Hynde herself was inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 2005 as part of The Pretenders, but has since taken to social media to decry its relevance. She stated, “I don’t even wanna be associated with it. It’s just more establishment backslapping.”

She continued, “Other than Neil Young’s participation in the induction process, the whole thing was, and is, total bollocks. It’s absolutely nothing to do with rock ‘n’ roll and anyone who thinks it is is a fool.”

Despite being inducted back in 2005, Hynde seems to have always viewed the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a negative light.

In her Facebook post, she stated, “I got in a band so I didn’t have to be part of all that. I was living a happy life in Rio when I got the call I was being inducted. My heart sank because I knew I’d have to go back for it as it would be too much of a kick in the teeth to my parents if I didn’t. I’d upset them enough by then, so it was one of those things that would bail me out from years of disappointing them. ( like moving out of the USA and being arrested at PETA protests and my general personality ).”

This discussion was sparked after Courtney Love called for more female acts to be inducted. Love shared her outrage at the lack of diversity on social media, telling the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to “GO TO HELL IN A HANDBAG BRO!”

@rockhall GO TO HELL IN A HANDBAG BRO!

I wrote this for the @guardian https://t.co/sjpCeYcqyY

— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 17, 2023

Love, the lead singer of grunge band Hole, subsequently wrote an article for The Guardian in which she highlighted that “barely 8% of its inductees are female. The canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility.”

She continued, “the nominations for this year’s class, announced last month, offered the annual reminder of just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boy’s club.”

Love also drew attention to the fact that “it doesn’t look good for black artists either.” “If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag.”

Love responded to Chrissie Hynde’s Facebook post on Twitter, writing “principals b4 personalities!”

ARTISTS! Beef off the table. Principals b4 personalities! @chrissiehynde (blew my world into a rainbow in 79 #GOAT ) TBC. I would not accept, don’t need! @rockhall. BRO it isn’t 4 me I speak. THAT BOARD NEEDS A HOSE DOWN so women & poc can FEED THEIR KIDS. Not just Bon Jovi pic.twitter.com/LVJpPUa1g6 — Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 17, 2023

Love has continued her tyrade on social media, claiming she was previously “silenced by boos” when she has previously tried to speak her mind.

BRO! @billboard

Me @rockhall HOLDING MY TONGUE.

When I went to speak? I was silenced by boos… So, yeah. pic.twitter.com/2mHdeuNSF7

— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 17, 2023

Hynde and Love have both been met with varying receptions from fans after sharing their controversial standpoints.

The Pretenders are rumoured to be releasing a new album this year titled Relentless with the release date yet to be confirmed.

See The Pretenders at Midnight Sun Weekender Festival. Tickets available here.

Despite having a new memoir out next month (called A Likely Lad), Doherty seems to have given audiences a bit of an early teaser into his personal life with this new interview, discussing topics such as watching The Simpsons in prison as well as his new drug-free lifestyle.

According to him, a big open secret to sobriety is lots of love and support, crediting his marriage to Katia de Vidas back in 2021 as being a big help, saying “Marriage is the bolster; I have the love and support of someone I love. I’m blessed to be alive, not sat in a hedge in Old Street, injecting into my groin.” He’s also in recent times credited his collaboration with French composer Frédéric Lo (more of which you can read about here), as well as spending lockdown in Normandy, as helping separate him from his former lifestyle.

On the whole, Doherty’s big problems are hopefully a thing of the past, with him seeming to have put it all behind him now. “I’ve managed to get out of the addictive cycle – which I maintained all along I was quite happy in – but I was pretty fucked, and I’ve never really admitted to that.” He describes his current state as “a phase of rejuvenation”.

Even in his darkest moments though, he had some sources of comfort, namely a popular American sitcom. Aside from smoking, the occasional airing of The Simpsons was one of the best pastimes on offer apparently, with Doherty getting “excited when they showed The Simpsons at 6 pm. My cellmate would say: “What are you watching this for? It’s shit,” and I’d say: “No, it’s subversive and interesting.”

There are also some details on his childhood when he would often move around Europe and England, as well as fights with paparazzi and an interesting detox method in Thailand; “my two security guards took me from Heathrow … to projectile vomit with the Thai monks at Tham Krabok …. You’re supposed to do it three times and vow to the gods that you will never take drugs again upon pain of death”.

As for tour dates, The Libertines are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their debut album (Up the Bracket) with a special performance in London’s Wembley Arena. If you fancy seeing them live then you can look here. As for Doherty, his UK dates can be seen below, with a performance tonight in Liverpool’s Arts Club. Tickets can be found here.

Pete Doherty UK Tour Dates
16/05/2022 – Arts Club – Liverpool
18/05 – The Lemon Tree – Aberdeen
19/05 – Tower Ballroom – Hull
20/05 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge

The blunder caused The Guardian further embarrassment, as it accompanied an opinion piece addressing Wiley’s antisemitic tweets.  An Instagram post outlined the publication’s regret at the mistake. It said: ‘The Guardian apologises unreservedly to Kano and our readers‘. The paper was quick to vindicate Owen Jones, the writer of the article, as he ‘was not involved in this error‘.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Guardian (@guardian) on Jul 29, 2020 at 7:56am PDT

Kano defined his frustration at the incident through an Instagram post. The East London emcee uploaded a screenshot of the article, and captioned it: ‘I don’t want my likeness to be associated with this rhetoric for any longer than it already has. But YO @guardian/ @owenjones84, I’m the other rapper from East London. Fix Up‘. Kano underlines that the blunder has the potential to damage his image. This is because he has now, wrongly, been associated with Wiley’s racist outburst over Twitter. 

View this post on Instagram

Won’t leave this up because I don’t want my likeness to be associated with this rhetoric for any longer than it already has. But YO @guardian/ @owenjones84, I’m the other black rapper from East London. Fix up. (@variety and @bbc for that matter, too. It’s not okay. Do better.)

A post shared by Kano (@therealkano) on Jul 29, 2020 at 3:13am PDT

It is not the first time that a major media outlet has made an error of this kind. The Manchester Evening News published a photo of a completely different woman, in a printed tribute to the recently deceased singer Denise Johnson, on the 28th of July.

The mistake threatens The Guardian’s reputation as an independent, intellectual, broadsheet newspaper. It demonstrates an archaic lack of awareness, which has no place in modern journalism.  The publication’s mistake underlines that members of the press require further education and accountability, in order to combat the innate stereotyping that courses through British reporting.

As Kano succinctly pleas at the end of his post, the media need to simply ‘do better’.

You can keep updated with the further reaction to Wiley’s twitter outburst here