The 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees were announced this week, and 17 artists were in the group. (Really, 18 as Joy Division and New Order are two separate bands, but are obviously linked together.) But once again, the Rock Hall didn't nominate some worthy acts.
Not everyone can be nominated, of course, but many of the omissions are glaring. One might wonder if there is a bit of politics involved. Maybe a few of the people choosing those who get nods have personal beefs with some of the bands or solo artists.
What other reasons could exist for the snubs? The bands below are definitely worthy both for their catalog and their influence. At this point, however, one might conclude that the bands won't ever be inducted, though in a few cases, they might not care.
Four bands that deserve to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but are always left out
Tool
The Rock Hall doesn't like prog bands for the most part. Maybe the music is too expansive and non-linear for the people doing the voting. Instead, the Hall would rather focus on pop and R&B than actual rock, at times. Leaving Tool out is simply criminal, though.
The foursome is definitely influential, as many other bands have tried, and mostly failed, to follow in their footsteps of making imaginative, dark metal. Or maybe that's the problem. Tool is both prog and metal, two genres the Hall cares little about.
The issue could be that Tool doesn't produce enough music. The band has released only five albums, though the last four have peaked at either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard US charts and reached the top five in many other nations. The band has a global reach, is an important part of metal, and hasn't ever made a bad record.
The Smiths
Another band that never made a bad album is the Smiths. In fact, the band should be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and so should Morrissey as a solo artist. The group's influence on forming the indie 1980s sound is without peer, but the band has a few things working against it.
One is that the Smiths are an extremely English band. While groups from the UK that began in the 1960s are common in the Hall, they nearly have to be, as they helped form the genre that the Hall was created for. While Morrissey, Johnny Marr, and their friends now have a global popularity, they didn't initially have a large US fanbase.
Another problem that stems from an earlier point is that Morrissey simply might not have many fans on the board that does the nominations. He has always been outspoken about the business of music and has ruffled many feathers. That said, Morrissey almost certainly doesn't care if he or his former band ever gets inducted.
Styx
Foreigner is in, so why not Styx? The latter has sold fewer records than the former, but the difference is not that vast. They also followed a similar path. Both bands filled arenas with loud rock songs in the 1970s, but then became more poppy and less challenging in the 1980s.
Still, Foreigner had nine songs reach the top-10 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Styx had eight. Styx had four albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard album charts, and Foreigner had six. Foreigner was more commercially successful, but not to such a great degree that they are far superior to Styx. If one band is in the Rock Hall (and Foreigner was inducted in 2024), the other band should be too.
Motörhead
The Rock Hall apparently doesn't like British metal very much. Black Sabbath is in, and so is Led Zeppelin, but not Iron Maiden yet. That band is nominated in 2026, at least, but not inducting them has hurt the Hall's integrity in many fans' eyes. The same is true of Motörhead.
Lemmy Kilmister's band is, without debate, one of the most influential bands in modern metal. Motörhead helped create speed metal. James Hetfield of Metallica has called Motörhead's lack of inclusion in the Hall a "travesty." Many others have echoed that sentiment.
Where would rock be without songs such as "Ace of Spades" and "Overkill"? The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame must not know. The shame is that the Rock Hall should know everything about the genre because that is the entire point of the museum. Leaving Motörhead out diminishes the Hall and will continue to do so.