Every year, theRock & Roll Hall Of Famesets tongues wagging with its latest group of potential inductees. The latest crop of nominees are currently being discussed to see who will be celebrated and who will have to sit in the cold for another year (if “the cold” is a mansion in an exotic location or on tour playing to tens of thousands of fans). It truly is make or break time.
Going on our own criteria for what makes an artist embody rock and roll, we ranked each artist on their credibility for induction to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. It is a very bizarre group of artists, with varying levels of critical and commercial acclaim and claims for living and breathing the spirit of rock n roll music. This is every Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Nominee for the Class of 2025, Ranked.
14Mariah Carey
The Diva Has Plenty Of Hits But Less Credibility
Mariah Carey is a hit-making machine, now into her 4th decade of delivering a varied array of chart-bothering songs. Fantasy, “Heartbreaker” and “Touch My Body” have had dancefloors bumping, and her powerhouse vocals continue to dazzle. This is all well and good but, even when squinting really hard to try and see it,is Mariah Carey in any way “Rock & Roll?”
Putting up the case for rocking moments, Mariah Carey’s ballads are stunning. If “Hero” is a Def Leppard song or a Bon Jovi number, everybody considers it a rock ballad and a classic one at that. “Vision Of Love” has the same sultry blues feel as Alana Myles Black Velvet, but, crucially,Mariah lacks the guitar and raspy vocalthat makes the song…well…rock. Mariah Carey is great, but rock and roll, she is not.
13Phish
Mellowed-Out Rockers Saunter Towards The Hall Of Fame
Maybe these subjective matters depend on your definition of rock and roll, butPhish seem way too mellow for this Hall Of Fame. Everything about Phish comes from a pleasant place. It’s musically friendly and peppy, and it’s rarely if ever confrontational. If there’s such a thing as being too nice, Phish are a band that tick that box.
The argument that Phish are a band so close in sound and principle to the universally loved and respected Grateful Dead feels like their most credible claim to a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.The musicians in Phish are superband their jam-orientated sound is complex and layered. Even still, it’s hard to consider a world where Motorhead aren’t in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame but Phish are.
12Joe Cocker
The Legendary Blues Singer Stakes His Claim
Boasting a voice that feels like it has been distilled in a whiskey barrel for 100 years,Joe Cocker is a vocal powerhousewho shares the same feel, vibe, and sound as Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, Van Morrison. What he may make up for in traditional hell-raising musical endeavors, Joe more than makes up for with a voice that’s all soul and almighty power. It’s outside of music, however, that Joe has had his most impact.
He’s quite a strange artist as much ofJoe Cocker’s success has come from TV and moviesusing his songs. “Up Where We Belong” with Jennifer Warnes soundtracks Richard Gere’s romantic classic,An Office And A Gentlemen, his cover of Randy Newman’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On” soundtracked9 1/2 Weeks(with Tom Jones’s version playing duringThe Full Monty’s best moment), and most famously of all, “With a Little Help From My Friends” provided the theme tune to American coming-of-age TV show,The Wonder Years.
11OutKast
Atlanta’s Experimental Hip-Hop Aliens Storm The Walls
When musically limited folks speak on rap’s place in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, ignorantly suggesting it’s a more limited or worthy art-form,OutKast are the antidote to accusations of hip-hop’s limitations. A funk-soul duo who have always been a delightful contradiction to musical convention, whose music is a futuristic throwback, Andre 3000 and Big Boi have shown the influences of Hendrix, Sly & The Family Stone, Santana, Robert Johnson and more.
Of all of the many musical statements that the duo have made,OutKast’s dedication to artistic freedom is their greatest asset. See the ragtime melodies that color “The Whole World” (a song that introduced the world to Run The Jewels' Killer Mike), sitting next to “Ms Jackson”’s futuristic groove that uses backmasking the Brothers Johnson’s version of “Strawberry Letter 23” to give the beat that extra uniqueness. If Rock & Roll is musical rebellion, OutKast are Rock & Roll stars. Period.
10Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper is an artist who has to be looked at through the prism of their era to truly understand the impact that the diminutive songstress had on the 1980s. Sporting a brash and unapologetic pink hairstyle in Regan’s conservative America,Lauper was 5'3" of irrepressible punk rock energywho broke down cultural barriers. In fact, Lauper is an artist whose music is so unashamedly pop that it almost becomes a punk rock statement.
