I was maybe ten or eleven years old when my father gave me a very weird CD for Christmas, promising me that I'd like it. Unlike most of his promises, that one came true: even now, after almost 30 years, Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy is one of my favorite albums of all time, and so the recent news of Zevon's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a long-overdue tribute to someone whose music helped shape the very evolution of rock music. 1v2772

When it was recently announced that Warren Zevon would be ing the 2025 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the Musical Influence Award, it felt both appropriate and like it was a long time coming. It was a long time coming for the Chicago-born and Los Angeles-bred singer-songwriter, who ed away in 2003 but had only received one prior nomination despite being eligible since the '80s. He'd never really had mainstream name value, but deeply influenced musicians ranging fromBob Dylanto Bonnie Raittover the years of his career.