RRHoF ROULETTE: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE STUPID
There’s something downright therapeutic about writing in a place where nobody can complain about “too many words,” “too many FUCKs and other colorful expletives”, or me being “politically incorrect.” Out there, I’m apparently a menace. In here? I’m just me — for better, worse, and whatever’s in between. And if you’re reading this willingly, congratulations: you’re the one who needs the psychiatrist, not me.
Take a drink every time the rock and roll hall of fame fuck’s it up!
BINGO!
The world is a full‑blown circus right now. Countries fighting countries, feeding us PR‑approved fairy tales about “the real reason why.” Families and friends going to war over politics like it’s the new national pastime. Remember the old saying from the 60s and 70s — “Don’t talk politics or religion with family or friends”? Back then, only a complete jackass would bring that up at a cookout. And when they did, half the room erupted in contempt, the other half in loud agreement, and everyone left with heartburn. Different century, same stupidity. Which is exactly why I stick to music — fewer fistfights, more riffs.
Music soothes the savage beast. It doesn’t make you throw punches — just sarcasm. You can still be pretentious as hell, but at least nobody’s flipping the Thanksgiving table. And nothing brings out the best (and worst) of that pretentious energy like talking about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Which… here we are.
Your 2026 Rock Hall Nominees (Alphabetized by Sweet Lou’s Vinyl Shelves)
And yes, every one of these artists is in my collection and still gets spun:
Billy Idol, The Black Crowes, INXS, Iron Maiden, Jeff Buckley, Joy Division/New Order, Lauryn Hill, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, Melissa Etheridge, New Edition, Oasis, Phil Collins, P!nk, Sade, Shakira, Wu‑Tang Clan.
I’ve already laid out what is and isn’t rock and roll, but let’s be honest: when the Hall started, nobody thought half these genres would ever get a sniff of induction. Different era, different rules, different universe. But I digress.
Let me be clear: every one of these artists is deserving. The problem is the backlog — the decades‑deep list of artists who punched their timecards long before these nominees were even tuning their guitars. Some are equally deserving; some are more deserving; some have seniority that should matter but doesn’t. To bastardize Marvin Gaye: A change has got to come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I’ve talked to former Nominating Committee members. They all say the same thing: “This is the Hall of FAME, not the Hall of MEDIOCRITY.” Great theory. Terrible execution. They’ve done what Rolling Stone did — sanitized the whole thing for trends. Rolling Stone chased whatever was “hot” to sell magazines, and look at them now: a mediocre online brand clinging to relevance like a cat on a screen door.
Sure, they blame the internet for killing print. But Faces, RIP, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer — they all survived the same era. Rolling Stone didn’t lose because of the internet; they lost because they abandoned their identity. They tried to be a teen magazine. They weren’t. They knew better. They did it anyway.
And now the Rock Hall is walking the same plank. Keep this up and the whole thing becomes meaningless. They’ve erased the history of rock and roll so thoroughly that the kids listening to Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, and K‑Pop don’t even call their music rock. So why the hell should the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pretend it is? Trick question. They fucking shouldn’t.
Alright, enough of the hate mail about my word count. Back on track…
Billy Idol: Certainly Mr. Broad is deserving of the honor. Billy started with the pop punk dance fusion thing with Generation X. Then young William traded in his ripped t-shirts for leather and studs. He kept the punk ethos, mixed it with more pop and no longer danced with himself. With a “rebel yell” he sold over 2.4 million albums between the U.S. and Canada alone. Over his next 2 releases with “Whiplash Smile” and “Charmed Life” he continued the platinum run, though the multiplatinum mine dwindle away. Billy was more about the rock and roll lifestyle and like any good punk, he fucked it all to hell for a bit.
Ego, drugs, motorcycles, relationships, general bad behavior, that’s the definition of any great rock and roller. A Big Daddy Sitch would say, “The comeback is always greater than the setback.” As Billy matured or should I just say, as he got older, his music took a turn and became something of the same, but much different. His last release in 2025, “Dream Into It” was an amazing walk through Billy’s life, stellar. Not necessarily the snarling punk rock sound of “Rebel Yell” but the bottom line, it was still there.
Now here is what I have a problem with, the ones who had the influence on a young Billy Idol, The Damned, Buzzcocks, etc., why not them? And again, I love em, but how the fuck did Green Day go in before ANY of those guys?????
Billy deserves the induction, but and this is a HUGE but; Steve Stevens deserves to be inducted with Billy, they are one of the same.
