Pitchfork

The Roll and Roll Hall of Fame today announced the finalists in its annual beautyrock pageant, with nine of music's finest vying for five imaginary tiaras and five very real invitations into the hallowed pantheon next year.

Madonna, the Beastie Boys, Leonard Cohen, Donna Summer, Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, Chic, the Dave Clark Five, and the Ventures all lead the Class of 2008. To be eligible for induction, an act must have released its first single at least 25 years ago.

From these nine, the lucky five will be chosen by what the Rock Hall site calls an "international voting body of more than 500 rock experts," and immortalized at a March 10, 2008 ceremony at New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

The chosen will join last year's inductees-- R.E.M., Patti Smith, the Ronettes, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Van Halen-- and, like, Elvis and stuff in the Cleveland edifice and in our hearts forever.

God knows why, but Tom Waits, T. Rex, Roxy Music, Abba, Kraftwerk, and the Stooges aren't in there yet.