The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony should be a time when we here at Notinhalloffame.com look forward to annually. It is, but we are site for debate, we far more enjoy the day when they make the decisions of who got in (so we can tell them why they are wrong).
Regardless of our motives, this is an evening to celebrate the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, though yes…forgive us if a few snide comments emerge.
As per tradition, Jann Wenner, the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and publisher of Rolling Stone opens the ceremony. Wenner for many is the Gary Bettman and Roger Goodell of pop culture halls of fame, and yes this is a shot. How he is not booed like many sports commissioners approaching the draft is a mystery to us.
The ceremony kicked off with the induction of Joan Jett, who earlier in the week made headlines when she hoped to see more women in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With the Blackhearts, Jett kicked off the festivities with “Bad Reputation” and would be joined by RRHOF Ceremony stalwart, Dave Grohl (who was inducted last year with Nirvana) to move into “Cherry Bomb”, a hit by Jett’s original band, The Runaways. Jett and the Blackhearts would be joined by Tommy James to sing “Crimson and Clover”, which also saw Miley Cyrus join in on the performance.
Cyrus would return to formally induct Joan Jett and the Blackhearts into the Hall, and while you can easily despise the choices that Cyrus may have made in her personal life (dear God woman, please stop showing up in public by just wearing pasties over your nipples) her impassioned speech showed respect for Jett’s place in the Rock Hall and added to her recent Saturday Night Live Performance on the 40th anniversary show where she killed it covering Paul Simon’s, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover”.
Jett’s acceptance speech and love of the ethos of Rock and Roll summed up what the genre is all about…so much so that I felt bad that I never championed her RRHOF induction sooner.
The somewhat controversial selection of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band is next, which featured Tom Morello and Zach Brown doing a brief but powerful set to honor the band…a huge step up from John Mayer, who was next as he was on hand to induct the late Texas blues great, Stevie Ray Vaughan. His brother, Jimmy Vaughan accepted the accolade on his behalf and would lead the tribute set to his late brother. Again, why is John Mayer there?
Fall Out Boy is out next to induct Green Day, who entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. This was a aligned choice for many “elite” rock fans, but one we here at Notinhalloffame.com predicted. Following a humorous acceptance speech, the Post Punk Rockers launched into a three song set including “American Idiot”, “When I Come Around” and “Basket Case”.
What can be argued as an “intermission” occurs when Leon Bridges arrives on stage to sing “Dedicated To The One I Love” in honor of the 5 Royales and “When A Man Loves A Woman” to acknowledge the passing of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Percy Sledge, who died earlier in the week.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Patti Smith, went up next to induct the late Lou Reed, who will receive his second RRHOF induction after being inducted with the Velvet Underground. The emotional acceptance was done by his widow, Laurie Anderson, which may have been the most touching moment of the evening.
Stevie Wonder would induct Bill Withers, who was full of levity and one-liners. Nobody seemed happier to be there than Bill. Wonder would than perform “Ain’t No Sunshine”, but stopped part way through telling the crowd that it was in the wrong key and that he “Hadn’t looked at the music”. As always, Wonder would go on to nail the song perfectly. John Legend would join in on “Use Me” and along with Withers, they would close with “Lean On Me”.
The ceremony concluded with what many (including us) felt was the most controversial inductee, Ringo Starr, who was inducted by fellow Beatle, Paul McCartney. While we were not exactly thrilled to see Starr get in as a solo artist, he did what he does better than most, and that was entertaining the crowd. His set including a cover of the Shirelles song “Boys” aided by Green Day, “It Don’t Come Easy” with Joe Walsh and “With A Little Help From My Friends” with Paul McCartney and others to cap off the evening.
While it was a great moment on stage, it did attest to the criticism that the induction was done to reunite the two surviving Beatles on stage and not necessarily for the musical merit of Ringo’s solo career.
Regardless of the reasoning, congratulations to this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class, and you can bet that we here at Notinhalloffame.com will be watching intensely to see who will get in next year!
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