Former Styx fromtman Dennis DeYoung is calling out the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for waiting too long to induct some rock legends.
In a post on Facebook, he cites the recent induction of Bad Company as an example of this. They’d been eligible for over 25 years before finally being inducted on Nov. 8. Two members — Mick Ralphs and Boz Burrell — died before they were inducted, and frontman Paul Rodgers had to pull out of the ceremony out of concerns for his health.
“Speaking of the Rock Hall it’s a shame that Bad Company had to wait so long to get in that it rendered Paul Rodgers unable to perform due to health concerns,” he writes. “Bollocks!! I would have liked to have seen him perform years ago to demonstrate how one of rock’s premiere singers ACTUALLY ROCKS.”
“The induction ceremony clearly pointed out the tragic manner in which this joint operates,” he continues. “Making so many musicians wait until they either incapacitated or dead is shameful. Joe Cocker, Warren Zevon et al are suddenly eligible decades after their success? Explain that, what’s changed except the Hall’s inability to let go of their clear prejudices and induct them?”
DeYoung notes that the Hall’s “mission statement about who qualifies was always a ruse and a joke concocted to protect their own personal choices.”
He adds, “I have said this before — as someone whose band has never been considered, whatever I write ends up sounding like sour grapes. ‘Sour Grapes’ would be a good name for a band.”
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