The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is certainly not without its detractors given the exclusion of numerous legendary artists. Influential rock bands yet to be recognized include Foreigner, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Thin Lizzy, Eddie Money, Styx, Boston, MC5, REO Speedwagon, Jethro Tull, Peter Frampton and Smashing Pumpkins, among others.
The latest artist to diss the Rock Hall is pop icon Cher. She told Kelly Clarkson: “You know what? I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars.” Cher is one of only two artists in history to have a No. 1 single in each of the past seven decades (the other being The Rolling Stones.)
Given the added scrutiny towards the Rock Hall that inevitably comes every time the institution is called out, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx commented on how he felt about it.
“I think people get too worked up about the RRHF,” Sixx wrote. “If you get in that’s cool and if not, it’s not a big deal. It’s not some elite club that defines you. It’s an award. None of us hopefully make music just for awards. I do like the idea of jamming with other musicians at the ceremony.”
Back in 2020, Crue drummer Tommy Lee was asked about Sixx previously saying that the band would “probably decline” a Rock Hall nomination.
Lee said: “I get Nikki’s, like, you know what? There’s a bunch of people that are in there that he doesn’t agree with, and, yeah, I might not agree with that either. And it seems like just f*cking anybody’s in there now. I get his disappointment with that. But at the end of the day, for me, dude, it would be a f*cking honor regardless. Because there is a bunch of people that deserve to be there. I wouldn’t kick it out of bed, you know?”
In 2015 SIxx said: “It’s a fixed old-boy network that has lost touch with art, songwriting craft, lyrics and influential music and usually has other agendas at hand. Young bands tell me it’s a joke, and these bands are the future.”
