Courtney Love accuses Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of “sexist gatekeeping”
Grunge musician Courtney Love has accused The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of “sexist gatekeeping” after the “boys club” announced its nominees for 2023 and included just five women (including Meg White as part of her involvement in The White Stripes) and ten male acts.
This follows the trend of historical statistics for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with only 8.4% of its inductees being female since the ceremony began back in 1983. Despite public pressure, that figure has failed to shift dramatically in a more equitable favour in recent years.
“Why are women so marginalised by the Rock Hall?” Courtney Love asks. “Of the 31 people on the nominating board, just nine are women.” Love adds: “Rock Hall voters, among them musicians and industry elites, are 90% male.”
Writing for the Guardian, the Hole singer opined: “The Rock Hall’s canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility. This year, one voter told Vulture magazine that they barely knew who Bush was – in a year she had a worldwide No 1 single 38 years after she first released it.”
She concluded: “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, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag.”
Who is nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023?
In 2022, the organisation only inducted two females in the ‘Performer Category’, Dolly Parton and Carly Simon, so with Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliot, Cyndi Lauper and Meg White (as part of The White Stripes) being nominated this year, there is a potential to increase the female representation.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame writes: “To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Eight out of 14 of the Nominees are on the ballot for the first time, including Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, The White Stripes, and Warren Zevon. This is the first year of eligibility for Missy Elliott and The White Stripes.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ‘Performer’ nominees 2023:
- Kate Bush
- Sheryl Crow
- Missy Elliott
- Iron Maiden
- Joy Division/New Order
- Cyndi Lauper
- George Michael
- Willie Nelson
- Rage Against the Machine
- Soundgarden
- The Spinners
- A Tribe Called Quest
- The White Stripes
- Warren Zevon
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