BLACK SABBATH, SEX PISTOLS Among Nominees For 2004 ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

BLACK SABBATH are among the nominees for the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Others on this year's ballot include PRINCE, former Beatle GEORGE HARRISON, JOHN MELLENCAMP, JACKSON BROWNE, THE SEX PISTOLS, LYNYRD SKYNYRD and ZZ TOP.

Ballots were mailed this week to voting members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in Cleveland.

Artists are eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after at least 25 years have passed since their first record was released. The inductees likely will be announced in December.

Back in 1999, former BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne attempted to take the group's name off the Hall of Fame's 1999 nomination list, deeming the institution's nod "meaningless."

In an October 1999 letter to the Hall of Fame, Osbourne said: "Just take our name off the list. Save the ink. Forget about us. The nomination is meaningless, because it's not voted on by the fans. It's voted on by the supposed elite for the industry and the Media, who've never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives, so their vote is irrelevant to me." He says, "Let's face it, BLACK SABBATH has never been media darlings. We're a people's band and that suits us just fine."

But according to a source at the Hall of Fame Foundation, Ozzy can't be taken off the nomination list. The best Osbourne can do is to refuse the nomination if BLACK SABBATH are finally voted into the Hall of Fame this year. "He can pull a George C. Scott, if he wants to [referring to the 1970 incident when Scott refused the best actor award for his performance in 'Patton'], but he can't take his name off the list," the unnamed source told Rolling Stone magazine.

BLACK SABBATH have been eligible for induction for the past seven years.