Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Won’t Budge on Its Name, Chairman Says

An invitation to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the highest honor for many musicians. This year’s ceremony saw Ozzy Osbourne, Cher, Mary J. Blige and more join the elite ranks. However, the once-vaunted institution has come under fire in recent years. The inclusion of hip-hop artists like Jay-Z, Eminem and the Beastie Boys has prompted suggestions that the “rock and roll” part of the title may be now a misnomer. However, chairman John Sykes wants those critics to know that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is here to stay.

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John Sykes: “Hip Hop Is Rock and Roll”

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan suggested in a January 2024 interview that the Music Hall of Fame is a more accurate name for the storied institution. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he argued, is “confusing to people.”

“I think it’s hard for people to understand the definitive qualities, especially when you start putting in pop artists who are strictly pop artists. “Now if the argument is that, over time, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has morphed into an institutional culture which is more the ‘Music Hall of Fame,’ then I think that would be easier for people to understand,” Corgan said.

Corgan certainly isn’t alone in this thinking. But chairman John Sykes believes many people simply don’t grasp the true meaning of rock and roll.

Are you truly pissed off? Truly?

That doesn't explain how a "rock n roll" hall of fame is inducting non-rock acts.

Just change the name to the Music Hall of Fame. Problem solved! https://t.co/Iigwzf6Mya

— Dee Snider🇺🇸🎤 (@deesnider) July 20, 2023

In an interview with Vulture published Dec. 31, Sykes invoked the words of rapper Missy Elliott, who has called the genre a “gumbo of different styles of music.”

[RELATED: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Controversies You May Have Forgotten About]

“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,” he said. “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.”

Jay-Z Once Suggested Rebranding the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

With 140 million records sold and 24 Grammy Awards, Jay-Z’s contributions to music cannot be overstated. Therefore, Sykes was excited to induct the “99 Problems” rapper into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

According to Sykes, however, Jay-Z balked at the invitation, telling him, “Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.”

Sykes then explained that hip-hop is rock-and-roll, referencing Little Richard, Otis Redding and Chuck Berry as “cornerstones” of the genre who eventually influenced hip-hop.

“Jay-Z hemmed and hawed, but he showed up to the ceremony,” Sykes said. “That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”

(Photo by Duane Prokop/Getty Images for CARE USA)