The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has just announced its nominees for its 2020 induction ceremony, including Pat Benatar, the Dave Matthews Band, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., T. Rex, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, and Soundgarden. This announcement comes less than a month after the organization’s chairman, and co-founder Jann Wenner announced his retirement from the organization.

While the list of nominations is large, only members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can properly induct an artist into the museum. These members also draw up the original list of nominations, that are announced to the public before the induction ceremony begins next year.

Kraftwerk are making a return on the nomination’s list this year, the band has been nominated 5 times during the following years:  2003, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. The band will be approaching its 50th anniversary next year, and continue to headline numerous prominent music festivals across the world to this day.

Legendary New York Rapper Notorious Big recently had his name honored alongside Woody Guthrie and the Wu-Tang Clan, with a street name in New York City. Hip hop has been present in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame for over a decade now, with artists such as Run DMC being inducted beck in 2009.

British electronic music act Depeche Mode were the prominent face of the new wave and synth pop movements that dominated the UK charts in the 1980s. The band released the Speak & Spell and A Broken Frame singles collection boxed back in August 2018.

Soundgarden launched in the 1990s, alongside a wave of grunge and alternative rock acts such as Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam. Fronted by the late Chris Cornell, the band is looking to finish some material featuring the late singer’s unreleased vocal demos.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails helped popularize industrial music and industrial metal throughout the 1990s, although he has dabbled in a wide variety of genres. The performer was even nominated for a CMT award for “Old Town Road,” earlier this year, as the song sampled one of his tracks.

Check out the full list of nominees below:

Pat Benatar
Dave Matthews Band
Depeche Mode
The Doobie Brothers
Whitney Houston
Judas Priest
Kraftwerk
MC5
Motörhead
Nine Inch Nails
The Notorious B.I.G.
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Todd Rundgren
Soundgarden
T.Rex
Thin Lizzy

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat