Madonna's come a long way, baby. It's been 25 years since the material girl released her first single, "Everybody".

Now, over ten albums later, Madonna's been nominated for a slot in the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. And she's hardly the only gay icon:

Madonna, the Beastie Boys, the Dave Clark Five, Leonard Cohen, Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, the Ventures, Donna Summer and Chic have been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.

Five acts will make it into the Hall of Fame in 2008. Madonna and the Beastie Boys are on the ballot on their first year of eligibility; this year’s nominees had to release their first single no later than 1982, the year that Madonna’s “Everybody” and the Beasties’ punk EP Polly Wog Stew came out. The other first-time nominees are Cohen, Bambaataa, Summer and the Ventures.

Looking at all those familiar names being honored, we feel pretty ancient. Not as ancient as the nominees, of course, but still…

Our editorial colleagues at Stereohyped and Mollygood couldn't believe their ears when we mentioned posting Donna Summer's 1978 anthem, "Last Dance". And, in fact, we can't really believe it, either. Not because we don't love Donna Summer - we do - but because it's taken approximately nine months of Aurals for us to get around to posting the disco diva for you, our lovely readers. Sorry for the delay. To make up for it, we've included Ms. Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money" from 1983 and 1975's "Love To Love You Baby", which launched an office wide mini dance party on this end. We hope it does the same for you!

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