Guns N' Roses Star Says Rock Hall Has No Validity

K. Wiggins | 03-04-2020

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Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke says that he believes that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has "no validity" and pointed out a number of times that the institution has "gotten it wrong".

Clarke replaced Izzy Stradlin during the Use Your Illusion era of the band, but was not included in the members who were inducted into the Rock Hall in 2012.

During a recent interview with the Appetite For Distortion podcast, Gilby was asked if people should care which musicians are included in the induction. He responded, ""I'll tell you exactly how I feel. No, you shouldn't care about it. You should care about it like you care about going to Denny's. Seriously, there's no validity. And I'm not just saying that, because, you can honestly say, did I get burned? Yeah, I got burned. But it didn't matter to me at that time.

"When it went down, the whole GN'R [induction], I didn't even know about it until it was a done deal. Matt had inside information, so he kind of got in there and got himself included, which, obviously, included Dizzy too. By the time it got to me, it was a done deal. And I didn't really care.

"Slash and I had a conversation about it. I said, 'Look, when you think of Guns N' Roses, you think of the five guys,' and so do I.' That's what it should be. But if you're gonna induct Dizzy and Matt, now I feel left out. I mean, yes, Matt and Dizzy made the 'Illusion' records, and I would never take credit where credit wasn't due. But who f***ing cares who gets in? It's not like anybody gets a dollar for it or whatever.

"My honest take on it is if you're inducting Guns N' Roses as Guns N' Roses, put all the guys that were in the band at that time, Bumblefoot and Richard [Fortus]; everybody.

"Who cares? It's not like we're getting money for it. But if you're gonna have a ceremony, yeah, maybe have Slash, Duff and a couple of the guys speak. But who cares?

"The thing is they've pretty much proven that they've gotten it wrong every time. I felt bad in the beginning when I found out Matt and Dizzy got inducted and I didn't. I was, like, 'Oh, man, it sucks to be left out.' But then I heard the Chili Peppers got inducted, but they didn't induct Dave Navarro. Dave Navarro played on some million-selling records. And then they inducted the Grateful Dead and inducted, like, a hundred people. And when those things happen, then it puts it in perspective. And I don't really give a flying f***.

"It's not like I get anything for being in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It's not like suddenly a hundred more people are gonna come to the show. It literally is a line somebody will say when I go do a TV show: 'Gilby Clarke, Rock And Roll Hall...' I don't think there's any real validity in it. I think some people hold it in high regard, but it literally is a select group of people making these decisions. And I don't know how qualified they are. I don't know if any of them have ever been in a van, if any of them have ever gotten paid to play a musical note.

"So, like I said, it's not a big deal to me, and it shouldn't be to everybody else."