Six acts from the UK are being recognised in the main Performer category, breaking the previous record of five in 2019. This year the British inductees are: Oasis, Joy Division/New Order, Billy Idol, Phil Collins, Iron Maiden and Sade. Rounding out the class is American soul/R&B singer and producer, Luther Vandross and American hip-hip collective, Wu-Tang Clan.

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In February the Rock Hall announced 17 nominees for the Performer category which were then narrowed to just 8 inductees by a panel of 1,200 artists, historians and industry professionals.

Both Sade, Nigerian-British front woman of her namesake band, and English rocker Billy Idol have been nominated once before. Meanwhile heavy metal band, Iron Maiden, have been nominated three times for the honor. Phil Collins was inducted in 2010 as a member of Genesis, but this is his first nomination as a solo act.

2026’s nomination marks the third consecutive year of the nod for Oasis. Frontman Liam Gallagher shared his thoughts on the induction on X this morning saying “ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame.”

I wanna thank all the people who voted for us it’s a real honour ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame it’s true what they say anything is possible if you have a dream LG x

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) April 14, 2026

The sentiment is contrary to his previous comments on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Gallagher dismissed the band’s 2025 nomination, writing on X “RNR hall of fame is for WANKERS.”

This morning, a fan responded to Gallagher’s acknowledgment of the induction asking, “what happened to not wanting to be in it.” Gallagher said that speaking with his mother changed his mind: “she thinks I may have been a little hasty with my perception of the organization she’s told me to stop being a d**k and go to the awards and behave and you never know you might enjoy it.”

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has also expressed critique with the Hall of Fame. On a tour in 2018 Dickinson said he believed the Hall was “a load of bollocks” and in 2023 he told The Telegraph “I don’t want to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, because we’re not dead yet!”

Sade’s induction carries significance with it, as she will be the first British Black woman inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sade was born in Nigeria and has lived in the UK since age 4. Her nominal band broke America, seeing great success there: 2010’s ‘Soldier of Love’ went Number 1 on the US Billboard 200 Charts.

Other induction categories include Early Influence featuring, Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifa, MC Lyte and Gram Parsons.

Also to be inducted but into the Musical Excellence category is Rick Rubin, Linda Creed, Arif Mardin and Jimmy Miller.

Finally, receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award, given to a non-performing professional, is Ed Sullivan.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2026 Induction ceremony will take place at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday 14 November. In December, a recording will air on Disney+ and ABC.

The bassist was a co-founding member of Joy Division before the band regrouped as New Order following the tragic passing of Ian Curtis. Following eight albums, Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub, Hook departed New Order in 2007 due to friction with his bandmates.

Now in a new interview with The i Paper The Mancunian bassist has told all; ranging from his thoughts on his former bandmates today, to how he dealt with the sudden passing of Ian Curtis.

Reminiscing about the first time New Order went their separate ways in 1993, Hooky states that he “hated every minute” and that “Tony [Wilson] and Rob [Gretton] got us together to do that album just to save Factory and the Hacienda.”

By 1993 Factory Records – the record label co-owned by New Order and Manchester music mogul Tony Wilson – was going bust… Factory’s famous Hacienda nightclub – the epicentre of acid house and the madchester scene – was struck by crisis after crisis whilst haemorrhaging money.

Speaking of their 1993 album ‘Republic’, Hook said: “We had to go through it even though we couldn’t f**king stick each other. We were all off our heads, which never makes anything better. Everything was awful.” 

The band headlined Reading Festival that year, walked off stage, and didn’t speak to each other again for five years.

They reconciled in 2001 before eventually splitting again in 2007… or so Peter Hook thought. New Order got back together in 2011, without the bassist, which led to lawsuits and disputes.

It’s safe to say that Hooky is not the biggest fan of the new New Order, saying: “I don’t think they’re New Order. They don’t sound anything like them. I’ve watched them play songs [online] recently, and they’ve dropped the basslines and play it like some weird, bad cover of a New Order track.”

The same can’t be said for Peter Hook and The Light – his venture after splitting from his former group. They have received rave reviews for their recreation of the back catalogue of Joy Division and New Order at live shows.

“My gimmick is to make it as close to the record as it can be. I’ve never seen so many grown men cry in an auditorium as they did when we toured [Joy Division’s second album] Closer.” Hook said.

Hooky is not afraid to carry the torch for both Joy Division and New Order, and he shared heartfelt thoughts about Ian Curtis, sharing how Joy Division’s producer Martin Hannett “used to say we were three football fans and a genius.”

