Among the 17 eligible nominees alongside Parton were also others who stretch the traditional definition of rock music: Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick and Kate Bush were selected for the ballot in alongside bands like Judas Priest, MC5, Rage Against the Machine and New York Dolls.
Ballots were sent out in February to more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals who are responsible for choosing their top five inductees each year, with the winners – usually between five and seven in total – ahead. be announced in May. This year’s induction ceremony was scheduled for the fall.
The Rock Hall asks its voters to consider an act’s musical influence and the “length and depth” of their career, in addition to “innovation and superiority in style and technique.” . Following complaints about its treatment of black women and musicians over the years, the Rock Hall recently expanded its tent to include artists from rap, pop, R&B and beyond, including Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson , Jay-Z and the Notorious BIG Artists in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Rock Hall include Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Brenda Lee, among others. Parton was inducted into the Country Hall of Fame in 1999.
On its website, Rock Hall praised Parton as a “living legend and paragon of female empowerment”, adding that her “unapologetic femininity belied her business acumen, an asset in the male-dominated music industry“.
A 2019 review of the organization’s nearly 900 inductees found that only 7.7% were women.
Other artists have already been reluctant to be included in the club: John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, thumbed his nose at the group’s induction in 2006, the group having chosen not to not show up. In 2012, when Guns ‘n Roses did, Axl Rose said he would refuse to participate and asked that he not be inducted in absentia. Both acts were inducted anyway.
