The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame revealed its class of 2026 on Monday evening, and it’s an unusually strong one. After years of dithering in which they proclaimed that Foreigner and Bon Jovi were somehow more worthy than Joy Division/New Order, the Hall is finally bringing in the groundbreaking post-punk band. (It was starting to look as if Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, and Peter Hook would have to start yet another world-changing band to be recognized by the Hall.)
Elsewhere, Phil Collins is joining the double inductee club (which also should have happened at least a decade ago), icons Sade and Luther Vandross got well-deserved nods, and Wu-Tang Clan and Oasis are representing the Nineties.
But like every year, there’s a lot of confusion and questions lingering in the air. An unusually large number of British acts are in the class, and historically they don’t have the same reverence for the Hall of Fame as their American counterparts. It’s unclear how many will show up. There’s also the potential for a very messy reunion between bandmates who absolutely loathe one another and have had almost no contact in two decades. And in one case, the Hall of Fame seems to have made a rather baffling blunder regarding which exact members of a band are getting in.
Here are eight questions we have about this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Will Oasis Show Up?
The Oasis induction is capping off an extraordinary year for the Britpop icons. Their 2025 reunion tour packed stadiums all across the planet: They weren’t this popular in America even at the height of their (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? fame in the mid-Nineties. There’s no hint of any future shows, and they’ve said very little about the Hall of Fame beyond a series of snarky X posts by Liam Gallagher. “Reverse psychology vibes in the area Oasis RnR hall of farmers I mean famers,” he wrote in a post dripping with sarcasm. “I wanna thank all the people who voted for us, it’s a real honour ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame it’s true what they say anything is possible if you have a dream.”
It’s difficult to imagine a teary-eyed Noel Gallagher accepting the award at the ceremony in November before joining his brother and the rest of the guys for singalong renditions of “Wonderwall” and “Live Forever” as cameras roll for the ABC broadcast. Instead, it’s much easier to imagine them not going, and possibly sending a snide, Sex Pistols-like letter in their place. There’s also a scenario where founding drummer Tony McCarroll is the only one to show.
Why Was the Founding Bassist of Oasis Excluded?
Joining Noel and Liam Gallagher in the Hall of Fame will be guitarists Gem Arthur and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Andy Bell, and drummer Tony McCarroll. Alan “Whitey” White, who played drums in the band from 1995 to 2004 was excluded, along with the many touring members they’ve employed over the years. Whitey has a strong case that he’s getting screwed since he’s the drummer on (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, and was there for the peak years. But drummer Dave Abbruzzese had a very similar resume with Pearl Jam, and he didn’t get in either.
With that said, it’s very hard to think of any argument that justifies keeping original Oasis bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan out of the Hall of Fame. He’s a founding member of the band, and he stuck around until 1999. If McCarroll is getting in for playing drums with the band from 1991 to 1995, Guigsy should be inducted for playing bass with them from 1991 to 1999. It isn’t complicated. The Rock Hall just messed this one up. They need to fix it. #JusticeForGuigsy.
Update: A day after we published this article, both Guigsy and White were added to the list of Oasis inductees.
How Will Iron Maiden Handle This?
In a fair world, Iron Maiden would have entered the Hall of Fame shortly after becoming eligible in 2005. In this world, it took two decades and three nominations before it finally happened. Along the way, they made it very clear they didn’t care whatsoever. “It’s run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans,” Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson said in 2018, “who wouldn’t know rock & roll if it hit them in the face.”
The band has said nothing since they actually got in, but manager Rod Smallwood did release a statement: “We’d like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for including us (and former members who were all part of our story) in the 2026 roll call of inductees. Iron Maiden have always been about our relationship with our fans above anything else, including awards and industry accolades.”
He didn’t say anything about the band showing up. They might pull a Cher and instantly change their mind about the Hall of Fame once they actually get in. There’s a long history of this. “I’ve been saying for a long time that this wasn’t a big deal,” Neal Peart said when Rush were inducted in 2013. “It turns out, it kind of is.” It’s pretty likely that Iron Maiden won’t be quite so magnanimous. They’ve never needed mainstream support or even hit songs. And they don’t really need the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Will Joy Division/New Order Declare a One-Night-Only Truce?
