The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its nominees for 2017, and funk pioneers The Meters are once again absent from the list.

The New Orleans icons, who mastered the art of syncopated rhythms and took the very concept of groove to new heights, picked up nominations in 1997, 2013 and 2014. Unfortunately, they always came up short after the final tallies were counted, and their name didn’t even make the ballot for the 2015 and 2016 ceremonies.

It’s a damn shame to see the Rock Hall’s nominating committee has given up on giving Art Neville, George Porter Jr., Leo Nocentelli and Zigaboo Modeliste the recognition they so clearly deserve. It’s especially perplexing considering the Hall’s newfound interest in honoring hip-hop artists, many of whom were influenced by The Meters and even utilized samples of the band’s music in their work.

In any case, a number of worthy acts have picked up their first-ever nominations, including Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, Jane’s Addiction, Depeche Mode, Journey, Bad Brains, Electric Light Orchestra and Steppenwolf. Other artists have found themselves on the ballot once more, with Chic (11 nominations), Kraftwerk (four nominations), J. Geils Band (four nominations), Yes (three nominations), Joe Tex (five nominations) and Chaka Kkhan (two solo nominations), MC5 (two nominations), Janet Jackson (two nominations) and The Zombies (two nominations), all making the list.

There’s plenty of great artists up there, but few of them could be described as categorically better or more influential than The Meters. At least not in this writer’s humble opinion.

While the nominating process may be out of our hands, fans will still have the opportunity to vote on their five favorite nominees via the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website (though all of the fan votes combined will be weighted as much as a single committee member’s ballot). Voting closes on December 5, and the inductees will be announced some time after that.

The 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class featured Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, N.W.A., Chicago and Steve Miller.