Speaking of Curtis’ death – the iconic frontman committed suicide in 1980 aged only 23 – Hook admitted “We didn’t grieve enough. I wish we’d have grieved him more. But we were allowed to sort of ignore it because we were so young.

“Literally, all we did was gather as a group in a pub and sit there. Then we just threw ourselves into New Order and sort of erased before.”

Peter Hook and The Light kick off a run of live shows tonight (Thursday April 17) in Bristol as they will play New Order’s 2001 album ‘Get Ready’ in its entirety. 

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They will head to London tomorrow (Friday April 18) and Manchester on Saturday (19 April), with any remaining tickets being available here.

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With the list of nominees revealed, an international voting panel of over 1200 people from in and around the music industry will cast their votes and determine who out of the 14 acts will make it to the Hall of Fame. The criteria on which votes are cast should include the longevity of their career, the band or artist’s cultural impact, and their impact on their fellow musicians, and the next generation.  

For Oasis, this will be their second nomination in as many years, though the band hasn’t been enthusiastic about being inducted in the past. Liam Gallagher dismissed the Hall of Fame in 2024, describing it as being “full of bumbaclarts” on X after they received the first nomination. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Noel Gallagher responded to a question about the award by bluntly saying “I know what it is. I know what it entails, and it won’t be f***ing happening.”

Fuck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS LG x — Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) February 12, 2024

Joy Division and New Order’s joint nomination has caused a stir online. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has justified putting the bands together, describing them as “innovative musicians who created something revolutionary and massively influential, not once, but twice.” The post-punk icons’ inclusion has also highlighted a glaring omission. The Smiths have not been inducted, and have only been nominated once, having missed out to the likes of Green Day in 2015.

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Joe Cocker has been nominated posthumously after his death in 2014. According to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website, Cocker is being recognised for his ability to reinterpret songs and make them his own, an opinion shared by many online too. The gravel-voiced singer is one of Sheffield’s most famous musical exports alongside the Arctic Monkeys and Def Leppard.   

Billy Idol has embraced the chance to be inducted, taking to X to call it “an honour and a privilege”, as well as providing fans a link to vote. He made reference to ‘White Wedding’, one of his most iconic tracks, with the hashtag #ItsANiceDayToVoteAgain.

It is a honor and a privilege to be nominated for the rockhall Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2025! The Fan Vote is now open and you can visit https://t.co/05OFii67q1 daily to cast your vote from now until April 21st! #ItsANiceDayToVoteAgain pic.twitter.com/0LpAGXVFex

— Billy Idol (@BillyIdol) February 12, 2025

The voting process allows the public to pick seven nominees each day between now and April 21, though its influence on the final vote has been debated. The top-voted act receives one ballot submission among thousands of others, meaning the fan vote has a weighting of less than 0.1%.

 If any of the UK acts are eventually inducted, they will join over 50 other UK artists to be recognised by the Hall of Fame. Among the performers are The Beatles, Radiohead and Roxy Music, and in the non-performers category, Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ producer, and Brian Epstein, their manager.

This year’s nominees have a strong UK showing, though debates around the acts that are still missing, such as The Smiths and Iron Maiden, keep raging on. Fan involvement is largely symbolic and has very little bearing on the final results, and many will be eagerly waiting to see how closely the final shortlist matches the results of the online votes. Voting can be done here.

The full list is as follows:

Oasis

Bad Company

Joe Cocker

OutKast

Mariah Carey

Cyndi Lauper

Phish

Maná

Chubby Checker

Soundgarden

The White Stripes

Joy Division + New Order

The Black Crowes

Billy Idol

Hook’s remarks come at a time when the music industry is increasingly exploring AI for songwriting, production, and performance. However, Hook views this technological shift with scepticism. He argues that AI cannot capture the artistry and emotional depth that human songwriters infuse into their work. “Songwriting is an art that can’t be taught,” Hook asserted. “Every AI song I’ve heard is rubbish. They lack the intangible essence that human beings bring to music.”

The bassist also picked out David Bowie for praise for his individual songwriting process, and expressed concern that the present day risks losing similarly prolific songwriting figures. “When you look at someone as good as David Bowie at writing songs and marvel; “‘Drive-in Saturday’, ‘The Prettiest Star’. The guy was a genius. Songwriting is an art you cannot teach.” Hook said.

