The 2026 Rock N Roll Hall of Fame nominees for induction have been announced and without any bullshitting around, here’s the list:
The Black Crowes
Jeff Buckley
Mariah Carey
Phil Collins
Melissa Etheridge
Lauryn Hill
Billy Idol
INXS
Iron Maiden
Joy Division/New Order
New Edition
Oasis
Pink
Sade
Shakira
Luther Vandross
Wu-Tang Clan
Mariah Carey? Lauryn Hill? PINK, for fuck’s sake? Luther Vandross? As much as I can appreciate and give some of these artists credit where credit’s due, I think I, just like many others, wonder what is “rock n’ roll” about Pink and Luther Vandross. I know it’s always been like this, but it’s things like this list that scream, “I paid to be here.”
Honestly, let’s face it, it’s not about Rock N’ Roll at all. It’s about big business and who has the deeper pockets to make it in there. When an artist whom I admire gets in, I literally run to watch the ceremony to see how it’s going to go down mostly because I like to the how the people that swore that they’d NEVER attend a ceremony of they were inducted. The most vocal of them, so far, has been Iron Maiden.
The Hall Of Fame previously said the Iron Maiden members that would get inducted include the current lineup of singer Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris and guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers, along with former guitarist Dennis Stratton, ex-singer Paul Di’Anno and former drummers Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr.
Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal bands like MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N’ ROSES in that group’s first year of eligibility.
Iron Maiden was on the ballot for the second time in 2023, but the institution’s voters snubbed them once again.
The only metal or metal-adjacent acts to have made it into the Rock Hall so far have been BLACK SABBATH, LED ZEPPELIN, METALLICA, AC/DC, JUDAS PRIEST, KISS, VAN HALEN, RUSH, GUNS N’ ROSES, Ozzy Osbourne and DEEP PURPLE.
Iron Maiden finished in the fourth place in the fan vote for the 2023 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction class.
Seven years ago, Harris said that he didn’t care that his band had yet to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame despite the fact that it had been eligible since 2004.
“I don’t mind that we’re not in things like that,” he told Rolling Stone in an interview. “I don’t think about things like that. It’s very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn’t get into the business for that sort of thing. I’m certainly not going to lose sleep if we don’t get any sort of award, not just that one, any award. I don’t think we deserve to have this or that necessarily. With what we do, whatever comes of it is great. Whatever doesn’t come of it is great, too.”
Dickinson made headlines in 2018 when he referred to the Rock Hall as “an utter and complete load of bollocks” during a spoken-word gig in Australia, insisting that the Cleveland-based institution is “run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock and roll if it hit them in the face.”
Bruce later told The Jerusalem Post that he was “so annoyed with that coverage because they took my statement out of context to make it seem like I was upset that we weren’t in the Hall Of Fame.
“I’m really happy we’re not there and I would never want to be there,” he continued. “If we’re ever inducted, I will refuse — they won’t bloody be having my corpse in there.
“Rock and roll music does not belong in a mausoleum in Cleveland,” Bruce added. “It’s a living, breathing thing, and if you put it in a museum, then it’s dead. It’s worse than horrible, it’s vulgar.”
Harris previously told “Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon” that he wasn’t concerned about whether Iron Maiden would eventually be inducted into the Rock Hall. “I don’t really think about it, to be honest. I think awards are things that are nice to have when you get them, but it’s not something you’re really striving for — it’s not what it’s about it,” he said. “It’s never been about that. It’s aways been about just trying to make good music and go out and play good live shows, and that’s it, really. Hopefully people will appreciate it. It’s probably nice when people give you awards — don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great — but it’s not something that you would lose sleep over if you didn’t get any.
“It’s the way that I am,” Harris added. “I don’t know. Maybe the rest of the guys [in the band] might think differently to me, but that’s the way I think. It’s not that I don’t care about [awards]. It’s just… And it’s not that they’re not meaningful when you do get ’em — it’s nice. But I certainly don’t worry about it or anything like that. I think other people are the ones that make a bigger deal out of it than us, about whether we got one or not.”
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