Among hard-core music fans, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame probably is about as popular as a skin rash.

For every beloved band it inducts -- Stones, Zeppelin, Sabbath -- it leaves out a Rush or a Deep Purple, while inducting such perceived non-rockers as Madonna and Grandmaster Flash. While influence and significance are supposed to be key criteria, some bands seem to get in based on sales or popularity with the committee, headed by Jann Wenner, and its 500 "experts."

The end result is that some, like recent inductee Johnny Rotten, write off the institution as a bad joke (he had harsher words in the Sex Pistols' refusal to participate) while others bother to roll up their sleeves and argue its transgressions.

That's what we'll do here as we identify the next 12 acts that should be in. (Note that artists are eligible 25 years after their first recording.)

It took a while for this Toronto band to really hit its stride, and by then it had already built up a large pool of critical disfavor. The original Rolling Stone Record Guide gives each of its first three albums one star and calls Rush a "poor man's Led Zeppelin." It wasn't until the influence of second drummer Neil Peart kicked in that the band started to reveal its grand potential. To this day, Rush is still loved by some, hated by others -- largely because of Geddy Lee's siren voice -- but it's hard to deny it on musicianship, influence, popularity and longevity.

Do I sit around listening to Alice Cooper? Not too much. And I don't think he/they/it gets in based on discography alone. However, throw in the guillotine, the electric chair, the boa constrictor, scare makeup, etc., and you have the grandfather of shock rock. And he's a cranky old grandfather now.

Yes, it's a rock cliche, but have you heard "Smoke on the Water" lately? The band responsible belongs in some kind of Hall of Fame, just for that. Deep Purple pushed the metallic edge with the dual attack of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord, whose instruments were almost indistinguishable at times. The argument against is that Zeppelin and Sabbath got there first. But what innovations did Billy Joel, Jackson Browne and John Mellencamp come up with?

Now that Genesis has squeaked in, joining Pink Floyd, Yes is the logical choice as the next British prog-rock band. There's an issue of another flaky, siren-voice, but the chops are tight and adventurous, and Yes certainly made its mark on radio, from "Roundabout" to "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

If the argument is presented on commercial grounds, he doesn't have much footing. But the whiskey-voiced singer-songwriter-pianist is truly one of a kind, and having mastered a bohemian jazz approach early on, he made a stunning transition to crusty avant-garde. To this day, people still wait with high expectations for the new Tom Waits album.

This seminal noise-rock band de-tuned and rewrote the book on guitar-rock. Drawing from post-punk and avant-garde composers such as Glen Branca, Sonic Youth formulated a tense, abrasive and yet seductive sound. A true original with a colossal impact on indie-rock.

The Rock Hall acknowledged punk in 2002 with the Ramones. When it takes the next step and acknowledges hardcore, it must start with the L.A. band that added atomic energy to punk, inspiring thousands of bands to rage. Black Flag wasn't just a band; it was a DIY movement, driven in part by guitarist Greg Ginn's launch of the groundbreaking SST Records.

Kiss was nominated this year, and it looked like it would get in, because, after all, once you've had your own Mr. Potato Head, the Hall of Fame can't be far behind. Kiss took Alice Cooper's lead and multiplied it times four, with the most pyrotechnic rock spectacles of the '70s. Forty years in, fans are still licking it up.

The new movie with Kristin Stewart will bring new attention to this late '70s group that broke the glass ceiling for girl bands playing their own instruments, paving the way for not only the Go-Go's and Bangles, but The Slits and Sleater-Kinney. Its induction would kill two birds with one stone by getting Joan Jett in the door.

Conceivably, the Rock Hall could have told the hip-hop universe to go open its own museum. But it didn't. In 2007, it let Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in the door, followed last year by Run-DMC. Now, it needs to go back and recognize the man who basically coined (or at least defined) the term "hip-hop," forged the turntable culture and fashioned his own electro-boogie sound.

Musically, I preferred the English Beat, but if you're going to recognize ska-punk, and there's no reason the Hall shouldn't considering its many waves over several decades, it has to be Jerry Dammers and The Specials, who forged the sound in England in 1977 and launched 2Tone Records, signing the likes of Madness and the Beat.

This would be another way of darkening the door at the Rock Hall. Joy Division had a short, tragic career, ending with the suicide of singer Ian Curtis, but in that time it bridged the gap between punk and the post-punk/New Wave while also laying the groundwork for gothic rock and other doom-laden pursuits.

Boston, Cheap Trick, Chicago, Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, Gang of Four, Husker Du, Jethro Tull, New York Dolls, Lou Reed, The Replacements, The Smiths, Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.