And he's not afraid to tell someone. It's mostly about the RnR Hall of Fame, and the gangster mentality of the people who run it. This article is from Rolling Stone. While I don't know everything about the music industry, I know enough that this isn't surprising at all.

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Steve Miller's gripes against the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — for which the rocker was inducted Friday night — extended past the podium into the backstage area later that night. "The whole process is unpleasant," Miller told reporters. "The whole process needs to be changed from the top to the bottom." Talking to Rolling Stone, Miller widened his targets, throwing barbs not just at the Rock Hall — though there were many choice words about that — but at his record label rep ("I wanted to pull him by his necktie and kick him in the nuts") and the industry in general.

Was the Hall of Fame experience what you thought it would be?
Uh. No. No, it wasn't. It was nice. The whole experience should be completely redesigned and become much more artist-friendly.

In what way?
Starting from who you can invite, what you can do, how long you can play, what you can say. The whole thing is sort of an amateur production and doing this is harder than doing a 20-city tour.

What do you mean by "amateur production"?
A hundred thousand phone calls; the contract work. The licensing still isn't signed and isn't complete. Everybody is kind of a dick and an asshole. And every artist you talk to will tell you that. You're lucky that everybody didn't fucking walk out. It was very, very close. If you're an investigative reporter, get fucking busy. K? Got enough?

Tell me what you're working on.
Tell you what? What more do you want to know?

What are you up to now?
Let's see. I'm going to San Diego and playing five gigs. And then I'm going to do some work at the Metropolitan Museum and musical instrument department at their musical gallery. And I'm working on music education for Little Kids Rock. Then I'm going to take a couple of weeks off and going to do a 50-city tour.

Do you think about recording any new albums?
No. I don't think about it at all. There is no record business. I record a lot of things. There is no record business. There's no reason for me to spend any money producing stuff that a record company... All the people that were sitting in the front row tonight, like the guy that came from my record company, I wanted to pull him by his necktie and kick him in the nuts.

Really?
Yeah. He's made a billion dollars off my work over the last 50 years and the motherfucker just came over and introduced himself tonight. That cheery little thing. You know he won't do any contract work, he won't clean anything up, he won't get anything done.

This whole industry fucking sucks and this little get-together you guys have here is like a private boys' club and it's a bunch of jackasses and jerks and fucking gangsters and crooks who've fucking stolen everything from a fucking artist. Telling the artist to come out here and tap dance.

I came out here for my fans. I came out for the people who take it seriously. And if the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wants to be taken seriously, they need to put their books out in the public. They need to fucking become transparent. They need to stop lying. They need to stop all the bullshit and they need to clean it up and they need to expand it. They need to include a lot more people. And the most important thing is the fucking board of this organization really needs to enlarge their gene pool. I think you understand.

He's not the first music veteran who has voiced complaints about the record industry at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in recent years...

Gene Simmons from Kiss is complaining that NWA should not be in because rap is not rock.

2freaky4church1 said:

Gene Simmons from Kiss is complaining that NWA should not be in because rap is not rock.

Gene, as usual, is talking out of his ass. RnR isn't about guitars, it's attitude, and bravado. And if anyone had attitude is was them.....guys from Compton.

Let's not forget NWA is the first non-rock band act to be inducted. Public Enemy, Donna Summer, Run-DMC, Abba, Madonna, Beastie Boys, and Miles Davis are a few that could be argued as not rock n' roll in genre. Like them or not, they've certainly moved & changed the music landscape.

I'm glad Ice shot back at Gene. Gene has long since needed to be put in his place. KISS is a parody of itself at this point. Same songs, same tricks, same gags. The drag, the blood, the solos, the flying guitar, the fireworks - it's so predictible. They have their place in history.

at least steve miller holds nothing back

TrivialPursuit said:

2freaky4church1 said:

Gene Simmons from Kiss is complaining that NWA should not be in because rap is not rock.

Gene, as usual, is talking out of his ass. RnR isn't about guitars, it's attitude, and bravado. And if anyone had attitude is was them.....guys from Compton.

Let's not forget NWA is the first non-rock band act to be inducted. Public Enemy, Donna Summer, Run-DMC, Abba, Madonna, Beastie Boys, and Miles Davis are a few that could be argued as not rock n' roll in genre. Like them or not, they've certainly moved & changed the music landscape.

I'm glad Ice shot back at Gene. Gene has long since needed to be put in his place. KISS is a parody of itself at this point. Same songs, same tricks, same gags. The drag, the blood, the solos, the flying guitar, the fireworks - it's so predictible. They have their place in history.

Yep. Gene Simmons needs a smack upside the head and leave NWA alone!

