Chrissie Hynde speaks out on Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame row: “The whole thing is total bollocks”

The Pretenders‘ Chrissie Hynde has shared her thoughts on diversity within the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, calling it “total bollocks”.

• READ MORE: Chrissie Hynde: “People die of loneliness – it’s an epidemic”

This month, Courtney Love started a conversation around inclusion in the prestigious club by calling for more female acts to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, while highlighting that there are also “few” past inductees of Black origin.

Hynde, who was inducted into the hall with The Pretenders in 2005, then took to Facebook to share her thoughts on the topic, saying she doesn’t “even wanna be associated with” the institution.

She added: “If anyone wants my position in the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame they are welcome to it. I don’t even wanna be associated with it. It’s just more establishment backslapping. I got in a band so I didn’t have to be part of all that.”

She added: “I was living a happy life in Rio when I got the call I was being inducted. My heart sank because I knew I’d have to go back for it as it would be too much of a kick in the teeth to my parents if I didn’t. I’d upset them enough by then, so it was one of those things that would bail me out from years of disappointing them. (like moving out of the USA and being arrested at PETA protests and my general personality).

“Other than Neil Young’s participation in the induction process, the whole thing was, and is, total bollocks,” she added. “It’s absolutely nothing to do with rock ‘n’ roll and anyone who thinks it is is a fool.”

Hole vocalist Love recently started the new conversation by taking to social media to respond to an article titled ‘Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame celebrates women who rock’, which had been shared by author and journalist Jessica Hopper.

The singer attached a screenshot of a text she had sent Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl about his own induction to the Rock Hall, and how he should “hold the seats of Tina Turner and Carole King, both who have been eligible for over 30! years each”. Grohl has been inducted into the hall twice: with Nirvana in 2013 and Foo Fighters in 2021.

“ELIGIBILITY is 25 years after 1st release,” Love added, noting how Foo Fighters “were nominated 4 secs later”.

Today (March 17), The Guardian then published an article written by Love titled ‘Why are women so marginalised by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?’, in which the star expanded on her issues with the hall.

In the article, Love discussed this year’s Rock Hall nominations, which were announced last month. She said the list – featuring the likes of Kate Bush, Missy Elliott and Cyndi Lauper – “offered the annual reminder of just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boys club”.

“More women were nominated in one year than at any time in [the Rock Hall’s] 40-year history,” Love wrote.

Last month, Hynde and The Pretenders headed out on a short, intimate UK tour for Independent Venues Week. The Pretenders are due to release their 12th album, ‘Relentless’, this year. No release date has been given. It will mark the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Hate For Sale‘.

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