Nine Inch Nails, Whitney Houston + more to be inducted into Rock Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced the roll of 2020 inductees. The class of legends set to be honoured are Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brother, and T.Rex are all set to be honoured at this year’s ceremony. The celebration is set to take place at Cleveland’s Public Hall on May 2nd.

Amongst those nominated on this years ballot were Soundgarden, Thin Lizzy, Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, MC5, Motörhead, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, and Todd Rundgren.

“I’m pretty freaked out,” Trent Reznor told Rolling Stone. “I’m quite in shock. When I look back at how Nine Inch Nails are received, it always seems like we fall between the cracks. I don’t know if it’s a defense mechanism, but I just assumed we’d stay in that category, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see us acknowledged. It feels pretty good … I’m allowing myself, for a limited period of time, to feel good about this.”

Alongside the musicians nominated are two prominent music industry figures who will receive awards for lifetime achievement. Eagles manager and founder of Global Music Rights Irving Azoff, and music critic and longtime Bruce Springsteen-producer Jon Landau will both be honoured with the Ahmet Ertegun award.

Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers shared a statement celebrating the genre-diversity of this year’s inductees: “Each of those bands has helped shape the form that rock’n’roll has taken over the years. That’s what I like to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame do: pick those bands that have sculpted what we see rock’n’roll as today.”

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