Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2026 Nominees are Up for Voting. What Do You Think?

[LinkedMusicians]

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame First Time Nominees: 

Jeff Buckley, the Wu-Tang Clan, Lauryn Hill, Luther Vandross, Pink, Shakira, INXS, New Edition, Melissa Etheridge, and solo Phil Collins.

Second Time Nominees:
Sade, Billy Idol, and the Black Crowes.

Third Time Nominees: 
Oasis, Iron Maiden, Carey, and Joy Division/New Order.

https://rockhall.com/

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1

[Peter DeLegge]

5 to 7 will make it in.

My picks:

• Jeff Buckley. 1 million percent. He was an incredible talent. And yes, I was a fan when he was alive and turned my wife on to his music shortly after we met. He passed away less than a year later.
• Joy Division / New Order. They were incredibly influential. Even Billy Corgan claims them as his greatest influence.
• Iron Maiden. I’m not big into metal, but Iron Maiden really should have been inducted long ago. It’s time to right that wrong.

I don’t feel strongly about any other band or artists. I loved Phil Collins 70s drumming, up to 1980 with Abacab actually. But his solo music? “One More Night,” “Susidio”… Beyond “In The Air” it’s not music that stood the test of time. I suppose Luther Vandros is worthy and probably Lauren Hill and possibly INXS. But I would consider INXS, Black Crowes, Oasis, and Melissa Ethridge talented artists, but not legendary, groundbreaking artists. But I realize that they induct bands like Go-Gos that are little more than gimmick bands, which is where I would put Billy Idol. You may get a kick out of his music, but it’s throwaway commercial pop.

Jeff Buckley was a remarkable talent whose work remains timeless. Joy Division was hugely influential. Iron Maiden was very influential in the metal world. Wu-Tang Clan was no doubt very influential too, but I don’t have the same level of knowledge with rap as rock, electronic pop, and metal. Those are the only bands/artists that have been nominated that I feel strongly about. How about you?

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2

[MagicRuss]

There are a few problems with the RRHOF.

First is that it ceased being Rock and Roll and has made itself about popular music.

Second, and more importantly, they induct seven artists a year.   Because even if you do expand the categories to include all of popular music, you are going to run out of legends to induct and end up with a pretty mediocre list.

Third, the hall itself has some of its own biases and motives which don’t necessarily align with nominating the best.

Fourth, it’s the Hall of Fame, and not the Hall of Greatness.

Fifth, the voting is open to the public.  When you have Pat Benatar on the ballot and a huge number of people don’t even know who she is, that’s a problem.

As far as quality of nominations, I’m largely in line with Peter.  I’ll add the following:

Luther Vandross and Sade both have well produced music with exceptional vocals, but both are really just background music.

New Edition is pretty much the HOF trolling us.  They are a boy band from 40 years ago and even looking at their wiki page I can only remember one song and it’s not that great.

I don’t think Melissa Etheridge was groundbreaking but you could argue that she was influential or opened the door for a number of female acts that followed.

Pink on the other hand has no reason to be there.  The best 20 seconds of singing in her catalog are on a bridge in “True Love” where Lily Allen is singing unaccompanied.

Here are two people that I think need to be inducted:

Hank Marvin/The Shadows.  They mostly only had a few singles and mostly in England.  However, there are easily a dozen guitar players who are in the hall of fame who claim him as an influence.  Even Bela Fleck and Jean Michele Jarre cite him as influences, and without JMJ a whole slew of electronic artists don’t happen.

Glen Snoddy.  The invention of the fuzz pedal had a whole lot more influence on music than the last 10 or 20 years of HOF inductees combined.

