The CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has responded to criticism after Iron Maiden weren’t included in this year’s list of inductees.
Last week it was revealed that Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Tina Turner, The Go-Gos and Carole King are among those who are being inducted in the performer’s category.
Controversially, both Rage Against The Machine and Iron Maiden – who were confirmed to be in the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021 in February – were excluded from the final list.
The snub has prompted backlash over the ceremony’s lack of heavy metal acts, forcing Hall of Fame CEO Greg Harris to explain the decision.
Speaking to the WBAB radio station (via Blabbermouth), Harris said: “There’s no doubt that Iron Maiden are an impactful, influential band, and that’s why they were nominated this year, along with 15 other artists and acts, and when the votes came in, these six were the leaders. So we’re not questioning, are they an important band, are they impactful and influential.”
He continued: “Of those that have been nominated throughout history, over 80 percent of them have been eventually inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall 0f Fame.”
“So everybody has their favourites; everybody has different artists that impacted them or impacted other artists. So, if you look at this list, you can make that case for all of these folks, just like people make that case for Iron Maiden.”
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When asked whether the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should be renamed the ‘Music Hall of Fame’, as some critics have suggested, Harris said: “I think to get to the core of it, people like the stuff that’s closest to them, and I think they need to expand their thinking of rock and roll. It’s a big tent.”
“Rock and roll was never just four skinny guys with long hair and guitars; it’s always been diverse… We take that interpretation that these are all variants of rock and roll. And I think, underneath it, it frequently gets to the hip-hop question because some people are not fans.”
“Well, the fact of the matter is that ship has sailed. We’ve inducted quite a few artists in that canon. It’s a big tent and everybody fits under it. It’s an attitude, it’s a spirit, and that’s rock and roll.”
Meanwhile, Gene Simmons, whose band KISS was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, labelled the omission of Iron Maiden as “disgusting”.
“RR Hall of Fame is a sham not to include Maiden. Disgusting!” he tweeted.
On top of that, bandmate Paul Stanley tweeted that the band’s failure to secure enough votes was “INSANITY”.
You can read more about this topic over at the Metal Observer.
Check out ‘The Number Of The Beast’ by Iron Maiden:
