ALICE COOPER Says IRON MAIDEN And JUDAS PRIEST 'Belong' In ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

Alice Cooper says that JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN deserve to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal groups like MAIDEN, PRIEST and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N' ROSES in that band's first year of eligibility.

Asked about TWISTED SISTER singer Dee Snider's recent comment that the Rock Hall committee members are "arrogant elitist assholes who look down on metal and other bands that sell millions because we're not their definition of cool," Cooper told "The Mistress Carrie Podcast" (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Dee Snider deserves [to get in there]. I mean, Dee was not just a lead singer; he did some politics there, and he was also a spokesman, and he was just an all-around great guy.

"TWISTED SISTER didn't sell a gigantic amount of records — they didn't even make that many records — but they were effective," he explained. "And part of the Hall Of Fame [criteria] is how much did you affect rock and roll. That's why bands that were not really [huge]… Like Tom Waits — how many records did Tom Waits sell? I went in with him, and I really respect Tom Waits. I didn't respect how many albums he sold; I respeced what he brought to rock and roll. So that's kind of what they really go on.

"But there's people, to me, where… I can't understand why [American songwriter] Burt Bacharach's not in the Hall Of Fame. He wrote as many hits as THE BEATLES. I can't understand why a lot of people… A lot of my people did get it. Paul Butterfield got in, and Laura Nyro got in, and people like that that I thought were way on the backburner, but were really giants in what they were doing.

"So, yeah, I think IRON MAIDEN belongs in, I believe JUDAS PRIEST belongs in — bands that I cannot believe that they've overlooked," Alice added. "But there's a nominating committee, there's a voting thing. I know who I voted for — I voted for the ones that I thought were most deserving to get in there. Not how many records they sold or how popular they were, but how much they contributed something new to rock and roll, or something really valid."

Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible a quarter century after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other "criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock 'n' roll," which is, of course, open to interpretation.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn't get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

DEEP PURPLE was eligible for the Rock Hall since 1993 but didn't get inducted until 2016.

PRIEST was on the ballot for Rock Hall induction last year, but failed to receive enough votes to make the class of 2020.

Having been eligible for induction since 1999, PRIEST was previously on the ballot for the 2018 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but was ultimately left out of the inductee list.