FOO FIGHTERS To Be Inducted Into ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME; RANDY RHOADS To Receive 'Musical Excellence Award'

FOO FIGHTERS, THE GO-GO'S, Jay-Z, Carole King, Todd Rundgren and Tina Turner will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year. Additionally, LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads will receive the Musical Excellence Award. KRAFTWERK, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton will get the Early Influence Award, and Sussex Records founder Clarence Avant will be given the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

The induction ceremony will be held at Cleveland, Ohio's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on October 30. It will be broadcast on HBO Max and streamed on HBO Max at a later date.

"This is our most diverse class in the history of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame," says chairman John Sykes. "It really represents the Hall's ongoing commitment to honor the artists that have created not only rock and roll, but the sound of youth culture."

Ballots were sent to an international voting body of more than 1,200 artists, including current living Inductees, historians and members of the music industry. Factors such as an artist's musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.

FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl was previously inducted into the Rock Hall as part of NIRVANA in 2014.

Rhoads is one of the most influential hard rock/heavy metal guitarists of all time.

The OZZY OSBOURNE and QUIET RIOT axeman and two others were killed on March 19, 1982 when the small plane they were flying in at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg, Florida struck Osbourne's tour bus, then crashed into a mansion. Rhoads was 25 years old.

The Musical Excellence Award is given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.

British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN were on the ballot for Rock Hall induction this year, but failed to receive enough votes to make the class of 2021.

Having been eligible for induction for a decade and a half, IRON MAIDEN is one of the biggest bands on the planet. Since the arrival of its self-titled debut album, MAIDEN has released a further 15 full-length studio records, and sold over 100 million copies.

To be eligible for this year's ballot, each nominee's first single or album had to have been released in 1995 or earlier.

Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal groups like MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N' ROSES in that band's first year of eligibility.

Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible a quarter century after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other "criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock 'n' roll," which is, of course, open to interpretation.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn't get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

DEEP PURPLE was eligible for the Rock Hall since 1993 but didn't get inducted until 2016.