Steve Miller Says All the Rock Hall Does Is ‘Talk About Itself and Sell Postcards’
Steve Miller wasn't shy about voicing his displeasure with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during last week's induction ceremony, and he continued to take aim at the Hall after the festivities ended.
As previously reported, Miller took time out of his speech to chide the Rock Hall for not being more inclusive of women while urging the organization to be "more transparent" with the public and do more to support music education. In the press room after his induction and performance, he went on to make a case against the Hall's dealings with artists.
Holding court in the press room (even after, as you can see in the footage above, a Hall publicist tried to get him to wrap it up), Miller called for top-to-bottom change, revealing that inducted acts are given only two tickets — and extras cost $10,000. After telling the crowd that he nearly didn't show up, he left the room, but he wasn't finished airing his grievances against the Hall.
Miller later sat for an interview with the Associated Press, telling the news organization that he didn't know why the Hall inducted him. "I said this for 30 years," said Miller. "I don't get along with the people running it. When I found out about it, I felt like I was in a (expletive) reality TV show. ... It wasn't very overwhelming. It was a lazy kind of night with a bunch of fat cats at the dinner table. It's not a real pleasant experience, to tell you the truth."
As he'd said during his press room speech, Miller told the AP that he thinks the Hall makes the induction process "difficult for the artists" and reiterated that he believes they need a total overhaul of the people running the show. "You don't need to insult every artist that comes along," insisted Miller. "People in the crews are nice, but people that are running it at the top have no concept of how to run a concert or how to run an award ceremony or how to take care of artists."
Ultimately, Miller said he only showed up because he knows his fans take the honor seriously. As far as he's concerned, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame doesn't serve much of a purpose. "You tell me," he shrugged. "What the hell is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and what does it do besides talk about itself and sell postcards?"
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