Induction of Iron Maiden into the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame

To: The Rock &Roll Hall of Fame
We the undersigned, do hereby formally petition the nominating committee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to nominate the Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden for induction into the Rock & Roll hall of Fame. Since their first album release (Iron Maiden) in 1980 the members of Iron Maiden Steve Harris,Dave Murray, Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers, and Nicko McBrain have continually been a major influence on Rock & Roll specifically; Heavy Metal.

Iron Maiden's sound and music has inspired countless other bands in the metal and rock genre. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said "Iron Maiden have been the blueprint for everything that we have ever wanted to do. I have always had an incredible amount of respect and admiration for them."[68]

Kerry King of Slayer says " The reason why Slayer's here is because of Iron Maiden. We played 'Phantom Of The Opera' in a small club luckily we were spotted by the owner of Metal Blade..and well, here we are now!"[68]

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor is also a huge fan saying "Steve Harris does more with four fingers than I've ever seen anybody do. And Bruce Dickinson? Dude! To me, he was the quintessential old-school heavy metal singer. He could hit notes that were just sick, and he was a great showman. Everything made me a fan. And there wasn't a dude that I hung out with that wasn't trying to draw Eddie on their schoolbooks."[69]

WWE wrestler Chris Jericho says Iron Maiden are his favourite band and they had a huge influence on his band Fozzy, saying "And even till this very day me, and Fozzy will always respect Iron Maiden for the things they did after all, they're the reason why Fozzy exists!"[70]

M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold calls Maiden the best live band of all time saying "Maiden are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless."[68]

Trivium singer Matt Heafy feels "Iron Maiden helped create what we know as heavy metal. Their influence can be heard on classic and contemporary bands alike; their fanbase spans across the youngest and newest of heavy music recruits all the way to the diehard, life-long metal elite. Without Iron Maiden, Trivium surely wouldn't exist"[68]

Iron Maiden's music also helped Jesper Strцmblad of In Flames to pioneer the melodic death metal genre, stating that he had wanted to combine death metal with the melodic guitar sounds of Iron Maiden.[71]

The band's name is named prominently (and repeated several times) in the songs Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus and Back to the 80's by Danish dance-pop band Aqua.

Punk rock band NOFX released a song titled "Eddie, Bruce, and Paul" on their 2009 album Coaster. This track tells the story of Iron Maiden, and is performed in the style of their early work.

Weezer mentions them in the song "Heart Songs" from their 2008 self-titled "Red" album. The verse goes: "Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Slayer taught me how to shred..."

The Sum 41 song "Fat Lip" contains the line "Heavy metal and mullets it's how we were raised, Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised"


We formally request that Iron Maiden be inducted under the performers category so they may claim their rightful place in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.