Using "Women Who Rock" as a Predictor for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

April 30, 2020 09:29 PM Filed in: Prognostications | Snubbed | Future Hall of Famers? | Women in the Rock Hall
WomenWhoRock
Illustrations from Women Who Rock

Journalism professor and former pop music critic Evelyn McDonnell is one of the most vocal advocates for properly recognizing the importance of women's contributions to rock music. Her essays regarding the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's deficiencies in that area have led to a heightened awareness in the media and public that just 7.7% of inductees are women.

In 2018, McDonnell released her edited collection of essays, Women Who Rock, which celebrated the careers of over 100 artists, 30% of whom are already in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. While many of the remaining women highlighted in the book are clearly worthy of the Hall of Fame, most of those eligible haven't even been nominated due to the Rock Hall's flawed induction system.

Will this list predict who the next women inductees will be? The only three women who have been inducted by the Rock Hall since publication were featured in the book, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, and Whitney Houston.

Here is the full list of women from the book (linked artists are not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; Hall of Famers noted with their year of induction):

It should be noted that McDonnell's book is not meant to be a comprehensive list of women who are worthy of induction, because there are many others who should be considered.


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