That giant baby out in space? He's just keeping an eye on the 2001 HOA election.

Submit a ranked list of your ten most deserving artists. 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 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, July 12, at 6:00 pm US Central time (midnight GMT).

Voting is now open. For only one week this time, hopefully.

1. Love- Alone Again Or alone is enough to get these guys inducted, let alone Forever Changes!
2. Belle and Sebastian- one terrificly light and wonderful band
3. Jefferson Airplane- White Rabbit never fails to move me
4. Neutral Milk Hotel- come on, everybody loves in the aeroplane over the sea
5. Todd Rundgren- i have seen the light, todd needs to be inducted.

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. Nine Inch Nails
8. OutKast
9. Flaming Lips
10. Primal Scream

1. OutKast - Clearly the best of all the artists that are eligible. BOB might be my song of the decade. Aquemi and Stankonia are both excellent.

2. The Verve - This one may be a bit of a lost cause, but I hopee not.

3. Jeff Buckley - I think he'll get in eventually. Could have been one of the all time greats.

4. Primal Scream - I don't think either Screamadelica or XTMNTR are masterpeices, but together I think they're good enough to warrant Scream's inclusion.

5. Neutral Milk Hotel - too bad we'll likely never get a follow up from these guys. The virtues of In the Aeroplane have been extolled many a time on this board.

6. Liz Phair
7. The Flaming Lips
8. Belle and Sebastien
9. Grandmaster Flash
10. Santana

1. Wire - An important band during the punk era. Pink Flag is a great album.
2. Townes Van Zandt – Brilliant songwriter whose influence continues to grow years after his death.
3. Uncle Tupelo – The first alt-country band after the invention of alt-country.
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd - They put some undeniably great rock songs in the canon (e.g., Sweet Home Alabama).
5. Wanda Jackson - Female rockabilly pioneer who has inspired many recent female artists (e.g., Neko Case) and who just rocked.
6. Lucinda Williams
7. The Flaming Lips
8. Love
9. The Buzzcocks
10. Outkast.

1. The Flaming Lips – In one fell swoop, they went from weirdo cult band with a few good-to-great albums under their belt to weirdo all-time great artists. Wayne Coyne is a true visionary with the talent to back up (most of) his greatest ambitions, and the Lips’ best music is absolutely breathtaking.

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

3. Neutral Milk Hotel - Because IN THE AEROPLANE... is well on the way to becoming the VU & NICO of the current era, an album that wasn't "successful" upon release but became an instant cult classic and, eventually, just a classic, period. Fingers crossed for a top-500 placing in the next update...

4. Ornette Coleman – A true visionary who, unlike far too many of his contemporaries, lasted long enough to become a living legend. Long overdue for induction!

5. Wilco – Jeff Tweedy’s most ambitious music is yet to come, but with SUMMERTEETH they’ve just made what is still arguably their most purely enjoyable album – largely due to the contributions of Tweedy’s soon-to-be-former creative partner, the sadly late Jay Bennett.

6. Love
7. OutKast
8. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
9. Nine Inch Nails
10. Belle and Sebastian

BACKSTAGE WING
1. Nicky Hopkins - I feel I should put a few words in here for Mr. Hopkins. Folks, what we have here is quite simply the greatest session man in the history of rock and roll - the Kinks even wrote a song about him ("Session Man," of course)! And even if he hadn't made integral contributions to songs or albums by everyone from the Beatles to the Who to the Jayhawks, for cripes's sake his work with the Rolling Stones by itself should be enough to get him into this Hall or any other. From BEGGARS BANQUET through EXILE - i.e., the Stones' greatest period and arguably anyone else's, ever - he was for all intents and purposes the sixth member of the band. Let's vote him in, already!
2. Michel Gondry
3. Greil Marcus

01. IAM : They currently are one of the 2 major hip-hop band in France which can stand proudly compared to their american colleagues, their 1997 release "L'école du Micro d'Argent" is a masterpiece, both lyrically and musically. They brought asian and african influences to their music and are able to easily switch from poetry to social engagement or humor. And the last track of that album is a 10 minutes masterpiece no other band has ever been close too. Plus their MCs have released too wonderful solo albums, very deep and sensitive.

