The 2026 Inductees to the Rock Hall were just announced, so let's take a look at how well the Hall did at inducting those of the type they have hitherto snubbed.
Those nominated-but-not-inducted will be listed where there SHOULD have gone, but in [brackets]:1950s: I guess Ed Sullivan counts here; he received the Ertegun award.
1980s: Phil Collins, as a solo artist. Billy Idol. Iron Maiden. The New Order half of the Joy Division/New Order induction. Sade. Luther Vandross. Really, the whole slate of inductees, aside from Wu-Tang Clan.
[INXS, New Edition.]
Rap: Wu-Tang Clan. Queen Latifah got in as a "Musical Influence," which is insulting-- she is a Performer. The category was first called "Early Influences," but was expanded to include the early influences of those genres that emerged after rock, like electronica and hip-hop. Except the early days of hip-hop were in the 1970s... and Latifah released her debut album in 1989, when hip-hop was well underway.
[Lauren Hill]
Arena Rock: Billy Idol, maybe. It's really a band-based genre, but I guess if any solo artist fits, he does.
Blues: None.
Country: None. But that's OK. They inducted Wille Nelson and Dolly Parton in consecutive years, so they can take a break from country.
Metal: Iron Maiden. And in the Performer category, too... not in "Musical Excellence," where they shoved Judas Priest.
Folk: [Jeff Buckley was the closest]
Disco: None, although maybe some of Vandross' songs count.
Guitar Gods: None.
Lighter soul: None. Both Sade and Vandross are heavy soul. [Lauren Hill]
Novelty: None. Still.
Non-English: Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti... both over there on the side, in Influences. It may be kinda OK to place Cruz with Influences, since her first album dropped in 1958, which is arguably early in rock terms. But Latin music goes back way before that. And then Kuti dropped his first album in 1970. What was he an early practitioner of, exactly? I just really don't like that all the "Influences" this year are POC with two singing in not-English; it's not the best look. [Shakira]
Later Influences: See above note.
Experimental: None to the degree of, say, Bjork-- but Joy Division and Wu-Tang were innovative.
Long Shots: None. All of the Inductees are safe bets.
Critical Darlings: Joy Division, maybe [Jeff Buckley]
Singer/Not-Songwriter: None [Mariah Carey]
Brainy: Joy Division, Wu-Tang. [Buckley]
Piano: None.
Synths: Joy Division/New Order
Backing Bands: None with the "and the" wording
Women: Sade. In side categories: Celia Cruz, Queen Latifah, Linda Creed. [Mariah Carey, Melissa Etheridge, Lauren Hill, P!nk. Yeah, I know!]
Weird: None, really
Accompanists: None, really. The Influences are all performers (and so should be inducted as, ahem, Performers) and the Excellence inductees are mostly producers (and so should be inducted as Non-Performers). They really do NOT understand their own categories, in a weird way that insults inductees as well as honoring them.
It was not a hugely impressive field this year, aside from Phil Collins and Wu-Tang. Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti having been among the Performer inductees would have fixed that. At least the Hall is looking outside the English-speaking world altogether, so that's a start.
It was not a hugely impressive field this year, aside from Phil Collins and Wu-Tang. Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti having been among the Performer inductees would have fixed that. At least the Hall is looking outside the English-speaking world altogether, so that's a start.
Now that Phil Collins is in, maybe Sting has a better chance of solo induction. It should be noted that a couple of those nominated several times did finally get in now... so as the Cubs fans say: Wait 'til next year.
