Take a bow, Madonna, and ch-ch-check it out, Beastie Boys - you've been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In addition to Madge and the Beasties, hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, veteran rocker John Mellencamp, disco queen Donna Summer, jazz/funk band Chic, English-beat group the Dave Clark Five, surf instrumentalists the Ventures and moody singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen are also up for the high honor, it was announced Thursday (September 27).

While nine artists are being considered for inclusion into the Hall, five will be honored at the induction ceremony, to be held March 10 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Around the same time this year, R.E.M., Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Jay-Z, Eddie Vedder and others helping do the honors.

To be eligible for nomination this year, an artist must have issued their first single or LP no later than 1982.

It was that year, in fact, that Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records and put out her first tune, "Everybody," on April 24. Making a huge impact in the clubs as well as on MTV - which launched a year earlier - she became the top female performer of the '80s - and eventually, according to Guinness World Records, the most successful female artist of all time.

While Madge was revving up her career in 1982, so were the Beasties Boys - although at the time, they were a hardcore-punk band (previously named the Young Aborigines), not a hip-hop troupe. The NYC act issued its punk EP, Polly Wog Stew, that year - but then, with the help of producer Rick Rubin, the Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence made the transition into a rap unit. And the rest, they say, is history.

For years, the Beasties have been fighting for their right to party - now they, Madonna and others are fighting for a chance to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.