I can understand why people who had heavy fights with their labels would be kind of bitter about showing up to a night that's basically a big circle jerk for the industry. It is pretty weak to make the honored guests pay ten grand a head for very guest at the dinner though. Even playing my local dive bar we get like ten people in free when we're playing a show.

The Executive Director of the RRHOF responded and TBH, Steve Miller sounds like the a-hole in this. At least, with respect to the RRHOF issues Miller brings up.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President Joel Peresman responds to Steve Miller's blistering comments about the Rock Hall.Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage/Getty

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Most artists are pretty happy moments after their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but when Steve Miller came into the press room following his speech and performance, he was fuming with anger. He ripped the organization to shreds while addressing the press, and continued with his anger when speaking with Rolling Stone. We sat down with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Joel Peresman to hear his side of the story.

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Prior to the evening of the ceremony, did you know that Steve Miller was upset?
No. We really had no issues with Steve. There were some things they brought up earlier about wanting his band to come, which we took care of. His band had a table and they were able to sit at and enjoy the show before and after their performance. I know there were some issues going back and forth about the standard TV release, which we do with every act every year and it never seems to be a problem. There's always that little back and forth you get leading into a show.

SIDEBAR

Steve Miller: This Whole ...' Sucks »

I want to go through the things he said backstage. He said, "When they told me I was inducted, they said, 'You have two tickets - one for your wife and one for yourself. Want another one? It's $10,000 - sorry that's the way it goes.' What about my band? What about their wives? They make this so unpleasant."

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Steve Miller's band wasn't being inducted this year. Steve Miller was inducted. We unquestionably took care of his band and his band was given a table they were able to sit at before and after the performance. I'm really surprised he goes down that path being that he's on the board of other cultural institutions, and he should have an understanding of how cultural institutions work. They do fundraisers and when you do fundraisers, you have rules in order to actually make money. You don't just give away tickets for free.

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He said, "They need to respect the artists they say they're honoring, which they don't. I don't have any of my paperwork signed. I have no licensing agreements with these people. They're trying to steal footage. They're trying to make me indemnify them."
I really don't know what Steve is referring to on that. For 30 years when we've inducted artists, we create clip packages to show images of them as they come up to the accept the award. Whether Steve was being tough on giving us rights on that stuff or whether he wanted approval, I'm not really sure what he's referring to. Our legal team and rights team reaches out to all the inductees. Steve seems to be the only release that wasn't signed before the performance.

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Do you know what he means by, "They're trying to steal footage?"
I have no idea when he means when he says "steal footage." We spend a lot of money every year licensing footage that is used in the clips packages as well as music rights we pay like every other award show does. If an inductee owns the footage and they'll give it to us for free? That's fantastic. Again, we're a nonprofit organization. Wherever we can cut costs and save money, that's money we can make that goes to support the museum. Steve should know that being involved with other cultural institutions.

"I encourage the [Hall of Fame] to more inclusive of women."
If you look over the past few years, we've inducted women basically every year. We've had women nominated or inducted every year for the past number of years. Once the nomination process goes out to the general voters, it's up to them to who they feel should be inducted and why they should be inducted.

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"I encourage the Hall of Fame to be more transparent in your dealings with the public."
I have no idea what he means. As far as being transparent in our dealings and finances with the public, all our financial statements — our 990 statements — are a matter of public record.

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"The whole experience should be completely redesigned and become much more artist-friendly, starting from who you can invite, what you can do, how long you can play, what you can say. The whole thing is sort of an amateur production and doing this is harder than doing a 20-city tour."

/
[Laughs]. This production has been refined over the past 30 years. One thing that Steve needs to consider is that he's not the only person being inducted that night. There are other inductees that we need to be respectful to and give them time to perform and speak. No one ever edits what people say. We try to give people a time limit and we work with them on that because we don't want to be there for six hours. It's disrespectful to the other inductees and the fans that come if you let people go on and on and on. Everyone gets three songs. Again, everyone would love to do extended guitar solos for 20 minutes, but it's being disrespectful to the other inductees and the people that come to the event. To be clear, we'd never, in any way, edit someone's speech.

I can't tell you the amount of thank you notes we got from people in Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, the guys in Chicago and N.W.A. They all sent e-mails saying how much they enjoyed the experience and they're glad they came. Some said they were embarrassed for the comments that Steve made.

/

Do you ever edit speeches?
Absolutely not. We give them a suggestion of time to work with, but in no way would we ever edit anyone's speech.

SIDEBAR

Sampling Steve Miller Ban...s Guide »

"This whole industry fucking sucks and this little get-together you guys have here is kind of like a private boys club and it’s kind of a bunch of jackasses and jerks and fucking gangsters and crooks who've fucking stolen everything from a fucking artist, telling the artist to come out here and tap dance."

