https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...143443193.html



This year’s six inductees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday morning, and they are Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, the Notorious B.I.G., Nine Inch Nails, the Doobie Brothers, and T. Rex.
Notably absent from the Class of 2020, however, was Pat Benatar.

The fact that Benatar — one of the most successful female artists of the 1980s, who undoubtedly set the template for female hard rock singers at a time when few female hard rock singers had a presence on the charts or at rock radio — had never been nominated before had been a subject of annual Hall protest. She was widely predicted to be a lock this year, especially considering that last year’s inductee, Janet Jackson, had implored in her Rock Hall acceptance speech to thunderous applause: “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, please, 2020: Induct more women!” (Only three female artists total were on this year’s Hall ballot, the other two being Houston and passed-over four-time nominee Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. Women make up less than 8 percent of all Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees.)

Benatar actually came in second in this year’s online Fan Vote. Also not making the Class of 2020 cut were the Dave Matthews Band, who actually topped the Fan Vote by a wide margin. (It is noteworthy that the seven previous winners of the Fan Vote had all been inducted in their years).
Along with Benatar, hard/classic rock in general was passed over, with nominees Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, Todd Rundgren, the MC5, and two other artists that made the top five of the Fan Vote, Judas Priest and Soundgarden, all not getting in.

It was also interesting that six-time nominees Kraftwerk were passed over in favor of their logical successors Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, since it could easily be argued that all electronic music can be traced back in some way to the German techno pioneers.
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