Twitter Users Call Out Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for Inducting Pop, Rap Artists, Over Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band

On Wednesday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2020 class, and fans were not happy about certain nominees getting chosen over other artists.

The 2020 class includes Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., and T. Rex. While these five are inducted, ten other artists did not make the cut for the Rock Hall including Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Soundgarden, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, and Motorhead.

To be inducted, a nominating committee of about 24 people choose 15 nominees, according to Cleveland.com. After nominees are decided, ballots are sent to over 600 historians, members of the music industry, and artists, including all living Rock Hall inductees. Fans can also vote for their favorite nominee online, and the artist with the most fan votes is awarded one additional vote in determining the inductees.

Fans took to Twitter to voice their outrage at this year's class and the artists they felt were snubbed.

Many fans were outraged that Pat Benatar did not make the cut. Frequent Howard Stern Show guest Tabitha Stevens cited Benatar's historical significance as the first female rock artist to have a video aired on MTV in 1981 (Benatar's "You Better Run" video was the second ever aired on the network). "Who is picking the artists that get inducted?" Stevens wrote. Some thought Benatar was more deserving of induction than artists like The Doobie Brothers and T.Rex.

Dave Matthews Band were also snubbed, despite receiving over one million votes from fans, winning them the fan vote. "You can't say the fans will have a say in who gets in and ignore that say when the time comes. Dave Matthews Band got the most fan votes and they STILL aren't in?" One People's Project executive director Daryle Lamont Jenkins tweeted.

Another fan said that DMB deserved the win more than inductee Notorious B.I.G.

Other Twitter users took the chance to point shade at Whitney Houston and Notorious B.I.G.'s induction, as neither is explicitly a "rock" artist. Sirius XM DJ and former That Metal Show host Eddie Trunk shared his ballot on Twitter. "I actually picked rock acts for the @rockhall ... silly me," he wrote, while noting that usually three of his five picks get in, while this year only T. Rex was inducted.

"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been a joke for years but it continues to show how little it even cares by snubbing actual Rock and Roll / metal artists and putting in non rock artists. Pat Benatar, Judas Priest, and Soundgarden all snubbed but Notorious B.I.G. gets in?" another user wrote.

Some still congratulated the inductees for making it in this year. Dave Matthews Band tweeted their congrats to the inductees and thanked their fans that made them fan vote winner. Comedian Paul Mooney tweeted congratulations to both Houston and B.I.G. for their inductions for their first time on the nomination ballot.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did not immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comment.