Carol Kaye Declines Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction, Calls It Permanent
Carol Kaye, the legendary bassist whose work helped define the sound of the 1960s through hits by the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, and Barbra Streisand, has permanently declined her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“I’ve declined the RRHOF. Permanently,” Kaye, 90, wrote in an email to the Associated Press on Friday. She confirmed that she also sent a formal letter to the Hall stating her decision. The announcement follows a now-deleted Facebook post from earlier in the week, in which she wrote: “NO I won’t be there. I am declining the RRHOF awards show.”
Kaye had been slated for induction this November, alongside Joe Cocker, Chubby Checker, and Cyndi Lauper.
In her post, Kaye explained that the recognition does not accurately reflect the contributions of studio musicians like herself during the 1960s. “I’m 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,” she wrote.
A prolific session musician, Kaye played bass on classic tracks such as Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound,” the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” and the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer.” She was a central figure in a group of elite Los Angeles studio musicians later dubbed “The Wrecking Crew” by drummer Hal Blaine.
Kaye, however, has long rejected that label. In her post, she cited the name as another reason for declining the honor: “I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all. That’s a terrible insulting name,” she wrote.
Interestingly, the Hall’s official inductee page for Kaye makes no mention of “The Wrecking Crew.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has not yet commented on Kaye’s decision.
While some artists have been inducted in absentia or posthumously, Kaye joins a small group of musicians who have publicly rejected the honor. The Sex Pistols famously snubbed their 2006 induction, and Dolly Parton initially declined hers in 2022 before later accepting it.