02. Red Hot Chili Peppers : BSSM is my "madeleine de Proust" and the summit of a very decent discography

03. Rage Against the Machine : Tom Morello is God (sort of)

04. Built to Spill : Perfect from now on is the most incredible discover I have made this year, the five first tracks are, well, perfect, which an intensity I have very rarely heard, goes right to my guts.

05. Outkast : B.O.B. is in my top 10 of all time, probably the best hip-hop song ever, and many other tracks on Stankonia (and some of the previous albums) are groundbreaking

06. Foo Fighters : lose one place because of their so-so 3rd album. But the first 2 are still great

07. Kyuss : forgot them last year

08. Supergrass

09. La Mano Negra

10. Violent Femmes

Backstage wing :
1) RZA
2) Michel Gondry

Time for a reshuffle to give some acts a boost.

1. NINE INCH NAILS. Call me stubborn.
2. JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. Pioneers.
3. WIRE. I’ve been hoping to get another first-generation punk band in for a long time, and Wire is an outstanding candidate. Plus, they’re getting close.
4. WILCO. In about 1995, I thought Son Volt was the better of the two bands that formed when Uncle Tupelo split. I didn’t think that for long (seeing a truly awful SV show helped).
5. OUTKAST. Almost put them at #4, but decided that it didn’t make much sense to put them ahead of Wilco. I was actually listening to alt-country in ’01; I was not listening to Dirty South at the time.
6. JEFF BUCKLEY
7. THE VERVE
8. THE FLAMING LIPS
9. PRIMAL SCREAM
10. PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.

#11 is Neutral Milk Hotel. This actually is one case where I’m holding the one-album-wonder thing against them a little bit.

1. ABBA - Without a doubt continental Europe greatest popgroup. Their music becomes better with every listen.
2. NINA SIMONE - The High Priestess of Soul.
3. DEEP PURPLE - DP Mark II contained some of the best artists in hardrock. They could rival Led Zep.
4. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - Surrealistic Pillow is probably the most aptly named record in history. The epitome of psychedelia.
5. OUTkAST - They might be the most interesting hiphop ensemble since PE, and their best work is yet to come. I'm sorry Ms. Jackson. Ooh!

6. CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG
7. PRIMAL SCREAM
8. GRANDMASTER FLASH
9. THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
10. ROD STEWART

BACKSTAGE:
1. GERRY GOFFIN & CAROLE KING
2. ANTON CORBIJN
3. MICHEL GONDRY

My experience with ABBA was a peak after 100 listens or so, followed by a gradual regression to the mean level of appreciation.

01. THE FLAMING LIPS: it’s refreshing to see such a weird and adventurous band like The Flaming Lips getting so much acclaim with their ninth album. It goes to show that risk, innovation and imagination are still valuable assets in pop music.
My favourite album: The Soft Bulletin (1999).
My Top 5 Songs: Waitin’ for a Superman (1999), Race for the Price (1999), She Don’t Use Jelly (1993), Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair (1997), Feeling Yourself Disintegrate (1999).

02. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS: lo-fi pop wizard Stephen Merritt is now getting comparisons with Björn & Benny, Brian Wilson or even Cole Porter because of his mastery on songwriting showed in his last album, the astonishing tour-de-force triple album “69 Love Songs”.
My favourite album: 69 Love Songs (1999).
My favourite song: No One Will Ever Love You (1999), All the Umbrellas in London (1995), All My Little Words (1999).

03. YO LA TENGO: usually you can find these kind of freaky nerds among the audience of an indie festival or club but you can’t expect to find them on the stage. And succeeding with that fantastic sense of melody, sense of noise and, of course, sense of humour (please click on the video links, you won’t be disappointed).
My favourite album: I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997).
My favourite song: Sugarcube (1997), Tom Courtenay (1995), You Can Have It All (2000).

04. SIGUR RÓS: dreamy and evocative sounds from the cold Iceland pursuing (and finding) the pure beauty.
My favourite album: Ágæetis Byrjun (1996).
My favourite song: Starálfur (1999), Svefn-G-Englar (1999), Mirkur (1997).

05. TLC: talking about beauty here I go with TLC, the pioneers of R&B mixing soul and hip-hop. They’re pretty, crazy, sexy. And cool.
My favourite album: CrazySexyCool (1994).
My favourite song: Waterfalls (1994), No Scrubs (1999), If I Was Your Girlfriend (1994).

06. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN.
07. LAMBCHOP.
08. MOJAVE 3.
09. MERCURY REV.
10. CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG.

And at the backstage:
01. DAVE FRIDMANN: the King Midas of space rock, able to extract pure gold from the very heart of any weird indie band. Favourite song: MERCURY REV Goddess on a Hiway (1998).
02. ANTON CORBJIN.
03. MICHEL GONDRY.

1. Robert WYATT

2. OUTKAST : yesterday, I’ve heard their version of Coltrane’s « My Favourite Things »

3.Townes VAN ZANDT : great man ; see why here

4. LYNYRD SKYNYRD

5. The DIVINE COMEDY

6. Dick ANNEGARN
7. CSNY
8. BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
9. SANTANA
10. WILCO

1. The Flaming Lips: Fun, psychedelic, unique, weird.

2. Dinosaur Jr.: Kevin Shields credits Dinosaur Jr. for influencing their loud, feedback-ridden sound. Thurston Moore said that "Teenage Riot" was originally called "J Mascis For President."

3. Buzzcocks: Masters of catchy punk songs.

4. The Jesus & Mary Chain: One universally acclaimed album and a couple under appreciated great ones.

5. Nine Inch Nails: Angst-y synth rock that was refined with each release.

6. MC5
7. Wire
8. Erik B. & Rakim
9. Jane's Addiction
10. Grandmaster Flash

Hi, hope I'm not too late.

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - They've made my favorite album. Heard In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (the song) on radio today, while a guy who were at their concert in Bergen in 98 talked about it. He disliked the concert, they were really disorganized. The guitar strings broke all the time, and there were no extra guitar, so they spent "an hour" every time to change strings. He loved the albums though.

2. They Might Be Giants - One of the few bands I've bought nearly all albums of.

3. Dimmu Borgir - Norwegian black metal at it's finest. Majestic, scary and powerful.

4. Manic Street Preachers - I've listened to The Holy Bible for a week now. It's amazing, and incredibly even more powerful than Dimmu Borgir.

5. Love - Can't chip'em out. Forever Changes is one of my fav albums of all time.

6. Handsome Family
7. Jefferson Airplane
8. Mansun
9. Richard and Linda Thompson
10. Nirvana - The other Nirvana.

1. Lynyrd Skynyrd - great songs, great vocals, great guitars
2. The Magnetic Fields - just released their masterpiece, but they've actually been making great music for over a decade now
3. Todd Rundgren - a virtuoso on par with stevie wonder
4. The Blue Nile - the terrence malick of pop music
5. Ryan Adams - two great records w/ whiskeytown and now one great solo record
6. Jackson Browne
7. Dwight Yoakam
8. Warren Zevon
9. John Cale
10. Prefab Sprout

backstage

1. Jay Dee (J Dilla)
2. Marley Marl
3. Daniel Lanois

1. Outkast - The only justification this position needs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkEQ65AEEfs . Song of the decade, or really close to it.

2. 2Pac

3. Notorious B.I.G.

4. Coldplay - Sappy, romantic, neo-soft rock bands don't usually score well with me, but these guys really have a way with a tune.

5. Rage Against the Machine

6. Daft Punk

7. Red Hot Chili Peppers

8. Foo Fighters

9. The Verve

10. Air - Have their merits but are just taking up space right now.

1. Siouxsie and the Banshees- It seems as if there isn't much a chance for them, but they'll hold this spot in the meantime.

2. Janet Jackson- Only contributed the hit single "Doesn't Really Matter" in 2000, but she was onto something good.

3. Grace Jones- As with Sioux, I'll hold down the fort with the badass chicks hoping for a groundswell of support!

4. Kylie Minogue- I really should have nominated her after 1997's Impossible Princess, but with Light Years, Kylie returned to the pop fold and kicked off the decade in style. It's amazing to me that she's been my favorite artist of the 2000s.

5. Donna Summer- 5 spots for 5 chicks. I'm sensing a theme here.

6. Annie Lennox

7. Joan Jett

8. Kim Wilde

9. Gary Numan

10. Echo and the Bunnymen