20 Women Who Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
By Annie Zaleski
When the Steve Miller Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum a few weeks ago, Miller took the opportunity in his induction speech to thank “all the women in my life for pointing me in the right direction” — and, several beats later, implored the Hall to be “more inclusive of women and to be more transparent in your dealings with the public, and most importantly, to do much more to revive music in our schools.”
A day before Miller’s speech, a widely shared article, “There Are Not Enough Women in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” went one step further and laid out all of the women not inducted. The piece also noted some even more sobering facts: “Apparently only 37 female performers and bands with women” fit the induction criteria of demonstrating “overall excellence,” while “zero of the executives, managers and producers inducted have been women. Only one woman, Carole King, has been inducted for her songwriting” … and she had to share that honor with her ex-husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin.
It’s insulting (if not downright sexist) that so few women have been deemed worthy of a Hall of Fame slot, especially considering the nominations draw from decades of popular music at this point.
And so Ultimate Classic Rock came up with a list of 20 should-be inductees who deserve to be in the Hall because they’ve contributed to the vibrant pantheon of rock ‘n’ roll and its offshoots — embodying the “broad umbrella” of influences, as the Rock Hall is fond of saying.
Stevie Nicks
Sure, Stevie Nicks is in the Rock Hall as a member of Fleetwood Mac. However, plenty of male band members — including Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton and every member of the Beatles — are also in as solo artists. And Nicks' solo career, besides spawning classic duets (the Tom Petty-featuring "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around") and several empowering anthems ("Stand Back") is also commercially successful: In fact, Nicks has 10 Top 40 hits, just one less than Ringo Starr.
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