Members Of METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE And MÖTLEY CRÜE Pay Tribute To IRON MAIDEN At 2026 ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME Induction Ceremony

A supergroup featuring members of METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and MÖTLEY CRÜE, along with actor Jack Black and singer-songwriter St. Vincent, paid tribute to IRON MAIDEN by performing a cover of MAIDEN's classic "The Trooper" during last night's (Saturday, November 14) Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.

IRON MAIDEN was honored as part of the Rock Hall's 2026 class during the event, but none of the current and former members of the legendary British heavy metal band attended the ceremony, as MAIDEN is currently in the middle of a 50th-anniversary tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Black, who is also a member of the American comedy rock band TENACIOUS D, inducted MAIDEN in the latter band's absence, telling the Rock Hall audience: "Has there ever been a band that has rocked this hard for this long? The answer is 'no.' In fact, they're not even here tonight because they're rocking half way around the world."

Black then joined the the aforementioned supergroup — which he dubbed ST. RAGETALLICA 5 — consisting of METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist John 5, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE drummer Brad Wilk and St Vincent to perform "The Trooper", with Black and St. Vincent sharing vocals.

The members of IRON MAIDEN who were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were bassist Steve Harris, singer Bruce Dickinson, guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers, as well as ex-singers Paul Di'Anno and Blaze Bayley, ex-guitarist Dennis Stratton and former drummers Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr.

This past July, Steve and Bruce were asked by U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine if there were any internal discussions about turning the Rock Hall honor down. Steve said: "No. There have only been comments from a couple of members of the band here and there. Bruce has his own strong feelings about it, which is his opinion. It's never really bothered me one way or the other, because awards aren't what we do this for. But in a weird way I'm glad it’s happened so the Americans will stop banging on about it. To me, if you get offered something, you say, 'Thank you very much.' But did I lose sleep over getting it or not getting it? No."

Bruce chimed in: "I can't even summon the energy to be vitriolic about it. I appreciate that a significant number of people are happy for us. That's nice. It's not something we're bothered about."

Asked if they would go to the ceremony if they weren't on tour in Australia at the time, Bruce said: "No." Steve added: "I don't do those sort of things. I didn't even go to the recent red-carpet thing for the [MAIDEN] documentary. It's not me."

The 2026 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony will air on ABC and Disney+ in December.

While MAIDEN had been eligible to join the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame since 2004, the band had only been nominated twice before — in 2021 and 2023.

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 bands like MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N' ROSES in that group's first year of eligibility.

In addition to MAIDEN, the only metal or metal-adjacent acts to have made it into the Rock Hall so far have been BLACK SABBATH, LED ZEPPELIN, METALLICA, AC/DC, JUDAS PRIEST, KISS, VAN HALEN, RUSH, GUNS N' ROSES, Ozzy Osbourne and DEEP PURPLE.

IRON MAIDEN finished in the fourth place in the fan vote for the 2023 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction class.

IRON MAIDEN was among the artists who were inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame class of 2026 Performer category. Also honored were Phil Collins, Billy Idol, JOY DIVISION/NEW ORDER, OASIS, Sade, Luther Vandross and WU-TANG CLAN.

Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Gram Parsons were presented with the Early Influence Award; Philly songwriter Linda Creed, producer Arif Mardin, producer Jimmy Miller and Rick Rubin were honored with the Musical Excellence Award; and Ed Sullivan was given the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

When IRON MAIDEN's induction was first announced earlier this year, the band's longtime manager Rod Smallwood said in a statement: "We'd like to thank the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for including us (and former members who were all part of our story) in the 2026 roll call of inductees.

"IRON MAIDEN have always been about our relationship with our fans above anything else, including awards and industry accolades. However, having said that, it's always nice to be recognized and honored for any achievements within the music industry too!"

Smallwood added: "It also seems appropriate for the band to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year as we continue our 50th-anniversary celebrations with our 'Run For Your Lives' world tour visiting the Americas and beyond. We would also like to congratulate our fellow 2026 inductees and extend our gratitude as ever to our fans for their loyalty, perseverance and support for over 50 years now! See you all, somewhere on tour."

Seven years ago, Harris said that he didn't care that his band had yet to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame despite the fact that it had been eligible since 2004.

"I don't mind that we're not in things like that," he told Rolling Stone in an interview. "I don't think about things like that. It's very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn't get into the business for that sort of thing. I'm certainly not going to lose sleep if we don't get any sort of award, not just that one, any award. I don't think we deserve to have this or that necessarily. With what we do, whatever comes of it is great. Whatever doesn't come of it is great, too."

Dickinson made headlines in 2018 when he referred to the Rock Hall as "an utter and complete load of bollocks" during a spoken-word gig in Australia, insisting that the Cleveland-based institution is "run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn't know rock and roll if it hit them in the face."

Bruce later told The Jerusalem Post that he was "so annoyed with that coverage because they took my statement out of context to make it seem like I was upset that we weren't in the Hall Of Fame."I'm really happy we're not there and I would never want to be there," he continued. "If we're ever inducted, I will refuse — they won't bloody be having my corpse in there.

"Rock and roll music does not belong in a mausoleum in Cleveland," Bruce added. "It's a living, breathing thing, and if you put it in a museum, then it's dead. It's worse than horrible, it's vulgar."

Harris previously told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" that he wasn't concerned about whether IRON MAIDEN would eventually be inducted into the Rock Hall. "I don't really think about it, to be honest. I think awards are things that are nice to have when you get them, but it's not something you're really striving for — it's not what it's about it," he said. "It's never been about that. It's aways been about just trying to make good music and go out and play good live shows, and that's it, really. Hopefully people will appreciate it. It's probably nice when people give you awards — don't get me wrong; I think it's great — but it's not something that you would lose sleep over if you didn't get any.

"It's the way that I am," Harris added. "I don't know. Maybe the rest of the guys [in the band] might think differently to me, but that's the way I think. It's not that I don't care about [awards]. It's just… And it's not that they're not meaningful when you do get 'em — it's nice. But I certainly don't worry about it or anything like that. I think other people are the ones that make a bigger deal out of it than us, about whether we got one or not."