the Bunnymen- It's hard to argue with their first 4 albums!

9. Joan Jett

10. Kim Wilde

1. Cream - At least in my book the leading band in the HOA's greatest omissions.
2. Janis Joplin - I just noticed my ballot becomes infiltrated by more and more women. For now, she's the leader of the pack.
3. Eagles - Combination of some fine and talented musicians, who recorded a couple of fantastic songs along the way.
4. Deep Purple - An institute.
5. The Supremes - They make a return in my top five after an absense of some 15 years. Motown's finest.
6. Madonna
7. Jefferson Airplane
8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
9. Kate Bush
10. ABBA

Backstage:
1. John Peel - I guess I started something. There's no denying now he will be inducted.
2. Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong
3. Leo Fender