Alan Light, former Spin editor in chief, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, thinks Madonna is worthy of her 2008 induction:

"She has loomed for a long time as a really significant, really influential figure," said Alan Light. "She is as famous a woman -- if not in the world, certainly in the Western world -- as anybody that's alive."

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As for any gripes the pop singer doesn't belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, save it, says Light.

"If you define rock and roll in any way other than it has to be played with electric guitars and be based on blues changes or whatever, any definition that is more expansive than that -- anything that talks about the rebellious side of it, the counterculture side of it, the creative, ambitious side of it -- she clearly should be there," Light said. "She changed the playing field."

The article also quotes one of the many artists Madonna influenced, Alanis Morissette:

"To me, she's this woman that's deeply feminine, combined with this masculine drive," said Canadian pop singer Alanis Morissette, who was signed to Madonna's record label, Maverick Records, in 1995. "For a long time as a kid, I felt very self-conscious about what a tomboy I was, but she was someone that I could always look up to."