No plans to rename the Hall of Fame, says Rock Hall chairman John Sykes
The inductions of artists like Eminem, Dolly Parton, and Missy Elliott into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in recent years have once again sparked discussions about whether the organisation should drop the ‘rock’ part of its name.
Addressing the Rock Hall’s seemingly growing embrace of diverse musical genres, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Chairman John Sykes tells Vulture that there are no plans to rename the institution, noting that its current name is here to “communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”
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“I think it’s because some people don’t understand the meaning of rock and roll,” Sykes explains. “If you go back to the original sound in the ’50s, it was everything. As Missy Elliot calls it, it was a gumbo. It just became known as rock and roll.”
“So when I hear people say, ‘You should just change it to the Music Hall of Fame,’ rock and roll has pretty much covered all of that territory. Rather than throwing the name out, it’s doing a better job of communicating to people where rock and roll came from and what it’s truly about. Once they hear it that way, they understand.”
The executive also points to rapper Jay-Z’s initial reluctance at his own Rock Hall induction in 2021 as an example, saying: “I was so excited. But he told me, ‘Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.’ And I said, ‘Well, hip-hop is rock and roll.’ He goes, ‘No, it isn’t.’ And I said, ‘We’ve got to do a better job explaining it. Little Richard, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry — these artists were the cornerstones of rock and roll. If you look at the sounds over the years, those artists ended up influencing hip-hop.’”
“Jay-Z hemmed and hawed, but he showed up to the ceremony,” Sykes recalls. “That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”
Echoing his view, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello – who himself is a member of the Rock Hall’s nominating committee – also recently pointed out that despite its name, the institution has long embraced artists from far beyond the traditional rock genre.
“One thing that people get wrong is that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be just for rock and roll bands,” he said. “That’s not what it’s for.”
“Public Enemy is more rock ’n’ roll than 95 per cent of all the hair metal bands that ever picked up an instrument, you know?” Morello added. “It’s music that has spirit to it… I think rock ’n’ roll should have a very, very broad sense. I think there’s room for a lot of different genres.”
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