Five Epic Moments From the Rock Hall Induction Ceremony

Whether it was boldly paving the way for an entire genre or opening the doors for equality in race and gender, rock ‘n’ roll would not be what it is today without the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The honorees joined more than six decades of music’s greatest icons at Public Hall Saturday for an epic celebration. As Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong said of the crowd, “It’s like my record collection is actually sitting in this room.” Inductees included Ringo Starr, the “5” Royales, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Green Day, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble and Bill Withers. From a misty-eyed tribute to the late Reed to the hysterical jokes of Withers to a monumental all-star jam led by Starr here are highlights from the ceremony that will air May 30 on HBO.

Joan Jett

Joan Jett Feels Accepted

So Miley Cyrus grabbed attention when she started inducting Joan Jett by saying that she wanted to have sex with her, dropped a ton of F-bombs and told a story about smoking pot in a hotel bathroom with Jett before taping Oprah together. But when the leather jacketed, striped pant-donning Jett took the stage, she received a standing ovation that sent tears streaming out of her black-lined eyes. “I was trying to not bawl because people just did not think girls could play rock ‘n’ roll,” she later said. “You know the all the nasty things that were said to us went on for years and years. … So to see that whole place standing up like that was like acceptance and it was very moving.”

Jimmie Vaughan and Double Trouble

An Electrifying Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan

“The ultimate guitar hero” is how John Mayer views the late Vaughan. While he was inducting him, he acknowledged that Vaughan saved his life by stressing the importance of staying clean from drugs and alcohol. The Texas blues guitarist got a blazing tribute with “Pride and Joy and “Texas Flood” performed by his brother Jimmie, Mayer, Gary Clark Jr. and Doyle Bramhall II replete with soaring guitar solos. Jimmie closed out the set with a send-up he wrote fro his brother, “Six Strings Down.” 

Laurie Anderson Remembers Lou Reed

“Lou, Lou, Lou” floated through the air as Laurie Anderson delivered the most emotional speech of the night about her husband who passed in 2013. While still reeling from the loss of the alternative pioneer, she took great comfort in knowing that his name lives on for an eternity through the Hall of Fame. “He’s here with his heroes Otis and Dion. He’s here with B.B. King, who he loved and admired. Aretha, who he saw so many times. His dear friend Doc Pomus.” She left the audience with a heartfelt rundown of Reed’s rules to live by: don’t be afraid of anyone, get a really good bullshit detector and be really tender.

Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder

Bill Withers Tells Spunky Jokes

The 76-year-old R&B singer-songwriter who’s been out of the spotlight for nearly 30 years showed off his sprightly charisma by going off the teleprompter and musing on random-fire topics from Yoko Ono’s hat to his adoration for Judge Judy. “I’m honored to be this year’s youngest living solo performer inductee. Who else came here with a Legend and a Wonder?” he quipped. But he wasn’t all funny business. After a 25-year hiatus from performing, Withers surprisingly took the stage to join Stevie Wonder and John Legend for a gospel-laced “Lean on Me” rendition that brought the audience to its feet.

Joe Walsh and Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr Shouts Out to Cleveland

Our city shaped Ringo Starr. Let that one sink in. “I got lucky that it’s actually in Cleveland,” said the last of the four Beatles to be inducted as a solo artist. Starr talked about listening to Alan Freed’s broadcasts from Cleveland while growing up in Liverpool, England. “That’s where we heard rock ‘n’ roll music,” he recalled. He repaid us with leading the night's best performances, all-star jams of “With a Little Help From My Friends” and “I Wanna Be Your Man”  that solidifies this class' standing amongst legends.

Photos by Jennifer Keirn

Induction highs & lows

Highlights and lowlights of the Rock Hall induction ceremony:


Highlight: Ron Wood (right), still a badass at 64, smoking at his table on the floor of Public Hall (who's going to stop him?); canoodling with his latest 30-years-younger girlfriend, Sally Humphries; and leading the Faces through a spectacular three-song set, including the raucous one-night-stand anthem "Stay With Me." (More on the Faces set here.)

