It’s taken a while but at last, the work of those hard-lobbying Rush fans has paid off and the band have got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the very first year that they’ve found themselves on the ballot.

The Canadian rock band will be joined by fellow first-timers Public Enemy, The Star Tribune reports, as well as Heart, the late Donna Summer, Randy Newman and Albert King. There will also be two non-performing honorees, in the form of producer Quincy Jones and label executive Lou Adler.

It looks as though the fervent effort of Rush’s dedicated fans has finally charmed the Hall of Fame’s voting panel; so much so that they ushered them through on their first time onto the ballot. However, the fact that Rush have been included, whilst other hard rock heroes such as Kiss and Deep Purple are still left out in the cold will not have gone done well in many quarters. Rush also beat a number of artists who did make the ballot, who are considered to be influential artists in their own genre, including Kraftwerk, Chic and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.

Next year, a number of significant acts from the grunge era will become eligible for entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Nirvana, Soundgarden and Phish. A sobering thought for those in their late 30s for whom the first wave of grunge doesn’t seem all that long ago. The induction ceremony will take place on April 18 in Los Angeles and will be broadcast a month later on HBO.