After that exhaustive list of 300 artists who are missing in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I have decided to pare that list to a list of 50 major artists ranked according to my opinion of their importance in rock’s history and future.
Remember, this list is only for fun. I do have an ego, but it’s not big enough to believe that I actually have the final say on this topic. Mainly I do this to get my readers to think, debate and develop their own list.
As my close friends know, I have a couple of thousand vinyl albums, and I have actually been going through them to listen to many of the artists on this list. Although they are some of MY personal favorites, The Style Council, Culture Club and New Radicals do not YET deserve a place in my Top 50. Additionally, all of these artists are eligible for induction in 2026. Will my list sway any on the nomination committee or the final vote? More likely, not. But, I do hope one day that I could have a conversation with the great Cameron Crowe and/or ?uestlove about the Rock Hall. I have been a fan of Crowe’s since I was a teen back when he was the young savant of rock journalism. And, I have come to admire Quest’s encyclopedic knowledge of ALL music.
And, now, here’s my countdown of the Top 50 artists who should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
50. Hüsker Dü – The 80s Minneapolis punk band took the Ramones’ brand of punk to the next natural level by adding aggression and distortion. They are a HUGE influence on later bands like Pixies and the whole alternative nation of the 90s.
49. The Commodores – Rock Hall! Don’t think you can short change this band like you have Chic by inducting ONE of their members! The Commodores were the go-to band for dance parties with their funk and make-out music mixtapes with their love ballads.
48. The Marvelettes – How can the first successful Motown group still NOT be members of the Rock Hall? This is a glaring hole. Make it right!
47. Tommy James & the Shondells – Back in the 60s, Tommy James & his band were written off as bubblegum. Then, in the 80s, EVERYONE (Tiffany, Joan Jett, Billy Idol) seemed to be covering their songs. They fused psychedelia with pop music.
46. Rick James – This punk-funkateer was John the Baptist to Prince’s musical messiah. James laid the groundwork for the rock/funk fusion that Prince brought to the masses. Hip hop artists continue to sample his tunes, while the great Dave Chappell brought James to the millennials around two decades ago.
45. “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Weird Al” may be the court jester of rock music, but his parodies are so spot on that nearly everyone wants their songs redone by Yankovic. Plus, Al took his parody all the way by turning the artists’ videos inside out. If his music were truly so easy, then everyone would do it.
44. Supertramp – If you think about it, Supertramp just might be the UK’s version of Styx, who was arguably America’s pop/rock answer to Yes. In other words, Supertramp married prog rock with pop music. And when the band was at their best, such as on Breakfast in America, “Give a Little Bit” and “Dreamer,” no one else could touch them.
43. Mary Wells – Once again, how can the artist who kept Motown alive in the early years continually be left out of the Hall? Get over it, Berry Gordy! Mary left because you wouldn’t pay her. But, that doesn’t negate what she single-handedly kept your company afloat. This feud has been going on for far too long.
42. The Shangri-La’s – Is there a more important 60s girl group to the development of punk and new wave than The Shangri-La’s? They are right there with Hall of Famers The Ronettes. Debbie Harry has always reeked of Shangri-La attitude and toughness.
41. Paul Revere & the Raiders – Ignore those silly American Revolutionary War uniforms and simply listen to their raucous garage rock. These guys just may be ground zero for the whole 70s punk movement. They are so vastly underappreciated.
40. The Replacements – This band created three 80s college rock album classics: Let It Be, Tim and Pleased to Meet Me. But, the band was just as able to ruin their chance at stardom, as their drunken Saturday Night Live performance proved. Yet, their take on a loose country rock/punk rock amalgam is pure beauty on vinyl. Minneapolis was on fire in the 80s with these guys, Hüsker Dü and that famous purple family.
39. Gloria Estefan – This Cuban beauty and her musical husband and friends brought the rhythms of her homeland to the States in the 80s. Now, Gloria is a Latina treasure with a growing grassroots movement to get her nominated and inducted. Her induction would have great ripples throughout the world.
38. Jane’s Addiction – Perhaps the Led Zeppelin of the alternative world, Jane’s Addiction could go from neo-metal to acoustic ballads to post-punk inspired rock and left field pop. They could have ruled the 90s, but they just couldn’t overcome their personality conflicts.
37. De La Soul – This rap trio brought the laidback funky grooves of yacht rock to the hip hop world along with a Afro-centric attitude that was both cutting edge and popular. They paved the way for artists like A Tribe Called Quest.
36. The Raspberries – In the early 70s, rock was dominated by the heavy sounds of Zeppelin and Sabbath. This definitely the wrong time (or was it exactly the right time?) for a band to take melodies and vocal harmonies of the early Beatles but giving their songs the punch of early pre-Tommy Who. Since they seemed to be out of step with the older teens and inline with young teens and tweens, the Raspberries were written off as bubblegum. Yet, their four albums hold up today as a primary example of power pop.