Highlight: Green Day. They started the show with a ferocious pair of songs, including "Letterbomb" (fan video here), with Billie Joe Armstrong F-bombing the audience until they got on their feet. Inducting Guns N' Roses 4 1/2 hours later, Armstrong also provoked debate, asserting that Appetite For Destruction was the best debut album in rock 'n' roll history (speech text here).

Lowlight: The 5 1/2-hour marathon length of the show. The Rock Hall needs to trim its inductee classes and enforce time limits on speeches, like the Oscars, with swelling music if necessary. Less talk, more rock.


Highlight: Slash's guitar solos on three Appetite for Destruction songs, especially "Sweet Child of Mine," in a three-fifths reunion of the classic Guns N' Roses lineup.

Lowlight: Bette Midler's speech explaining Laura Nyro to a new generation was passionate, but a mess. She bombed with her line about New York in the 1970s being worse than Cleveland ever was -- a failed attempt at solidarity that came off as a burn. "The Divine Miss Bitch!" my date exclaimed.

Highlight: Sara Bareilles saving Nyro from Midler's mess with a gorgeous version of "Stoney End."

Lowlight: The red carpet was nearly bereft of star power. Most of the stars slipped through a back entrance, leaving the front-door scene-stealing to two guys dressed in homage to the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" video and George Clinton, arriving in the Euclid Beach Park rocket ship car.

Highlight: Celebrity-watching from the balcony. Bird's-eye view of Chris Rock and Kid Rock at same table with Mellencamp, Midler, and Meg Ryan (Mellencamp's date). Little Steven at the next table, Michael J. Fox near the front.


Highlight: The Freddie King induction, with his daughter Wanda ad-libbing one of the night's best speeches, confounding the teleprompter, and two ZZ Top guys tearing through King covers.

Lowlight: Kid Rock, the Roots & Co. tried, but couldn't substitute for the Beastie Boys, who didn't perform. MCA, diagnosed with cancer three years ago, did not attend. Ad-Rock and Mike D likely refused to perform without him. That's understandable, but LL Cool J's appearance on stage briefly had me dreaming of a one-time Def Jam reunion that was not to be.

Highlight turned lowlight: Chuck D and LL Cool J's dual (dueling?) induction speeches for the Beasties. Interesting insights about the Boys' role in '80s hip-hop, but they got lost in the long talk.


Highlight: Donovan. Ever the Scottish mystic, Donovan accepted induction with a poem written for the occasion. (Who is the woman, now in the grave, who stole his art?) He played his breakthrough ballad "Catch the Wind" and "Sunshine Superman" before tearing through "Season of the Witch" with John Mellencamp.

Highlight: Darlene Love singing "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" in tribute to songwriter and TV host Don Kirshner.

Lowlight: Axl Rose not showing, of course.

Highlight: Chris Rock's induction of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with an aside dismissing the Axl controversy (at 12:30): "Even if he was coming tonight, he wouldn't be by now."


Highlight: The Chili Peppers -- Flea and Anthony appropriately shirtless -- doing "By the Way" & "Give It Away." Ron Wood, Slash and George Clinton joining them for the finale, Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground."

Photos by Wanda Santos-Bray/City of Cleveland Photography

Iggy, Stooges lead 2009 class into Rock Hall

"Rock Hall silver-anniversary ceremonies lacking in 'sizzle,'" reads the blasé Plain Dealer headline this morning. And yeah, OK, plenty of no-shows diluted last night's inductions, from Peter Gabriel (for Genesis) to two Hollies to half of ABBA.

But how can you write the headline "lacking in sizzle" next to a photo of a shirtless Iggy Pop, after he and the Stooges tore through "Search and Destroy" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog"?

I refer you instead to the New York Times coverage, which includes this choice collision of the Grey Lady's style and Iggy's punk spirit:

Behind him, Mr. Pop, 62, was already unbuttoning his white dress shirt, getting ready to jump, drop to his knees, strut and twist across the stage and down into the black-tie audience.

Yes, that's Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day singing with Iggy in the photo. Here's a link to an Artisan News Service video about Iggy's induction on YouTube, with a test pattern blocking out Iggy's hands as he flipped off the crowd in triumph.

(Photo from rockhall.com)