8 Songs From the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024

Dear listeners,

On Sunday night, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2024 inductees. And while I find this year’s class a tad less exciting than last year’s, there are still quite a few names I was pleased to see: A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J. Blige and the artist who would have been at the top of my ballot, if I were a Rock Hall voter: Cher.*

In recent years, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been in something of a transitional period, as it expands its definition of “rock & roll” to include country legends (last year’s inductees included Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson) and hip-hop stars (like Eminem in 2022, and Missy Elliott, who in 2023 became the first-ever female rapper inducted). Last September, the Rock Hall co-founder Jann Wenner made headlines for all the wrong reasons when he espoused sexist and racist comments in a New York Times Magazine interview; shortly after, he was removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation’s board.

The Billboard writer Andrew Unterberger took stock of all this in an astute column about this year’s inductees, which he believes strike a balance between the hall’s more old-fashioned view of rock and a fresher, wider definition that is less beholden to tradition. Artists like Tribe, Cher and Blige are in step with the institution’s drift toward becoming “a less hemmed-in, genre-specific institution,” but the presence of acts like Foreigner, Peter Frampton and the Dave Matthews Band also suggest that “there are still plenty of voters primarily concerned with rock representation.”

All of this variety, though, means that this year’s inductees make for a thrillingly eclectic playlist. Check it out below, featuring some recognizable hits, a few rollicking live cuts and in my humble opinion, a very underrated Cher single.

Allllll aboard!,

Lindsay

*Last month, the hosts of the excellent podcast “Who Cares About the Rock Hall?” had me on to discuss why I believe Cher belongs in the pantheon, as well as my obsession with the outrageous cover of her 1979 album “Take Me Home.”