35. Sinead O’Connor – Ms. O’Connor was about a decade too soon for this world. From her strong stance as a musician, feminist and arguably the first to shine a light on the systemic child abuse in the Catholic church, Sinead walked her own path. Her music, though, often got overshadowed by her controversial life choices. While she appeared to be uncomfortable with her success, she earned the right to be her own woman, regardless of what the public felt. It’s a shame her mental health issues won the battle within herself. She was a beautiful artist who should be appreciated today.
34. Phish – Phish is easily the second best jam band of all-time, behind only the Grateful Dead. Personally, I love Phish even more. And they are a better band with a much more diverse sound than darlings the Dave Matthews Band. I have seen Phish in concert, and they totally delivered everything I had hoped. There’s just something special about these guys from Vermont.
33. Chic – Talk about a band getting screwed, Chic seemed to be a perennial nominee during the 2010s, only to see their leader, Nile Rodgers, get inducted via the Musical Excellence. Now, the Hall STILL needs to correct this injustice to visionary bassist and co-founder of the Chic Organization Bernard Edwards, rocking drummer Tony Thompson along with the female singers and visual centerpiece of the band, Norma Jean Wright, Luci Martin and Alfa Anderson. This band was always so much more than a disco band.
32. The Carpenters – The Carpenters were the epitome of soft rock or adult contemporary music in the 70s. Yet, beneath those lush and sophisticated sounds created by musical prodigy Richard Carpenter, laid the heartbreaking vocals of his sister Karen. Karen is what made those hit songs transcend the ages and grab the hearts of those of us who were tweeners in the early-70s. The Carpenters are the bridge between the sounds of Sinatra and Bennett and the rock-influenced sounds of Billy Joel. If “Superstar” isn’t one of the all-time great songs, then I don’t know a damn thing about music.
31. Diana Ross – How can Diana Ross not possibly be a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? This is simply a travesty. This needs to be corrected soon. Good god! She WAS Motown. Ridiculous! And sad!
30. War – This interracial funk band from Los Angeles was definition of cool with their hits in the first half of the decade of the 70s. War was brought to the public’s attention when former Animals vocalist and Hall of Famer Eric Burdon picked the band to record their classic “Spill the Wine.” Then War followed that big break with hits of their own like “The Cisco Kid,” “The Low Rider” and “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”
29. Barry White – When I began to understand what sexiness was, my teacher was Barry White. His deep baritone moved something in women while I took mental notes for what became my make-out music mixtapes. If “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love” doesn’t stir things inside of you, then maybe you ought to check to see if you’re alive.
28. Mötley Crüe – By the time the Crüe began to reared its commercial appeal, I was married. I was never a hair metal aficionado, but I could appreciate a genre whose main influence sounded to be my boys from Rockford, Illinois, Cheap Trick. Mötley Crüe basically wrote power pop songs with guitars influenced by Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhodes.
27. Weezer – My adult sons have always loved Weezer and hooked their father along the way. I have always told them that Weezer is a stripped down Cheap Trick. That was a compliment! Rivers Cuomo simply knows his way around a pop song and dressing it up as alternative banger.
26. King Crimson – Three genres of rock and roll that consistently get the shaft by the Hall nomination committee are metal, classic rock (though they are improving on this front) and progressive (prog) rock. Right now, I can only think of three prog artists in the Hall: Traffic, Yes and Genesis. I don’t understand how the darkest band of this genre keeps waiting for its call. This band brought the dark underbelly of life into the the prog rock world. Now, King Crimson is name-dropped by so many artists playing on the dark side of the street that the band should receiving residuals.
25. New York Dolls – How many times must a band be nominated before they are put in the Hall? Rumor has it at seven consecutive nominations which is why Chic is still waiting; their nominations were non-consecutive which is complete BS! Anyway, the Dolls are considered one of the godfathers of the punk movement in the 70s and the only ones not inducted. The Stooges have been members forever, and MC5 were recently inducted. Now is the time to make this happen!
24. Afrika Bambaataa – I have been waiting for this visionary hip hop artist to be inducted for a good 23 years. No musical institution would be complete without the man who attempted to bring together the various gangs of NYC together with the sounds of hip hop. Then, he changed the world of music itself by sampling a little Kraftwerk and creating an everlasting rap hit called “Planet Rock.” This man is a game-changer!
23. The B-52’s – THE 80s party band. If you didn’t play them at a college party, the party wasn’t rockin’. Along with Devo, The B-52’s made it cool to be a nerd, as they raised all thing kitsch about the past. Their coolness was found in their inclusive attitude and acceptance of whomever you thought you were.