“Every AI song that has ever been written is shit,” Hook continued. “It’s full of them, but they’re crap because there’s something intangible that human beings have that a song captures.”

Hook is not alone in his criticism of AI in music. Many artists have expressed concerns about the impact of AI on creativity and the music industry. Nick Cave, for example, famously wrote a letter in response to a fan’s submission on AI-generated lyrics prompted ‘in the style of Nick Cave’, calling it a “grotesque parody of what it means to be human.” Similarly, members of Guns N’ Roses, including Slash and Duff McKagan, have voiced their reservations, with Slash noting that AI in music “does not really thrill me.” The Who frontman Roger Daltrey has also proffered that AI “will destroy the music industry if we’re not careful.”

The debate over AI in music extends beyond artists, with record labels and streaming platforms also being cautious about the technology. Earlier this year, Sony Music sent a letter to over 700 firms asking them to disclose any use of their material to train AI systems.

Hook’s criticism, however, leaves out the most prominent and influential use of AI in the music industry in the form of recommendation algorithms, which have come under criticism for favouring bigger artists and allowing paid promotions of music. But despite the backlash, some younger artists have embraced AI, with a clear divide in opinion towards AI falling along generational lines. Grimes notably invited fans to use AI generated versions of her voice in their own music, while James Blake has also said that AI is “going to open up a lot of possibilities for composition”.

At a recent show at London’s Eventim Apollo, Hook invited a very special guest to join him in an exclusive performance. Damon Albarn, frontman of iconic Britpop band Blur and virtual band Gorillaz, joined Hook on stage to perform Gorillaz tune “Aries”. The song, which featured Hook, was released in 2020 as the third single from the album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.

“Not long ago, I was honoured to be asked by a wonderful, very kind gentleman if I’d play with him,” Hook told the crowd on Saturday evening (October 14). “And this track is what we did, innit, Damon?”

According to setlist.fm, the performance marked the first time Hook and Albarn have played “Aries” in front of a live audience, and saw Albarn take on guitar and vocal duties for the special appearance. It’s safe to say fans were not disappointed by the iconic collaboration.

A few pictures of @peterhook last night at the @EventimApollo. Fantastic night, almost 3 hours of pure joy. Really enjoyed the support from @RebelskiMusic. Damon Albarn also made an appearance. pic.twitter.com/nbNTFda319

— britpop4ever (@DavidW010512) October 15, 2023

So tonight I saw @peterhook and The Light (with a surprise guest appearance from Damon Albarn!!!).
I was at the barrier and I could not stop smiling. Just non stop euphoria! The crowd were fantastic pic.twitter.com/9b7ir3Asd7

— Will (@WilliamD1123) October 14, 2023

Great to see @peterhook last night at the Apollo, best of both worlds Joy Division New Order

And to top it off Damon Albarn makes an appearance aswell, I’ve had worse Saturdays pic.twitter.com/JaJI7KFtoz

— Alex Murphy (@AlexMurphy_92) October 15, 2023

Hook’s show at the Eventim Apollo last weekend marked his final UK performance of 2023, however, starting on November 13th, his solo project Peter Hook & The Light will continue to tour Europe. The solo project of the legendary British bassist will also return to touring the UK in 2024. You can find tickets to the remaining dates of the tour here.

As for Damon Albarn, the singer has been on the road with his band Blur during the summer, promoting the release of the quartet’s latest studio album The Ballad Of Darren, which dropped on July 21st. The tour included two monumental shows at London’s Wembley Stadium, as well as an intimate show in Hammersmith where the band debuted songs from the new LP alongside fan favourites such as “The Universal”.

The tribute to the post-punk pioneer first appeared in October 2020 on a house in Port Street in the city’s Northern Quarter. Local artist Akse created the mural in collaboration with Headstock, a festival designed to bring together great music with mental wellbeing, in a bid to raise awareness for mental health and to promote Shout, a mental health free text messaging service constructed to help people with their mental wellbeing.

It’s come to light that the iconic Ian Curtis mural on Port Street has been painted over with my album artwork. This is the first time I’ve heard of this, me and my team are getting this fixed pronto. No way on earth would I want to disrespect a local hero like Ian.

MCR

— Aitch (@OfficialAitch) August 16, 2022

The rapper, however, to his credit, was quick to dispel any knowledge of the mural being tainted by an ad for his album, reassuring his Twitter followers of his desire to bring back the original artwork. He stated on the platform, “It’s come to light that the Ian Curtis mural on Port Street has been painted over with my album artwork. This is the first time I’ve heard of this, me and my team are getting this fixed pronto. No way on earth would I want to disrespect a local hero like Ian.”

