Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, and Notorious B.I.G. to be inducted into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

By Sam Barsanti | January 16, 2020 | 5:12pm

Aux Features Music

Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, and Notorious B.I.G. to be inducted into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Photo: Christopher Polk

This week, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame announced its 2020 inductees, and honestly, after seeing the list of nominees back in October, they did a surprisingly good job. As revealed on the Hall Of Fame’s website (via Vulture), the 2020 class consists of Whitney Houston, the Doobie Brothers, T. Rex, Depeche Mode, the Notorious B.I.G., and Nine Inch Nails (maybe next year, Dave Matthews Band). This is particularly interesting for NIN, since—as we noted when the nominations went out—up until recently Trent Reznor had gone on record saying he “couldn’t give less of a shit” about the Hall Of Fame. That apparently changed last year, when he gave a speech honoring The Cure at least year’s induction event and implied that finally acknowledging that particular band had gone a long way toward legitimizing the Hall Of Fame’s (occasionally nonsensical) opinions.

Speaking with Rolling Stone about his own induction, Reznor (who is the only member of the band being officially named by the Hall Of Fame) said that he’s “pretty freaked out” and never thought Nine Inch Nails would get this kind of acknowledgement. “It always seems like we fall between the cracks or we’re not in this category or ‘that thing,’ he explained, later adding that he’s “used to failing” and so it’s a relief for him that he no longer has to be reminded every year that the people in Cleveland don’t think he’s good enough. Reznor also told Rolling Stone that he was glad to see a wider array of inductees this year, saying it’s all about “the spirit of rock & roll” instead of just bands with a guitar and drums, which is what opens it up to hip-hop and synthesizers—though, for the record, he does say he’d like to see more bands with synthesizers getting recognized.