The Black Keys Regret Inducting Steve Miller Into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Legendary rocker Steve Miller made headlines over the last few days by criticizing the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame to which he was inducted into this past Friday. Miller said “the whole process was unpleasant,” but for The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach – who were tapped to induct Steve – “the most unpleasant part was being around him.” Auerbach spoke with Rolling Stone about the experience and didn’t have kind words about it.

Dan Auerbach revealed that Steve Miller didn’t even seem to know who he or The Black Keys were, “I guess we felt, I don’t know, we read a lot of things and we got a really uncomfortable feeling when we first met Steve. He had no idea who we were. No idea. The first thing he told us was, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’ He knew that we signed up to do this speech for him. And he made no effort to even [laughs uncomfortably] — he didn’t even figure out who we were. I don’t live in New York City. This is like three days out of my life flying from Nashville and leaving my kids at home.” Both Auerbach and Carney wound up leaving the Barclays Center, where the induction ceremony was held, during Steve Miller’s performance and didn’t return.

In retrospect, The Black Keys regretted accepting the invitation to induct Steve Miller. “Pat and I both regret it. [Long pause.] It’s unfortunate. Of course there are problems in the music industry. Of course. But we were there, unpaid, on our own free will, to come celebrate his achievements and spread the joy of rock & roll. To inspire kids to pick up guitars. To play music. And it felt like we were doing the opposite,” Auerbach told Rolling Stone.

While Steve Miller had a bad experience with Rock Hall, Auerbach’s experience was different “Everybody at the Rock Hall was great. It’s always so easy for a fucking artist to rag on a big institution. It really is. And a lot of times you have to do that and it’s necessary. But me personally, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has only ever really brought me joy since I was a teenager! I used to go there with my dad [when] they would do workshops. They’re responsible for a lot of really positive things in my life. So when they asked us to do this, as much as I wanted to do it for Steve Miller, I wanted to do it for the Rock Hall. Because it has been a form of inspiration for me. It really has. I don’t care if it sounds corny or not, but they have been. It just all felt pretty terrible.”

Head to Rolling Stone to read more from Auerbach about the Steve Miller debacle.