5 Rock Artists Who Still Belong in the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Heart‘s Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson, The Doobie Brothers, Tracy Chapman, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, and Clem Burke, R.E.M, Timbaland, Parliament Funkadelic’s George Clinton, Steely Dan, Public Enemy, Bryan Adams, and Kenny Loggins are up for possible induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024.

Though Blondie, R.E.M., the Doobie Brothers, Heart, and Adams were among the nominees in 2023 they never made induction. In 2023, Patti Smith, Vince Gill, and Steve Winwood were also among the Performing Songwriters nominated who still haven’t been inducted.

[RELATED: 5 Reasons Prince is Overdue Induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame]

Prince, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and Kate Bush only touch the surface of songwriters who still haven’t been inducted.

Along with each of the aforementioned artists, here’s a look at five more rock acts who are also overdue for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

1. Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac‘s earlier songwriting was dominated by early members Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, along with Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, and Christine McVie. Along with McVie’s expanding contributions, the dynamism that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham delivered to the band when joining in 1974 was also indelible, from Fleetwood Mac classics “Rhiannon” and “Landslide,” the tempestuous Rumours in 1977, and on through the band’s 17th album Say You Will in 2003. Nicks wrote “Sara,” “Dreams,” and “Gypsy”—to name a few—while the tip of McVie’s songs spanned “Don’t Stop,” “Little Lies,” and her ode to a selfless love “Songbird,” and Buckingham’s “Go Your Own Way,” “Never Going Back Again,” and more.

Along with some of the core songs by Nicks, Buckingham, and McVie, their greater catalog was also fulfilled by the works of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 but has yet to get the Songwriters Hall of Fame honor.

2. Roger Waters and David Gilmour

David Gilmour and Roger Waters are both deserving of individual induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, they should first be recognized for their work with Pink Floyd.

In the earlier days of the band, Waters slipped in a handful of songs between Syd Barrett‘s melange of stories, from Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and “Side One” from A Saucerful of Secrets a year later. Following Barrett’s departure in 1968, Waters and Gilmour took the wheel writing, and the two were responsible for Floyd’s classics “Comfortably Numb,” Barrett’s tributes “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Part 1-IX),” and more before Waters departed the band in 1985.

Both also co-wrote a majority of the tracks on the band’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, with Waters also penning “Money,” “Brain Damage,” and “Eclipse” on his own.

3. Peter Gabriel

After leaving Genesis in 1975, Peter Gabriel‘s music extended to artier rock, ambient, world, pop, and more experimental sounds—and recording with the gated reverb technique—while continuing to write his perception and ambiguous stories. Even though Gabriel was more concerned with how he could manipulate sounds than writing hit songs, his fifth album, So, in 1986 and hit “Sledgehammer,” transformed him into a pop star.

[RELATED: 3 Songs You Didn’t Know Peter Gabriel Wrote for Other Artists]

So also gave Gabriel more hits with ”Big Time,” “Red Rain,” “In Your Eyes,” and “Don’t Give Up,” a duet with Kate Bush. Gabriel later released Us in 1992 and the follow-up, Up, a decade later. By 2010, Gabriel released Scratch My Back and his ninth album New Blood a year later. Another decade later, Gabriel started working on his 10th album i/o, released in 2023.

Throughout his career, Gabriel has written the majority of the songs within his catalog while collaborating with everyone from former bandmate Phil Collins, Natalie Merchant, Trent Reznor, Sinéad O’Connor, Stewart Copeland, and Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Frasier, among many others.

4. Chrissie Hynde

Moved by bands like The Velvet Underground, Buffalo Springfield, and Jefferson Airplane, Chrissie Hynde was also determined to follow some of her other British musical heroes like the Rolling Stones and moved across the pond from Akron, Ohio to live in London in 1973. After a brief sojourn back to America, Hynde returned to the UK and formed the Pretenders in 1978, which she named after Sam Cooke’s cover of The Platters” 1955 hit “The Great Pretender.”

Throughout the band’s 45-year history, Hynde has remained the primary songwriter from the Pretenders’ 1979 self-titled debut and early hits “Kid” and “Brass in Pocket” through Pretenders II in 1981 and “Talk of the Town” and “Message of Love.” By the ’80s, Hynde kept up the momentum with Learning to Crawl and the Pretenders’ biggest U.S. hit “Back on the Chain Gang” and has continued writing all the band’s songs through their 2023 release Relentless.

In 2005, The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and now it’s time for the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

5. The Ramones

The Ramones helped pioneer New York City punk while fastening their sound to some of their early influences from Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, and ’60s pop and surf rock. Masters of rapid-fire songs they jammed it all into under three-minute punk ditties.

Throughout their 20 years together, The Ramones released 14 albums, from the 1976 self-titled debut, and the introduction of their  “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!” “Blitzkrieg Bop” chant and hitched a ride to “Rockaway Beach” on Rocket to Russia, through one of their longest songs “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” on the Phil Spector-produced End of the Century.

The band continued releasing new music and touring before breaking up in 1996. Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee were the core writers with other songs contributed by early drummer Tommy (including the Ramones ballad “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”), later bassist C.J., and other Ramones, who added their bit to the band’s legacy. Even after Dee Dee left the band in 1989, following the release of Brain Drain, and one of the band’s biggest hits, “Pet Semetary,” he continued to write songs for the band through their 14th and final release, Adios Amigos, in 1995.

In 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Photo: Fin Costello/Redferns