Innovative is a matter of whose wake. Here’s where I think we should be able to agree?
(1) Her cultural impact has been ENORMOUS.
(2) She does not perform rock’n’roll.
(3) MUSICALLY, neither Taylor Swift nor Janet Jackson owe any influence whatsoever to Madonna. And I’ll die on that Janet Jackson hill. Her influence was her brothers. If Madonna had never existed, Janet Jackson’s music would sound EXACTLY the same.
(4) You seem to concede that Madonna wasn’t innovative.
Inasmuch as Blondie, Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Olivia Newton John, the Go-Gos, Kool and the Gang, the Runaways, the Pointer Sisters, Sheena Easton, Irene Cara, Donna Summer, and Culture Club all pre-date Madonna, I propose that with or without Madonna, even Paula Abdul would still have produced similar music, even if the “Cold-Hearted” may not have looked so stupidly desperate.
I don’t think innovation is that important. At least not when it comes to who has the wake and the cultural impact to go in the hall. I’ll use the case of the Rolling Stones. The Stones have never really innovated anything. They started as a blues cover band, started writing their own songs, never really strayed far from the blues, and when they did stray it was following the whims of that moment’s popular taste. And yet they’re the Rolling freaking Stone. The basis of rock and roll, and very deservedly in the HOF.
While Madonna is a pop act I don’t think pop is not rock and roll. Rock is a HUGE tent that is always expanding. I think one of the things that makes rock great is that Simon and Garfunkel, Frank Zappa, and Metallica are all rock artists. Folk rock, experimental rock, and hard rock to be sure. But rock. Pop is rock. I won’t count Madonna as any less rock than the Beatles or Paul Anka.
You also have to keep in mind that Madonna was really one of the first people to understand MTV. That’s a big part of how she became the mold of the pop diva that still dominates today (the last vestige of rock that can actually sell platinum records).
Again to me it always boils down to the same thing, and I apply this to sports halls of fame too:
Can you tell the story without Madonna?
And you can’t. And therefore she is deserves to be in the Hall. She defined a subsection of rock that is still going on 40+ years later. Her wake is huge. And is continuing. While other subsections of rock have faded into niche markets pop divas still keep that basic look and feel of Madonna and still go platinum and fill stadiums.