Last month, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the inductees for the class of 2026. As per the case for the last couple years, this year’s selections vary in style. This time they mostly focused in on the 1980s and ’90s. That’s a change for the Rock Hall. Usually there has been some sort of nod to 1970s classic rock. That style is missing from this year’s slate in favor of other genres like heavy metal, R&B, and new wave. The move into the MTV era is reflective of the last few classes of the Hall. The 1980s have been a focus by the voters and the nomination committee over the last few years. Music that is now 40 years old or more is finally getting overdue recognition.
Apart from this focus on the 80s and 90s, here’s some other observations worth noting about this year’s class:
The influence category must expand past “Early”
The influence category was once a spot for the Hall to honor artists who were integral to the foundation of rock ‘n’ roll prior to 1955. “Early influence” was the original name of the category. It was the category where the Hall sought to honor artists like Louis Armstrong, Leadbelly, Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, and Jimmie Rodgers. Other influential musicians were enshrined in the category until it was put on hiatus in 2000.
In 2009, the Hall revived the influence category with the induction of Wanda Jackson. She was a 50s and 60s rockabilly star whose rise was contemporaneous with rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s. Jackson was due for an induction, and influence was the best place to put her, but its difficult to describe her as “early.” The influence category expanding beyond its “early” perimeters seemed inevitable in 2021. The Hall inducted Kraftwerk and Gil Scott-Heron through that category that year.
Those two acts were indeed “early” influences on two styles of music: electronic pop for the former and hip hop for the latter. However, they both came to prominence in the 1970s after rock was well established. As the years have gone on, the category was used more for cases like Kraftwerk.
This makes sense: There’s a lot of artists whose case for Hall induction hinges mostly on their influence who came to prominence in the 1970s or later. There needed to be some way to induct artist like Kraftwerk, who was not getting in through the ballot. The Early Influence category broadening to be less “early” fit the bill. “Musical influence” became the category’s new name in 2023. That’s a much more fitting name for what the category had become.
That’s changed again this year, with the category again reverting to “Early influence” even though the very worthy inductees don’t reflect that name. There’s Queen Latifah and MC Lyte from the 90s, Gram Parsons and Fela Kuti from the 70s, and multi-generational star Celia Cruz. All of them work fine in the influence section, but none are exactly “early” to anything.
If the Hall wishes to continue using the expanded definitions of the influence category that have served it well over the past decade, they’re going to need to bid farewell to that “early” designation. Changing it back to “musical influence” won’t shut the door on cases from the 1940s and ’50s like Wynonie Harris or The Crows, but it would make the category less confusing when a ’90s artist like Queen Latifah is inducted through it.
A move towards Africa and Latin America, with hope
It was delightful to see Fela Kuti and Celia Cruz inducted this year through the early influence category. Influence is the right category for Kuti and Cruz, even if neither one was exactly “early” in the grand scheme of things. Kuti and Cruz are giants of international music. The Hall should use the two of them as starting points for more influence inductions from Latin America and Africa.
That seems less likely for Latin America given the nominations of Mana and Shakira over the last few years and the groundswell of support for the likes Soda Stereo and Gloria Estefan. Latin America is home to all sorts of great and important music worthy of Hall recognition. If the Hall wants to focus on guitar rock music, there’s plenty of that too from Mexico, Chile, and especially Argentina. The Hall wants to market itself to the Latin audience. Inducting more artists from this part of the world in the ballot and side categories seems to be something on the table for the next few years.
A bigger concern, however, is Africa. Africa sometimes treated like one big country instead of 56 of them, all with multiple cultures and musical styles. Archival record labels have cataloged a bunch of incredible music from across the continent that is worthy of wider recognition. Bandcamp is full of compilations flush with great music from Zimbabwe, Angola, Benin and Togo, both Congos, Cameroon, Zambia, and Nigeria.
Some of these artists featured on those compilations are obscure or lesser known. Other artists have grown in stature in the West over the years. These include the influential 1970s Zambian psych rock band WITCH, and idiosyncratic Nigerian synth musician William Onyeabor. There’s a good dozen artists, all playing different styles and all across the continent that could perhaps follow Fela’s league, like Miriam Makeba, King Sunny Ade, Angélique Kidjo, Youssou N’Dour, and Tinariwen. There’s too much great and important music that is worth inducting for the Hall to stop after inducting one Nigerian musician.
If these inductions mean that the Hall is not going to implement a separate international category, then the influence committee should add on experts in African and Latin American music into their ranks. Maybe they could even induct one artist from each area a year. They will certainly never run out of worthy names to check off.
A return to R&B
Rhythm and blues music has always been part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. James Brown and Sam Cooke were part of the very first class of inductees in 1986. The Hall has inducted plenty more R&B artists throughout the years, from the Temptations to Gladys Knight & The Pips. Inducting R&B artists is as core to the Rock Hall as honoring heavy metal or alternative bands.
The Rock Hall has 50s, 60s, and 70s R&B well covered. ’80s and ’90s R&B isn’t as lucky. Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson are in, but not Teddy Pendergrass, Babyface, TLC, or Anita Baker. This year’s inductions of Luther Vandross and Sade show that the voters will still induct R&B acts. Vandross has been eligible since 2007, and this year was his first-ever nomination. Vandross is quite worthy of the Hall, and even after that long wait it’s good to see him in. Hopefully his fellow ’80s peers are will be on the ballot in due time.
The other R&B inductee this year is Sade. A band, and not just the solo Sade Adu, their classic run of albums offer a mix of R&B, jazz, and new wave as a leading light of the sophisti-pop genre. Their induction might result in other jazzier artists getting nominations over the next few years.
The inductions of Sade and Vandross bode well for 80s and 90s R&B acts who have not shown up on the ballot yet. It was nice to see New Edition make the ballot this year. The Hall has almost entirely ignored the new jack swing style they helped pioneer. They’re one of those groups where the nomination meant as much as the induction. It is a shame that Mariah Carey did not get in this year. Carey missing the mark three years in a row leaves the Hall in an awkward situation for 2026, where both Beyonce and Alicia Keys are newly eligible and worthy, to say nothing of the likes of Anita Baker and The Gap Band waiting in the wings from the 80s.
The Nom Com should try to balance the new and old R&B acts coming on the ballot, like all lanes.
Solo artists inviting side musicians
This year, Billy Idol is technically going in as a duo. Idol’s induction will also include his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens. The last time something like this happened was when Pat Benatar’s guitarist and husband Neil Giraldo was inducted with her. The Hall even lists them as the duo of “Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo” instead of Benatar solo. This type of induction makes sense for longtime sidekicks of solo artists, but it certainly makes the
If the Hall should continue to allow such inductions, there’s other cases that would work well. Meat Loaf’s induction could include his longtime collaborator and lyricist Jim Steinman. Steinman’s production style, musicianship and verbose lyrics are as much trademarks of Bat Out of Hell as Meat Loaf’s voice. Gloria Estefan’s husband and percussionist Emilio might be a similar case. That is, if the Hall doesn’t choose to induct the rest of the Miami Sound Machine.
It is nice for side musicians to get this honor, especially when they might not even receive an induction from the musical excellence committee. If Steve Stevens wasn’t being honored alongside Idol, it would be unlikely that his name would be brought up for a side category honor. Even if it’s with a solo star with whom they’ve long been associated, an induction still means musicians like Stevens are being recognized at all.
Cover image courtesy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame press room for approved media assets.