The Black Crowes: Of course they’re deserving. When they hit the scene, their cocktail of psychedelic pop, southern blues rock, and Faces/Stones/Aerosmith swagger wasn’t exactly trending. Yet… they blew up. Commercially, yes, but more importantly, critically. We all know that the Hall loves critical acclaim more than music itself. They treat five‑star reviews like holy scripture, as if critics invented taste; far above that silly commercial thing of sales. But…let’s talk numbers:
“Shake Your Money Maker”-5 million sold. “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion”- 2 million. “Amorica”, praised to the heavens by Rolling Stone and every other “we know better than you” outlet yet barely went gold. Two more albums later, Columbia dropped them like a bad habit.
The Robinson brothers then spent years fighting, reuniting, splitting, reuniting again, basically the rock‑and‑roll version of a toxic relationship that somehow keeps producing great music. Their 2020s releases? Masterpieces. But here’s the rub: plenty of bands have had the same level of success for longer than the Crowes’ 5–7 year peak.
And honestly? Early‑career Chris Robinson was pretentious enough to make Bono look humble. But even he’d probably admit the Crowes deserve induction, just not before some of the bands still waiting in line.
This is where my hatred for the Rock Hall’s past sins kicks in. The Darth Wenner era kneecapped entire genres because Wenner had personal vendettas, blind spots, and a weird allergy to female artists and anything outside his narrow definition of “worthy.” He and his Rolling Stone disciples treated the Hall like their private clubhouse.
Yes, The Black Crowes deserve induction. But for fuck’s sake…Will someone please hand the nominating committee a goddamn history book before they embarrass themselves again
INXS: These Aussies were on a perfect trajectory from their self-title debut release in 1980 to the making some waves with their third release, “Shabooh Shoobah” to finally breaking on their fifth release in 1985 with “Listen Like Thieves”. Constant touring, radio play, magazines, and especially MTV over the next two years, they were a nuclear missile. 1987’s “KICK” pushed them to the tops of the charts, ticket sales with sold out shows, they were inescapable. And there was when the problem began. It took INXS 7 years to become a behemoth, on the level to compete to be the greatest of greats. Between 1987 and the 1990 release, “X” that had no less than 4 no escape singles and videos, well, the pressure cooker seemed to have exploded. At least in the case of lead singer, Michael Hutchence.
Soon the model-like vocalist chopped off his locks to play down his natural beauty, he became more ghost like when it came to interviews etc.. The with grunge and alternative music getting a huge push from labels and radio/MTV, Hutchence seemed to want to change course. As we now know, Michael died by suicide a mere seven years after the breakout “KICK” album was released.
Their final studio album with Hutchence on vox, “Elegantly Wasted” in 1997 has aged like a fine Kentucky Bourbon. Sadly on September 27, 1997, I saw the final INXS show here in Pittsburgh. Within two months Michael Hutchence’s life ended.
So yes are there other bands as deserving that aren’t in the RRHoF? You better believe it, but this is where I pull a Darth fucking Wenner…INXS FUCKING DESERVES THIS INDUCTION, THIS FUCKING YEAR AND MUSIC FANS SHOULD REMEMERB INXS FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS!!
Iron Maiden: This one’s simple. How the hell does a band with zero radio support, barely any MTV exposure, and no mainstream hand‑holding whatsoever go on to sell over 10 million albums and sell out arenas and stadiums worldwide for four decades? And I’m not talking nostalgia‑act casinos , I mean STADIUMS, plural, across continents, in 2000‑fucking‑26.
They had one dip; a 3–4 year nose‑dive when the band split and tried the “replacement singer in 1,000‑seat venues” experiment. Then Bruce comes back, and boom: arenas, stadiums, global domination, again. And the Rock Hall still pretends they’re not worthy? You don’t have to like the music, but you can’t deny the POWER and RESPECT they command.
Maiden is long overdue. And unlike Judas Priest, the Hall needs to respect them as PERFORMERS, not some “Musical Excellence” consolation prize. Maiden has said they don’t want the honor, but who hasn’t said that after decades of disrespect? Even if they don’t show, imagine Eddie lumbering onstage to accept the trophy. That alone would be more rock and roll than the last ten ceremonies combined.
Jeff Buckley :Jeff Buckley: Yes, he’s rock. Yes, he was influential. But if the committee watched his new documentary and got swept up in the sentiment…NO. Two studio albums? While they did have some future artists hypnotized, but in comparison, Jim Croce had a shorter career and still had more impact than two Jeff Buckley’s duct‑taped together.
If the Hall wants to back‑door him like they did with Priest and Randy Rhoads, fine, that’s what the “Musical Excellence” or whatever they’re calling the side door entrance nowadays. But a Performer slot? Not when there are 100+ artists more deserving and another 100 equally deserving still waiting. It’s too late for special treatment, especially with the math don’t math.