The repainting of the mural will be done once more by the original artist Akse but in a different location, given that 75 Port Street now reportedly cannot be used anymore. The Star and Garter pub on Fairfield Street, a few streets to the South West of the original location, is now reportedly set to be the new location for the mural after it was revealed that Headstock are applying for planning permission to re-home the magnificent depiction of Curtis on the side of the pub.

The repainting of the mural is without a doubt a victory for Headstock and for the mental wellbeing of the people of Manchester and beyond and will, in turn, delight fans of Joy Division and of Curtis himself, who, after suffering from depression and epilepsy, sadly took his own life at the young age of 23, just before the release of Joy Division’s second album Closer and the group’s first North American tour.

Watch Joy Division perform “Transmission” on BBC music show Something Else in 1979 below:

The UK dates, which start after the European tour, begin with a massive show at The O2 in London, which will be the bands only show in England. The band’s announcement stated that it “will be their first show in the capital since a sold out performance in 2021 which was live streamed across the world.”

Speaking about their other UK dates, they also said “2023 will see the band hit 3Arena on October 1st for the first time. Speaking of firsts, the band return to Glasgow for the first time in 8 years for a performance at OVO Hydro on October 5th.”

New Order announced the set of shows on Instagram, as seen below, also confirming support from special guests Confidence Man, an Australian indie electro pop band. Confidence Man released their second album last year, Tilt, which NME called “over-the-top pop of the highest order” and gave it a gleaming four star review. It reached number 7 in the Offical UK charts. The band are playing on the New Order tour after their own set of UK dates starting in May.

In other news, the band have had a busy year. They were announced as headliners of the Primavera Sound festival in Madrid and Barcelona, and garnered attention after backing the #LetTheMusicMove campaign. This was after the US Department of Homeland Security announced they would raise touring visa fees by 250 percent for foreign acts, greatly impacting how and even if smaller bands can tour the US. They were one of over 200 artists that came together for the touring campaign. See below:

The band formed in Manchester in 1980, after the disbandment of Joy Division following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis. The remaining members, Bernard Summer, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris, formed New Order. They brought in keyboardist Gillan Gilbert the following year to complete the line up. In 2023, New Order and Joy Division were jointly nominated to be accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Their hit song, “Blue Monday“, came out forty years ago in March- a milestone the band celebrated by releasing limited edition merchandise. It became the best-selling independent 12″ single of all time in the UK, despite not being on any album. The song was rereleased in 2008, on the collector’s edition of their second album Power, Corruption & Lies. They posted on Instagram to unveil the collection. See below:

Tickets for all dates go on sale April 14th, at 9.30am. They are available via Ticketmaster here.

Here are the UK tour dates:

29/09/2023 – The O2 – London

05/10 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow

07/10 – First Direct Arena – Leeds

A new British Pop Archive is set to take place at The University of Manchester, exhibiting items of great importance to popular culture over the last few decades, such as Ian Curtis’ handwritten lyrics to “She’s Lost Control“, or Joy Division/New Order manager Rob Gretton’s archive.

Happening in the university’s John Rylands Research Institute and Library, the exhibition started off as an idea back in 2018, with the deaths of Pete Shelley and The Fall’s Mark E. Smith being an inspiration. The institute’s director, Hannah Barker, explains that “Because I’m a historian who works in archives, I remember thinking: ‘I wonder what happens if these guys had no archive.“

Part of the thinking behind it is the worry that culture from hundreds of years ago has an unfair advantage, being instantly recognised as more important than recent achievements, despite us having much more to explore of the latter.

The university’s professor of popular culture, Jon Savage, said that “it is a kind of false equivalence. It’s very easy to look at artefacts from 400 years ago and say that’s really important. What we are saying is this is important now. Maybe if more people had kept material from Shakespeare’s time it wouldn’t just be Shakespeare that we’re talking about.“

The inaugural exhibition will take place on May 19th with Mat Bancroft, Savage and Barker curating. It’s being touted as “a distinctively Manchester-flavoured exhibition, underlining why the city is the perfect home for the British Pop Archive …. it explores the vibrant cultural scene of a city that has driven innovation, creativity and social progress.“

Items relating to bands such as The Haçienda, Sex Pistols and record label Factory Records will also appear. Granada TV’s archive will be there too, with fans of Coronation Street, World in Action, Prime Suspect and The Hitman and Her being in for a treat.

