Prolific Bassist Carol Kaye Turns Down Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Invite

Carol Kaye, the prolific bassist often associated with the Los Angeles session collective dubbed The Wrecking Crew, has revealed she’ll be declining an offer to attend her Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction this year.

Kaye was one of the many musicians announced as being inducted into the Hall Of Fame earlier this year, albeit in the Musical Excellence Award category as opposed to the more publicised Performer category.

Alongside producer and songwriter Thom Bell and late studio pianist Nicky Hopkins, Kaye is described by the Rock Hall as a “pioneering bassist who shaped the sound of modern music.”

“Though rarely in the spotlight, her playing powered the work of legends, from the Beach Boys and Simon and Garfunkel to the Supremes and Frank Zappa,” her bio reads, with iconic songs such as Good Vibrations featuring her low-end work.

“Among an elite stable of first-call Los Angeles session musicians, Kaye played on an estimated 10,000 recordings, making her one of the most recorded bassists in history.”

However, 90-year-old Kaye has taken to her social media to reveal she won’t be in attendance at the Los Angeles induction ceremony in November.

“People have been asking: NO I won't be there,” Kaye explained. “I am declining the RRHOF awards show (and Denny Tedesco process).....turning it down because it wasn't something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s Recording Hits.”

Notably, Kaye is to be inducted as an individual artist as opposed to a member of the wider Wrecking Crew – something else she criticises in her post.

“You are always part of a TEAM, not a solo artist at all,” she explained. “There were always 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Local 47 Hollywood) working in the busy 1960s, and called that ONLY ....since 1930s, I was never a 'wrecker' at all....that's a terrible insulting name.”

While the ‘Wrecking Crew’ name has been used in hindsight to refer to the prolific batch of session musicians who recorded hundreds of hit songs throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, it’s a divisive term.

Kaye did appear in the 2008 Denny Tedesco documentary named for the group, but is one of the many who object to the name – which was itself a somewhat perjorative moniker given to differentiate the musicians from other, more ‘polished’ session artists.

“Just so you know, as a working Jazz musician (soloing jazz guitar work) in the 1950s working since 1949, I was accidentally asked to record records by producer Bumps Blackwell in 1957, got into recording good music, w/Sam Cooke, other artists and then accidentally placed on Fender Precision Bass mid 1963 when someone didn't show,” Kaye explained of her history.

“I never played bass in my life but being an experienced recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass players hired to play ‘dum-de-dum’ on record dates, wasn't getting it.....it was easy for me to invent good bass lines.....as a Jazz musician, you invent every note you play......and they used a lot of Jazz musicians (and former big-band experienced musicians on all those rock and pop dates too).

“I refuse to be part of a process that is something else rather than what I believe in, for others' benefit and not reflecting on the truth,” she added. “We all enjoyed working with EACH OTHER.”

Notably, Kaye isn’t the first artist associated with The Wrecking Crew to receive a Rock Hall induction. Upon the Musical Excellence category’s launch in 2000 (when it was named ‘Sidemen',’), drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer were both inaugural inductees.

This year's list of inductees for the Performers category include names such as The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, Jo Cocker, and more.