Iconic folk songstress PJ Harvey is always one of the most obvious options when debates of this kind come about, and for good reason. After all, there are very few other artists with such prolific virtuosity when it comes to experimentation, still sounding every bit as fresh these days as she did when she first started hitting the airwaves three decades ago.
What makes Harvey’s approach to music so spellbinding is not only her eclectic perceptions of genre and sound, but the way she uses this to alter her image through the plethora of eras throughout her career, and how she has used this facet, so often weaponised against women, to her advantage. From the breakout spirit of Dry to her most recent 2023 effort, I Inside the Old Year Dying, Harvey has never stopped reinventing herself, which will only continue to make her more effervescent over the years to come.
OK, I appreciate that this one may be controversial, but if we’re talking about female figures who became seismic in the rock scene and synonymous with a specific moment in time, there’s none more fitting to that charge than Courtney Love. You have to agree, love her or loathe her, that the 1990s just wouldn’t have had their musical lore without her, and it’s for this reason she should be recognised among the top flight.
Personal dramas with Kurt Cobain, his estate and his rabid fanbase aside, there’s no denying that Love’s band Hole were as equal a reckoning force to their male grunge counterparts at the time, and they deserve to be recognised both individually and collectively for the impact they had. For a time when both the music industry and the press were so dead set against female agency, it was bands like Hole who began to turn the tide towards the state of affairs we know now, where it’s still not perfect, but admittedly a lot better than it used to be.
Icelandic icon Björk is another staple addition who should theoretically be well on her way to receiving her Hall of Fame plaudits, but the results of this remain to be seen. Having been treading the boards of the music industry since the tender age of 11—and now approaching her 60th birthday—if there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about taking the time to hone their craft, it’s her.
With artists from Prince to Jeff Buckley to Missy Elliott citing her as a guiding influence, it’s only right that Björk, too, should join some of her sonic protégés within the walls of the famed institution, but only time will tell whether this will ever come to fruition. Until then, we can be certain that she will continue to fly her flag of musical weirdness and become all the more beloved for it.
Among one of the most incredulous snubs out there is Grace Jones’ running omission from the Hall of Fame. As an artist who has mastered so many different facets of genre while simultaneously invigorating fashion, identity, and politics with renewed vigour, she makes it all look so easy. But, do not be fooled, the Jones machine is a titan, and she should be lavished with every inch of recognition for it.
She is undeniably a figure as famous for her appearance as much as her musical output, but the way Jones manages to combine these two aspects of her artistry is what makes her a true force. Never mind the whims of fast fashion and the even faster rate of music consumption, because she is someone, in all her 77 years, who truly understands the power of both and whose impact will be everlasting as a result.
The late, great Marianne Faithfull, popularly lauded as she may be, is someone who risks being diminished in legacy as simply the plus one to some of rock music’s most powerful men – including Mick Jagger and John Lennon – when, in reality, she was so much more than just the love interest.
Her own musical exports, beginning in the 1960s and carrying on throughout the ensuing decades, imbued her with the most successful critical appeals of any female artist of the time, defining the parameters of “whiskey-soaked” sound and raw sonic vulnerability. Her legacy will forever be one of shaking up the status quo of women’s success in the industry, and an apt way to honour that, of course, would be a space in the Hall of Fame.
When you think of the punk genre as a whole, it’s only natural that artists like the Sex Pistols or The Clash instantly spring to mind. But Siouxsie and the Banshees were just as seismic a piece of this puzzle, redefining rock music and society at large, one rebellious beat at a time.
In terms of prolific British women, Sioux is absolutely right up there at the top of the tree, and it’s a status rarely emulated by any other force. Aside from just the punk echelons, however, what makes her all the more remarkable is her ability to traverse genre and sonic output so deftly, meaning that although she became a blazing export of one specific era, she remains just as transcendental through all the others.
Given how huge a shake-up Suzi Quatro provided to the rock scene as it stood in the 1970s, it’s inconceivable how she still hasn’t gained her rightful space within the ranks of the Hall of Fame, so consider this as the ultimate canvassing effort in her campaign.
Between huge hits like ‘Can the Can’ and ‘Devil Gate Drive’ topping the charts the world over, it seems impossible at this stage that Quatro will ever fully hang up the guitar. Of course, the rock world is all the better for her continued presence, carving out a specific place for women like her to take the stage and be completely unapologetic in their style. Naturally, some will come and go, but the fact remains that most wouldn’t have achieved their own stratospheric status without Quatro to thank.
Let’s be honest, Sinéad O’Connor would have more than likely despised all the pomp and regalia associated with everything in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not including her would be remiss of us. So, despite the inevitable protestations, she claims a place on the list.
Although she may not have categorised herself as one by name, there’s no denying that O’Connor was the very definition of punk in the fabric of everything she did. For all the controversy and protest she may have stoked up during her tragic lifetime, it was her steadfast resoluteness that made the singer every bit as famous as she was powerful, a quality that would make her fit for any Hall of Fame, in every capacity.
As we veer closer to the modern day, there come the classes of artists who technically aren’t yet eligible to enter the Hall, but inevitably should receive the recognition as and when the time reveals itself. There is a litany of possible candidates, but Amy Winehouse surely comes close to the top of the list.
London’s soul songstress may have blazed bright but not for long, yet it should be for everything that she achieved in her short lifetime, and not what she didn’t, that she be rightfully remembered. Between her two records, Frank and Back to Black, Winehouse’s stratospheric success and transcendental talent were only further solidified by the scores of legacy artists who universally sang her praises, and continue to do so today. As such, when her 25-year marker rolls around in the relatively near future, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be the very first place her name heads.
While I can practically feel the eye rolls of the cynics through the screen, on the pulse of the current musical landscape, there is arguably no other female artist who has whipped up such a firestorm of allure and intrigue as Lorde. The New Zealand singer may only be set to release her upcoming fourth album currently, but inevitably has a decades-long line of rapture ahead of her.
For those as yet unconvinced, you would only have to look back as comparatively recently as the mid-2010s to find the late, great David Bowie describing Lorde as the quintessential “future of music”; a compliment which she used as a springboard to her critically-acclaimed 2017 sophomore album, Melodrama. Set to hit the airwaves in less than a month with the much-vaunted Virgin, there may still be a long way to go in her journey, but it’s clear that the walls of the Hall of Fame are very much in her sights.
