Rock Hall Chairman Explains Why Its Name Will Never Change

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has no plans to change its name, despite a steady influx of artists from outside the genre.

In recent years, the organization has displayed a broad interpretation of “rock & roll,” welcoming in an array of hip-hop acts (Missy Elliott, A Tribe Called Quest, Eminem), pop stars (Cher, Whitney Houston) and country artists (Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton). The trend has led to calls for a name update to the Music Hall of Fame, but Rock Hall chairman John Sykes says that isn’t going to happen.

“I think it’s because some people don’t understand the meaning of rock and roll,” Sykes explained to Vulture. “If you go back to the original sound in the ’50s, it was everything. As Missy Elliot calls it, it was a gumbo. It just became known as rock and roll. 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.”

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Sykes said the challenge is changing the public perception of what rock and roll is.

“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,” he explained. “Once they hear it that way, they understand.”

How John Sykes Convinced Jay-Z That Rock Isn’t Dead

To prove his point regarding the Rock Hall, Sykes offered an anecdote with his “great friend” Jay-Z. The rapper was inducted in 2021, but had reservations about the honor.

“He told me, ‘Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame,’” Sykes recalled. “And I said, ‘Well, hip-hop is rock and roll.’ He goes, ‘No, it isn’t.’ And I said, ‘We’ve got to do a better job explaining it. Little Richard, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry — these artists were the cornerstones of rock and roll. If you look at the sounds over the years, those artists ended up influencing hip-hop.’”

According to Sykes, Jay-Z “hemmed and hawed” over the honor, but eventually attended and accepted his induction. “That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all,” the chairman added.