Dolly Parton was present at this weekend’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony. Of course, considering the music she makes, this nomination has stirred controversy. Initially, Dolly Parton also wanted to step back because she’d never made a rock album before, thinking she didn’t earn it. But for some reason, she seems to have changed her mind. The musician, who took the stage with the rock song she wrote specially for the ceremony, talked about this changing decision in the red carpet interview.
“I had to,” she said to the interviewer, who said he assumed she came around the idea of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I said if they put me in, I would accept it gracefully. And I will. And I’m very honored and proud to be here with all these great stars. I just thought, well, I’m not equal to them. When you say Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I just know that ain’t true.” When Duran Duran’s John Taylor intervened and said, ‘Darling, you are,’ she thanked him and continued, “Anyway, I’m proud to be here.”
After she changed her mind and decided to participate in the event, the country icon was inducted during the ceremony in Los Angeles on November 5. In her acceptance speech, she revealed her intention to release a rock album and celebrated her newly granted rock star status by saying, ‘I’m a rock star now!’
She concluded her acceptance speech by debuting the song ‘Rockin’,’ which she wrote specially for this event. She then went to change and returned with a leather outfit, chains, and an electric guitar in her hands, and the performance began. After this performance, many rockers, including Simon LeBon, Dave Stewart, and Rob Halford, joined the musician and accompanied her as she sang ‘Jolene.’
When her nomination was first announced, some names like rock queen Joan Jett said that she totally earned it. On the other side, Dee Snider and some others said she was amazing but not rock and roll. There were also names like Rob Halford, who noted that the nature of this ceremony had now changed. He stated that her nomination had fitted well with the current state of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because, over time, it lost its origins and became just the Music Hall of Fame.
Although there are controversial ideas about that nomination, including the ideas of Dolly Parton herself, at the end of the day, the country icon seemed very proud of this new status. We will all see if she will make the rock album she stated in her speech. Maybe her leaving the stage and changing her outfit was a symbolic harbinger of that.
