Two Rock Hall Voters Debate Their Must-Have Inductees for 2026
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s chairman recently joked to me that he makes about 30,000 enemies each year. This cycle of torment will begin again, in earnest, next month, when the organization unveils its shortlist of potential inductees for the 2026 class — and all the snubs and riled-up fan bases that follow. “The amount of people that complain about the Rock Hall is strange to me,” one voter says. “Because there’s a continual interest in it and it’s only getting bigger.” This has likely correlated to the Rock Hall expanding how many artists are put onto the ballot every year, which has ballooned in size due to a more active use of side categories than ever before. “I feel like there’s continuing to do a bit of cleanup of people that should have been in a while ago,” the same voter adds. “I wouldn’t say that it’s entirely targeted for a broadcast, but it’s tricky not to consider a certain level of fame that will bring audiences in.”
So while we eagerly await the first round of nominees, why not speculate on who deserves an induction? For the third year in a row, we’ve gathered two Rock Hall voters to speak anonymously about who they want to see on this year’s ballot. Voter one has been active for 15 years, while voter two clocks in at a decade. “The trajectory of the Rock Hall right now is that it reflects pop culture and popular music more broadly,” the second voter explains. “It’s always been a challenge to meet the newly broad music universe in terms of which artists are considered important, which ones are not, and to do so in a way that respects the intention of the Rock Hall. The results have been mixed. I think everyone would agree with that, including the folks at the organization themselves.”
Read on for the voters’ respective picks — and for those still hoping for Phil Collins’s time in the spotlight (me), please stay in line.
The Monkees
There’s been a long-standing dismissal of their impact and the quality of their music. They had the cream of crop of professional songwriters and musicians in Hollywood during the ’60s. The best of their records hold up really well, and that includes the ones they didn’t play on. Headquarters is a great little rock-and-roll album. The Monkees have been used as a shorthand for a certain kind of prefabricated pop group for decades, but these guys got Frank Zappa onto network television, and they performed with Jimi Hendrix. They made Head, which was a completely weird psychedelic film written by Jack Nicholson. They had their toes in the counterculture in addition to being a mainstream act. Now, you could maybe overplay that counterculture thing, but their television show is essentially a precursor for MTV. So as far as the intersection of rock and roll, pop music, and multimedia, the Monkees are really at the Venn diagram where they all meet together. It’s about time that they get some sort of recognition, especially with Micky Dolenz still being alive. I think they would have a very good shot if they made it onto the ballot, but there’s still real prejudice against them. In terms of the nominating-committee people, like the original boomer class, they have a lot of disdain for them. —Voter 1
The Jam
They were never huge over here, although they have “Town Called Malice” and other New Wave hits that became perennials. But they were monumental in the U.K. It’s impossible to imagine British indie without their influence, from the Smiths through to Oasis through to Arctic Monkeys. Paul Weller is still a godlike figure, but the Jam themselves had a really distinct chemistry and sounded very volatile onstage and are among the great punk groups. They’re a very conspicuous omission from the Rock Hall. —Voter 1
War
The oversight of not inducting War looks more egregious with each passing year. When you look at the history of funk and the history of music in Los Angeles, the Rock Hall hasn’t finished doing the work it needs to do. That’s partly because funk was very regional in its underground phase, but War had a big profile. I mean, they had a bunch of humongous singles. You still hear the riffs from those songs in commercials and films all the time. When I look at their influence in Los Angeles in particular, it’s deep. You can’t really imagine the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Los Lobos without War. Even the way Dr. Dre creates this backyard-party atmosphere on The Chronic isn’t that far from the “Low Rider” vibe you’d hear from War. When I look at other bands from the early ’70s that have been inducted in recent years, that’s the company War should be in. —Voter 2
Gram Parsons
He’s no longer with us, and that’s part of the reason why his legend looms so large. It’s really difficult to imagine a lot of what came through punk in the ’80s, and the alt-country scene and what became Americana, without what Gram Parsons did with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He’s not among the Byrds’ inductees because that’s before the Rock Hall started incorporating a lot of people with each band. But you wouldn’t have had Sweetheart of the Rodeo without him. The way he brought the hippie aesthetic to country music has a profound and deep impact that you can feel to this day. —Voter 1
Shakira
