Longtime IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain has weighed in on the band’s latest nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, offering a candid take on the honor and the ongoing controversy surrounding the institution.
Speaking in a new interview with the Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen & Shane McEachern podcast, McBrain reflected on MAIDEN’s place on the 2026 ballot. While the band has been eligible since 2004, they have only been nominated three times — in 2021, 2023 and now 2026.
After one of the interviewers suggested that the Rock Hall has “gotta get it right this time” and finally induct MAIDEN, Nicko said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Yeah. You just never know, do you? I mean, it has been a long road. Many nominations — I’m not sure how many this is; maybe the third or fourth one, perhaps.”
Referencing the genre-spanning nature of this year’s nominees — which include artists from rap, metal, R&B, hip-hop, Britpop, blues rock and pop — McBrain added: “Yeah, in the greater scheme of things, it’s not really a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame anymore, but it’s still a wonderful accolade to be given finally to hopefully — the guys may go, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna induct them.’ But at the end of the day, it’s really something that the whole of the band have talked about over the years, and it’s not something that’s voted for by your fans, although they do open it up to its fans to be voted in. At the end of the day, it’s the board that decide. And so that kind of puts a bit of a question mark about the authenticity of fans voting you in. But, yeah, it’s still, in my book, something that’s a great accolade to even be considered again.”
The drummer also acknowledged concerns that some legendary musicians pass away before receiving recognition from the Hall.
“There is that,” he said. “I mean, mind you, if you think to yourself, there’s so many great bands out there that have not been inducted or even nominated over the years, and as you say, certain members are getting along in the tooth or passing away, and you look back and go, in retrospect, man, these guys should have been [inducted] and they weren’t. But, yeah, it’s something that there’s a lot of controversy over it, and there has been.”
McBrain then appeared to reference the 2023 removal of Jann Wenner — co-founder of Rolling Stone and a co-founder of the Rock Hall — from the Hall’s board of directors following controversial comments. Wenner had long faced accusations of bias against metal, prog-rock and other genres.
“And if somebody that was very controversial is no longer a part of the voting board as such, then who knows where it may go?” Nicko said. “As I said, for me personally, it’s a lovely accolade to have, but one that it’s steeped with controversy in terms of what the MAIDEN camp feel.”
IRON MAIDEN’s relationship with the Rock Hall has been complicated over the years, with several members openly skeptical of the institution’s value. Frontman Bruce Dickinson previously dismissed the Hall, calling it “an utter and complete load of bollocks run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock and roll if it hit them in the face.”
Similarly, MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris told Rolling Stone he isn’t concerned about the band’s omission. “I don’t mind that we’re not in things like that. I don’t think about things like that. It’s very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn’t get into the business for that sort of thing. I’m certainly not going to lose sleep if we don’t get any sort of award, not just that one, any award. I don’t think we deserve to have this or that necessarily. With what we do, whatever comes of it is great. Whatever doesn’t come of it is great, too.”
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