The Metal Hall of Fame refuses to induct black musicians

The Metal Hall of Fame was founded to exclude black people from getting the praise they deserve.

After seeing a plethora of black folk in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame over the years, a one-toned team of individuals decided to launch the Metal Hall of Fame to keep things "pure." Ever since launching in 2017, there has not been one black person inducted in this ceremony. While Tom Morello is half-Kenyan, he does not look like me. That would be like them inducting Slash as a result of this article. They are both extremely white-passing individuals. Neither of them can get racially profiled in the streets like me. The Metal Hall of Fame would probably induct both Morello and Slash and say, "Look. We have black people. Shut up” while black people across the country look at them in disgust.

Black folks have been jamming away in the hard rock and metal scenes for decades. Beloved death metal band Suffocation's original lineup featured Terrance Hobbs and Mike Smith. While Bad Brains and Fishbone leaned heavily on the punk side of things, both bands gained fans in the hard rock scene. Bad Brains' 1989 album I Against I became the band's best-selling album with bands such as Lamb of God and Machine Head covering songs from the release. Fishbone started incorporating hard rock with 1988's Truth and Soul followed by 1991's The Reality of My Surroundings and 1993's Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe. Sevendust wouldn't sound the same without vocalist Lajon Witherspoon while Howard Jones helped bring Killswitch Engage to the mainstream with a trio of Top 40 albums.

Bam Bam is a grunge band that every white rock journalist in the United States has intentionally excluded from the history books. Led by vocalist Tina Ball, the band was a huge influence on Kurt Cobain, who served as a roadie for a bit. King's X co-founder Doug Pinnick has worked with various acts, including Dream Theater, Pearl Jam, and Richie Kotzen.

I just namedropped a slew of black musicians in the hard rock and metal scenes. The folks at Metal Hall of Fame will see this, say, "That's cute, little Negro," and continue inducting white men. I'm surprised they even allowed women to be inducted into this ceremony since we all know how sexist metal and hard rock have been and still are to this day. If Wendy Dio wasn't on the Metal Hall of Fame board, they wouldn't have inducted any women.

I've had to spend nearly 20 years of my time as a rock journalist in the United States being called slurs by friends of folks involved with the Metal Hall of Fame. Hell, I've probably been called slurs by folks who attended this ceremony in the past. We can have hundreds of white guys kick black people out of the frame to become highly-paid critics of black music, but they can only allow fewer than four black people within a 50-year span as rock critics in this country. None of these rock and metal publications in America really want black people on their staff.

The first black person to interview someone for Revolver Magazine was Eric Andre, an Emmy-winning comedian with millions of followers. Black people need to have that big of a following for metal publications to go "Come on in," and it's gross. In comparison, there are white guys with 400 followers or no social media at all being allowed to interview Deftones, Metallica, and whoever else.

Earlier this month, I launched my official website featuring a slew of past interviews, concert reviews, and various writings to show that black people CAN be rock critics, but many old white men in this industry have done everything in their power to make sure I don't exist. Fun fact: most of the bands you listen to have never been interviewed by a black person in America. Bands that have been around for decades have only spoken to white men about their music.

Eddie Trunk, who is co-hosting the ceremony this year, is someone who does not know black people, and black people who are involved with rock music don't know him or have bad stories about him. When Trunk and others like him are dead, we can begin to have diversity in rock journalism. People like Trunk only want folks looking like him as rock critics in this country. He'd probably vomit if he found out I was a rock critic.

Here's a list of things that'll be inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame before a black musician:

Donald Trump (W.A.S.P. can induct him)

Charlie Kirk

Erika Kirk

ICE

A crumpled dollar bill found in the dryer

An empty can of Monster

T-Mobile

Earplugs

Rock Band 4

The Viper Room bathroom

A paper bag

The veteran music writer who looked at me and said, "Black people can't write about rock music," after finding out I'm a rock critic? They're going to be front row for this. The commenters saying "Stay away from rock music" on a video of a black person covering The Smiths? They all bought tickets for this event. Black people are not welcome at the Metal Hall of Fame. In my eyes, this is basically going to look like a white supremacist gathering for metalheads. Not one black soul will be present unless the staff invites their Uber driver as a result of this article.

Of course, I'm going to be called "unprofessional" for writing this. A black person who's been called slurs repeatedly by folks in the industry is the "unprofessional" subject here. A black person who's had to watch publications refuse to hire black folks for decades is the "unprofessional" subject here. In their mind, I'm supposed to sit here and allow the exclusion of black people to continue in the rock industry. If a white guy posted this, the Metal Hall of Fame would post a ChatGPT-written response about how they "love the blacks." Because a black person is writing this, they're gonna get their lawyers on me and make matters extremely worse for them. Until there is actual diversity in the rock industry, I will continue calling out those afraid of it.