The Rock Hall has an opportunity to induct someone who was a massive global star and is still a massive global star today. There aren’t too many opportunities to do that. Shakira is a deeply influential artist in the United States and around the world. She’s an artist that 13-year-olds know, and, to me, that’s a symbol of her having built an incredible career where she has traversed countless musical styles. She can sing rock, alternative rock, folk rock, Latin ballads, dance music, and alongside rappers. She’ll work with underground artists one day and make a soundtrack single the next. An incredibly distinguished career. The Rock Hall is going to need to reckon with how it’s going to integrate Latin music. If ever there were an obvious choice as someone who bridges those worlds, it’s her. The first two albums she put out had a lot of alternative rock on them, and that’s been a thread that comes back from time to time on her albums. So I don’t think you can question that she doesn’t belong on those terms. I know most rock en español fans would not call Shakira one of their own, but on a spectrum, you can make the link. Shakira represents something of a generational shift we’ve seen in other genres but haven’t seen in this one yet. —Voter 2
The Smiths
I have a hard time advocating for Morrissey due to his rightward shift, but, if the Smiths showed up on the ballot, I would vote for them. So much of what keeps the Smiths resonant is Johnny Marr’s guitar and production, so I’ll choose to think of him. —Voter 1
Iron Maiden
There are a sizable majority of voters who believe Iron Maiden should be in the Rock Hall. I think that the metal audience is mistakenly assuming a hostility among the voters. I don’t think that’s the case. What I do think is the case is when push comes to shove and they can only vote for seven artists out of the 15 or so, most of them aren’t big enough metal fans and choose other artists. It’s not that folks are sitting around saying metal doesn’t matter or that it’s not worthy. It’s just that a sizable percentage of the electorate have other genres of music that they prefer, and that’s who they end up voting for at the end of the day. Iron Maiden is a top-five, if not top-three, metal band of all time. I feel strongly that the Rock Hall should use a very broad definition of rock and roll when it chooses the nominees and inductees, but it’s important to recognize the narrower version. That’s especially true when it comes to rock that’s spawned more from Black Sabbath than the Beatles. That vein of rock doesn’t get the same credit, that sort of “Sabbath line,” in other words. There are some really important artists who need to be included and are being overlooked, and Iron Maiden is No. 1 for me in that regard. —Voter 2
Diana Ross
In her career after the Supremes, she has six No. 1 singles among her 55-year solo career. She is still touring in her 80s. Now that the Rock Hall is more open to inducting solo acts who are already in through their previous groups, it’s time for Diana Ross to be one of those people. If you consider her career compared to some of those solo acts who have been inducted, in terms of sales and success and visibility, she meets the criteria, if not surpasses most of the inductees. Whitney Houston broke down the stylistic barrier that existed before that might have prevented Diana Ross from getting in the past. I also think that Cher and Dolly Parton getting in has reframed the criteria of the “fame” part, so that a larger-than-life persona is part of the induction and a way artists are being evaluated, which is a little more specific to solo female artists. So a lot of those barriers that used to be there were dismantled, at least partly. I’ll just add this: You’re talking about a potential reunion of the Motown greats who we still have with us in a way that might not happen in any other space. This is one of those cases where I feel, Why not do it now instead of waiting until we don’t have a moment with Diana Ross in that way ever again? —Voter 2
Little Feat
Little Feat is one of the very distinctly American bands that has an odd trajectory. They come out through the Los Angeles counterculture, they’re aligned with Frank Zappa, and then they start to find their groove by incorporating New Orleans music. That allows them to get jazzy and funky and come alive onstage in a way that’s a harbinger of the jam scene. Along with the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead, that points toward what became known as jam-band culture. They were a band that built a reputation through constant touring. There’s been recent reissues that show how they sound different in 1973, 1975, and even 1977 — there’s a harder edge at a certain point when they’re around Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. And then Waiting for Columbus is one of the greatest live albums ever that shows the depth and range of their music. Lowell George was a tremendous singer-songwriter. My perception of the band could be skewed through that lens, but all of those players really managed to keep going and stay true to that live incarnation with this uniquely American music. —Voter 1
Sir Douglas Quintet
They’re not at the top of rock discourse, but they really helped carve out something special within the genre. They were adjacent to Creedence Clearwater Revival. They created or popularized the sound of Tex-Mex in rock and roll, depending on who you ask. It was an integrated band in terms of Chicanos and white guys playing country and blues, and it was the forefront of what became Americana music. The records still sound pretty great and dynamic. Doug Sahm is not famous enough in terms of a “cultural name,” but the influence is huge. When I think of the long-haired rednecks of the ’70s, he made Austin weird before Willie Nelson came along. —Voter 1
