Styx’s Dennis DeYoung Calls Out Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Says Musicians Have to Be ‘Incapacitated’ Before They’re Honored

Dennis DeYoung is airing his grievances about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

On Thursday, Nov. 13, the founding member and lead vocalist of Styx shared a message on Facebook expressing the opinion that many deserving musicians have had to wait too long to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

“It’s a shame that Bad Company had to wait so long to get in that it rendered Paul Rodgers unable to perform due to health concerns,” DeYoung, 78, wrote of the English rock supergroup. “Bollocks!! I would have liked to have seen him perform years ago to demonstrate how one of rock’s premiere singers ACTUALLY ROCKS. You know, like the name on their institution’s logo. I have said this repeatedly for decades, just change the damn name.”

Rodgers, 75, was unable to attend and perform alongside his band during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony because he had to prioritize his health after suffering two major strokes in 2016 and 2019, as well as 11 minor strokes. According to DeYoung, Rodger’s absence was just one example of the “tragic manner in which this joint operates.”

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“Making so many musicians wait until they either incapacitated or dead is shameful,” the rock legend emphasized. “Joe Cocker, Warren Zevon et al are suddenly eligible decades after their success? Explain that, what’s changed except the Hall’s inability to let go of their clear prejudices and induct them?”

“They now admit, when it’s far too late that they have erred. Have Joe, Warren and others recently become more popular? …no,” DeYoung continued. “The Hall’s initial mission statement about who qualifies was always a ruse and a joke concocted to protect their own personal choices. I’ll stop now before I need BP [blood pressure] meds. I have said this before — as someone whose band has never been considered, whatever I write ends up sounding like sour grapes.”

Cher, Cyndi Lauper, The White Stripes, Soundgarden, Outkast, were among the musicians at the induction ceremony on Nov. 8.

While Styx has not yet been inducted into the iconic Hall of Fame, the musician went on to admit that receiving the honor would “sure be nice,” echoing a sentiment he had previously expressed in a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone. 

“I want to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because we deserve to be,” DeYoung told the outlet that March. “I’m sickened by the fact that we’re not. I know that’s going to look really bad in print. There was a time the Hall was controlled and run by a certain mentality, which I respect. I do.”

“The people who raise the money and got it, those people have the right to put who they want in there,” he continued. “It’s their deal. But in recent years, too many of our peers have gotten the nod. Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the be all, end all? Of course, it isn’t. But it’s the only one.”