Courtney Love is one rock star who is unafraid to share her thoughts and opinions about different topics. Something on Love’s mind recently is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She wants the Rock Hall to become more inclusive. Well, if they cannot become moreso, then Love has an idea for it. Namely, it can “go to hell in a handbag.”
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Love, in an op-ed for The Guardian, opened up and said that the Hall has a real economic impact upon its chosen artists.
Courtney Love Said That Hall’s Voting Process Hasn’t Done Enough To Honor Important People In Music
Love said that the Hall’s voting process has not done enough to honor some important figures in music. “So few women are being inducted into the Rock Hall, then the nominating committee is broken. If so few Black artists, so few women of colour, are being inducted, then the voting process needs to be overhauled.” Love adds, “Shame on HBO for propping up this farce.”
While Love acknowledged that this year included more women nominees than ever before, the Hall still made such icons as Kate Bush cool their heels, waiting for a chance. Artists can get a nomination 25 years after their first record release. Bush became eligible in 2004. Still, she didn’t make the ballot until 2018 and has not been inducted.
Women Make Up Just 8% Of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers At This Time
In fact, just 8% of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are women. There’s a reason, Love pointed out, Deadline reports. “Of the 31 people on the nominating board, just nine are women. According to the music historian Evelyn McDonnell, the Rock Hall voters, among them musicians and industry elites, are 90% male.”
Black artists fared no better. Love hails Chaka Khan’s talent. But she has not been recognized by the Rock Hall. Love said that “the Beastie Boys were inducted in 2012 ahead of most of the Black hip-hop artists they learned to rhyme from.”
Why does induction matter? Because the Rock Hall certifies greatness, thereby increasing revenue opportunities. Performance guarantees, the quality of reissue campaigns, and other benefits accrue.
Love concludes, “If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionized and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag.”