What is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

By Kev Geoghegan
Radio 1 music reporter

Madonna is now one of the many artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Sounds grand but what does it mean?

First and foremost, and this may be a bit obvious, the Hall of Fame is an actual place.

The pyramid shaped building is a museum located on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio, in the US.

For the past 23 years, it has honoured some of the best-known and most influential people involved in the music business.

It is not just limited to artists - producers, songwriters, label bosses, even journalists are eligible.

Chuck Berry, one the Hall of Fame's first inductees

In the case of performers though - they can only be considered 25 years after their first hit - in the case of Madonna - that was Everybody, back in 1982

The Hall of Fame works in a similar way to the Brit awards - a committee comes up with a list of potential inductees, who are then voted on by 1000 industry experts.

The list is narrowed down to around five.

Controversies

The Sex Pistols refused to attend their induction in 2006

Past inductees include Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and James Brown in the first ceremony in 1986, The Rolling Stones in 1989 right through to Grandmaster Flash last year.

In 2006, The Sex Pistols were inducted but refused to travel to the event in New York. Instead, they sent a letter saying:

"We're not coming, we're not your monkeys and so what?"

There has also been criticism over the artists who have not yet been inducted including Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Burt Bacharach and Metallica.

UK Music Hall of Fame

This is not the first time Madonna has received an award like this.

A future inductee?

In 2004, she was inducted into the short lived UK Music Hall of Fame alongside Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Marley and U2.

It was voted on by just 60 music journalists and unlike the museum in Ohio, there is no building in the UK that fans can visit.

There were no inductees in 2007.