Nirvana, Deep Purple, Yes and Kiss Among 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

NirvanaGuitar World's current cover stars — are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2014 nominees.

This latest batch of hopefuls also includes Deep Purple, Yes, Kiss, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band — which featured Mike Bloomfield on guitar — plus the late Link Wray and British Invasion stalwarts the Zombies. You can see a complete list of nominees below.

Nirvana is the only act to land on the ballot in its first year of eligibility. Their cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz," released in 1988, was their first single.

If Yes make it into the Hall this year, it could lead to their first performance with singer Jon Anderson since 2004. "I don't have any anger about our exclusion," bassist Chris Squire told Rolling Stone in 2011. "But it would be a magnificent thing if they would include every member of Yes. I think there's about 19 or 20 of us."

The top five artists, as selected by the public, will constitute a “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2014 inductees. The 2014 inductees are chosen by a secret ballot of more than 600 individual voters consisting of all past inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, musicians, historians, critics and members of the music industry.

  • The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
  • Chic
  • Deep Purple
  • Peter Gabriel
  • Hall and Oates
  • Kiss
  • LL Cool J
  • The Meters
  • Nirvana
  • N.W.A.
  • The Replacements
  • Linda Ronstadt
  • Cat Stevens
  • Link Wray
  • Yes
  • The Zombies

P.S.: Once again, no sign of Stevie Ray Vaughan's name ...

Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.