The Ramones, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Talking Heads will be headlining the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2002, it was announced Thursday.
Joining them in rock's hallowed hall will be supercool soul man and South Park chef Isaac Hayes, Little Miss Dynamite Brenda Lee and melodramatic '60s popster Gene Pitney. Late guitar great Chet Atkins, whose virtuoso playing influenced the likes of Elvis and Beatle George Harrison, is this year's "side man" inductee.
Making the cut in the "non-performer" category is Jim Stewart, cofounder of Stax Records, the pioneering indie label that virtually created soul music in the 1960s, recording such artists as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and Booker T. & the MGs.
For the New York-based Ramones--the punk godfathers who took the world by storm in the mid-'70s with such three-chord, two-minute anthems as "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Sedated"--Thursday's announcement was bittersweet. The group's frontman, Joey Ramone, died of lymphoma in April at the age of 49.
"Inspired by the perfect simple songs of groups like the Beatles, the Kinks and the attitude of the NY Dolls and Iggy Pop, [the Ramones] detested instrumental virtuosity and all things arty. So they invented a sound that was at once reductive, revolutionary alternative and classic," the Cleveland-based shrine says in a statement.
The head-banging quintet has inspired the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and U2.
Although they were contemporaries of the Ramones and often shared the stage at New York's CBGBs, the Talking Heads took a much different approach to music. Eschewing punk's rawness, David Byrne and his bandmates evolved a group sound that combined funk, punk, pop and African music that made them faves of the "art-rock" scene.
They helped usher in the New Wave revolution with Top 40 hits like "Psycho Killer," "Once in a Lifetime " and "Life During Wartime," and influenced a generation of '80s alt-rockers, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., the B-52s and even jam band Phish.
Petty & Co. have more than two dozen classic rock hits under their belt, including "American Girl," "Refugee," "The Waiting," "Don't Do Me Like That", "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and "Don't Come Around Here No More." He's also scored as a solo artist ("I Won't Back Down," "Free Fallin' ") and as a member of the supergroup the Travelin' Wilburys with the already-enshrined Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Roy Orbison (as well as ELO frontman Jeff Lynne).
Hayes, a R&B chronicler of gritty streetlife, is probably best known for his Shaft soundtrack duties. Lee, the sparkplug known as Little Miss Dynamite, was a huge pop-country balladeer in the '60s, with hits like "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted," "Emotions," "You Can Depend on Me," "Losing You" and the Yuletide staple "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Brill Building tunesmith Gene Pitney penned the '60s hit "He's a Rebel," charted with "Town Without Pity," "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" and "Only Love Can Break a Heart" and was one of the first to combine country and rock.
Atkins, who died of cancer in July at the age of 77, was known as Nashville's Mr. Guitar. His innovative session work backed Elvis Presley ("Heartbreak Hotel"), the Everly Brothers ("Wake Up Little Susie," "Bye Bye Love" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream") and Hank Williams ("Jambalaya," "Your Cheatin' Heart").
Among those artists nominated but failing to make the cut were the Sex Pistols, Jackson Browne, Patti Smith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC, Gram Parsons and, for the fifth straight time, Black Sabbath (frontman Ozzy Osbourne has previously demanded his iconic metalheads be pulled from future ballots).
To be considered for induction, artists must have released their first album at least 25 years ago. Nominees are picked by a 70-member committee made up of rock 'n' roll historians, record label execs and journalists. Ballots are then sent out to more than 1,000 music industry types to determine inductees.
This year's 17th annual enshrinement ceremony and jam session will take place on March 18 in New York and be televised on VH1 on March 20.