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Unless the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame finds a way to be more inclusive, it could go to hell in a handbag, according to rocker Courtney Love.
Although there is an annual debate about candidates and admissions, who is nominated and who is elected is anything but silly. Hall has real financial influence over the artists he chooses, Love claimed in The Guardian.
Love said the Hall’s voting process has not done enough to honor some important figures in music. “So few women are inducted into the Rock Hall, and the nominating committee is broken. If so few black artists, so few women of color are included, the voting process needs to be revised.”
He added: “Shame on HBO for supporting this farce.”
While Love admitted there were more female nominees this year than ever before, Hall still had icons like Kate Bush cooling their heels in anticipation of the opportunity. Artists can be nominated 25 years after their first record release. Bush has been eligible since 2004, but didn’t get on the ballot until 2018 and still hasn’t been elected.
In fact, only 8% of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are women. There’s a reason for that, Love pointed out.
“Of the 31 people on the nomination board, only nine are women. According to music historian Evelyn McDonnell, 90% of Rock Hall voters, including musicians and industry elite, are men.
Black artists fared no better. Love praised Chaka Khan’s talent, but even that dynamic force has yet to be recognized. “The Beastie Boys were drafted in 2012 before most of the black hip-hop artists they learned to rhyme from,” Love noted.
The reason induction matters is because Hall proves greatness, which increases earning potential. Performance guarantees, quality of republishing campaigns and other benefits accrue.
“These opportunities are life-changing — the difference between touring second-rate casinos opening for a second-rate comedian or headlining prestigious festivals,” Love wrote. Rock Hall induction “directly impacts their livelihoods. It’s one of the only ways, and certainly the most visible, that these women have their legacies and influence honored with immediate material impact.”
She concluded, “If the Rock Hall is unwilling to examine the ways in which it reproduces the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it fails to properly honor what visionary female artists have created, innovated, revolutionized, and contributed to popular music—well, then let it go to hell in a handbag.”