22. Boston – This band, if it ever really a band, has perhaps the second biggest-selling debut album of all-time. And you could wait for nearly a decade to hear the next album, yet you knew the public would be clamoring for Boston’s multi-layered guitar take on classic rock. And Brad Delp is arguably one of rock’s greatest vocalists, without ever being followed day-to-day by the media like Robert Plant or Chris Cornell were. Unfortunately for rock fans, Delp lost his mental health battles, leaving music creator Tom Scholz without his voice.
21. Eric B. & Rakim – Rakim is still recognized by his peers as the greatest MC of all-time. His smooth, literate lyrics flowed both with and against the music created by Eric B. This tension led to some of the greatest hip hop ever produced. And they are one of the few early rap groups from the 80s whose music sounds truly timeless.
20. Sonic Youth – By the turn of the 70s into the 80s, there was a coterie of musical misfits, aural renegades and art pranksters who found each other via the strange sounds of Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, who had a desire to make music that no longer sounded like music. Out of this scene called “No Wave” came this monster of a band called Sonic Youth. What was unique about this band was their kept the pop melodies and rolling rhythms while applying their guitar experiments on top of their traditional foundation. And what they created would go on to influence the whole grunge era of the 90s.
19. Oasis – Oasis, along with Blur and Pulp, essentially brought the world Britpop. The Gallagher brothers led the band into a hard rock version of power pop coupled with a Ray Davies/Paul Weller uniquely British point of view in their lyrics. Yet, this time the formula sold well in the States. Recently, they successfully reunited to tour the States biggest stadiums proving their status in rock history.
18. Billy Idol – Unlike the other London punks who broke out in the UK in the late-70s, Billy Idol really wanted to be a rock star, hence his name. When his punk band, Gen X, went by the wayside, Idol moved to New York City to become the rock star he knew he was destined to become. He hooked up with guitarist Steve Stevens to create their Frankenstein sound of metal meets punk meets goth meets dance that made Billy Idol an 80s icon.
17. Big Star – Big Star was a power pop band from Memphis who had a similar sound to the Raspberries. Except Big Star’s music was destined for the bargain bins before they could even gain a commercial footing. Then in the late-70s and early-80s a bunch of college smartasses like myself discovered this band in used record stores throughout the country. Big Star’s unique take on power pop and their post-modern lyrics influence a huge underground scene in the 80s, like bands known as REM, The dB’s, Pixies, Marshall Crenshaw, The Replacements, The Bangles, and so many others. If you enjoy The Beatles’ Revolver album with their guitars cranked up, you will LOVE Big Star.
16. Pixies – This band’s influence on Nirvana often caused Kurt Cobain to worry that his songs sounded too much like the Pixies. The Pixies did innovate the whole LOUD-quiet-LOUD dynamic that Nirvana perfected. And like Nirvana, Pixies never allowed that musical dynamic to overrun the melody of song. Perhaps the biggest obstacle that kept the Pixies from gaining much commercial traction was the proclivity of leader Black Francis writing about obscure artwork. Still, that made the band so much more compelling.
15. The Runaways – By the mid-70s, impresario Kim Fowley was attempting to create an all-girl glam band that he could exploit to his own financial gain. Fortunately for us, the jail bait girls he chose were strong-willed enough to make some great punk-via-metal noise that influenced girls around the world to become rock musicians. This band had lead singer Cherie Currie, guitarist Joan Jett, guitarist Lita Ford, drummer Sandy West and future Jeopardy champion and bassist Jackie Fox (Fuchs). The Runaways, The Go-Go’s and The Bangles broke down the walls for all-female bands to be taken seriously at face value.
14. The Smashing Pumpkins – The Smashing Pumpkins’ attack was equal parts Pixies distortion and angst and Boston’s layered guitars filtered through a Gen X attitude. At times the Pumpkins were lumped with the whole grunge thing, and other times they were given their own space. It was their own space in which the grew to become one of the more important bands of the 90s.
13. Thin Lizzy – Rewind to the mid-70s and most bands are using the usual two guitars (one lead, one rhythm), one bass and one drummer. Then a foursome from Ireland exploded on the scene with the basic ingredients in their instrumentation, only now they were featuring two lead guitarists as if Thin Lizzy were a punky metal version of the Eagles or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Lizzy combined Springsteen-esque lyrics with a hard rock sound all their own. They are so influential that Metallica even covered Lizzy’s “The Whiskey Jar” on their Garage LP.
12. Devo – These art-punks from Akron, Ohio, turned rock & roll on its ear in 1978 with their synthesizer devolved cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” From there, the band took their sociological theory of de-evolution to the masses with hits like “Through Being Cool,” “Working in a Coalmine” and the ubiquitous “Whip It.” They were so far ahead of the music industry that it’s just beginning to catch up to what Devo did AND predicted.