/
[Laughs hysterically.] At the end of the day, Steve Miller, unquestionably from his musical legacy and influence, deserved to be inducted. That he feels this way I feel badly for him. But, again, we're thrilled and happy he was inducted. He deserves to be inducted. We're happy to have him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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"The most important thing is the fucking board of this organization really needs to enlarge their gene pool. I think you understand."
I don't understand? Have more women on it? If he means that, we have women on the nominating committee. There's a lot of women voters. I don't know what he means by gene pool.

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Are you disappointed and surprised about all this?
It's sad. This is a night where we've had bands that have broken up, and hate each other, and with a few exceptions, are able to get back together and celebrate for one night and realize it isn't about them, it's about the fans that wanted to see them get inducted. It's about the fans going to the museum in Cleveland for years and have been going, "Why isn't Steve Miller inducted?" For one night, look at it as a celebration of your legacy and how important you are to rock and roll.

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That's what we try and celebrate and overall we've tried to do that year after year. But at the end of the day, you can't make people happy. It's sad the overarching story is one person's unhappiness when he should have looked at the night as a celebration of his music and just gone from there.

Watch Steve Miller blast the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being inducted.

Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Just sounds like a grumpy old man. Why bother attending if you disagree with it? It's only an awards ceremony, it's not that important in the grand scheme of things.

Unfortunately, I have heard this over and over "amateurish production" and "everyone is an asshole". Even Ice Cube said so much as why N.W.A. would not be performing at their induction.

rlittler81 said:

Black Keys: We Regret Inducting Steve Miller After Rock Hall Insults

"He said, 'The whole process was unpleasant,'" Dan Auerbach says. "And for Pat and I, the most unpleasant part was being around him"

Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams recently cancelled concerts in states that have new,discriminatory laws.They're taking a stand against things that matter.Steve Miller is whining about a stupid awards ceremony that lasted just a few hours,smh.

SoulAlive said:

Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams recently cancelled concerts in states that have new,discriminatory laws.They're taking a stand against things that matter.Steve Miller is whining about a stupid awards ceremony that lasted just a few hours,smh.

Well, let's keep this in perspective, though. The ceremony is what was happening, and it's what he was asked about.

To our knowledge, he wasn't asked about Mississippi, or North Carolina, LGBTQA+ discrimination, or wherever bigotry is being legislated in the south. Nor do we know (or do we?) his stance on those situations.

He does have dates on July 16-17 in NC. Will he cancel those eventually? We shall see.

SoulAlive said:

Black Keys: We Regret Inducting Steve Miller After Rock Hall Insults

"He said, 'The whole process was unpleasant,'" Dan Auerbach says. "And for Pat and I, the most unpleasant part was being around him"

Black Keys: We Regret Ind...ling Stone

This article is quite interesting. It's always sort of disappointing when you hear about one of your favorites just ending up as a bitter dickhead. Was Steve having a bad night in general, and the RnRHOF was his whipping boy? I don't know. But with so much tenure and history in the business, and people somewhere are still buying tickets to see him sing the same songs over and over - he could be a bit more grateful. I don't want him to not live his truth, but is he really this cranky all the time?

_______________________

Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach has had multiple "sleepless nights" since inducting Steve Miller into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last Friday. Miller has become the unlikely focal point of the ceremony after calling the music industry "fuckin' gangsters and crooks" and lobbing verbal grenades at his record label rep ("I wanted to pull him by his necktie and kick him in the nuts") and the Hall of Fame itself ("Everybody is kind of a dick and an asshole.")

Steve Miller was right in not acknowledging The Black Keys as they are a weak example of industry circlejerking and one of the most useless bands to emerge since Coldplay. They exist to "prove" that bands are relevant in the "industry" yet churn out album after album of filler. Ubiquitous nobodies.

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I love Steve Miller more than I ever did after this rant. He knows he could record a slamming record, but whats the point when the 'recorded music industry' is a joke that backfires on its pioneers. If this were 90s P saying his truth you'd all be bowing down. Your music industry is in shambles, never to recover. Time for a new system.

At least Ice Cube said something in his speech that writers could publish about.

JKOOLMUSIC said:

Steve Miller was right in not acknowledging The Black Keys as they are a weak example of industry circlejerking and one of the most useless bands to emerge since Coldplay.

THIS RIGHT HERE!!!!

getxxxx said:

JKOOLMUSIC said:

Steve Miller was right in not acknowledging The Black Keys as they are a weak example of industry circlejerking and one of the most useless bands to emerge since Coldplay.

