After being unjustly snubbed for the past few years, the Sex Pistols finally have been voted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Also making the cut after being passed over in past years is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Both are deserving, and it gives legitimacy to the hall to have them as members. Others who deserve a shot were passed over again. No Patti Smith? No Grandmaster Flash? Randy Newman (in a year where he could bring the house down with "Louisiana 1927")?

Instead, the hall will induct Blondie, a band from the same era as Patti Smith and the Sex Pistols that, while perhaps groundbreaking as a female-fronted band, took a quick left turn from punk to pop and turned out a Greatest Hits-disc worth of good song but never really did anything, you know, hall of fame worthy.

There must be at least one controversial entry, I suppose, and as those go, Blondie isn't even worth arguing. The rest of the slate is more than worthy. The Pistols should have been first ballot entries shoulder-to-shoulder with the Clash, and Skynyrd really shouldn't be following the Allman Brothers Band by more than a decade, should they? Black Sabbath and Miles Davis round out the inductee list. Sabbath is another no-brainer, practically inventing a genre that lives on – for good or ill – today. Davis, the left field choice, adds a nice dimension to the hall. He couldn't be considered a rock artist in the traditional sense, but he was truly a rock star, and his fusion work in the late 1960s and early 1970s was incredibly influential and groundbreaking.

This will be an induction ceremony worth watching. Head Pistol Johnny Rotten, who called the institution “the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Shame” in 2003 after being passed over, ought to bring a bit of sorely needed punk attitude to the proceedings.

Meanwhile, enjoy two bands who will never make the hall live in concert on NPR when Iron & Wine and Calexico perform Wednesday as part of the NPR Live Concert Series.