Rock Hall 2026 Nominees Renew 90s Snub Debate
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has unveiled its 2026 ballot, and while the list is packed with major names across pop, hip-hop, R&B and rock, a familiar frustration is bubbling up among ’90s rock fans: some of the decade’s defining heavy and alternative bands still can’t even crack the nominee stage. For followers of grunge and progressive metal, the continued absence of Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins and Tool has become a yearly talking point—especially as artists with later debuts, or only tangential ties to rock, cycle onto the ballot.
The nominee slate is wide-ranging, and Variety reported that the Hall’s 17 nominees for the class of 2026 include Shakira, Lauryn Hill, Pink, Jeff Buckley, Phil Collins, New Edition and Wu-Tang Clan, alongside returning contenders like Oasis, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Sade, Joy Division/New Order, Iron Maiden and the Black Crowes.
That list alone explains why the Rock Hall debate never really ends: the institution has long framed itself as a broad “popular music” museum rather than a strict guitar-rock shrine, and its voters frequently reward crossover cultural impact. Still, the Hall’s own name invites expectations, and many fans look at a ballot that can accommodate pop megastars and hip-hop legends while leaving out cornerstone rock acts from the 1990s and ask what, exactly, the nomination process is really prioritising.
Alice In Chains remain one of the most influential bands to emerge from the grunge era, with a catalogue that continues to drive streaming, and Layne Staley’s iconic growl inspiring newer heavy acts, dating back to Godsmack. Yet they’ve never been nominated, despite the Hall routinely recognising Seattle’s wider movement. Stone Temple Pilots, another cornerstone of ’90s rock radio with enduring hits and a massive six album legacy with Scott Weiland, have also remained on the outside. The Smashing Pumpkins helped define alternative rock’s commercial peak, and Tool’s blend of progressive metal and art-rock has shaped modern heavy music for decades—yet all four are still waiting for the first step in the process.
Part of the tension is structural. The Hall typically inducts a relatively small number of performers each year, and its ballot can be shaped by committee choices that reflect both taste and lobbying dynamics. Those dynamics can favour artists with persistent industry visibility, narratives that fit the Hall’s storytelling, or categories that expand beyond rock. The result is that a band can be eligible for years, maintain a dedicated fanbase, and still struggle to get nominated if the committee doesn’t push their name onto the ballot in the first place. Iron Maiden, who are nominated, have long been snubbed from actual induction.
Another factor is timing. Many of the most iconic ’90s bands sit in a crowded eligibility window, competing for attention with late-’80s and early-2000s artists who also have strong cases. Tool became eligible in the late 2010s; Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots have been eligible even longer. In that span, the Hall has increasingly leaned into genre-spanning ballots, which can leave fewer open “slots” for guitar-driven acts—especially heavier bands that don’t fit a classic-rock template.
The irony is that the Hall often benefits from exactly the kind of longevity these groups represent. Their records still sell in deluxe editions, their songs remain staples on rock radio and streaming playlists, and their influence is easy to trace in contemporary alternative, metal and hard rock. Tool and Smashing Pumpkins are still touring with close to their original lineups, while Stone Temple Pilots and Alice In Chains have carried on with new singers. For many fans, the continued snubs feel less like a debate over taste and more like a disconnect between the Hall’s branding and what it actually honours.
The Hall’s next milestone will come when the 2026 inductees are announced in April following voting by its electorate. Until then, the conversation will keep circling back to the same question: when a generation’s defining rock bands can’t even get nominated, what does “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” mean in 2026?