However, it’s not the only time Joy Division have received recognition for their achievements recently. You can read here about a mural set up just over a week ago in Ian Curtis’ name, right in the town where he was brought up and buried – Macclesfield.

Joy Division bassist and New Order co-founder Peter Hook was present, helping cut the ribbon by the new mural. Created by street-artist Akse, the work is based on a 1979 photo taken at The Factory/Russell Club in Manchester, right by Macclesfield bus station, by Kevin Cummins.

Peter Hook helps to cut the ribbon at the official unveiling of the Ian Curtis mural by @Akse_P19, taken from a Kevin Cummins photograph, in Macclesfield this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/Hz4Aq1eQTu

— Joy Division & New Order Pics (@JDNOPICS) March 26, 2022

Hook was obviously emotional about the whole thing. He said “I am actually very honoured to be here, and to do this, because to me it’s about time Ian came home …. I’m watching all the people going down the street and every single one of them is drawn to it. Some young kids walking down had no idea who [Curtis] was but now they do. Hopefully they’ll listen to the music and get the gist of what we were trying to do as kids.”  

The mural was funded by Cheshire East Council, a sign that Curtis’ home town is very proud of their own home-spun musical icon. Nick Mannion, who is chair of the economy and growth committee, said that “I am a huge fan of Joy Division – the cultural significance of the band and Ian stretches well beyond my home town of Macclesfield. This is such a proud moment, I’m feeling very emotional about it right now.“

If you’re interested in some other things artist Akse has been getting up to recently, he’s done murals for the likes of Captain Tom Moore (the WW2 veteran who raised money for the NHS in run-up to his hundredth birthday) and footballer Marcus Rashford as part of his portfolio.

As for Hook, he’s back in the limelight touring with his outfit Peter Hook and the Light. They’re due out on their ‘Joy Division: A Celebration’ tour next month with 12 dates lasting from April 7^th-30^th, an event where they’re expected to be playing both classic Joy Division albums in full, alongside some New Order material as well. And after that there’re some dates dotted around the UK and Ireland for July and November (as well as Europe and the USA for those of you this applies to). Tickets and full touring dates can be seen following this link.

UK dates begin exactly two weeks from tomorrow… Have you got your tickets?https://t.co/aRq5vk7N7r pic.twitter.com/kHxBrhnKA6 — Peter Hook (@peterhook) March 23, 2022

Peter Saville’s legendary 1979 cover has been reinterpreted by Music Declares Emergencyhttps://t.co/4royEUrfry

— Rolling Stone UK (@rollingstoneuk) October 15, 2021

Saville originally based the original design of the famous piece of the album artwork on a stacked plot of radio emissions given out by a pulsar, however, in the new design, the emissions have been altered to look flatter, and are accompanied by a poignant, chilling message; “No Music on a Dead Planet”. The mural was created specifically for the campaign group Music Declares Emergency, who, according to the BBC, said that it symbolises; “the eternal silence of a dead planet.”

As previously alluded to, Peter Saville is the original designer of the Unknown Pleasures album artwork and has been involved in the music scene as an artist since 1979. Saville founded Factory Records alongside journalist and radio broadcaster Tony Wilson, actor Alan Erasmus, producer Martin Hannett, and Rob Gretton, the manager of Joy Division and New Order. Saville’s other artistic credits include Joy Division’s second and final album Closer, New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies, Roxy Music’s Flesh and Blood and My Life In The Bush of Ghosts, a collaborative album between Brian Eno of Roxy Music and David Byrne of The Talking Heads.

Again, according to the BBC, Music Declares Emergency has stated that the mural in Withington is a part of a larger-scale campaign that calls for “urgent action on climate change”. The official title of the campaign is echoed by the mural, “NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET”.

Music Declares Emergency was first launched in July 2019, and they describe themselves as an “independent group with no political party or commercial affiliations”. The group also state on their website that they represent “all areas of the music industry irrespective of genre, role, gender, race or sexuality and is led by individuals united by a deep concern for the climate and ecological emergency we currently face”. MDE has also formed Classical Declares, which is an expansion of the group into the world of classical, opera and choral music, along with a Music Declares Emergency Radio Show, hosted by co-founder Fay Milton and folk singer Sam Lee.

You can find out more about Music Declares Emergency and their current NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET campaign on their website, as well as information on how you can donate to help them out.