The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2021 includes a few artists who should have already been there, including Carole King and Tina Turner as solo artists, 1980s New Wave pioneers The Go-Go’s, and multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren. However, there are many, many, many well-deserving artists still sitting on the sidelines and waiting for their time, even after over 350 artists have been inducted. With the 2021 induction ceremony set for Saturday night in Cleveland, here’s a look at some of the most notable omissions.
The largest category of inductees is “performers,” which has seen new members every year since the first ceremony in 1986. This year’s group also includes Foo Fighters and Jay-Z. Performers are eligible 25 years after their first record was released, so Jay-Z is being inducted in his first year of eligibility. The performers are nominated by a committee, then over 1,000 “rock experts” make their choices. In 2012, the Rock Hall added a fan ballot, but as Rundgren has noted in the past, the fan vote doesn’t mean as much as the experts’ vote.
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This year also sees executive Clarance Avant receive the non-performers Ahmet Ertegun Award. LL Cool J, Billy Preston, and Randy Rhoads will be honored with the Award for Musical Excellence as “sidemen.” Notably, there are no singles being inducted into the Rock Hall, just three years after that category was introduced. The ceremony will be filmed to air on HBO and HBO Max at a later date. Scroll on to see some of the notable missing artists in the rock hall.
Chic
Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers is technically in the Rock Hall as a recipient of the Musical Excellence award. However, the band that he is most famous for still hasn’t been inducted, despite being nominated an incredible 11 times! When Rodgers received that award, he told Rolling Stone it was a “bittersweet” honor. “I’m quite flattered that they believed that I was worthy, but my band Chic didn’t win,” Rodgers said. “They plucked me out of the band and said, ‘You’re better than Chic.’ That’s wacky to me … I am flattered and I think it’s cool, but I feel like somebody put me in the lifeboat and told my family they can’t get in.”
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden has been eligible for 17 years, and they still haven’t gotten in. After the Class of 2021 was inducted, Kiss’ Gene Simmons called the Rock Hall a “sham” for not including the influential heavy metal band. Paul Stanley was also frustrated. “Regardless of whether it matters to them, Maiden not being in the [Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame] of Fame is INSANITY,” Stanley wrote. “Regardless of who is writing in or not, the Committee must induct them. They have helped spawn an entire genre of music. What else do you need to do??”
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine’s members probably don’t care that they aren’t included in the Rock Hall, but they still belong there. Tom Morello is still one of the most respected guitarists in the game, and their debut album was included on Rolling Stone’s list of greatest albums of all time. The group planned to reunite for a world tour in 2020, but that has been postponed until 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. They have been nominated for the Rock Hall four times.
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is one of the most successful and influential British singers of the 1980s but has incredibly been snubbed for 18 years. She has only been nominated twice, in 2018 and 2021. Her long list of hits includes “Wuthering Heights,” “The Man with the Child in His Eyes,” “Running Up That Hill,” Don’t Give Up” and “King of the Mountain.” She also has three Grammy nominations and all 10 of her albums have reached the U.K. Top 10.
OutKast
Now that the Rock Hall is inducting more rap and hip-hop artists, it’s a little puzzling as to why OutKast hasn’t even been nominated. The duo made up of Big Boi and Andre 3000 has been eligible since 2019. They released just six albums between 1994 and 2006, but racked up dozens of hits and are still one of the best-selling hip-hop duos of all time.
Daft Punk
The French duo Daft Punk became eligible in 2020 and fans had good reason to expect them to be inducted right away. Sadly, they were not inducted before announcing their split earlier this year. Daft Punk is easily one of the most influential groups of the 21st century already. Their last album, Random Access Memories, features the hits “Get Lucky,” “Doin’ It Right,” and “Lose Yourself to Dance.” Their other hits include “Around the World,” “Da Funk,” “One More Time,” “Digital Love,” and “Harder, Faster, Stronger.” In 2016, they scored a number one single with “Starboy,” a collaboration with The Weeknd. It seems like only a matter of time before they get in.
Oasis
Oasis is best known for their single “Wonderwall” in the U.S., but they are one of the best-selling bands of all time. The group, led by brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, scored eight chart-topping albums in the U.K. and famously held one of the largest outdoor concerts there in 1996. They became eligible in 2020, and their chances of getting in will probably depend on how many U.K. voters there are.
Wu-Tang Clan
It’s been 30 years since Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), shook up the hip-hop world forever. The group has been eligible since 2018 and has not been nominated yet. They released their most recent album, The Saga Continues, in 2017. Their 2015 album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, was sold to the disgraced Martin Shkreli for $2 million in 2015. The U.S. Department of Justice sold it to non-fungible token collectors PleaserDAO for $4 million, and they reportedly plan to make it widely available. RZA recently said he regretted selling the album to Shkreli.
Rufus with Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan is still waiting for her invitation to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for some reason, both as a solo artist and as a member of Rufus. The band has been eligible since 1999 and was nominated in 2012, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Rufus’ best-known hits include “Tell Me Something Good,” “Sweet Thing,” “Ain’t Nobody,” and “Do You Love What You Feel.” The Queen of Funk has won 10 Grammys and is still recording new music. Her latest album, Hello Happiness, was released in 2019.
