Just two months before the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will reveal its 2023 dismissal, Courtney Love is accused of establishing misogyny in an op-ed for Watchman Published Friday titled Why are women sidelined by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?.
In the article, Love cited writer Jessica Hopper, who only recently figured it out 8.48% of Rock Hall inductees are women“When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame started in 1983, you would have thought they might want to start with Sister Rosita, with those first chords that rhymed with the songbook we were all singing from now,” Hall’s frontman wrote. “The initial recruits were Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Fatts Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley; not a woman in sight.”
The love went on: “It took more than 30 years in the rock hall to impress Nina Simone and Carole King.” Linda Ronstadt released her debut in 1969 and became the first female headliner, yet was inducted alongside Nirvana in 2014. Even more egregiously, she was introducing Tina Turner as a solo artist three decades after she performed The Degree alongside her abuser, Ike”.
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Notably, Love’s editorial also made reference to four-time Rick Hall nominee Kate Bush, who was given a second life last summer thanks to her hit “Running the Hill (Deal With God)” Weird things Needle drop. “It doesn’t matter that she was the first woman in pop history to write every single song on her million-song debut,” Love wrote. “However, there is no guarantee that it will be great this year.”
Love extended Rock Hall’s accusations of sexism to the Nominating Board, writing that only nine of its 31 members are women and that 90% of voters are male. In addition, Love asserted that the Rock Hall is biased against black artists, stating that Chaka Khan and A Tribe Called Quest have yet to receive their flowers.
In response to Love’s article, Pretenders president Chrissie Hydne offered her own view in a Facebook post on Friday, writing, “It’s just a more throwback institution.”
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“I joined a band so I didn’t have to be a part of it all,” Headney wrote. “Other than Neil Young’s involvement in the induction process, the whole thing was, and still is, a total necks-down. It has absolutely nothing to do with rock and roll and anyone who thinks it’s an idiot.” See her full post below.
Besides Bush and the aforementioned A Tribe Called Quest, this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees include Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Missy Elliott, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow, and The White Stripes. The Class of 2023 will be announced in May, and will be formally dedicated during a ceremony this fall.
