Authors
Alyxandra Vesey
Publication date
2022/3
Journal
The Velvet Light Trap
Issue
89
Pages
73-85
Publisher
University of Texas Press
Description
Female musicians account for almost 8 percent of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s inductees. The Rock Hall, however, often invites rock widows to accept their late husbands’ awards. As a result, rock widows’ sustained presence at Rock Hall induction ceremonies illustrates the hall’s bias against women’s contributions to rock history. This article uses textual and discourse analysis to examine how HBO generated programming out of rock widow Courtney Love’s fraught history with Nirvana following the band’s 2014 induction into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. The channel broadcast the Rock Hall’s 2014 ceremony, which included Nirvana’s induction and reunited Love with her late husband’s family and band, including drummer Dave Grohl. Within a year, HBO programmed Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways and Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, two documentary …