Over the past four decades, feuding groups like the Police, Yes, Talking Heads, and Led Zeppelin put aside their vast differences for the evening and played together at the Hall of Fame. In 2017, Steve Perry appeared at the podium alongside Journey even though he didn’t sing with them. Joy Division/New Order fans have fantasized about Peter Hook returning to the fold at the Hall of Fame following 20 years of tension and legal battles with the band.
“I’d just like to say how wonderfully pleased I am to be finally accepted into the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Hook said on Instagram once the news broke. “I’ve been looking forward to it for years, so I definitely am gonna make the most of it. I’d like to say that this is for Ian Curtis, and for all our fans of both bands. Without you, we would be nothing.” In the caption he added, “See you at the ceremony.” That means Hook will indeed be at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on Nov. 14. But his former bandmates have yet to say a word.
It’s genuinely hard to predict how this one will play out. There’s so much bad blood here that even the Hall of Fame might be unable to bring these guys together. If it does happen, however, it’ll be one of the great reunions in Hall of Fame history. New Order have been fractured for way too long. Hook was a crucial architect of their sound. Everyone needs to suck it up and make this happen. (But don’t hold your breath.)
Will Phil Collins Perform?
So far, Phil Collins has only reacted to the Hall of Fame with a very brief statement on Instagram. “Obviously I’m pleased and honored to be inducted,” he wrote. “It wraps up what has been a wonderful life in music.” His life outside of music has been defined by significant health setbacks in recent years, and he hasn’t played live since the end of the Genesis farewell tour in early 2022. It’s likely he’ll attend the event, especially since he’s on the mend. We can even see him opening the show with “In the Air Tonight.” In the biopic version of his life, it’d be the final scene. Let’s hope it happens for real.
What About Sade?
There hasn’t been a new Sade album since 2010’s Soldier of Love, they haven’t played a show since 2011, and lead singer Sade is very press shy. They were supposedly working on a new album back in 2018, but it’s becoming the Chinese Democracy of sophisti-pop. Will they come to the ceremony and wow the place with “Smooth Operator” and “The Sweetest Taboo?” We can see this one going either way.
Can the Rock Hall Ceremony Finally End the Oasis/Phil Collins Blood Feud?
The rise of Oasis happened to perfectly coincide with the decline of Phil Collins as a pop-culture force after well over a decade of ubiquity. It made him a very easy target of their derision. “I’ll be voting Labour because I think it’s morally right,” Noel Gallagher said in 2005. “Another reason to vote Labour is if the Conservatives get in, Phil Collins is threatening to come back and live here. And let’s face it, none of us want that.” In the unlikely chance that the Gallaghers actually show up, it’s a chance for them to mend fences. Maybe they can even team up for a mashup of “Supersonic” and “Take Me Home.”
Can We Dig Deeper Into the Nineties Next Time?
Artists are eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single. That means we’re supposed to be in the early 2000s by now. But the Hall is still very focused on acts it’s overlooked from the Eighties. In most cases, we support that. Better late than never.
But before we start inducting the Strokes and Coldplay, there’s a lot of Nineties bands still waiting. The list includes Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Tool, and Hole. They also need to go back further and take in Pixies, Devo, Pavement, Sonic Youth, and the Replacements. Going back even further, it’s absurd that King Crimson and the New York Dolls aren’t in. By the time that Taylor Swift makes it in on her first ballot in 2031, let’s hope these rights have all been wronged. (And we’re going to fight for the Monkees and “Weird Al” Yankovic until our dying breaths. In the meantime, we can at least stop screaming about Joy Division/New Order.
Ringo Starr reunited with producer T Bone Burnett for ‘Long Long Road.’ Photo: Scott Ritchie*
Tupac Shakur at the Club USA in New York City, New York, 1994.
Prosecutors Put Rap Lyrics on Trial. Maryland Is About to Shut It Down
“I’m Gucci. It’s a rap. F**k [can they do] about a rap?”
Those are the words of Lawrence Montague on a jail phone call, words that now sit at the center of a broader legal reckoning unfolding in Maryland over the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal proceedings.
