When this year's inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame were announced, Carol Kaye's name was among them. Kaye was the bassist for the Wrecking Crew, the legendary group of session musicians that served as the backing band on countless pop hits throughout the '60s and '70s. Along with Thom Bell and Nicky Hopkins, Kaye was supposed to receive the Award For Musical Excellence, which recognizes important supporting musicians. But in a new Facebook post, she says not only is she not going to the ceremony, she's declining induction into the Rock Hall because it doesn't not reflect the spirit of teamwork that went into her career as a session musician.
Here's what Kaye wrote:
People have been asking:NO I won't be there....... I am declining the rrhof awards show (and denny tedesco process).....turning it down because it wasn't something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s Recording Hits........ you are always part of a TEAM, not a solo artist at all....there were always 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Local 47 Hollywood) working in the busy 1960s, and called that ONLY ....since 1930s, I was never a 'wrecker' at all....that's a terrible insulting name.
Just so you know, as a working Jazz musician (soloing jazz guitar work) in the 1950s working since 1949, I was accidentally asked to record records by producer Bumps Blackwell in 1957, got into recording good music, w/Sam Cooke, other artists and then accidentally placed on Fender Precision Bass mid 1963 when someone didn't show.......I never played bass in my life but being an experienced recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass players hired to play "dum-de-dum" on record dates, wasn't getting it.....it was easy for me to invent good bass lines.....as a Jazz musician, you invent every note you play......and they used a lot of Jazz musicians (and former big-band experienced musicians on all those rock and pop dates too)...........I refuse to be part of a process that is something else rather than what I believe in, for others' benefit and not reflecting on the truth-we all enjoyed working with EACH OTHER........Thank-You for understanding.Carol Kaye
Kaye is far from the first musician to say no to the Rock Hall. Not counting the artists who simply didn't attend the ceremony, the list of those who opted not to be enshrined in Cleveland includes the Sex Pistols, Axl Rose, and Dolly Parton (who later changed her mind).
