Slouched against the lectern at the 25th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a shirtless Iggy Pop snarled, “I am the world’s forgotten boy.”
No more. After years of being named finalists to enter the hall of fame, then getting outvoted, the Stooges were finally inducted this year, in an event held at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday night and telecast on the Fuse cable channel. “After the seventh time” the Stooges were nominated, said the band’s guitarist, James Williamson, in his acceptance speech, “we were beginning to think we would have to take pride in not getting in.”
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. Introducing him, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day had described him as “the most confrontational singer we will ever see.” In his acceptance speech, Mr. Pop declared: “Roll over, Woodstock. We won.”
For the Hall of Fame, this was a year of belated admissions. Along with the Stooges, the hall’s latest performing members are the Swedish pop group ABBA, the reggae songwriter Jimmy Cliff and two English bands, Genesis and the Hollies. All but ABBA, which coalesced in the early 1970s, have careers dating back to the 1960s.
Songwriters who supplied girl groups, R&B groups andElvis Presley in the 1950s and 1960s, working in cubicles in the Brill Building and nearby 1650 Broadway, were also inducted: Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman, Otis Blackwell and the teams of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.
“From the bottom of my heart and with the greatest humility,” Ms. Weil said, “I thought you guys would never ask.” Eric Burdon and Ronnie Spector, who had hits with their songs, were on hand to perform them.
Younger performers who were nominated this year, like the influential rapper LL Cool J, will have to wait.
This was a gathering baby-boomers could recognize. “We started out in the ’60s — now we’re in our 60s,” said Terry Sylvester of the Hollies.
Genesis brought progressive-rock — a style that still divides rock purists even as its complexities filter into indie-rock — into the Hall of Fame. After Phish played Genesis’s “Watcher of the Skies,” Trey Anastasio, the guitarist and leader of Phish, praised Genesis for being “rebellious, restless and constantly striving for something more than the obvious.”
“Every musical rule and boundary was questioned and broken,” he said.
Genesis had a two-phase career: first with Peter Gabriel as lead singer, and then with Phil Collins, who started as its drummer. “This band has been in so many different guises,” Mr. Collins said. Mr. Gabriel did not attend the ceremony; he is rehearsing with an orchestra for his coming tour. “He has a very genuine, legitimate excuse,” said Genesis’ bassist, Mike Rutherford.
Phish performed Genesis’ songs, while the Hollies’ vocal harmonies in their British Invasion hits “Bus Stop” and “Carrie Anne” were filled out by two members of Maroon 5, Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael. Mr. Levine hit the high notes for “Carrie Anne,” while Pat Monahan, from the band Train, took over lead vocals for “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.”
Graham Nash, who is already a Hall of Fame member with Crosby, Stills and Nash, chided the Hollies for having big hits after he left.
Only half of ABBA was on hand for its award, the first for a Scandinavian band: Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, who named Swedish folk music, German schmaltz and John Philip Sousa among the group’s influences. Faith Hill belted out ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All,” with Mr. Andersson leading the backup band on piano.
Mr. Cliff, whose songs and acting in the movie “The Harder They Come” helped spread reggae far beyond Jamaica, is only the second reggae musician to join the hall, following Bob Marley. “This was a new music form,” Mr. Cliff said, “with a new culture.” He was inducted by Wyclef Jean, the Haitian rapper, singer and songwriter from the Fugees. “When we saw Jimmy Cliff we saw ourselves,” Mr. Jean said.
Mr. Cliff listed rockers as his inspirations, and said joining the hall was “another stepping stone to higher heights.” His voice was clear and buoyant as he sang “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross” and, with Mr. Jean, “The Harder They Come.”
Anxieties about the shrinking music business were a persistent undercurrent in the speeches. Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band, digressing on his way to introducing the Hollies, half-joked that the business was “artistically, financially and spiritually bankrupt.”
Mr. Pop warned: “It’s a big industry. If they make the right decisions it will stay a big industry.”
David Geffen, who founded Asylum, Geffen and Dreamworks Records, joined the hall’s roster of music business executives, claiming he had never dreamed of being honored. “I have no talent,” he said with a smile.
Source: The New York Times
