Chances are, nobody really gives two shits about who lands into a dusty old museum where the high and mighty jerk each other off to see who gets to lick each other’s balls after another million dollar gala cashing in on deceased musicians.
 While that might sound a bit too harsh, let’s take a minute to lower our middle fingers and pay some respect to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for at least hosting some pretty cool concerts over the years, not to mention collecting some of the greatest music memorabilia in history.

Okay, enough ass kissing. Let’s get back to the cynicism. It will be a cold day in hell before some of these bands ever get mentioned in the same breath as other inductees, but if I were a betting man and had to throw some names into a hat, these are the bands I would select to get into that raggedy ass museum. Personally, I prefer to just listen to the music since it is treasured enough for me, but it sure would be cool to see some of these guys’ keepsakes on display at some point in my life. 
So before I start crossing my fingers and turning into a dried up skeleton waiting for any of these bands to get in, let’s just get on with the list.

Death

Chuck Schuldiner is one of those figures who lives on larger than life, and his impact with Death is no secret in the realm of heavy music. What this band did for technicality and raw, guttural emotion in metal will forever be solidified in the legacy of its influence for many moons to come.

King Diamond / Mercyful Fate

Without the avant-garde theatrics that these two bands bombarded metal fans with over the years, we likely would not have so many great black metal and gothic metal acts today. Another example of an artist standing amongst a sea of imitators with only themselves to credit for starting a movement in musical mayhem that we have all come to love over the years.

Iron Maiden

The fact that you can fill an entire stadium of people and have them hum along to the guitar parts, let alone the vocal melodies, should be proof enough that this band is way too big to shelf in some dusty old museum. Maiden will forever be remembered as titans of the industry, and their musical influence has crept its way into almost every metal band since their inception.

Slayer

Slayer defined the limits of boundary pushing tempos and riffs with their brash style of raw and aggressive metal that has sparked waves of fans to lose their collective minds at just the mere screaming of the band’s name. Slayer is more of an element of nature than a metal band. It is an absolute dominant force that has never lost momentum long enough for anyone to come close to forgetting who they are.

Carcass

With footprints all over the genesis of both grindcore and melodic death metal, Carcass deserve recognition for their ability to inspire and influence. Their music has reached far into the landscapes of heavy metal, offering a diverse range of bands carrying the torch they lit long ago.

Pantera

They dragged heavy metal out of the doldrums of 80s hair metal graveyards and not only brought it into the limelight with more ferocity than anyone else, but with more groove to follow, something no other metal band was ever able to capture successfully in the same vein.

Sepultura

Early Sepultura shaped the sound of heavy metal forever, and the fact that they brought tribal elements into their music just made them all the more organic and unique. Their impact is one that spanned an entire global movement, not just one allocated to their home base in Brazil.

Anthrax

As one of the Big Four, they bridged the gap between metal, punk, and hip hop. And while some metal elitists might not agree with such a band deserving such high accolades, I would like to remind you why people do not listen to metal elitists. They are douchebags. Anthrax is just as impactful as any of the other bands on this list for a style unique to them and them alone.

Dio

He is without question one of the greatest voices to ever grace the hallowed halls of heavy metal, and his career is teeming with anthems that soar far above the sky in ways that no other vocalist has ever been able to achieve. Not to mention, the guy invented the fucking devil horn sign!

Good music doesn’t need a trophy or participation prize. Its legacy is cemented in stone with the fans who carry its name far into the future long after we are all gone from here. While many of these legends deserve a spot side by side with some of their peers who are already there, the status of getting into such a coveted space will never diminish what these bands have already achieved.