Joy Division/New Order: Same problem as Buckley — you can’t have your cake and eat it too. They were pioneers, absolutely. They impacted the genre, absolutely. But others made more impact. That’s the difference.
Induct them under Musical Excellence, where pioneers who didn’t have the full‑career arc still get their due. Just because you can use all 7–10 Performer slots doesn’t mean you should. Read a history book, take a breath, and come back next year.
Lauryn Hill: The woman who doesn’t show up to her own shows somehow showed up to the Grammy Awards ceremony in a tribute to D'Angelo and Roberta Flack; so trust me, she’ll show up to this shindig if she gets in.
But here’s the truth: if one album makes a Hall of Fame career, then Boston should be in twice. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is genius — no argument. But the rest of her solo career? It doesn’t justify induction. Her best work outside that album was with The Fugees.
This has nothing to do with genre bias — I love hip‑hop, rap, R&B. This is about career weight. And this one? This is a Miseducation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Luther Vandross: I love Luther, the voice, the songs, the live shows, every fucking thing about him: now the question… Is or was Luther under the broad umbrella of rock and roll? And did he influence the genre or the artists after him in a major way?
If I’m honest, no. He’s an outlier, a man without a country when it comes to Hall categories. He deserves recognition, absolutely. But it should be under Musical Excellence, not as a Performer. That’s the lane where his legacy fits cleanly and respectfully.
Mariah Carey: The most polarizing name on the list. I can already hear it: “Fuck you Lou, she ain’t rock.” And you’d be right, no, she’s not rock. But…neither were Martha and the Vandellas, The Shirelles, The Supremes, or The Ronettes. Fact is, in their time, they were dance music aimed at teens, so what’s changed? Nothing except people’s selective memory.
Mariah’s voice is exceptional. Her songs are catchy as hell. Her discography is commercially and critically massive. She sells out arenas. She writes her own music. Millions and millions of albums sold. So why isn’t she already in?
Her success was mostly pop, no argument for sure. But so were the Beatles for 5½ of their 7 years. I know that’s blasphemous, but it’s also correct.
As Strother Martin said in Cool Hand Luke: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” I don’t have to like it, but Mariah Carey belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, at least at some point in time. That genie’s been out of the bottle, the Hall already opened that twist off decades ago.
But , and this is important, her induction should not be before they fix the backlog of artists, especially female artist, that they’ve fucked over since the start.
Melissa Etheridge: This one isn’t begging the question, is Melissa Etheridge rock and roll, she’s as much rock and roll as Bonnie Raitt, dare I say it, “ROCK”. Five straight platinum/multi-platinum from her 1988 debut through her “Your Little Secret” album released in 1995. That right there are Hall of Fame numbers, but they don’t count homeruns do they. Well, she made an impact and influenced many future female and some male rockstars. So there’s that. She spearheaded support of the LGBTQ+ community by coming out as a lesbian at arguably the pinnacle of her career.
Do I have Melissa Etheridge albums in my vinyl collection? You’re damn right I do, to this day I think both, “Yes, I Am” and “Your Little Secret” are masterpieces. Was my eldest daughter a huge fan around 1991 and 1995, you bet. Was or is my daughter a lesbian, nope, did Etheridge or her music try to groom her to be one, no…get the fuck out of here with that kind of thinking. It was always about the music. Is my daughter some crazy left winged nutjob? No, but she is old school democrat, and she still loves the music of Ted Nugent, and she finds Springsteen a bore. Don’t worry, there’s a balance, she loves Rage Against the Machine. Again, fuck the personal side of the artist, judge them on the art. If you do, you’ll agree with me; Melissa Etheridge should be in theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.
New Edition: This one’s a hard NO for me. The band spawned some of the best R&B singers and groups of the era; Bobby Brown, Bell-Biv-DeVoe, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, but as a band, their impact on rock and roll was zero. They were a label‑assembled, cookie‑cutter bubble-gum act singing other people’s songs. Their legacy exists only because their solo careers blew up, and they’d reunite every so often to cash in on the nostalgia of the “New Edition brand.”
Their actual run as New Edition? Four years of sappy pop that made the DiFranco Family seem legit. That made an impression on a generation was only because those kids grew up with them, carried their solo careers and then wanted to relieve their pubescent years. That’s not Hall of Fame weight, that’s a natural want to relive childhood memories. So no, they don’t belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And yes, that opinion is “my prerogative”.
Oasis: Another polarizing name. Oasis had a nice run, they caught fire similar to when Duran Duran came across the pond. The biggest difference, they didn’t sell out arenas or out of merchandise like Duran Duran; at least not here in the states or at the time. In Britain they were and have been looked upon like the second coming of The Beatles. Here in the states, not so much, at least not back then. They hit these shores touring here in 1994 playing small clubs, in 1995 and 1996, the grew to bigger clubs to theaters, but not arena headlining status. Here in the states, sporadic touring from 1997 to 2008, they played a total of 121 shows. That’s an average of 10.83 shows a year. Not to mention their albums sales in the U.S., never came close to “Gold” status, let alone platinum.
