Rock’s Hall of Fame Inductees Named : Jimi Hendrix Tops List of Seven to be Honored at January Ceremony

Jimi Hendrix, who set his guitar and the rock world aflame with his revolutionary instrumental skills in the late ‘60s, tops the list of seven acts that will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January, Hall officials announced Monday in Cleveland.

Also chosen by a voting body of more than 500 music industry figures for the seventh annual induction were Bobby (Blue) Bland, Booker T. & the MG’s, Johnny Cash, the Isley Brothers, Sam and Dave and the Yardbirds. Performers are eligible 25 years after the release of their first recording.

Hendrix, selected for his work in the groundbreaking Jimi Hendrix Experience trio that also included bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, is still considered the most important instrumentalist in the history of rock. With both spectacular tours de force, such as his feedback and effects drenched version of the “Star Spangled Banner,” and more subtle applications of blues, jazz and soul elements, Hendrix rewrote the vocabulary of rock guitar.

Three other guitarists of nearly equal influence and note will also be inducted: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page were all members of the Yardbirds, a short-lived but much-prized English group known for such reworkings of American blues as “I’m a Man,” pop hits as “For Your Love” and proto-psychedelic rock as “Over Under Sideways Down.” Clapton misses a chance to be a double-inductee, as Cream, the power-trio that also included bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, was eligible but bypassed by the voters.

Two of the chosen acts represent the cream of the Memphis sound. Sam Moore and Dave Prater were one of the top acts for the Stax label, best known for their hits “Hold On I’m Comin’ ” (1966) and “Soul Man” (1967).

The members of Booker T. & the MG’s--organist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald (Duck) Dunn and the late drummer Al Jackson--backed Sam & Dave and most other Stax performers as the famed soul label’s house band. But the quartet also had several of its own instrumental hits, most notably 1962’s “Green Onions.” This was the fourth year of eligibility for the group.

Cash is best known as a country great, though the likes of “I Walk the Line,” one of his mid-’50s recordings for Memphis’ Sun Records label, remains a prime example of the common, often overlooked bond between rock and country, as is his fiercely independent approach.

Like Cash, the Isley Brothers (who had nearly 50 R&B; and pop hits from the ‘50s through the ‘70s) and Bland (a smooth blues belter who has had influence on many rock figures, including Van Morrison) have been eligible since the first Hall of Fame nominations in 1985.

Besides Cream, David Bowie and the Velvet Underground were the most noteworthy first-time nominees that were bypassed by this year’s vote. Bowie’s recent comments that he did not care if he got in the Hall of Fame had no influence on the balloting, since they came after the vote was completed. More likely, the voters consider him part of a later generation as he was one of the ‘70s most influential pop figures, though he made his first recordings in 1966.

The Velvet Underground, fronted by Lou Reed, was part of the Andy Warhol ‘60s New York art scene and exerted a tremendous influence on later generations of alternative rockers, but remains something of a cult band.

Also to be inducted in the Jan. 15 ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York are two pre-rock influences, bluesman Elmore James and New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd), and two non-performing figures, songwriter Doc Pomus and electric guitar developer Leo Fender. The permanent Cleveland home of the Hall of Fame, designed by architect I. M. Pei, is slated to be opened in 1994.