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It's hard to believe, but 30 years ago today Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Aretha was not inducted with the original class of inductees in 1986 — she would have to wait one more year to be inducted as the first female performer. Sadly, not that many women have been inducted since.
Since Aretha's legendary induction, only 14 female solo artists have been inducted in the Hall of Fame and 15 bands have been inducted that include women on the bill like Fleetwood Mac or Jefferson Airplane. After 31 years of inducting artists into the Hall of Fame, you'd think that they would do a better job at including more women.
And this doesn't have to do with a lack of female talent. An artist is eligible for induction once their first album has been released for 25 years. Where is Carole King's induction? The Go-Go's? Hole? Janet Jackson? Cyndi Lauper? Angel from up above Dolly Parton?! You get the point.
Below is a video of Aretha's induction into the Hall of Fame. Franklin was not there to accept her award, but Keith Richards took the stage and said some nice words about Aretha (he seemed pretty out of his mind, too) as well as Clive Davis and Aretha's brother Cecil Franklin.
So maybe for this New Year's resolution we do a better job at inducting women? Luckily, Joan Baez is getting inducted this year, but we can do more, right?!