 

 

1

[Barrie]

I guess I’ll weigh in based on the list and my experience and how I perceive them. (in no particular order). I believe a LOT of other artists are more deserving, but this is what we got 🙁

Phil Collins
Black Crowes
Oasis
Joy Division/New Order
Sade (who actually cowrote the majority of all of her songs)
Melissa Etheridge

Maybe this is the year I finally release something 🙂

[joegyork]

By coincidence I was listening to Melissa Etheridge for the first time for years recently and I had forgotten what an astounding artist she is so she would get my vote! New Order / Joy Division would be my second choice. Phil Collins’ solo stuff is far too MOR for me!

1

[Yan]

Iron Maiden are a true legend and are what the rock and roll spirit is all about. They belong there.

1

[mustakatu]

Sade, Oasis, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Jeff Buckley, Phil Collins

1

[William Heins]

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

Kansas

Styx

….and other real rock acts 😉

I had hopes that it was going to be a real Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame but it seems to be Jann Wenner’s social engineering project sadly!

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

[LinkedMusicians]

On William Heins said

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

Kansas

Styx

….and other real rock acts…

Isn’t it a complete disgrace that ELP isn’t in the Hall of Fame? I mean, I think every serious keyboardist can acknowledge that Keith Emerson was brilliant. I’d still say the greatest rock keyboardist of all time. Some have called him the Hendrix of the keyboard. ELP was the first rock concert I ever saw. I fell in love with ELP with the Trilogy album when I was, I don’t know, maybe 7. For the son of a music teacher who was a piano student, hearing the piano — and organ — on the Trilogy album was an incredible blend of rock and classical that I immediately fell in love with and my mother did too.

As far as Kansas, Steve Walsh, he had one of my favorite rock voices of all time on the classic Kansas stuff (70s). He had serious vocal issues from the mid 80s and beyond. I think I’ve seen Kansas live five times, unfortunately, though, it was all after Steve starting having vocal issues. As a prog rock fan, I feel Kansas never got the recognition they deserved. But the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hasn’t had a lot of respect for progressive rock. While I grew up a Styx fan and think they deserve to be there, I feel way more strongly about ELP than any other group, followed by Kansas, then Styx. They’ve overlooked so many important rock and prog rock bands, it’s really ridiculous.  King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, and Supertramp are worthy of being in there, IMO.

They should change their name to the pop music hall of fame.

That said, I took my family there for a visit several years ago and it was a good time.

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[joegyork]

@William Heins what do you mean by

‘I had hopes that it was going to be a real Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame but it seems to be Jann Wenner’s social engineering project sadly!’

[William Heins]

What I mean is taking an established norm and twisting it in order to appease, thus removing all meaning. For instance Dolly Parton has nothing to do with Rock’n’Roll and ELP do in a very big way, but Jann Wenner has stated ELP will never be in the RnRHOF! I like Dolly Parton and think she is trully a wonderful person but the whole idea is ludicrous. Sade?? Wu-tang Clan?? Luthur Vandross?????? Go through the inductees list at the website and see all the people and groups that don’t belong there!

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

[joegyork]

Appease who?

Am I correct in thinking what you’re saying is that you feel eg with Dolly Parton, a country artist, and the various hip hop artists being inducted is that these genres are clearly not rock — as Parton herself pointed out when she was nominated. Is that right? Basically, stick to rock, not country, hip hop, jazz, EDM, and other genres?

The phrase ”social engineering” has some pretty dark history to it, so when you used that phrase, it might lead to people thinking you’re making a very different point which hopefully you are not

[William Heins]

Yeah, my point was that country, classical, jazz, rap, hiphop, etc. are not Rock’n’Roll and a lot of true rock artists and acts that belong there are overlooked…my meaning of social engineering is that Jann Wenner has basically destroyed the notion of Rock’n’Roll and just puts in groups he likes.

