Guitarist Jay Jay French (Twisted Sister) blasted the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, calling them an “elitist” institution that has failed to recognize some of the biggest and most influential artists of the 1980s.
Jay recently talked with Cassius Morris of “The Cassius Morris Show”, where he was asked to share his opinion about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame:
“I’m not happy with it. I went to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame years ago and thought it was the worst-curated piece of sh*t I’d ever seen. I didn’t understand it. I said to myself… Here’s what I said to myself… I’m a New Yorker, so I should understand the super-hip new York downtown, why Patti Smith… Look, screw that. The fact of the matter is that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is in Cleveland. Cleveland’s in the Midwest.
”How do you not have Kansas, how do you not have Reo Speedwagon, how do you not have Bob Seger — how do you not have bands that kept f**king rock and roll alive in the ’80s? How do you not have Judas Priest, how do you not have Iron Maiden, how do you not have the artists that kept this whole f**king business alive because it was so hip for you to say we su*k, it was so hip to go, ‘The ’80s su**ed.’
“I’ve got news for you all: the ’80s not only didn’t s*ck, but the ’80s, in terms of the kids around the world — South America, Europe, Japan, the Far East, India — they fill stadiums today because of the music that we created back then. And if that music is that damn important, then why the hell do we not have the respect of being acknowledged by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?
”That’s what annoys me. It’s not that The Beatles shouldn’t be [there]; of course they should be there, of course a lot of these acts should be there, but so should about 30 or 40 other acts that are actually responsible for the propagation and the continuation of the kind of music that we grew up [on], that I played and that inspired you. And until that’s recognized, I don’t respect that. I just think it’s completely misguided and totally elitist and really f**ked up.”