The 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees have been announced, and the group is a worthy one. One musical artist not among the inductees, though, is Phish. This is even though Phishheads did the most Phishheadiest thing they could do. They showed their devotion to their favorite band in a way that ultimately did not matter on a larger scale.
Phish led the fan voting for the Rock Hall this year by a wide margin. The issue is that all the fan votes are combined into one ballot, which is then placed in a proverbial bucket with about a thousand other votes. Among the voters for the class are musicians, music critics, and executives. Those people are much more likely to be unbiased than fans.
That is not meant as a criticism of fans. If there were no devotees of a musical artist, then that musical artist would probably cease to make music. However, the scale of a fan base's devotion to a performer does not equate to global importance.
Phish not among the inductees for the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class
Phish makes fine music, and their tours have been a grand success. They are among the top 30 ticket-selling groups ever, but they have also performed many more shows than other musical acts. In other words, they have sold more tickets than, say, One Direction, but they have put on a lot more shows, too.
Phish also does not have a large amount of record sales. According to Best Selling Albums, Phish has sold about 4.3 million records in the United States. The official Phish website claims total record sales of eight million.
While selling lots of albums and singles is not an accurate indicator of the quality of music a musical artist produces, we are also comparing Phish to many other bands that might have a chance at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Only a few bands and solo artists get in. The Hall cannot enshrine every performer who has sold eight million records because a band's importance goes far beyond that.
Due to a relative lack of record sales and touring success, mostly confined to the United States, inducting Phish into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be like enshrining a baseball player who might not have gotten many hits but played in a lot of games. The player isn't one of the best to ever play simply because he was involved in lots of games.
Phish makes fine music, but they haven't created a catalog that ranks among the best ever. Phishheads will argue with a person about that, and they have that right. They should love the group, but not everyone has to.
The 2025 Rock Hall inductees include some performers who did not fare well in the fan voting, but have still created some fantastic and influential music. They are all worthy of induction. The list includes Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, and the White Stripes.