The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is breaking new ground with this year’s nominees for induction — and the señoras and rockeros among us couldn’t be more excited.
Yesterday, the Rock Hall announced 14 artists nominated for the 2025 class, including Oasis, Phish, Mariah Carey, Outkast, Cyndi Lauper and Joy Division/New Order. It’s been a long time coming for these nominees, but one nomination in particular stands out in significance: the monumental rock en español band Maná, which would be the first primarily Spanish-language act inducted.
This alone makes Maná’s nomination important in an increasingly global society. But when considering the Mexican band’s impact on Latin music, as well as the Trump administration’s increasing crackdowns on immigrants in the United States, their inclusion is imperative.
Maná — comprised of Fher Olvera, Alex González, Sergio Vallín and Juan Celleros — formed in 1981 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The group became one of the most ubiquitous music groups in Latin America following the massive success of 1992’s 12-times platinum sophomore album, “¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños?” which featured the timeless rocker foo kickback classic, “Oye Mi Amor.”
Since then, Maná has garnered four Grammys and eight Latin Grammys off a wave of smash releases, including 1997’s certified diamond album “Sueños Líquidos,” which spawned some of the band’s biggest anthems, including “Hechicera,” “Clavado en un Bar” and “En el Muelle de San Blas.”
There’s no question that Maná is deserving of this honor. And yet there will inevitably be naysayers of the MAGA-ian sort who may decry the band’s inclusion as a vestige of the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives they want to suppress. The Rock Hall and its voting body cannot let these people win, especially as one of the few spaces in which Black, Latino and other marginalized artists have received the institutional acknowledgment they deserve — artists like Chuck Berry, James Brown and Fats Domino, who fundamentally shaped what we now know as rock ‘n’ roll.
The Rock Hall has worked to counter many of the wrongs inflicted upon the marginalized artists who left an indelible mark on music, but were failed by a racist, exploitative industry, while their white counterparts reaped most of the financial benefits and accolades. Continuing in that tradition would be meaningful in a time when DEI initiatives that were created to address social inequities are being stripped at the federal level.
If inducted, Maná would join a small group of Latino artists inducted into the Rock Hall, which includes Ritchie Valens, Linda Ronstadt, Santana, Joan Baez, and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine. However, they’d be the first inductees who perform primarily in Spanish. That’s of specific note in a time when the language is being vilified and used to target Latinos for deportation.
As a band, Maná have held true to the spirit of rock and roll as a creative expression of protest and resistance in the face of social injustice. Who can forget the mighty statement they made at the 2015 Latin Grammys, when they performed “Somos Más Americanos” with Los Tigres Del Norte — and lambasted President Trump’s xenophobia with a sign that read “Latinos unidos no voten por los racistas,” or “Latinos united, don’t vote for racists”?
In 2019, frontman Olvera told Rolling Stone, “I see [our music] as a means to protest, to spread ideas and share them. As a Latin group, Maná carries that [activist] ethos and that way of thinking.”Last year, the band notably pulled a collaboration with Nicky Jam from streaming services after the reggaetonero voiced support of Trump, saying in a statement, “Maná doesn’t work with racists.” They’ve also established the Selva Negra Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental conservation, launched a scholarship program for Latinx students, and been staunch supporters of immigrant rights.
As the Trump administration continues its assault on immigrant rights and safety, inducting Maná would send a loud message to nativists that the Rock Hall refuses to play into fearmongering and hate — and will continue to be a space where Latinos and other marginalized artists are not only welcome, but honored for their contributions.
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