Maryland prosecutors introduced Montague’s rap verse, recorded using a jailhouse telephone and later posted to Instagram as evidence of his guilt for the killing of George Forrester. In December 2020, Maryland’s highest Court ruled in Montague vs. Maryland that rap lyrics can be admitted in court as evidence of a defendant’s guilt. The Court’s treatment of the genre as inherently violent reflects a deeply flawed and biased assumption, and Montague was ultimately convicted and sentenced to fifty years.
On appeal, the state’s highest court affirmed Montague’s conviction, finding that Montague’s lyrics made it more probable that he shot and killed Forrester. In doing so, the Court embraced the very kind of bias the legal system is supposed to guard against.
That ruling set a dangerous precedent, particularly for rap and hip-hop artists in America, and prompted Variety to publish our January 2021 opinion piece. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the article would help spark a national movement — now a united front of influential academics, defense and civil rights attorneys, and prominent music industry advocacy organizations including Songwriters of North America, the Black Music Action Coalition, The Recording Academy, and more. Together, we’ve partnered under a coalition known as Free Our Art, led by high-profile music executive Kevin Liles and co-chaired by me and Prophet. Over the past few years, the coalition has built a diverse and bipartisan group of allies, urging lawmakers to act. This week, in a full circle moment, Maryland became only the third state to pass a bill reconsidering how creative works are used in criminal trials. The bill now heads to the desk of Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who is widely expected to sign it into law.
When signed, Maryland’s Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression (PACE) Act will join California and Louisiana, which enacted similar laws in 2022 and 2023 following advocacy by BMAC, SONA and later Free Our Art. Critically, the legislation establishes clear standards for when creative works may be admitted as evidence in criminal proceedings.
This law addresses a growing concern among the music industry, legal scholars, and civil rights advocates, as rap lyrics have almost exclusively been used against Black and Brown artists in more than 820 cases since the 1980s. The PACE Act seeks to limit bias in the courtroom, reinforcing First Amendment protections that are frequently overlooked today. When signed into law, the legislation would limit the use of artistic expression as evidence to narrowly defined legal circumstances. Any creative expressions the government is looking to present as evidence must be presented to the judge before a jury trial even begins. These include instances where a defendant clearly intended the work to be taken literally, where it contains specific factual details tied to an alleged offense, where it is directly relevant to a disputed issue, and where its probative value outweighs any unfair prejudice.
Race has long shaped how rap lyrics are interpreted in the legal system. Courts have often misunderstood the history, purpose, and cultural significance of rap music in America, which emerged in the 1970s in the South Bronx as a response to poverty, unemployment, gang violence, isolation from mainstream America, and unfair treatment by government institutions. Courts are starting to correct the problem — overturning convictions where rap lyrics were wrongly used — but that’s not justice, that’s damage control. We need real protection on the front end. That’s why the PACE Act matters.
And the momentum is building: New York, Georgia, and Missouri legislatures are in discussions to pass laws to defend artistic freedom and draw the line.
Black artistry deserves the same legal protection as any other form of creative expression. Yet past rulings, including the Montague case in Maryland, have left Black artists exposed to bias rooted in misunderstanding — and too often, a refusal to engage with the culture itself. Research shows that rap, a predominantly Black genre, is more likely to be seen by jurors as more threatening, more dangerous, and grounded in reality. The result: Black expression is treated as evidence of criminality, while white artists in other genres such as country music exploring similar themes are afforded creative freedom. In court, slang, generic references, and race can unfairly prejudice juries far beyond their actual probative value.
Artists such as Tupac Shakur, Public Enemy, N.W.A, and Kendrick Lamar have long used hip-hop to tell stories and challenge injustice. That tradition is central to the genre and should not be mistaken for confession. Black artists deserve the opportunity to express fear and anger and process trauma and lived experiences without that expression being used against them in court. That distinction is exactly what this legislation seeks to protect.
With the PACE Act now moving through the final stages of approval, Maryland has an opportunity to correct a longstanding imbalance in the legal system. If signed into law, it will set a clear standard — one that other states should follow.
Dina LaPolt is an entertainment attorney, activist, and co-founder of the Songwriters of North America; and Willie “Prophet” Stiggers is the chairman and CEO of the Black Music Action Coalition. Special thanks to Loyola Law School student Kayla Ruff.