Backstage Pass

Pioneers of hip-hop, “college rock” and disco lead the slate of finalists for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s inductee class of 2007.

Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five came out of The Bronx in 1980 on Sugar Hill Records and were best known for the groundbreaking single “The Message,” which showed hip-hop was more than just a bunch of party songs.

R.E.M., who released its debut single “Radio Free Europe” in 1981, became the first “college rock” band from the ‘80s to crossover to mainstream success with its Top 10 hit “The One I Love” and its album “Document” in 1987.

Chic, who topped the charts with “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” were big in the Manhattan discos in the late ‘70s, but their funk-jazz roots gained Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards respect in the rock world as well.

Also among this year’s finalists: British Invasion band The Dave Clark Five, girl group The Ronettes, punk-poet Patti Smith, proto-punkers The Stooges, R&B singer Joe Tex and heavy metal virtuosos Van Halen.

Five of the finalists will become inductees, announced in January. Those five will be inducted into the museum at a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria on March 12.

Watch Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and Chic's "Le Freak" on the jump.

Watch R.E.M. do "Radio Free Europe" on Letterman below.