JAY JAY FRENCH On TWISTED SISTER's Absence From ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: 'We Don't Get The Respect We Should Get'

In a new interview with The Mistress Carrie Podcast, hosted by "Mistress Carrie" Sarao, TWISTED SISTER guitarist Jay Jay French was asked about his band's absence from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, especially since the institution prioritizes musical influence, innovation and career impact over pure record sales. Jay Jay said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The thing that's ironic about that statement is that our record sales are up there. So if you're using record sales internationally, we're at the 30-million mark, and I've got, like, 37 gold and platinum albums from around the world, and we've played in 40 countries as a headliner around the world. But you take a band like THE VELVET UNDERGROUND — there's a perfect example of what you say. There's a cliché about THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: 'THE VELVET UNDERGROUND only sold 3,000 albums, but everybody who bought one started a band.' And I love that. I love that cliché, 'cause we're also big VELVET UNDERGROUND fans. And so that's exactly to your point. That's exactly to your point. Now, THE VELVET UNDERGROUNDis in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, I believe. So is Lou Reed. And they are justifiably in it. There are some artists, I don't believe, are justifiably in it, but that's a political game, 'cause I think you know as well as I do there's politics involved in every Hall Of Fame."

French continued: "It's music 'business', and I know the politics of the business. And so it almost doesn't surprise me that we don't get the respect we should get, 'cause we're from Long Island, and Long Island doesn't get a lot of respect. It really doesn't. I mean, yes, Billy Joel's from Long Island — I get that — but Long Island in general doesn't get that much respect in the industry, even though we're only a stone's throw from Manhattan. We just don't. And that's the irony, is that TWISTED SISTER was selling out these gigantic rooms in the New York area at the time the CBGBs was exploding. But those bands at CBGBs, which was BLONDIE, TELEVISION, the RAMONES, those guys couldn't work in any of the places we were playing 'cause they couldn't sell tickets. We, however, were selling out 5,000-seaters all around New York and never playing New York City. So when our manager suggested we should play New York, we said, 'There's no place big enough to hold us.' Remember, this is 1979 — no record deal. And he said, 'Why don't we play the Palladium Theater, which holds 3,500 people?' And I said, 'No band without a deal has ever sold out the Palladium.' And we did — twice. And that was a point we made to the music business, which is, 'You guys don't respect us, you don't understand us, but our following is massive.' And we had a massive following."

Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible a quarter century after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other "criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock 'n' roll," which is, of course, open to interpretation.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn't get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

DEEP PURPLE was eligible for the Rock Hall since 1993 but didn't get inducted until 2016.

Nominees are being voted on by more than 1,200 artists, historians and music industry professionals.

The only metal or metal-adjacent acts to have made it into the Rock Hall so far have been BLACK SABBATH, LED ZEPPELIN, METALLICA, AC/DC, JUDAS PRIEST, KISS, VAN HALEN, RUSH, GUNS N' ROSES, Ozzy Osbourne and DEEP PURPLE.

Back in March 2021, French slammed the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, calling it an "elitist" institution which has failed to recognize some of the biggest and most influential artists of the 1980s.

Asked by Cassius Morris of "The Cassius Morris Show" for his opinion of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Jay Jay said: "I'm not happy with it. I went to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame years ago and thought it was the worst-curated piece of shit I'd ever seen. I didn't understand it. I said to myself… Here's what I said to myself… I'm a New Yorker, so I should understand the super-hip new York downtown, why Patti Smith… Look, screw that. The fact of the matter is that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is in Cleveland. Cleveland's in the Midwest. How do you not have KANSAS, how do you not have REO SPEEDWAGON, how do you not have Bob Seger — how do you not have bands that kept fucking rock and roll alive in the '80s? … How do you not have the artists that kept this whole fucking business alive because it was so hip for you to say we suck, it was so hip to go, 'The '80s sucked.'"

He continued: "I've got news for you all: the '80s not only didn't suck, but the '80s, in terms of the kids around the world — South America, Europe, Japan, the Far East, India — they fill stadiums today because of the music that we created back then. And if that music is that damn important, then why the hell do we not have the respect of being acknowledged by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? That's what annoys me. It's not that THE BEATLES shouldn't be [there]; of course they should be there, of course a lot of these acts should be there, but so should about 30 or 40 other acts that are actually responsible for the propagation and the continuation of the kind of music that we grew up [on], that I played and that inspired you. And until that's recognized, I don't respect that. I just think it's completely misguided and totally elitist and really fucked up."

In February 2021, Jay Jay's TWISTED SISTER bandmate Dee Snider also criticized the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, calling the Rock Hall committee members "arrogant elitist assholes who look down on metal and other bands that sell millions because we're not their definition of cool." When one fan suggested that the Rock Hall "caters to the masses," Snider responded: "If they were catering to the masses they would have the biggest selling bands. Corporate rock bands that sell tens of millions are ignored because they aren't 'cool'. The fact is the RnR Hall of Fame is struggling. Was it crowded when you were there? It wasn't when I went."

TWISTED SISTER's biggest hit, "We're Not Gonna Take It", has been used in commercials for hotel chain Extended Stay America, Claritin, Walmart, Stanley Steamer and Yaz birth control.

The song's lyrics say in part "Oh you're so condescending/Your gall is never ending/We don't want nothin'/Not a thing from you."

"We're Not Gonna Take It" was first released as a single (with B-side song "You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll") on April 27, 1984. The "Stay Hungry" album was released two weeks later, on May 10, 1984. The single made No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it TWISTED SISTER's only Top 40 single, and the song was ranked No. 47 on VH1's "100 Greatest '80s Songs".

"We're Not Gonna Take It" was written solely by Snider. As influences for the song, he previously cited the glam rock band SLADE, the punk band SEX PISTOLS, and the Christmas carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful".