4 Acts That Surely Belong in a Big-Tent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performs an invaluable service in honoring worthy musicians. And we know it’s hard to get a consensus on the greatness of various artists. But we still can’t help but scratch our heads about some of their omissions.

None of these four artists are currently in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But we’re here to tell you that they’d be in our big-tent list of honorees without a second thought.

Styx

For a while, you could write off Styx’s absence from the Rock Hall to a bias against the arena rock that dominated the scene in the late 70s and early 80s. Then we watched Styx bands like Foreigner and Journey make it. And it became that much harder to reconcile. In terms of pop crossover success, those bands have nothing on Styx. Nor were these guys just focused on singles. Albums like The Grand Illusion and Paradise Theatre provide complete artistic statements that their aforementioned peers never really attempted. We can only explain the absence of this legendary group by assuming that someone in the RR HOF inner circle is holding some kind of grudge.

Squeeze

For whatever reason, Squeeze never enjoyed the kind of singles success in America that they did in their native Great Britain. Then again, if you pointed only to pop success in America as an arbiter, many acts now in the Hall wouldn’t have made it. Let’s talk instead about the greatness that this band displayed in the late 70s and early 80s via stellar songwriting and unfailingly lively, inventive recordings. Or how they’ve sustained their career now for five decades, to the point where their 2026 album Trixies is one of the best-reviewed of their career. Keeping the brilliance of Squeeze stalwarts Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford out of any club of musical greatness is a travesty.

De La Soul

There was a time when hip-hop acts were not a factor in Rock Hall nominations or inductions. Thankfully, the organization overcame that and has inducted several rap acts. Now they can do us another favor by getting De La Soul at the very least a nomination and, hopefully, induction soon after. This trio deserves their flowers (and yes, we’re referencing the so-called “Daisy Age” that they promoted) for the way that they went against the grain of gangster and hardcore rap with their clever samples and positivity-laced raps. Not that they couldn’t get serious, as songs like “Say No Go” and “Stakes Is High” prove. We believe they’re as worthy as any hip-hop act for music’s highest honor.

Aimee Mann

You would hope that those folks voting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame know more about Aimee Mann than “Voices Carry”. Granted, that 80s song with her band ‘Til Tuesday stands as one of the decade’s classics. But Mann soon left that all behind to become a prolific and profound singer-songwriter. Very few of her peers can match either her melodic ease or her stunning eloquence. On top of that, she deserves credit for doing much of her damage outside the realm of the major labels. In fact, her career took off when she lamented the gears of the pop music machine on her masterpiece album Bachelor No. 2. Mann would be a first-ballot member in our book.

(Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)