Is Eddie Money in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

Is Eddie Money in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Fans of the beloved “Two Tickets to Paradise” rocker are wondering as much following his death at the age of 70 following a battle with esophageal cancer. Money does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, nor has he ever been nominated or considered, much to the demise of his fans.

The “Take Me Home Tonight” singer didn’t seem too flummoxed by the snub in an interview he gave to Rock History Music in July 2018, saying that plenty of deserving artists have not yet been inducted.

“You look at people like REO Speedwagon and Styx and Survivor and 38 Special — all my friends — they’re not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, either,” Money said, adding that he did get the nod from the hall of fame in his native Rhode Island.

“But I am in the Long Island Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is great, with Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand … I’d love to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame [in Cleveland] because my kids would want me in.”

Ever the symbol for American blue-collar rock and roll, Money said that he’d “like to see my friends get in before I do. People like Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon, of course Survivor is really good. There’s a lot of good music out there, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, they gotta take care of a lot of people, too. So who knows. If it happens, it happens.”

Just because he wasn’t not offended by the snub doesn’t mean he didn’t think about Hall of Fame members who he felt he deserved a spot over — namely, Elvis Costello. “To see somebody like Elvis Costello get in and me not get in, I don’t know, I can’t figure that out, you know?” he said.

Money wasn’t the only one who wished he were inducted. In a poll on a rock music blog Not in Hall of Fame, 77.8 percent of participants voted that he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame, although the blog noted that Money likely “lacked the innovative nature that the Hall looks for.”

According to the Hall of Fame’s official rules, artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record, with criteria including the influence and significance of the artist’s contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.

Terry Stewart, the president of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, frequently explains the induction process in a form letter he sends fans asking about their favorite artists. In 2010, he wrote that “nomination and induction into the Hall of Fame is not about popularity, records sales, which label the group is on, or anything other than” the foundation’s official process. “Unlike baseball, football, basketball or hockey, statistics are not relevant,” he added, explaining that the criteria are “subjective questions to be answered by the nominators and the voters.”

Money died Friday, Sept. 13, his family said, after a battle with stage 4 esophageal cancer.

“The Money Family regrets to announce that Eddie passed away peacefully early this morning,” a family representative told PopCulture.com in a statement. “It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our loving husband and father. It’s so hard to imagine our world without him, however he will live on forever through his music.”

Money is survived by his wife Laurie and five children, daughter Jesse Money, and sons Zachary, Joseph, Desmond and Julian.