Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson slams Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Despite being one of the biggest metal bands on the planet and eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2005 – 25 years after the release of their self-titled debut album ‘Iron Maiden’ – astonishingly Iron Maiden have failed to pick up a single nomination for the American back-patting institution.

Taking fan questions at a recent spoken word event at Palais Theatre in Melbourne to promote his autobiography What Does This Button Do?, Bruce was asked if Iron Maiden should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He replied “absolutely” before adding: “I actually think the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is an utter and complete load of bollocks, to be honest with you.”

Not pulling any punches, he continued: “It’s run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock ‘n’ roll if it hit them in the face. They need to stop taking Prozac and start drinking f***ing beer.”

Other bands yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include Motörhead, Judas Priest, T. Rex, Jethro Tull and King Crimson.

Unveiled earlier this month, the nominations for the 2019 class include Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, The Zombies, Radiohead, The Cure, Todd Rundgren, Rage Against The Machine and MC5.

The five inductees will be announced in December and they will then be inducted at a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday 29th March 2019.

A voting pool of more than 1,000 artists, historians, journalists and members of the music industry select the new class, and for the sixth year running fans themselves are having a small say on the inductees - the “fan's ballot" will count as one of the ballots that decide the class of 2019.

Def Leppard currently lead the fan poll with over 256,000 votes, with Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks in second place on 227,000 votes.

Although the fan vote only counts as one ballot, since it was introduced the winner has always gone on to be inducted.