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Cher has a message for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The legendary singer and “Dancing With the Stars” guest judge slammed the Rock Hall in an interview with Kelly Clarkson in December 2023.
When talking about her seven decades of chart-toppers, Cher noted that despite her career success she has never been nominated for a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also made it clear that the Cleveland-based institution couldn’t pay her to join their music shrine now.
Cher Said the Rock Hall ‘Can Just You-Know-What Themselves’
Speaking with Clarkson, Cher, 77, addressed the fact that she has racked up No. 1 hits in every decade over seven decades but has yet to be asked to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After the audience gasped in disbelief, Cher said she was at peace with the snub.
“You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m not kidding you,” she said. “I’m never going to change my mind. I have things in my career…They can just you-know-what themselves.”
“Can I just say one other thing?’ the singer continued. “I changed music forever with ‘Believe.'”
Cher’s 1998 hit is widely regarded as the first pop hit to ever use Auto-Tune as an instrument. NPR host Michel Martin once addressed Cher’s groundbreaking move with “Believe.” ‘That little warble in her voice? That was produced by Auto-Tune. That’s a studio tool that digitally changes a singer’s pitch. Cher’s producers used it in a way that most people had never heard before,” Martin said. “And savvy producers took notice. Soon that sound was popping up all over the place.”
Cher’s first No. 1 hit came in 1965 with the song “I Got You Babe” with her late ex-husband Sonny Bono. More than 30 years later, she became the oldest woman in pop music history to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with “Believe,” according to Gold Derby. The release of her 2023 hit “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” landed her as the first female artist to have a top hit in every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s, per Billboard.
Musicians are eligible for induction 25 years after releasing their debut record, which means Cher has been eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame since 1991. Her repeated snubs for the honor come as both a solo artist and as a duo with Bono.
Other Artists Have Turned Down the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun founded The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1983, per Cleveland Historical. The Rock Hall’s physical location opened in 1993.
Musicians who have turned down Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations include Paul McCartney, Axl Rose, and Neil Young. According to Far Out magazine, Ozzy Osbourne also originally turned down the honor following his band Black Sabbath’s nomination in 2006. Osbourne complained that Rock Hall spots are “voted on by the supposed elite for the industry and the media, who’ve never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives.”
“Their vote is irrelevant to me,” Osbourne said at the time. “Let’s face it, Black Sabbath has never been media darlings. We’re a people’s band and that suits us just fine.”
The “Ironman” singer later changed his mind and did attend the ceremony with his bandmates. Osbourne admitted he didn’t have a “right” to speak for the rest of the band.
In early 2022, Dolly Parton also turned down a nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the time, the “Jolene” singer told fans she didn’t feel she had “earned that right” despite being eligible for the honor for 30 years. Parton changed her tune and accepted the induction later that year, Rolling Stone reported in November 2022.
In November 2023, the latest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees included Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, and Rage Against the Machine.
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