We’ve all known for a long time now that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a fucking joke. They don’t care about our piece of the music world and that was made even more apparent this year when Soundgarden and Iron Maiden won the fan vote but organizers decided to say “nope.” Never mind the fact that bands like Iron Maiden and Motörhead have long been due to get in.
Among those that recognized the absolute horseshit that is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy, who went on a bit of a tirade about how rock and metal get snubbed annually while on Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
“It’s all politics, man. And that’s the worst thing about the Hall Of Fame. It’s, like, sorry, Dave Grohl, but how many times can Dave be the ambassador or awarded. I mean, there’s so many musicians from the ’50s, the ’60s, the ’70s… They don’t give a shit about us, the ’80s groups, at all — the Hollywood scene; they don’t give a shit. You’re not gonna see Motley Crue up there anytime soon, or Ratt. We were lucky enough to see Van Halen get it. Scorpions, are they in? [Judas] Priest… That was a milestone, having Judas Priest in it. They had to break; they didn’t have a choice… They had to. I mean, it’s overwhelming. It’s, like, you’ve given everybody else this award. And even guys in the band. It’s like The Police have one, and Sting has one [individually]. It’s, like, break it down. The group or the guy? Does he need two of ’em? At least [Black] Sabbath is in there.
“Inevitably, they have to throw us a bone. Our genre of music in the ’80s made billions of dollars for the music industry — billions. And what do we get for it? ‘Oh, it ain’t cool.’ ‘You’re not cheesy enough or cheeky enough’ or whatever the fuck. It’s, like fuck you! I have awards in my office that mean more to me than having a Grammy or something, because it’s from the hardcore fans, it’s from the heart. It’s not a political… ‘Hey, fill out this ballot, and we’ll change it on the day.’ Kind of like the presidency.”
I mean, the guy’s not wrong about a lot of that. If a band can win the fan vote and still not get in, something political is absolutely happening. What’s wild is that Rage Against the Machine got in yet a band as innocuous as Iron Maiden didn’t.