11. Styx – In the 80s, Journey was the sound of Arena Rock. But, before their ascension, the 70s belonged to the Chicago band Styx. They took progressive leanings, mixed it with a touch of Queen’s theatrical performance, used Beatles melodies and harmonies and put it all in a hard rock setting. And teens like me ate that stuff up between 1977 and 1981. Then, Dennis DeYoung attempted to take the band into Broadway territory, which led to a major rift in the band, a major decline in sales and left DeYoung outside looking in. Styx was excellent at what they did! Now that Foreigner is in, here’s the next classic rock group whose up.
10. Motörhead – Are they metal, thrash or hard rock? Who cares! Motörhead, which is slang for an amphetamine user, just plain rocks and just may have been the first band to take the speed of punk songs and apply it to heavy metal songs. In the words of Todd Rundgren, “Motörhead’s not in (the Hall)?” Nope. And that’s a travesty.
9. Wu-Tang Clan – This fraternity of hip hop outsiders remain the most important rap artist not in the Rock Hall. This was a combination of rap personalities that moved in and out of the band’s songs and the individuals’ solo efforts. This is more than a band. It’s like Motown, except everyone wrote and somewhat produced sounds, beats and spit. There’s no blueprint for the Clan, and their debut is a standard in the hip hop world.
8. Jethro Tull – I am, by no means, a fan of this band. Still, I remember how big the Tull was with the high school boys on my school bus, and I’ve listened to a couple of my brothers-in-law praise the band endlessly and enthusiastic. I believe if a band that created a terrific album like Aqualung deserves a spot in the Hall.
7. Phil Collins – Phil Collins was the 80s! Hell, every time you turned the radio on, there was his damn voice singing. From 1980, with the Genesis hit “Misunderstanding,” to 1989 with his solo hit “Another Day in Paradise,” I don’t think there was a year without either a Phil Collins or Genesis hit. And, I loved his music! I was a big fan back in the “Follow Me, Follow You” days. I simply grew tired of hearing him every day for a decade. Now that things have calmed down, we can finally appreciate what he gave us.
6. The Jam – If the 1976/77 London punk scene had a Big Three, The Clash, the Sex Pistols and The Jam would be it. And The Jam are the only ones not in the Hall. Unfortunately, the USA never warmed to Paul Weller’s brilliant but Brit-centric lyrics. But, these guys could flat out rock! The Clash’s Paul Simonon developed into quite a bassist, but The Jam was the punk band with best low end sound, and they had a funkiness that The Clash only wished they had.
5. The Smiths – For those of you who did not have an alternative rock radio station to listen to in the 80s, you might not appreciate just how important The Smiths were. Where REM’s early music jangled, The Smiths chimed. Their unique sound basically followed The Kinks and The Jam by writing literary lyrics about everyday British life which curtailed their American appeal. Yet, they helped ring in Britpop along with the Stone Roses.
4. Mariah Carey – After Whitney Houston, the next great diva was Mariah Carey. Now, I don’t mind that the Hall inducted Mary J. Blige, but not before Mariah! C’mon people! She’s the biggest selling artist in history and is the Queen of Christmas. Plus, she has been an influence on every female artist who followed.
3. The Monkees – Yes, The Monkees were put together in a marketing strategy meeting. Still, these guys were given the best songs, and they put some killer vocals on them all. The Monkees were Generation Jones and Gen X’s gateway into rock music.
2. Joy Division/New Order – This is the tale of one band’s demise (Joy Division) due to the untimely death of their lead singer, and the rise of a new band (New Order) with a slightly altered sound that took the whole vision to the masses. Joy Division brought an intensively icy darkness to the world, helping to popularize Gothic rock. After lead singer Ian Curtis’ death, the rest of the band added a keyboardist to form New Order. They developed into a Kraftwerk-inspired, synthesizer-driven dance band who knocked down the walls between rock and dance musics. Joy Division and New Order are so entwined that they have got to be enshrined together.
1. Iron Maiden – Maiden are gods of the metal universe. And, they just might be the greatest live band that has yet to be inducted. When you listen to Iron Maiden’s music, you hear that virtuoso amalgamation of metal, prog and punk. The prog is toned down, yet it is there. The speed of their instruments are their nod to punk, although the band will deny that influence. And the metal they play is visceral and real. If you were a lover of heavy metal in the 80s and beyond, this is probably your band. They absence from the Hall has gone on long enough!
Of these 50 artists, I am honing in on sixteen artists whom I believe will be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026. I will make those predictions next week, as well as which artists I believe will actually become the performer portion of that class. So, stay tuned!
If My Records Could Talk 