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

[LinkedMusicians]

In any event, of all of the rock groups not in the Hall of Fame that I think there’s a very strong case that they should be there, the one omission that really disappoints me the most is Keith Emerson. He was as brilliant a rock keyboardist as the genre has ever seen and had no limits. His virtuoso playing and incredibly creative musical imagination allowed him to play whatever he dreamed. Out of all of the snubs, that’s the snub that disappoints me the most. The fact that he passed on without seeing that very well-deserved acknowledgement is just plain sad to me. And yes, I realize that Carl Palmer and Greg Lake are/were also very talented, but Keith was just one of those once-in-a-lifetime talents.

I’m sure many of the keyboardists who have been inducted would cite him as an inspiration. People use the term brilliant too easily. Keith Emerson was absolutely a brilliant rock keyboardist.

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1

[joegyork]

ELP were one of my introductions to rock / prog. As a teenager I had gotten into classical music after hearing Holst’s The Planets in a music lesson and around the same time Peter & The Wolf which made me realise that music alone could tell a story.

Other than that I was more into pop heavily influenced by my older sister – The Hollies, Marmalade (their ‘Reflections of My Life’ remains a favourite!) etc. I happened across ELP’s Pictures At An Exhibition – I can’t remember if I already knew the original orchestral work but I loved it.

From then on my twin passions were prog and classical before folk came along after I first went into a folk club on a wet Sunday evening and loved the atmosphere, the music and the songs that mostly were about industrial work in the north east of England – particularly mining. My father had been a miner so i could relate strongly even at one step removed.

2

[LinkedMusicians]

As a very young kid, maybe 7 years old, my mother took me to buy my first drum kit — used — for $90, and it was a classic kit. Today, it’s a collectors item worth a lot of money (unfortunately, I sold it when I was a kid). And the drummer selling it was an adult who was a very talented drummer. We were at his home and he had Emerson, Lake, and Palmer playing and both my mother — who was a music teacher and musician for a living (old school, musicians’ union, she even had be explore joining the musicians’ union when I was 18) who went to college for classical piano and organ and was in love with Chopin most of all — and I fell in love with what they guy had playing on his turntable, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Trilogy. I bought the drum kit and then bought ELP’s Trilogy album. Some years later, my youngest sister took me to see ELP in concert for my birthday — my first ever rock concert. So, ELP has a special place in my heart. Although I still recall that I was a pretty upset little kid, they didn’t play any songs from their Trilogy album at that show.

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2

[LinkedMusicians]

A more accessible song from the Trilogy album. A fun song, with killer organ and piano by Keith Emerson and great drumming by Carl Palmer. The Sheriff.

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1

[William Heins]

joegyork If you like prog and folk then you must know Strawbs and Gryphon 🙂

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

[joegyork]

On William Heins said

joegyork If you like prog and folk then you must know Strawbs and Gryphon 🙂

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

Certainly do William. Gryphon are still going though I have never manged  to see them and I don’t own any of theirs or Strawbs’ albums. My favourite folk / rock band is Home Service when it was fronted by John Tams – checkout their Alright Jack album – it is a masterpiece! I’ll check out your link too – thanks

1

[William Heins]

I’ll definitely check it out, I love British folk rock!

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

1

[MagicRuss]

Final list of inductees

2026 Performers Inductees

Phil Collins: Inducted for his solo career (previously inducted with Genesis).
Billy Idol: Recognized for his pioneering punk rock and pop-rock career.
Iron Maiden: The influential heavy metal band enters the Hall.
Joy Division/New Order: The combined acts are honored for their post-punk and synth-pop impact.
Oasis: The Britpop band makes it in, noted by headlines.
Sade: Known for soul-jazz, the band is inducted.
Luther Vandross: The soul singer is inducted.
Wu-Tang Clan: The hip-hop collective, celebrated for their 1993 debut.

Additional Honorees

Musical Excellence Award: Queen Latifah, Rick Rubin, and Celia Cruz.
Ahmet Ertegun Award: Linda Creed, Fela Kuti, and Jimmy Miller.

I have to admit that I wasn’t familiar with Linda Creed or Jimmy Miller, but after looking them up, can’t argue that they deserve some recognition.

 

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