One voter's ballot for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 28th class

Heart's Ann Wilson got my vote/ Star Tribune photo

Monday was the deadline for filing votes for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for 2012. With 15 candidates on the ballot, we were asked to vote for up to five for the 28th annual election. Write-ins are not allowed. Unlike other years, voters were not asked to rank the nominees for whom they were voting.

I cast my votes for Public Enemy and N.W.A., two of the most political, vital and influential posses in the history of hip-hop.

I didn't hesitate supporting Randy Newman, one of popular music's most original songwriters, a master of un-PC black humor as well as family-friendly movie theme songs.

Once again, I voted for Heart, who came on like a female Led Zeppelin. Not only should there be more deserving women in the Rock Hall but Heart --, well sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson and various sidemen-- have stayed true to their vision of merging hard-rock and folk music – and they've done it consistently since the mid-1970s.

My fifth choice was Kraftwerk because of its pioneering influence in the realm of synth pop and electronica.

Rush was on the ballot for the first time. Even though I admire the ambition of their art-rock, has there been a more consistently lifeless live act than this Canadian trio?

Deep Purple was little more than a classic-rock one-hit wonder, Joan Jett is forever cool but pretty much a one-hit wonder and Procol Harum was, to most people's way of thinking, a one-hit wonder but they also actively pursued a marriage of rock and orchestral music.

The Marvelettes were minor characters in Motown, and the Meters were minor hitmakers but major players in the New Orleans studio scene.

Albert King and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band are names that resonate in the blues world but they're not quite Rock Hall of Fame material.