Beasties, Madonna headline 2008 Rock Hall Noms

At the tail end of last week, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released its final list of nominees for induction in 2008. While pundits have long debated the Hall's notable omissions and methodology, it always makes for decent water cooler discussion to break down the candidates in a given year and debate their worthiness for admission.

To make the shortlist, artists have to have released a single at least 25 years ago. By that cut-off date - 1983 - music was starting to fragment and diversify in wildly unforeseen ways, mostly due to the rise of hip-hop and other electronic breeds of music. Hence, a highly eclectic group of nominees is up for consideration in 2008. Here are the nine lucky finalists:

Madonna
Beastie Boys
Leonard Cohen
John Mellencamp
Afrika Bambaataa
Chic
The Ventures
Donna Summer
The Dave Clark Five

So we've got the Queen of Pop, some hip-hop, disco, funk, British Invasion rock, surf music, and some singer-songwriter action to top it all off. Not a whole lot of straight-out rawk, though. Only five of these artists can make it in, but just how prestigious an honor is it? The Sex Pistols have some strong opinions on the matter.

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