CLEVELAND, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has spurned the entire Class of 1980 on induction ballots mailed to voters this week.
Artists must have logged in 25 years in the biz to be eligible for nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not a single group or musician on this year's ballot debuted in 1980, E! Online reports.
Ballots sent out this week include Black Sabbath making its eighth bid for Hall induction, Lynyrd Skynyrd's seventh bid and the fifth bid each for punk icons the Stooges and Sex Pistols, E! said.
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five -- the first rap act nominated to the Rock Hall -- is on the ballot a second year along with the J. Geils Band, John Mellencamp, the Patti Smith Group, Chic and Joe Tex.
First-time nominees are Miles Davis, Cat Stevens, Blondie, the Paul Butterfield Band, the Dave Clark Five and the Sir Douglas Quintet.
The list of nominees is chosen by a 70-member panel. The ballots are then sent to about 700 music-industry types worldwide. The five to seven acts receiving the most votes then get into the Cleveland Hall.
The artists chosen to be inducted during the 2006 ceremony in New York will be announced by year's end.
