Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces its 2017 inductees

December 20, 2016

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its class of 2017 inductees.

Pearl Jam, Joan Baez, Tupac Shakur, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes and Nile Rodgers of Chic are to be inducted at the April ceremony next year. Rodgers will receive the prestigious Award For Musical Excellence.

Twenty five years after the release of their first single, an artist is eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Other nominees this year, announced this past October, included (bolded will be inducted):

Bad Brains
Chaka Khan
Chic
Depeche Mode
Electric Light Orchestra
J. Geils Band
Jane's Addiction
Janet Jackson
Joan Baez
Joe Tex
Journey
Kraftwerk
MC5
Pearl Jam
Steppenwolf
The Cars
The Zombies
Tupac Shakur
Yes

2017 is the first year Tupac and Pearl Jam were eligible. This is the first year Journey were nominated.

Rodgers' Chic have been nominated 11 times, but it is only the guitarist who will be recognized at this year's ceremony. On the topic, Rodgers says to Rolling Stone, “It's sort of bittersweet.”

He continues, “I'm quite flattered that they believed that I was worthy, but my band Chic didn't win. They plucked me out of the band and said, 'You're better than Chic.' That's wacky to me … I am flattered and I think it's cool, but I feel like somebody put me in the lifeboat and told my family they can't get in.”

This is the fifth year in which the public will have the chance to vote alongside the artists, historians and music industry professionals on the Rock Hall voting body.

Ticket details for the ceremony, which will be held April 7 at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, will be announced in January.

Watch more: Learn about Alternative Press Magazine’s history at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame