NWA inducted into the hall of greats

All nominated artists had to have put out their first album or single at least 25 years ago to be in consideration.

Miller will enter the Hall alongside Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Steve Miller, Chicago and N.W.A. The guitarist has been eligible for entry since 1993 and the 2016 honor marks his first nomination. Those who missed out, apart from Chic and Jackson, were the Cars, Nine-Inch Nails, the Smiths, Chaka Khan, the Spinners, Los Lobos and the J.B.s.

“They somehow bridge the gap between the fierce clowning of early punk and the accidental-on-purpose humor of metal, without ever sounding a bit like either”, the Hall of Fame said in its induction announcement.

According to Financial Company Voices, four of the five musical acts that were nominated and will join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are still touring.

The film was named for N.W.A.’s debut 1988 album that featured the track “f*** tha Police”, a searing indictment of officers’ treatment of young African-American men like the group members, who grew up in the rough Los Angeles-area city of Compton.

The band finishes up 2015 with a few dates this week; a victory lap tour is a certainty for 2016.

Not coincidentally, three of the inductees – Chicago, Deep Purple and Miller – finished in the top five in fan voting. “I was prepared to not get it and say, ‘Oh, well, better luck next time.’ When I was with Dave Clark, he told me all about what happened with him and how Tom Hanks inducted them“.

The induction ceremony for the Cleveland-based hall will be held April 8 in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The inducted members of Deep Purple include most of those from its classic period of the late 1960s to mid-1970s: Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Rod Evans, Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, the New York Times reported. The group was nominated for the fourth time; this year, its profile has been elevated considerably this year by a well-received band biopic, Straight Outta Compton.

So does this new honor mean that we can expect an N.W.A reunion at the induction ceremony?