Former Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello says he grew up hating the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and for good reason.
But as one of rock's most well-established and outspoken stars Morello, who's now with Prophets of Rage, has for several years been involved in the Rock Hall of Fame. He inducted KISS into the Hall in 2014, and he revealed that he's personally lobbied the organization to remake its widely-reviled selection process.
On Tuesday, Morello got the news that he is now a nominee for the Hall of Fame with Rage Against the Machine. The guitarist said in a recent radio interview that he's been trying for years to enact change from within the Hall.
"I was writing them constantly because the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was not representing my favorite genre of music," Morello said. "KISS wasn't in, Rush wasn't in, Stevie Ray Vaughan wasn't in. It took Black Sabbath 20 years to get in, which is ridiculous."
But Morello adds the Rock Hall has been this way since the beginning.
"When you're a kid and you play rock 'n' roll guitar, you hated the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because none of your favorite bands were in it."
He continued, explaining his efforts to fix the organization appear to have made a dent; the Hall gave him a spot on its committee.
"I told them, 'You need to fix that,'" he said. "To their credit, I complained enough that I'm now one of the people who help decide who is on the ballot every year. I don't get to pick who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame every year [though]."
Each year it's a fight. Morello says he goes into every meeting carrying the torch for the numerous hard rock and heavy metal greats who seem to be perpetually on the notable omissions list.
"I go in there every year yelling about Judas Priest now, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains," he said.
Morello added that his former Audioslave bandmate Chris Cornell deserves to get in the Hall of Fame one way or another.
"Chris either as a solo artist, or Soundgarden as a band, both deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so hopefully that will happen in the not-too-distant future."
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