Courtney Love Calls Out Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

#WomenWhoRock – Do They Though?

Was author Jessica Hopper’s response to the Rock and Roll Hall hosting a series of specials celebrating women in the industry.“719 inductees to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, only 61 are women. That’s 8.48 percent. C’mon @rockhall, it’s FUCKING GRIM BRO when yr doing worse than women-artists-on-country radio numbers (10 percent) and women headliners at major music festivals (13 percent).” When seated with the figures alone it certainly paints a picture not unfamiliar within the industry. Love was first to jump on the bandwagon retweeting Hoppers post with the caption”@jesshopp DOES THE MATH. 37 years in existence & women make up 8.48 percent of inductees out of 719. See txt to Grohl. rockhall ELIGIBILITY is 25 years after 1st release. foofighters were nominated 4 secs later. NinaSimoneMusic & Carole King 30 years #fixtherockandrollhalloffame.”

Love followed on, sharing a text she had sent Dave Grohl before the induction ceremony. Love wrote, “Have fun at the Rock Hall Dave. Make sure and hold the seats of Tina Turner & Carole King, both who have been eligible for over 30! years each.” Given the pairs infamous, much disputed history the contents of the text wasn’t necessarily what caused the raised eyebrows. Following Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994 Love was the focal point of speculation. Along with it came the apparent strained relationship between the Hole frontwoman and Cobain’s old Nirvana bandmates. But whilst the eye on that subject might never be lifted, this week it was the Rock and Roll Hall receiving the backlash.

Musicians are eligible to be nominated for induction only 25 years after their first release, and as Love further pointed out Foo Fighters “were nominated 4 secs later,” while the likes of Nina Simone and Carole King took an additional five years each into their eligibility window to be nominated.  In 2019 during her induction speech Janet Jackson stated “Rock and Roll of Fame, please, in 2020 induct more women.” The following year Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan and Pat Benatar were nominated. Only Houston was inducted. Given that ‘rock n roll’ as a whole was seen as being largely male dominated for most of the 20th century the tide is still levelling out into the new millennium. But saying that, the space for the female musicians to rock out continues to grow.

Love is currently gearing up to release her first album in over 12 years, which she confirmed would not be a rock album.