Heart’s Ann Wilson Says Hall of Fame Inductees Should ‘Be Gracious’

As Joan Jett gets ready to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she got a bit of advice from one of her current touring partners, Ann Wilson. The Heart singer said Jett, and other inductees, should ignore the “politics” of the organization and accept the award in the spirit with which it is intended.

“Accept the honor. It’s your peers," she said, speaking to Bismarck, N.D.’s 96.5 The Fox in an interview embedded above. "If you are bothered by the politics of it, so much that you want to make a big stink about it, then don’t take the award. But be prepared for people to not think you’re cool. They’re gonna go, ‘God, what babies.’ That’s gonna have negative repercussions [with] their fans.”

Wilson speaks from experience. Heart’s induction ceremony in 2013 saw them perform with the original lineup for the first time since 1979. “We had a little bit of a go-round with that, too,” she continued. “Because Nancy and I hadn’t played with those original guys for 30 years. All of a sudden, you know, we’ve been doing all this work for all these years and there they are, up there getting the honor. But anyway, we just decided just to put that by the wayside. That’s where we came from and let’s just be gracious […] and let the original guys who came from Seattle with us in the very beginning years have their moment in the sun, too.”

Heart and Jett begin their tour next week in Mankato, Minn., which will run through the end of March. Heart will then return to the road in May for a stretch that will take them through the summer.

That kind of tour schedule usually doesn’t give bands the opportunity to spend time on a new album. But Heart have come up with a solution. “We are writing songs and we are recording [them] off of the stage at soundcheck,” Wilson said. “Then we’re gonna take those tracks and mess with them. And we’re looking to make a new record using that method, so we can get the spark of the live performance and then we can, you know, create the song in a more controlled environment at home.”

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