Iron Maiden and Foo Fighters Win Top 5 Fan Vote Honors for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ballot
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pays lip service to fans by offering a so-called “fan vote” that ends up counting just the tiniest bit towards each year’s eventual inductees. This year’s nominees of interest to metal fans are Iron Maiden, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters and New York Dolls, while Tina Turner, Jay-Z, Devo, LL Cool J, Carole King, and Mary J. Blige are a few of the other artists also on the ballot, and the fan vote has now been completed.
Iron Maiden and Foo Fighters ranked #4 and #5, respectively, in the final fan vote tally (you can see the top five below). But it’s important to note that each of the top five fan-vote-getters only get ONE additional vote to go along with the “regular” ballots cast by whatever industry people get to weigh in. In other words, if there are 500 industry votes (made up number) currently in favor of Iron Maiden, now they’ll still only have 501 votes, making the “fan vote” element mostly honorary.
Assuming they’re admitted, Iron Maiden’s current line-up will be inducted along with former members Paul Di’Anno (vocals), Clive Burr (drums), and Dennis Stratton (guitar).
Foo Fighters’ current line-up would also be the one theoretically inducted… but without their former members, William Goldsmith (drums) and Franz Stahl (guitar). This would be the second of Grohl’s bands to be inducted, after Nirvana.
Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has called the Hall “an utter and complete load of bollocks… run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock ’n’ roll if it hit them in the face.”
This year’s full class of nominees:
- Mary J. Blige
- Kate Bush
- Devo
- Foo Fighters
- The Go-Go’s
- Iron Maiden
- Jay-Z
- Chaka Khan
- Carole King
- Fela Kuti
- LL Cool J
- New York Dolls
- Rage Against the Machine
- Todd Rundgren
- Tina Turner
- Dionne Warwick
