Legendary studio musician Carol Kaye has lengthy been identified for not struggling fools gladly. We could possibly add the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame to the record of individuals she considers fools, judging from her announcement that she will probably be boycotting her induction into the Corridor this fall, resulting from her objections to language used to characterize her illustrious historical past.

Particularly, Kaye has by no means made a secret of how a lot she hates the “Wrecking Crew” moniker that has lengthy been affectionately utilized to the free confluence of studio musicians that performed on scores of the best hits of the Nineteen Sixties. The truth that there was a preferred documentary referred to as “The Wrecking Crew” in 2008 that introduced many of those musicians (together with herself) additional into the general public eye solely served to intensify her antipathy towards the identify.

“Individuals have been asking: NO I gained’t be there,” Kaye, 90, wrote in a Fb put up. “I’m declining the RRHOF awards present (and Denny Tedesco course of)” — a reference to the director of the 2008 documentary — “turning it down as a result of it wasn’t one thing that displays the work that Studio Musicians do and did within the golden period of the Nineteen Sixties Recording Hits.”

Not every part about her Fb assertion is straight away clear to these with no earlier understanding of a number of the beefs Kaye has raised earlier than. However her aversion to any language referring to “the Wrecking Crew” is crystal-clear:

“I used to be by no means a ‘wrecker’ in any respect,” she writes. “That’s a horrible insulting identify.”

After all, Kaye turning down the invitation to attend and be personally honored is not going to stand in the way in which of her being inducted anyway, in absentia. In 2022, when Dolly Parton tried to derail her personal induction, the Rock Corridor made it clear she’d be honored with or with out her private approval, earlier than she got here round. Another extra rebellious rockers have rebuffed the dignity, like Johnny Rotten, but stay official Corridor of Famers nonetheless.

Kaye’s declaration that she plans to go on being personally honored in October didn’t come as a complete shock to anybody retaining monitor of her social feed. In April, when she was first introduced as one of many Rock Corridor’s 2025 inductees, she instantly revealed combined emotions. ““I admire so extremely all the good issues you will have mentioned right here, and admire the great loyalty!” she wrote in a message to followers. However, she added then, “Please know our solely identify was Studio Musicians, not the identify a drummer made up for his personal quest for fame.” (The drummer in query could be the late Hal Blaine, who got here up with the Wrecking Crew nickname and sometimes comes up for scorn in her writings.)

So far as a visit to Cleveland went, she was “unsure if I can put up with their ‘wrecker’ ID to go to it,” she mentioned in April. She additionally instructed on the time that well being might stand in her method: “Am not feeling as much as a lot.”

Kaye additionally seems to be objecting to being singled out for an honor other than the larger collective that she prefers to solely be referred to as “Studio Musicians.”

“You’re all the time a part of a TEAM, not a solo artist in any respect,” she writes. “There have been all the time 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Native 47 Hollywood) working within the busy Nineteen Sixties, and referred to as that ONLY (s)ince Nineteen Thirties. … I refuse to be a part of a course of that’s one thing else reasonably than what I imagine in, for others’ profit and never reflecting on the reality — all of us loved working with EACH OTHER.”

She provides within the remark thread, “There’s extra to it than meets the attention, simply so .”

This isn’t the primary time Kaye has taken one thing meant as a praise as in the end patronizing, if not demeaning. In 2020, she made headlines for slamming the TV collection “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for introducing a personality loosely based mostly on her. In an interview with the New York Submit, Kaye mentioned, “Lots of people are saying, ‘That have to be you. I adore it!’ However I’m not a cartoon — and my life will not be a joke. No one contacted me. I didn’t know a factor about it. I believed that was fairly dangerous — type of like slander. … Don’t get me improper, I’ve a humorousness … however I’m an expert. This is sort of a putdown to me.”

If Kaye could be a little tough across the edges in deflecting would-be homages, that won’t put any dents in her repute as one of many nice studio musicians of all time — a legacy that got here up once more within the wake of the demise of Brian Wilson, who used her on “Pet Sounds” and plenty of different basic Seashore Boys data, together with “California Ladies,” “Good Vibrations” and “Heroes and Villains.”

Kaye is without doubt one of the most acknowledged studio musicians of all time, partly by advantage of getting been a pioneering girl in an completely boys’ membership, however largely as a result of she performed unforgettable elements on an inordinate quantity of the best data of all time.

She was a part of the studio groups assembled by Motown, Phil Spector and Quincy Jones. She contributed to basic cuts by Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher (“The Beat Goes On”), Simon & Garfunkel, the Monkees, Glen Campbell (“Wichita Lineman”), Barbra Streisand (“The Manner We Have been”), Elvis Presley, Joe Cocker (“Feelin’ Alright”) and Ray Charles. She appeared on TV themes together with “Mission Inconceivable,” “Hawaii 5-O” and “The Brady Bunch.”

Kaye used her message Wednesday to relay a fast abstract of how she got here to specialise in taking part in bass, regardless of having first been a jazz guitarist. “Simply so , as a working Jazz musician (soloing jazz guitar work) within the Nineteen Fifties working since 1949, I used to be by accident requested to document data by producer Bumps Blackwell in 1957, bought into recording good music, w/ Sam Cooke, different artists after which by accident positioned on Fender Precision Bass mid 1963 when somebody didn’t present…….I by no means performed bass in my life however being an skilled recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass gamers employed to play ‘dum-de-dum’ on document dates, wasn’t getting it…..it was straightforward for me to invent good bass traces…..as a Jazz musician, you invent each observe you play……and so they used lots of Jazz musicians (and former big-band skilled musicians on all these rock and pop dates too).”