Earlier this year, after the nominations of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2023 were announced, Courtney Love wrote an op-ed for The Guardian titled, “Why are women so marginalised by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?” Currently, female artists make up just over 8% of the hall of fame and only eight women sit on the 28-person nominating board. “If so few women are being inducted into the Rock Hall, then the nominating committee is broken,” wrote Love. “If so few Black artists, so few women of colour, are being inducted, then the voting process needs to be overhauled.”
But as Love also noted, this year alone more women were nominated than at any time in the organization’s 40-year history. Change is coming, but slowly and somewhat begrudgingly at that. And it’s leaving some people in the past, for better or worse.
In September, Jann Wenner—the cofounder and former editor of Rolling Stone who helped establish the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1983, which he ruled over for the next 40 years—gave an interview in The New York Times. The discussion with Times staffer David Marchese was meant in support of his book, The Masters, a collection of interviews with “rock philosophers” Bob Dylan, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, and Pete Townshend. When asked why the anthology did not feature any women, Wenner said in part that “none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.” When asked why the book did not have any conversations with Black artists, Wenner said that “they just didn’t articulate at that level.”
Following publication of the interview, Wenner was immediately removed from the Hall’s board of directors. It was a quick culmination for an institution that has otherwise moved at a glacial pace to evolve its culture. In January, the Hall had updated its mission statement to become more diverse and explicitly gender- and genre-inclusive. This had come after years of criticisms such as Love’s and some embarrassing episodes. Dolly Parton politely declined her nomination last year, before eventually embracing it (her upcoming album, Rockstar, is due out November 17). “Born from the collision of rhythm & blues, country and gospel, rock & roll is a spirit that is inclusive and ever-changing,” the statement reads. “The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrates the sound of youth culture and honors the artists whose music connects us all.”
On Friday night, the induction ceremony, which took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (and was livestreamed on Disney+) welcomed a variety of artists across gender, race, and genre, both living and dead: Sheryl Crow, DJ Kool Herc, Chaka Khan, George Michael, the Spinners, Kate Bush, Al Kooper, Willie Nelson, Link Wray, Bernie Taupin, Rage Against the Machine, Missy Elliott, and Don Cornelius. It was the body’s first induction ceremony to be held since Wenner’s train wreck interview and public dismissal, and anticipation for what the night might hold (and the future of the institution beyond that) was high. Before the show began, John Sykes, who took over from Wenner as chairman in 2020, gave remarks about the hall of fame, calling it “music’s highest honor,” and describing rock and roll not as a genre but as an attitude—the common thread amongst the night’s honorees.
And he’s right. It’s an attitude, a distinct point of view, that all of the honored artists have been able to articulate across decades and genres that have tied them together like an invisible guitar string. It’s what connects Kate Bush to Chaka Khan, George Michael to Sheryl Crow, and Missy Elliott to Rage Against the Machine.
Wenner was barely acknowledged. Instead, the spotlight remained largely on performances and speeches that fulfilled the institution’s revived mission. From Crow opening the show alongside a new generation of rock, Olivia Rodrigo, to H.E.R. shredding guitar alongside Chaka Khan, to New Edition’s delightful tribute to the Spinners and Cornelius’s Soul Train, and Elliott, closing out the show, by bringing down the house with a master class performance, spanning all the hits we know and love her for, that proved she’s one of the greatest of all time.
Only one inductee addressed Wenner’s comments and even then it was with an oblique touch. Elton John’s longtime collaborator, Taupin, topped off his acceptance speech with two well-placed jabs: “I’m honored to be in the class of 2023 alongside such a group of profoundly articulate women,” he said, “and outstanding articulate Black artists.”
To close out the show, during the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame made history. Queen Latifah introduced her longtime friend Elliott to be inducted as the first-ever female rapper.
“Missy has shattered barrier after barrier for both herself and for other women,” she said. “Entire generations of artists owe a debt to Missy. You feel free? You want to try some wild shit? Thank Missy.” Queen Latifah continued: “Missy has never been afraid to speak out about the preconceptions, the stereotypes, and the straight-up misogyny and the obstacles that have been placed in the way of women. Hear that now. She has been a leader in blowing those obstacles away.”
A prolific rapper, songwriter, and producer who changed the course of hip-hop, Elliott got her due on Friday night. In a gold, bedazzled tracksuit and matching bucket hat, Missy listed off Black female artists who “gave me their shoulders to stand on,” and thanked her mother who let her write songs on her wall. (Elliott said that her mom saw her perform for the first time in her career that night.)
“This is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, so this is deeper than me just being up here,” Elliott said while tearing up and pausing to take in the moment. “You just feel like it’s so far to reach when you in the hip-hop world, and to be standing here, it means so much to me.”
