The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame revealed the nominees for its 2022 induction. The final list of inductees will be revealed in May. This year’s list includes Duran Duran, Eminem, Pat Benetar, Beck, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick, Eurythmics, A Tribe Called Quest, Kate Bush, Judas Priest, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls and Rage Against the Machine.
“To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination,” states a press release from the Rock Hall, “Factors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation, and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.“
Notably missing from this year’s list are heavy metal icons Iron Maiden. After being nominated last year, the band was excluded from this year’s consideration. With little radio or television support, Iron Maiden have sold over 90 million records worldwide. Several of their albums have received platinum and gold status both stateside and overseas, specifically 1982’s “The Number of the Beast,” 1983’s “Piece of Mind,” 1984’s “Powerslave,” 1985’s live release “Live After Death,” 1986’s “Somewhere in Time,” and 1988’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.”
Judas Priest returns to induction consideration. They have long been touted as one of the Hall’s most snubbed artists having been eligible since 1999. “Emotions always run high whenever these awards take place,” said singer Rob Halford. “But I’ve always supported it – only because of the company we’d be in. I think if any metal band deserves to be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame it’s Priest, and beyond that, there needs to be more metal there because there’s not enough.”
Ozzy Osbourne is in the Rock Hall as a member of Black Sabbath, and as a solo artist he has been eligible since 2006. But considering the Rock Hall hasn’t seen its way to inducting Judas Priest, Iron Maiden or Motörhead, it’s hard to imagine “The Prince of Darkness” showing up on the ballot anytime soon for his solo work. Soundgarden is also absent from the list of nominees. The band has won multiple Grammys, and beyond awards, the Seattle rockers changed the game for modern rock as one of the progenitors of the grunge movement.
Remarkably, this year marks only the second time Pat Benetar has received a nomination. She finished second in the Fan Vote in 2020. Benatar was unstoppable in the early ’80s, walking away with four consecutive Grammy wins in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance: 1981 for “Crimes of Passion,” 1982 for “Fire and Ice”, 1983 for “Shadows of the Night”, and 1984 for “Love Is a Battlefield”. She was an icon then and she remains one today with her music featured in every facet of pop culture.
Other notable hard rock and metal bands that deserve Rock Hall consideration include Motörhead, Motley Crue, Bad Company, Thin Lizzy, The Runaways, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Eddie Money, Smashing Pumpkins, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth.
Rock Hall induction nominees are chosen by an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, historians and members of the music industry. Through April 29, fans can then cast their votes at rockhall.com to pick who they’d like to see get inducted, although most of the say goes to the voting body. The top five artists in that vote make up a fans’ ballot, which is counted as a single vote alongside the 1,000-plus other ballots. Eligibility requirements call for an artist or band to have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.
