Deep Purple, ELO, Yes top Hall Of Fame public poll

Deep Purple have topped a Rolling Stone magazine readers’ poll of the top 10 acts that should be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016.

Almost 50 years since they formed in Hertford, readers named Deep Purple as the act they most want to see honoured by the Cleveland-based institution with close ties to the magazine. Publisher Jan Wenner serves as the chairman of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation, which oversees all elements of the organisation.

Rolling Stone says: “You can’t blame the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nominating committee for not bringing Deep Purple in. They’ve put them on the ballot several times over the past few years. It probably has something to do with the fact that the vast, vast majority of voters are American. If the people of Europe had the chance to vote, Deep Purple would have been in years ago.”

Electric Light Orchestra land at No. 2 on the list, with Rolling Stone suggesting “maybe ELO were a little poppy and eclectic for the tastemakers of their day, but we have a feeling they’ll make it into the Hall Of Fame in the next few years.”

In at No. 3 are prog-rock kings Yes. While admitting “there aren’t a lot of prog-rock bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Rolling Stone adds: “Yes, at least in the 1970s, were like pure-grade prog heroin. They were cut with nothing. Yes deserve to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for their 1970 to 1974 work alone.”

The Top 10 is rounded out with reader support for Cheap Trick, Chicago, singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, Little Feat, metal veterans Iron Maiden, The Moody Blues and The Smiths.

To be eligible for a Rock Hall nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

Last month, the Rock Hall’s 30^th annual induction ceremony honoured new additions Green Day, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Lou Reed, Ringo Starr, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bill Withers, and the “5” Royales.