It’s in the lyrics of her biggest hit that Lauper best shows her rock credibility.“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” is a song of female rebellion, that “yes, we can” sentiment was echoed in No Doubt’s equally furious “Just A Girl” or, more recently, Olivia Rodrigo on “All-American Bitch”. Lauper is a fierce force who featured Public Enemy’s Chuck D on her 1986True Colorsalbum to cover Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?”. If the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rewards contributions to rock culture, Lauper is a worthy nominee.
9Billy Idol
The Cartoon Rocker Represents Rock & Roll To The Masses
If your idea of punk rock is Crass tearing up the place or American hardcore bands' “violence first” approach, it’s easy to understand Billy Idol can be a figure of ridicule. Generation X were a key early influence on the pop-punk that Green Day would popularize though. As the singer of that band,Idol is an underrated influence on pop-punk bandsthat populated Lookout! Records, Epitaph and Fat Wreck.
Whether you like his music or not,Billy Idol is one of ’80s rock’s lead faces. There isn’t a single guitar band on earth that wouldn’t want “Rebel Yell” as part of their catalog. The likes of “Cradle Of Love” and “Hot In The City” might be too cheesy for the more serious muso, but “White Wedding” is undeniable on every level (as is the riotous “Mony Mony”). It feels like an oversight on the Hall Of Fame’s part to have Idol and Cyndi Lauper nominated in the same year, when they both represent the same pop-influenced sound and era from rock’s broad church.
8The Black Crowes
No Frills, World Class, American Classic Rock
This is a time to admit writer bias, and that is about to happen on this entry as I believeThe Black Crowes are one of summer’s most perfect rock bands. Raised on Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple but unmistakably American, it’s an irresistible blend of gritty playing and excessively glamorous delivery.
The honky-tonk pianos, loose-and-loud guitars of Rich Robinson and his brother Chris having a voice from the rock gods on high do not age, and the likes of “Jealous Again” and “Sting Me” are key examples of that rock and roll perfection.
The band also have luck on their side, asThe Black Crowes are the best Classic Rock band of the 1990s. If Aerosmith’s MTV-conquering output of that era is a little too sugary for your taste, and Cobain and his bands were too melancholic, Chris and Rich Robinson were happy to kick out the jams for people who missed Toys In The Attic, and had no time for rock’s changing tides. The Crowes remain a no-nonsense rock and roll combination and the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame should feel grateful they’d grace it with their presence.
7Mana
Latin Rockers Are Enormously Popular
You could be forgiven for wondering why they are so high on this list, but only the band at number 1 on this list have more monthly Spotify listeners than Mana. Pioneers of the Latin rock movement,Mana have sold over 40 million records worldwide. Their appeal is global, but they are best known for representing their culture.
Taking elements of reggae, funk, and pop, Mana’s appeal comes in fusing rock and its many associated genres and fusing it with Latino rhythms. They have one of the biggest selling Spanish-language albums of all-time with¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños?andMana have more Grammys than Ozzy Osborne. You learn something new every day.
Classic Rock Radio Staples Are Somehow Out In The Cold
With a timeless “loud guitars out of the jukebox” sound,Bad Company are a glaring omissionfrom the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Among a slew of hits, Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers is widely considered one of rock’s great vocalists, with one of the most technically accomplished voices to ever grace music. So much so, that Queen turned to Rodgers for their first attempt at touring without Freddie Mercury, before finding greater success with Adam Lambert.
Classic Rock as a concept means that Nirvana and Blink 182 are rightfully considered Classic Rock in their own right in 2025, butBad Company personify Classic Rockif you consider it a genre in its own right. The likes of Shooting Star are the perfect soundtrack to a long road-trip or a BBQ or any of the other clichés that make Classic Rock so universally beloved as a sound.
5Joy Division/New Order
A Very Bizarre Idea From The Hall Of Fame
The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame’s insistence on being at odds with its audience means that it is always going to be a lightning rod of a subject. There are times when the institution doesn’t help itself andbunching New Order and Joy Division together feels stupid on every level. It’s only out of respect for both bands songs and legacies that this nomination isn’t dead last, such is it’s “WTF?” nature.
If you’re confused as to why this makes sense, imagine Ian Curtis standing next to John Barnes as he does the rap part in the 1990 England football anthem, “World In Motion”.Joy Division and New Order are wildly different bands, conceptually and musically. They serve entirely different purposes, and their classic songs make this point with a bullet. It is a big old pile of nonsense to consider “Blue Monday” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart” basically the same, andthis laziness does the Hall Of Fame’s credibility no goodat all.
