\u201cThe Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is an utter and complete load of bo**ocks,\u201d Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, said in 2018. \u201cIt\u2019s run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn\u2019t know rock\u2019n\u2019roll if it hit them in the face. They need to stop taking Prozac and start drinking f**king beer.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no such repetition when, a week or two ago, the heavy-metal greats were confirmed as 2026 inductees to the Hall, but the band, launching a 50th-anniversary tour, will not be attending the November ceremony. \u201cIn accepting, Iron Maiden made it very clear to the R&R HoF that the fans always come first and that the shows will, of course, go on,\u201d Ron Smallwood, the band\u2019s stalwart manager, commented.<\/p>\n
Whatever you may think about the \u201cR&R HoF\u201d, Dickinson\u2019s original statement nicely (well, not nicely, but you know what I mean) sums up a particular gulf between American and British culture. Our friends across the Atlantic absolutely love giving out awards and will show astonishment if any Brit (or Irish person) doesn\u2019t wet themselves upon receiving, say, the Egbert Hookenfatter Medallion for Achievement in Crop Rotation.<\/p>\n
Nothing exemplifies this better than Robert Smith\u2019s hilarious response to a journalist before induction to the Hall seven years ago. \u201cCongratulations! The Cure: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees 2019! Are you as excited as I am?\u201d the red-carpet reporter literally bellows. \u201cBy the sounds of it, no,\u201d Smith, founder of that mordant band, deadpans with a faint smile.<\/p>\n
Now viewed more than eight million times, the clip satisfied Cure fans that Smithy had not fallen for the flummery. \u201cWe had just come from quite a serious conversation in our dressingroom about what we were doing there,\u201d he later noted.<\/p>\n
Rock\u2019n\u2019roll, like the western movie and jazz music, is a quintessentially American invention. You can trace roots back to the folk music of Ireland and Scotland, but the key influences are African-American. It is, however, largely the British who cry foul at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame\u2019s polite formalisation. (Note that, whereas The Irish Times apostrophises \u201cand\u201d to \u201c\u2019n\u2019\u201d, the Hall sticks with its fusty unabridged spelling.)<\/p>\n
In 2006, The Sex Pistols, inductees that year, issued a handwritten statement in characteristically unvarnished prose. \u201cHall of Fame is a piss stain,\u201d it ran. \u201cWere [sic] not coming. Were [sic] not your monkey.\u201d <\/p>\n
You will not be surprised to hear that Oasis, on the longlist in 2024, did not bubble with unqualified goodwill. \u201cF**k the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS,\u201d Liam Gallagher posted on X. \u201cI don\u2019t need some w**k award by some geriatric in a cowboy hat.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fuck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS LG x<\/p>\n