With last week's release of the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, so begins the perennial conversation on who should be in and who's been overlooked since their eligibility date (artists are eligible beginning 25 years after the release of their first single or album).

The Nominating Committee, made up of 30 music executives, journalists and musicians, has long been a source of criticism from everyone with an opinion (inductees are chosen from a cadre of 500 music experts). With Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner doubling as the Hall of Fame's co-founder, the publishing magnate has been accused of excessively injecting his personal tastes in the selection process. Others have lamented the induction of Madonna and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in a "Rock" Hall of Fame. (Get over it. Seriously.) Still, there are a few bands that we feel compelled to defend in the hopes of seeing their name inducted into a fairly arbitrary and meaningless institution.

Kraftwerk (Eligible since 1995)
Few bands can lay claim to pioneering a single musical genre. Only a handful can say they influenced virtually EVERY genre of music that succeeded them. Listening to German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk, you can hear the roots of electro, synth-pop, techno, Krautrock, house, New Wave and hip-hop (the group's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers" were famously sampled by Afrika Bambaataa for "Planet Rock," one of hip-hop's earliest and most successful singles.) The Hall has long been biased against electronic music, but inducting these guys would be akin to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five getting in for hip-hop. It's time to expand. (On a side note, maybe instead of bemoaning pioneering groups as "not rock," it's time to drop the "Rock and Roll" from the name and think of something more inclusive of all contemporary music.)