Tom Morello will do anything to get Iron Maiden into the Rock Hall.
“I will chew my leg off like a coyote in a trap if I can’t get Iron Maiden in,” the guitarist told SiriusXM’s Eddie Trunk in a new chat. “While there are many other deserving acts, Iron Maiden for me is the last most egregious oversight in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Morello continued, “Iron Maiden is like the gold standard of metal bands and they’re not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And I know Bruce Dickinson said he doesn’t really care. Well, I care as a fan. I care very, very much about it. So I’m gonna do all I can to get, [with] whatever limited influence I have, to get Iron Maiden in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Tom is both a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and also on its nominating committee. The musician joined the Hall about ten years ago after challenging Jon Landau, a key executive, about its credibility.
Since he joined the committee, Morello has supported artists like KISS, MC5, Randy Rhoads, and Judas Priest for induction.
In 2018, a journalist asked Bruce Dickinson how he felt about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Iron Maiden singer responded, “If we’re ever inducted, I will refuse — they won’t bloody be having my corpse in there.”
A year later, Steve Harris also shared, “It’s very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn’t get into the business for that sort of thing. … With what we do, whatever comes of it is great. Whatever doesn’t come of it is great, too.”
“I don’t want to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Because we’re not dead yet!” Dickinson also explained last year. “Some people feel almost actively threatened by metal. Not by the nature of the music. But by the fact that it doesn’t conform to their worldview of what pop music should be, which is: pop music is disposable, darling. Well, we don’t make disposable pop music.”
Iron Maiden has been eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2004 but has only received two nominations, in 2021 and 2023.