UPDATE - 10/4@6:40AM: Yes! It's official! Rush has been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

Portland, Oregon classic rock radio station 92.3 KGON posted the following to their Facebook page earlier this evening:

Nominees for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2013 have been announced. Rush, Deep Purple, Heart, Procol Harum, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Randy Newman are among the names being submitted to voters for next year's induction honors.

Also on the list are Donna Summer, Chic, Joan Jett, Albert King, Kraftwerk, The Meters, N.W.A. and Public Enemy.

Other than Heart, Joan Jett and Chic, this is the first time any of the other artists has been nominated.

In order to be eligible for induction, an artist had to release their first record at least 25 years prior. The ballots will now be sent out to members of the music industry with the results announced in early December.

The 28th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on April 18th, 2013.
What do you think?

Although the post claims that the nominees have already been announced, there has not yet been any official announcement by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame itself yet. In fact, all this past week the Rock Hall website has been hyping the fact that they'd soon be making the announcement via their Facebook page. So it looks like KGON probably jumped the gun a bit with this (somebody somewhere probably screwed up). That said, it doesn't necessarily mean the post isn't accurate and I'd venture to say that it probably is for real. The Future Rock Legends site predicted most of these nominees, and all the rumors I've been hearing up to this point are in line with the posted list. Here's what Future Rock Legends had to say about Rush's chances this year:

What else is there to say? It has to happen one of these years, right? Nominating Committee member Cliff Burnstein is Rush's former manager and he successfully steered a band he currently manages, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, into the Rock Hall last year.

I tend to agree with them. The recent addition of Burnstein to the Nominating Committee really boosted their chances. As an A&R man at Mercury Records in the '70s Burnstein was instrumental in getting Rush's fledgling career off the ground. I'm about 99% confident that this is the real list, and that Rush has FINALLY been selected as a nominee for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'm guessing we'll get the official announcement from the Rock Hall via their Facebook page tomorrow. Fingers crossed but I'm feeling pretty good about this.

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