Def Leppard have been announced as winners of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s fan vote, ahead of the 2019 inductees being named later this week.
Back in October, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for its class of 2019. Among them, the likes of ‘frequent fliers’ Kraftwerk and LL Cool J, while Stevie Nicks – who has already been inducted previously with Fleetwood Mac – also scored a nomination.
Following these nominations, the next step was for a pool of over 1,000 artists, historians, journalists and members of the music industry to cast their votes on just who will make the cut for next year, with members of the public also being given their chance to have their say.
Now, the fan votes have been released, and it’s quite clear who the public want to see inducted.
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, English rock legends Def Leppard have topped the public vote, scoring 547,647 votes, and beating out Stevie Nicks in second place by 119,803 votes.
Of course, this by no means guarantees victory for the rockers, due to the fact that the fan vote only counts as a single ballot. While history seems to tell us that the top finishers in the fan vote are usually inducted, the end result will ultimately depend on what the rest of the voters have to say.
While this year might be the first time that Def Leppard have been nominated for the somewhat divisive honour, frontman Joe Elliott told Billboard recently that the band are “not taking anything for granted”.
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“You’re looking at the likes of Todd Rundgren (23 years) and Roxy Music (21 years) and Devo (15 years), and it took them long enough to get a nomination,” Elliott explained. “So I don’t feel so bad now that we got overlooked when you see people like them, people I was out buying their records when I was 12 years old. So it’s alright. It’s kinda cool.”
“It’s not really gonna change my life, really, one way or the other – but Jon Bon Jovi has been telling me for at least 12 months that yes, it will.”
“I’m not gonna hold my breath because I know how this can go. Judas Priest didn’t get in last year, and it’s a big disappointment for them that they didn’t. So I’m not taking anything for granted.”
The 2019 inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are set to be announced at 8am on Thursday, December 13th, which is around midnight for us Aussies.
Check out Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14iHRpk9qvQ
Check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame fan vote results:
Def Leppard – 547,647
Stevie Nicks – 427,844
Todd Rundgren – 365,370
The Zombies – 329,52
The Cure – 264,443
Janet Jackson – 218,581
Devo – 186,754
Roxy Music – 167,307
Rage Against the Machine – 148,208
Radiohead – 140,458
John Prine – 136,746
LL Cool J – 119,657
Rufus & Chaka Khan – 99,724
Kraftwerk – 87,456
MC5 – 85,304
