Nicko McBrain says Iron Maiden’s long-awaited Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction is a genuine honor, even if he still has mixed feelings about what the Hall has become. Speaking earlier this year on Rock of Nations with Dave Kinchen & Shane McEachern, the longtime Maiden drummer said the band’s latest nomination and eventual induction were appreciated, but he also questioned whether the institution still fully reflects rock history. “It’s still a wonderful accolade to be given finally,” he said, while adding that the Hall is “not really a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame anymore” in the way it once was imagined.
McBrain’s comments come in the middle of a major moment for Iron Maiden. The band was officially announced as part of the 2026 Rock Hall class on April 13, alongside Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan, with the ceremony set for November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The Hall said the class would also include early influence, musical excellence and Ahmet Ertegun honorees.
For McBrain, the recognition matters because it has been a long road. Iron Maiden has been eligible for induction since 2004/2005 depending on the source’s framing of the first-release cutoff, but the band had only been nominated three times before the 2026 class: in 2021, 2023 and 2026. He said the honor means something to the whole band, especially because the process is decided by a board rather than purely by fans. That, he said, creates “a bit of a question mark about the authenticity of fans voting you in.”
He also acknowledged the Hall’s built-in contradiction: it is still prestigious, but it has attracted criticism for decades. McBrain said the controversy around the institution is real, and that if the board changes over time, it may alter how future votes are interpreted. Even so, he said the final feeling is gratitude, calling the nomination itself “a great accolade to even be considered again.”
The irony is that Iron Maiden may finally get the honor while being unable to attend. The band has already said it will skip the November ceremony because it will be in Australia on the Run For Your Lives world tour. Manager Rod Smallwood said the band made it clear the fans come first and that the tour dates would not be changed. On the night of the ceremony, Maiden is scheduled to be in the middle of its Australian run.
The Hall has confirmed that the induction class will include the current Maiden lineup of Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Janick Gers and Nicko McBrain, plus former members Dennis Stratton, Paul Di’Anno and Clive Burr. The institution also noted that Maiden has sold more than 100 million records, a reminder that the band’s influence has never depended on awards to prove its place in metal history.
That history of friction with the Rock Hall is part of why McBrain’s comments land the way they do. Bruce Dickinson famously called the Hall “an utter and complete load of bollocks” in 2018, while Steve Harris has previously said he does not lose sleep over awards and would not have cared if Maiden never got in. McBrain’s own reaction sits somewhere between those two positions: appreciative, but skeptical of the process and the institution behind it.
For now, Maiden fans are left with a strange but fitting outcome: one of metal’s biggest bands is finally getting Rock Hall recognition, even as the members keep their distance from the ceremony itself. McBrain’s “mixed emotions” seem to capture the whole thing pretty well — grateful for the honor, but still unconvinced the Hall has fully earned the power it claims.
