January 22, 2026
Two Rock Hall Voters Debate Their Must-Have Inductees for 2026
Via Vulture.com
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…