Now, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and where their insolence for each other killed the potential goose that laid the golden eggs, Oasis found themselves in stadiums here in the states…selling them out too. SO there is that. I just think I’d give the Gallagher brothers their wish and fuck myself right off with a no.
Phil Collins: Multi-platinum, multi-platinum, multi-platinum, multi-platinum, gold. That was Phil Collins first 5 solo studio albums in a row. I’m not going to sell the idea that he does or doesn’t belong, why? Simple it’s not a question, he does. Did Phil just mimic solo from his work with Genesis, HA, quite contrary. He was Monty Python and gave us something completely different. There is only one question that needs to be asked to the RRHoF and that is, what the fuck took so long? How the hell did Philip David Charles Collins piss of Emperor in Chief Wenner to have this blatant snub carry for decades? Yes, it better be in the air this year for Phil’s induction.
P!nk: I’ve made it blatantly clear that I am in deed insane and this one will only cement my insanity. P!nk is a rocker chick who belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but NOT THIS YEAR or any year until the Hall rights the wrongs the passing over from Odetta to Alanis Morissette. Ok, I agree I may have pushed over the top with the Alanis reference but there is an argument. This year sorry, Alecia, you’re deserving but not before others. Hope you agree, cuz the Sweetness loves you girl!
Sade: Sade is another one in the same circle as Mariah and Luther this year; she qualifies by definition, but I have to say the influence isn’t overtly impactful and the discography shifts to far outside of the definition. I think we can all agree that we probably owned at least 3 Sade albums back in the day. Ok, I had the first 4, but everyone danced to “Smooth Operator” back in the day and probably at the very least owned that album. As far as an induction, it should be for “Performer” and not the Musical Excellence side door, but it’s way to early with others before here that undeniably made a bigger impact on rock and roll music without coloring too close to the lines. So, NO, at some point, but not now.
Shakira: Ok, fine; Rock Hall of Fame, I’ll be your huckleberry. Shakira is rock and roll by the original definition, that we’ll agree. Induction? Not in my lifetime. By the way, my lifetime isn’t exactly stretching into the 2070s. So no. Not now, not ever. Well, I suppose with how music has spun out of control in radical change and definition, I suppose she could influence someone.
Wu-Tang Clan: And this is where I’m about to blow it all. Wu-Tang Clan is more “rock” than, Shakira, P!nk, Phil Collins, Oasis, New Edition, Melissa Etheridge, Mariah Carey, Lauren Hill, Luther Vandross, New Edition, and Jeff Buckley, all combined. To me, this is where rap basically ended it’s connection to “rock”. They were dangerous, they were in your face, they had the rock and roll ethos, and it wasn’t for show. It was sex, drugs, and rock and roll with those guys. Not all of ‘em, but a good chunk of the Clan. They raged against the machine, they fought the law, they lived like they didn’t give a fuck and their words are more powerful than you know. Protect yo neck at this muthafuckin’ induction ceremony if Wu-Tang gets their true desserts. They already forever, now they need to be permanent. FUCK YES.
So, if you’re keeping score these would be my picks for 2026:
1. Billy Idol
2. INXS
3. Iron Maiden
4. Melissa Etheridge
5. Oasis
6. Phil Collins
7. Wu-Tang Clan
*Joy Division/New Order (Musical Excellence/Early Influence)
Now my predictions of who the hall will induct…
PERFOMER CATEGORY
Billy Idol
Iron Maiden (thank Morello if they do)
Lauryn Hill
Mariah Carey
Melissa Etheridge
Phil Collins
Wu-Tang Clan
MUSICAL EXCELLENCE?EARLY INFLUENCE CATEGORY
*Jeff Buckley
*Joy Division/New Order
*New Edition
*Sade
Here’s the LEADERBOARD for FAN VOTE as of 3/3/26 at 2:12 PM EST
Phil Collins 209,805
New Edition 171,284
Luther Vandross 152,163
P!NK 148,861
Billy Idol 138,950
Sade 133,715
INXS 133,682
Mariah Carey 121,605
Wu-Tang Clan 112,991
Lauryn Hill 105,424
Iron Maiden 101,570
Melissa Etheridge 86,311
Oasis 77,782
The Black Crowes 7,770
Joy Division + New Order 65,513
Shakira 64,806
Jeff Buckley 55,323
Later my psychos! Stay off your rockers!
