Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees 2026: My Picks
This annual post about the year's Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame nominees almost didn’t exist. My annoyance with the “Joy Division/New Order” option has only grown uglier and more extreme. Here’s what I wrote last year:
This pisses me off. Joy Division deserves to get in for the Unknown Pleasures t-shirt alone, not to mention there being two great biopics about Ian Curtis. New Order could wait a bit, but their dance-rock synthesis was a major component of ‘80s “college rock.” So why are they sharing a spot? Don't tell me it’s because the line-ups are similar, or that the latter only exists because of Curtis’ death. You’re going to tell me that creating a musically unprecedented, commercially significant venture after the death of your instantly legendary singer isn’t worth a second acknowledgment, but giving Art Garfunkel the heave-ho is? Hank Ballard and the Midnighters have separate inductions. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band have separate inductions. The Beatles and Ringo Starr have separate inductions. Induct Joy Division the old fashioned way, then give New Order one of those “for musical excellence” side-entrances. I know Peter Hook will happily take the bump in his concert guarantee either way, but I must reject this out of protest.
Yes, yes, I know this guy is in for "musical excellence." Like Norman Whitfield, Judas Priest and Jimmy Buffett.
You’d think the social & political atrocities of the last year might put me in a more pleasant perspective about it. After all, maybe Barney and Hooky will reunite and we can all smile as they play "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and “Bizarre Love Triangle" together again at last. But, no. If anything, I’m more irritated by the gratuitously unprincipled whims of hypothetically benign cultural institutions today, even if the issue is merely a Gen X musical staple not getting the respect Simon & Garfunkel received. Fuck all these motherfuckers who hide behind doing art a solid when actually thinking commercially. Fuck em! Hinder Rules! Go Hinder!
More than ever, I’m tempted to say Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame doesn’t deserve the effort it takes to whimsically describe which nominees are the most famous, and thus deserving inclusion in a hall of fame. But I wanted to get one more post up this month, and my cartoonishly pissed off rock nerd muse is making this the easiest to write. So here we go!
The 2026 nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, from most culturally deserving to least.
Look, if Billboard's going to cheer this every year, the Rock Hall can do it once.
Mariah Carey: As I said in 2024, thanks to climate change, her annual promotional blitz is now more reliable than snow.
Iron Maiden: As I said in 2022, I was rooting for them getting in before Judas Priest, because Eddie. My kid and I went to the RockWalk at the Guitar Center on Santa Monica Boulevard last year, and Eddie has a skeleton-print there. C'mon.
Oasis: As I said last year, part of me thinks Billy Idol should get in first, as he was the earlier “let’s make this subculture for DUDES” MTV pioneer. But Oasis transformed Britpop in their image, where Billy Idol became less new wave. So…I’m going with Oasis. The reunion tour has only thickened the brows on this stance.
MAKE EVERY VOTER WATCH THIS BEFORE VOTING.
Luther Vandross: No less hailed as the platonic ideal of an R&B balladeer today than when he died more than twenty years ago.
Sade: Treated as a supernatural icon of island-spa sexuality since before many of these groups started. I even had her ahead of Oasis in 2024, noting the effort people take to pronounce her name correctly, and the esteem she gets for music usually associated with Skinemax.
Wu-Tang Clan: The missing link between Yo! MTV Raps and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They were associated with putting your thumbs together and lifting them before hearts were. There’s a biopic miniseries if you need to go to 90s school and/or rap school about the Wu-Tang Clan. I don’t have the time right now. Though it does come up in my Favorite Albums Of 1995 post.
Anthony Cougar Miccio
Melissa Etheridge: With Ellen DeGeneres doing herself no favors this decade, let’s proudly acknowledge the woman who had at least two inescapable songs after daring to come out in the ‘90s, inspiring DeGeneres and so many karaoke regulars.
Billy Idol: As I suggested last year, I'd really like a documentary or something to prove he's still an icon rather than a punchline. And "Dancing With Myself" definitely belongs in a wandering speech where Little Steven names a bunch of classic 45s.
Maybe I just resent my inner child being made to believe this ever happened to anyone ever.
