Iron Maiden already had a built-in reason to skip their Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction this year — they’ll be on the other side of the world when it happens — but bassist Steve Harris and singer Bruce Dickinson have now made clear they wouldn’t have turned up regardless.
Speaking with U.K.’s Metal Hammer, the pair addressed the band’s spot in the Rock Hall’s Class of 2026, an honor they’ll share with the rest of the current lineup — guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers — along with former singers Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley, ex-guitarist Dennis Stratton and past drummers Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr.
Asked whether the band ever discussed rejecting the honor outright, Harris waved the idea off while making his own indifference plain:
“No. There have only been comments from a couple of members of the band here and there. Bruce has his own strong feelings about it, which is his opinion. It’s never really bothered me one way or the other, because awards aren’t what we do this for. But in a weird way I’m glad it’s happened so the Americans will stop banging on about it. To me, if you get offered something, you say, ‘Thank you very much.’ But did I lose sleep over getting it or not getting it? No.”
Dickinson, long the band’s most outspoken Rock Hall skeptic, struck a notably mellow tone this time. “I can’t even summon the energy to be vitriolic about it. I appreciate that a significant number of people are happy for us. That’s nice. It’s not something we’re bothered about,” he said.
The clincher came when the two were asked whether they’d bother showing up if the Australian tour dates weren’t in the way. Dickinson‘s answer was a flat “No.” Harris went further: “I don’t do those sort of things. I didn’t even go to the recent red-carpet thing for the [Maiden] documentary. It’s not me.”
The 2026 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony takes place on November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with a broadcast set for ABC and Disney+ the following month. That date lands squarely in the middle of Iron Maiden‘s Australian run — the band plays Melbourne on November 13 and Sydney on November 15 — which is why manager Rod Smallwood has already confirmed the current lineup won’t be there in person, citing the touring commitments Down Under.
Iron Maiden‘s induction follows years of eligibility, having only been nominated twice before in 2021 and 2023, where they finished fourth in the fan vote. Even though artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album, the institution has historically been slow to recognize heavy metal. Dickinson publicly criticized the Rock Hall in 2018, calling it “an utter and complete load of bollocks.”