Eric B. & Rakim
I suspect many Rock Hall voters don’t understand how important they are to the history of hip-hop because the group didn’t really have chart hits like Run-D.M.C. But when you look back, Eric B. is a groundbreaking and legendary producer who helped usher the era of sampling into hip-hop. And then there’s Rakim, who’s an even bigger deal. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Rakim had influence in hip-hop similar to what Bob Dylan had in rock in a musical sense. He vastly expanded the emotional range and lyrical complexity of hip-hop. He spoke into the microphone sometimes in hushed tones, which was something that was just starting to happen. If you look at lists of the greatest MCs of all time, he’s always on there. He’s usually the only one from that era who makes the cut, so it tells you something about what the hip-hop community knows in terms of respect for him as an MC, the way in which he reshaped how MCs worked, and the type of music they created. But will everyone else recognize it when there isn’t an obvious stable of hits to back it up? The Rock Hall has put in artists who were not necessarily commercial juggernauts, but who were crucially important to the evolution of rock and roll. They haven’t really done that with hip-hop to this point. If you’re serious about telling that story, Eric B. & Rakin has to be part of it. —Voter 2
Hüsker Dü
They’re an underground band, but their music still sounds vital and alive, which you can hear through the new The Miracle Year compilation that has live tapes when they released New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig. They’re one of the big four American indie bands from the ’80s — Sonic Youth, the Replacements, R.E.M., and Hüsker Dü. R.E.M. is the only one that’s gotten into the Rock Hall so far. But Hüsker Dü’s music is electric and emotional, and I feel like it really helps push you forward to Pixies and alt-rock of the ’90s in a way that not even the Replacements do. —Voter 1
Liz Phair
Exile in Guyville is one of those rare, perfect albums to me. It captures a whole time and mood — an emotional time as much as the calendar year of 1993 because it almost plays cinematically the way that it moves from song to song. It was one of the peaks of indie rock in the ’90s, and her influence is very profound and lasting. You can see there’s a whole generation of new songwriters from Snail Mail and Blondshell to Soccer Mommy. Apart from that, she has a distinctive voice. It’s difficult to imagine the ’90s without her. Growing out of the indie culture of the ’90s, there was a real premium placed on selling out that hit with Liz Phair that I think isn’t unfathomable to younger audiences. With some distance, you can understand an artistic or commercial move like that. And through Lilith Fair, where she was hanging out with people like Sheryl Crow, you can sort of understand why she chose to pivot to pop music. Liz probably didn’t associate herself exclusively with the indie movement. —Voter 1
Wu-Tang Clan
A lot like Eric B. & Rakim, you can’t tell the story of hip-hop without talking about Wu-Tang Clan. They are an iconic group. The music stands on its own and is Rock Hall–worthy in terms of the depth and the way they represented New York hip-hop in that particular moment when the West Coast was ascendant. They helped reshape what it meant to be a musician in the modern era. One thing they did incredibly well was world-building. Every member was a character — RZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, you name it. They were all their own voice in the story. They represented how hip-hop could be about individual voices being heard in the world but also the collective voice of a community. Whether or not they intended it that way, that’s the effect that they had on pop culture. Each of their solo work orbited around the group, and the business decisions they made often were related to those solo decisions. They went on to merchandise their name and logo in a way that became standard fare for not just hip-hop artists, but pop artists in the era ahead. When we start looking at the hip-hop artists who are due to get in, they’re at the top. —Voter 2
Pavement
Yeah, why not? Their comeback has proven the depth of that catalogue. They’ve transitioned from a band that really came alive on records to being able to fully embody the songs onstage. The recent tours have been probably the best that they’ve ever done. And they, as much as Liz Phair, have resonated with the younger generations of indie rockers that pick up guitars and make this off-kilter noise. It would just be fun to see them up there getting inducted. —Voter 1
Chic
The most-nominated act to never be inducted. I know Nile Rodgers is already in through the Musical Excellence category, and there’s a very strong argument he would be worthy of getting in that way even if Chic were in the Rock Hall. But that works the other way too, which is that Chic really deserves to be in, Bernie Edwards really deserves to be in, and the whole band really deserves to be in. Unfortunately, it’s symbolic of the way disco has been treated from the start by certain quarters of the pop-music audience. So much has already been said, but my belief is just keep making the voters say no on Chic. Keep making them say no and live with the consequences of that. In good conscience, I can’t leave them off my list, even though I realize it’s probably a pointless endeavor. —Voter 2
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