Phil Collins: Isn’t Genesis already in? Couldn’t they retroactively change it to Genesis/Phil Collins? Or throw him a “musical influences” induction if you need to acknowledge “Easy Lover” and his contributions to EG and Charisma Records? Yes, he was inescapable in the late 80s. The guy earned a “Phil Fridays” social media movement a decade back. But oh, think twice. Because a second induction for Phil, next to “Joy Division/New Order,” isn’t paradise.
INXS: An Australian new wave act, explicitly influenced by XTC from the name down, eventually becomes international superstars with an aesthetic that crossed James Brown with Derek Zoolander. Their videos charmingly acknowledged the existence of every member equally, as if Dorkus Malorkus on the sax was as important as the sex god singing. Adam Levine. The Australian TV miniseries about them is pretty good! A fair inclusion, someday.
It's been way too long since I've done this New Edition-adjacent hit at karaoke. And I sure hope it'd make the Rock Hall medley.
New Edition: I guess their reunion efforts make this a Wu-Tang Clan scenario, where the brief cultural reigns of Bell Biv Devoe and Bobby Brown are part of the New Edition story. Plus, their reunion album kept REM’s New Adventures In Hi-Fi from topping the chart.
Jeff Buckley: With every passing decade, I understand a little more why a cute guy who could sing like Robert Plant has managed such a cult off so few albums. By comparison, I no more get how people listen to a Tim Buckley album now, than I did when “Last Goodbye” was in the Buzz Bin. Before you even get into the song, which you may have never heard if Buckley hadn't heard John Cale do it on a Leonard Cohen tribute album, this is a phenomenon worth acknowledging.
What if Shakira and Lauryn Hill both got in, and Wyclef appeared on stage for this?
Shakira: Her career is even more remarkable than a lot of people realize, deftly moving not just between markets, but cultures. The way she’s idiosyncratically, unapologetically and infectiously chased the muse between languages was a major stepping stone to Bad Bunny playing the Super Bowl. And, like hips, I won’t lie. Anything that gets that ass on TV.
P!NK: Eventually, sure. She not only survived but thrived despite the early blaccent, proudly announcing her license plate said "#1 Superstar," and saying her parents divorce was her Vietnam. The aerials industry owes her millions. But I don’t even think she’d want to get in before Melissa Etheridge.
The Black Crowes: One last italicized upchuck from last year... While I respect the Crowes’ ability to resemble all ‘70s rock instead of one specific band, we should probably put most ‘70s rock in (see Bad Company!) before these guys. I mean, what’s the hit, “She Talks To Angels”? The Otis Redding cover? That one about needing a remedy (I always forget what it’s called)? Joe Cocker should be in before these guys. Canned Heat should be in first. Gregg Allman solo. Steve Winwood solo. 38 Special. Black Oak Arkansas. The Osmonds. Any successful band that wore colorful bellbottoms or flares cuz that’s what bands did at the time. Also, anyone who had a hit album with a harmonica solo before 1989. Huey Lewis & The News. Maybe the Blues Brothers. Bruce Willis. First, let's acknowledge the guys who pretended they were on Motown, then the kids who pretended they were on The Midnight Special.
Actually, I might enjoy the social media drama if they got in.
Lauryn Hill: This is a political rebuke. The Fugees aren’t in yet. Over the last half century, Lauryn’s made one, admittedly legendary, album (I will only acknowledge Unplugged 2.0 after you try to listen to it again). Outside the Fugees and that album, she is largely famous for missing shows, Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit, and for not filing her taxes, applying a stressed-out logic that works better for overworked retail employees who miss out on their refund, rather than someone who received six figures to sing at the end of a kids’ movie named Surf’s Up. All three of the Fugees have been accused of white collar crime, so don’t use that as a reason to ignore Pras and Wyclef. Until the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame creates a semblance of logic as to how and why some people deserve multiple inclusions and some don’t, fuck this shit. Also “Ex-Factor” is 900 times better than “Doo Wop." I won't stop saying it.
While I could only vote for the seven above, once you take away my frustration with The Very System Itself, only The Black Crowes stand out as a goddamn joke (why not induct Paul Shaffer?). So please, Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, take away my frustration! Make it make sense!
If you have an opinion about any of these bands and their worthiness for inclusion in the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame, write your own post! All other questions and concerns can go to anthonyisright at gmail dot com. Unless you need a remedy for what is ailing thee. I don't have it.