THIS RIGHT HERE!!!!

Preach

"It's weird. He called the whole thing "a boys' club." The Steve Miller band has had 35 members and no women."

Ouch.

getxxxx said:

RodeoSchro said:

He could have declined to show up like Johnny Rotten & the Sex Pistols. If the Hall knew anything about the group, they'd know that the Sex Pistols would not want to be in a museum anyway

my new hero steve miller and thesex pistols. fuck the hall of fame

He was spot on about the industry, tho. Call him a cranky old man all you want, but he was speaking the truth about that.

In defense of the mono-gender criticism of the Steve Miller Band personnel over the years, Steve asked my very talented wife Diane Steinberg Lewis to join the band back in 1983 to play keyboards and sing but she had prior commitments.

We also auditioned a female singer songwriter to join us in 2008 after our beloved Norton Buffalo succumbed to lung cancer to help with our harmony stack and play guitar but we went in another direction.

Also many world class female rhythm section players have only started surfacing in the last 10 or 15 years and we have had the same core band now for over 25 years. But who knows what might happen in the near future??

Also Steve did have a very big rock star selected to induct him who is a friend of his but the RRHOF said "No. You don't get to pick who inducts you. We pick them." So Steve honestly did not know who the Black Keys were and frankly didn't care and was extremely disappointed before he even showed up.

And as for Mr Miller being called an asshole and boorish for his bully pulpit moment, you spineless non artists who said it, you are disqualified from being able to make such a statement because you've never stood inside a rock star's shoes nor have an inkling to what it like to be abused and exploited.

Kenny Lee Lewis- Steve Miller Band

You are such a prince of the pen among thieves and the disingenuous. Thanks for your righteous and profound words about our beloved Joker. Fuck the whining Black Keys. They will be day old bread by next decade. But The Joker will be playing in space stations into the next millennia like in Guardians of the Galaxies!

Kenny Lee Lewis- Steve Miller Band

"He's Steve Miller and Dan Auerbach is not." Steve Miller acting like a rock and roll star at the rock and roll hall of fame and Dan Auerbach is acting like he's some kind of a bad, bad man for being rock and roll. Go fuck yourself, Dan.

And don't worry, boys, you'll have your plaque one day, I'm sure, you've stolen enough riffs. No need to suck up this early, though, it's a bit gauche.

Which leads of course to the fact that Auerbach is THE most calculating rock star. His image is all about which little known African guitarist he's going to produce this week, doing his good deed to help the struggling, get his write-up in RS or in Spin.

Why do I feel that it's never about the music for Auerbach? It's about the money, the image. He disses Miller in RS right after intro'ing him. Dude, if you really loved his music you would not care what Miller said. He could insult your kids and if you bowed down at the altar of Miller's music you would not care because he delivered the tunes, man, the joy. This shows both the Hall's and the Key's calculating behavior: get a hip band that doesn't really care to come up and intro Miller, they'll do it, they're already salivating to be obsolete and in the Hall.

You did it for the publicity, it's clear now. Miller's speech and comments didn't fit into your vision of how it would help your brand and now you're distancing itself. It's clear that for whatever reason you did it it couldn't have been about the music.

The Black Keys are the shittiest band to ever put on leather jackets. No one ever forget that.

- Dan Grgas

Bwahhh!! It's an insult to Steve that the Hall asked two hipster stooges to introduce him.

The Black Keys are amongst the least talented, most derivative crap America has to offer, as fake as 2 Turntables Beck, and it makes me love Miller even more for letting on that he cares not one whit about them. Auerbach - claiming he gets inspiration from the Hall?

Complaining that he took 3 days out of his life without pay??

What a yahoo, what a toadie.

Dennis Pelowski

SO glad you wrote this. 100% correct. These dudes were butt hurt that a legend didn't know who they were. Steve Miller achieved the status of master of freak flag psychedelic white blues by 1969, and he progressed, regressed, and kept on keepin' on for the next 46 years. More than likely, Black Keys will be forgotten within ten years, as their songs have very little (or in my opinion, no) longevity. They come across as entitled, pitiful, corporate lackeys in this article who appear eager to stroke the corporate dong. About as far away from rock n roll as one can get.

I worked the Big Day Out tour in 2011. Apparently, Black Keys cancelled due to 'exhaustion'; the truth was that they cancelled because they got higher offers, elsewhere. They were low on the bill in Australia, but they still upset MANY fans.

(if you print this, please don't use my name as the festival info is somewhat sensitive)

[Edited 4/14/16 7:56am]

This is crazy Steve Miller should have just stayed home,lol. His induction into the RRHOF has been ruined by all of these ugly comments,accusations,finger-pointing and insults.