The recordings that have been chosen for induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame next year have been announced, and the 2021 honorees include albums and/or songs by Bruce Springsteen, Journey, The Cars, Pearl Jam, Peter Gabriel, Patti Smith, Joe Cocker, and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.
Each year, a Recording Academy committee chooses select works to be inducted, as part of its “commitment to preserving and celebrating timeless recordings.”
The albums being honored include several landmark debuts, among them Springsteen’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., The Cars’ self-titled record, Smith’s Horses, Pearl Jam’s Ten and Vaughan and Double Trouble’s Texas Flood. Other albums being inducted include Gabriel’s So, Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Dr. John‘s In the Right Place, Beastie Boys‘ Licensed to Ill, and U.K. blues great John Mayall‘s Blues Breakers, which features Eric Clapton.
The songs being inducted include Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin"” and the star-studded charity single “We Are the World,” which was credited to USA for Africa and featured contributions from Springsteen, Steve Perry, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Paul Simon and many others.
Overall, 29 recordings are being inducted this year, raising the total number of Grammy Hall of Fame recordings to 1,142. To qualify, the recordings must be at least 25 years old and “exhibit qualitative or historical significance.”
“We are proud to announce this year’s diverse roster of GRAMMY Hall of Fame inductees and to recognize recordings that have shaped our industry and inspires music makers of tomorrow,” says Recording Academy executive Harvey Mason Jr. “Each recording has had a significant impact on our culture, and it is an honor to add them to our distinguished catalog.”
The 2021 Grammy Awards will take place January 31. Here’s the full list of 2021 Grammy Hall of Fame inductees:
“Au Clair de la Lune” (single) — Édouard-Léon Scott De Martinville
Blues Breakers (album) — John Mayall With Eric Clapton
Canciones de Mi Padre (album) — Linda Ronstadt
“Clean Up Woman” (single) — Betty Wright
“Copenhagen” (single) — Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra
“Don’t Stop Believin"” (single) — Journey
“Freight Train” (single) — Elizabeth Cotten
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (album) — Bruce Springsteen
Horses (album) — Patti Smith
Hot Buttered Soul (album) — Isaac Hayes
In the Right Place (album) — Dr. John
Licensed to Ill (album) — Beastie Boys
Mad Dogs & Englishmen (album) — Joe Cocker
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at “The Club” (album) — The Cannonball Adderley Quintet
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major (album) — Leonard Bernstein with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London
Schoenberg: The Four String Quartets (album) — Kolisch String Quartet
So (album) — Peter Gabriel
“Solitude” (single) — Billie Holiday
Ten (album) — Pearl Jam
Texas Flood (album) — Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
The Cars (album) — The Cars
“The Gambler” (single) — Kenny Rogers
The Low End Theory (album) — A Tribe Called Quest
“Time Is on My Side” (single) — Irma Thomas
Trio (album) — Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
“We Are the World” (single) — USA for Africa
“When the Levee Breaks” (single) — Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie
“Wreck of the Old 97” (single) — Vernon Dalhart
“Y.M.C.A.” (single) — Village People
By Matt Friedlander and Andrea Dresdale
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