Future Rock Legends Predicts the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

May 01, 2023 12:01 AM Filed in: 2023 Ceremony | Prognostications

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will officially announce the class of 2023 on Wednesday, May 3rd. Future Rock Legends predicts the inductees in the Performer category will be:

  1. Willie Nelson: The only certainty in this year's hyper-competitive ballot is that Willie Nelson is getting inducted. Once you nominate a legend like Willie who has a resume longer than most Hall of Famers, you simply have to put him in.
  2. Missy Elliott: Hosting the ceremony in New York in hip hop's 50th anniversary year provides a great opportunity to induct Missy Elliott, one of hip hop's true innovators.
  3. George Michael: The Voting Committee historically marks their ballots in favor of artists who haven't previously been nominated. Roughly 2/3 of inductees get in the first time they appear on a ballot.
  4. Warren Zevon: The catalyst for Zevon's appearance on the ballot was a letter from Billy Joel advocating for his induction. Joel likely didn't stop his lobbying once he was nominated, and he's been joined in the effort by David Letterman.
  5. Sheryl Crow: After being the presenter at previous induction ceremonies, this year it will be Sheryl Crow's turn to be on the receiving end of the honor.
  6. Cyndi Lauper: After the recent inductions of The Go-Go's and Duran Duran, the Rock Hall continues to dig deeper into the superstars of 1980s MTV. Cyndi Lauper's industry connections are a huge asset with their overlap with the Voting Committee.

Additional Notes:

  • This year's ballot is stacked with deserving candidates and it's not hard to make a case how (almost) any of them could be inducted. It's painful to leave them off the list above.
  • We incorrectly predicted Chaka Khan would be inducted in the Musical Excellence category last year, but it has to happen this year, right?
  • Since 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, we're predicting the Rock Hall will have a big segment of the ceremony devoted to the genre, including an Early Influence induction of DJ Kool Herc.
  • If the induction class is at least 50% women, the Rock Hall will breathe a sigh of relief given the renewed criticism of the lack of women who have been honored.
  • This is the second year of the public Ballot Tracker. The top five artists currently in the lead of known ballots are Kate Bush, Joy Division/New Order, Missy Elliott, The Spinners, and A Tribe Called Quest. Last year, the public ballots were not indicative of the actual results.
  • The top five winners of the Fan Vote this year were George Michael, Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, Iron Maiden, and Soundgarden. That's the second top-five finish for both Iron Maiden and Soundgarden, which bodes well for their future inductions, even if it will come in the form of Musical Excellence. Fela Kuti and Dave Matthews Band are the only other artists to finish in the top-five and haven't been inducted.
  • There hasn't been an entire performer class of first year nominated artists (FYNs) since 2009.
  • As mentioned above, the induction ceremony will be in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, the site of the 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 events. The Rock Hall had previously promised Cleveland they could host every other year, but that deal seems to no longer exist. The upcoming construction at the museum will be enough of an excuse to quell any grumbling from the Cleveland contingent for a few years.

For sixteen years we have been conducting an unofficial poll on this site which requires voters to select five artists on their ballot. The results (after 1679 ballots):

  1. Kate Bush 54% (they appeared on 54% of the ballots)
  2. Willie Nelson 50%
  3. Iron Maiden 49%
  4. Soundgarden 48%
  5. Joy Division/New Order 48%
  6. Cyndi Lauper 42%
  7. George Michael 36%
  8. Warren Zevon 30%
  9. Sheryl Crow 30%
  10. The White Stripes 27%
  11. The Spinners 24%
  12. Rage Against the Machine 22%
  13. Missy Elliott 19%
  14. A Tribe Called Quest 19%
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