Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesSteve Miller‘s not done with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A week after his induction on April 9, the guitar great is still criticizing the ceremony and the institution.
The 72-year-old rocker tells Billboard that it would have been nice if organizers had planned pre-ceremony events introducing the inductees and asking them to suggest how to improve and enrich the Rock Hall.
“There’s really no concern for you as a musician or artist, or congratulations,” he says. “[I]t’s ‘we’re making a television show, it’s our show, we’re making money off this to run our museum, shut up and do what you’re told to do.'”
Steve added, “The whole process feels like you’re dealing with a company that wants you to give them everything and they’re going to go make all this money and they’re going to do everything with it, and you have no input into it, no say about any of it, take it or leave it.”
Miller’s comments continue a critique he began with a post-induction news conference and an interview in Rolling Stone.
In Billboard, Miller also addressed comments made by The Black Keys, the modern-rock duo that introduced Steve at the ceremony, who told Rolling Stone that they regretted having to induct him.
Miller tells the magazine that he had wanted Elton John to induct him, “because Elton knows my music and loves my music and we’re friends, and I thought he would probably have a good historical perspective.” He said the Rock Hall organizers told him “no, the Black Keys are going to do it.” He also maintains that he wasn’t even introduced to the band at the ceremony.
Miller said that in spite of how he may appear in the media, he’s doesn’t consider himself to be “a grumpy guy.” He maintains, “I’ve spent 60 years performing and recording music and trying to grow as an artist…I’ve demanded respect for myself and my band and my peers, I’ve demanded full artistic control for my music, I advocate for artists and music education wherever I can. And I’m a nice guy.”
Read the whole interview at Billboard.com.
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