Miracle of Miracles: Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame To Induct Cheap Trick, Chicago, Deep Purple, Steve Miller & N.W.A. in 2016

Today, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction committee announced that the next round of acts to be inducted into the Rock Hall next April in New York City are Chicago, Deep Purple, Steve Miller, N.W.A., and Cheap Trick.

Yes, you read that correctly: both Chicago and Cheap Trick got in on their first nominations. While we were quite vocal in our displeasure with the RRHOF for not nominating these bands earlier, I've really got to say, for the record, that the folks at the Rock Hall got it absolutely right this time and took a big step towards restoring everybody's faith in the institution.

Deep Purple's induction is also well-deserved and long overdue. I personally wondered if it would ever happen, as this was the band's third nomination.

The reason that it was so pertinent that the Hall got this right was that the more time goes by, the more bands become eligible for the Hall, thereby lessening the possibility for older acts to get their due. After all, Green Day's induction into the hall before any of 2016's inductees got in themselves makes absolutely no sense, but the Rock Hall heard about it, for sure.

Jann Wenner himself has been a frequent visitor to this site when matters of the RRHOF have been discussed in the past and I like to think that, at the very least, I just happened to throw the right amount of gas on the fire to get things moving in the right direction.

Having said that, I want to thank the RRHOF nominating committee for putting together a very respectable list of nominees from which to choose and the hundreds of journalists, music executives, producers, and the like who voted and completely got it right this time around.

Will former bassist Peter Cetera rejoin Chicago for their
induction into the Rock Hall?

Now it's time for a couple of the above-mentioned acts to "get it right" at the ceremony. By that I mean Cheap Trick absolutely has to reunite and perform with Bun E. Carlos and Peter Cetera must overcome whatever has kept him from reuniting with Chicago in the past. There is no better time to mend these fences than at the upcoming induction ceremony so I'm trusting all parties to do whatever's necessary to make this happen.

In the case of Deep Purple, due to the amount of turnover within the band over the years, it will be quite interesting to see which line-up gets inducted, but estranged guitarist Ritchie Blackmore absolutely has to be there to perform with the band he last left in 1993. Part of me doesn't expect it to happen, but, judging by the list of those finally inducted, anything is possible.