2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
by Greg Call
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame party happened a couple of nights ago. I watched much of it online, and it was about what you’d expect. Some pretty meager live performance (looking at you, Velvet Revolver and Sammy Hagar), some too-long speeches (that’s you, Eddie Vedder), and some truly great moments (REM and Patti Smith doing “I Wanna Be Your Dog;” Keith Richards playing with the Ronettes). It wrapped up with everyone on stage singing Patti Smith’s “People Have the Power.” To help all of you out in kb-land feel a part of this transcendent cultural moment, we’ve put songs from each of the inductees in to the radio.blog. For those that want to know what Patti Smith is saying in her “Babelogue” that precedes “Rock and Roll Nigger” (which she performed live the other night), it’s posted below:
“I haven’t f***** much with the past, but I’ve f***** plenty with the future. Over the skin of silk are scars from the splinters of stations and walls I’ve caressed. A stage is like each bolt of wood, like a log of Helen, is my pleasure. I would measure the success of a night by the way by the way by the amount of piss and seed I could exude over the columns that nestled the P.A. Some nights I’d surprise everybody by skipping off with a skirt of green net sewed over with flat metallic circles which dazzled and flashed. The lights were violet and white. I had an ornamental veil, but I couldn’t bear to use it. When my hair was cropped, I craved covering, but now my hair itself is a veil, and the scalp inside is a scalp of a crazy and sleepy Comanche lies beneath this netting of the skin. I wake up. I am lying peacefully I am lying peacefully and my knees are open to the sun. I desire him, and he is absolutely ready to seize me. In heart I am a Moslem; in heart I am an American; in heart I am Moslem, in heart I’m an American artist, and I have no guilt. I seek pleasure. I seek the nerves under your skin. The narrow archway; the layers; the scroll of ancient lettuce. We worship the flaw, the belly, the belly, the mole on the belly of an exquisite whore. He spared the child and spoiled the rod. I have not sold myself to God.”
Posted on March 14, 2007, in Music and tagged Awards, By Greg Call. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
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The fact that R.E.M. is in while Link Wray is not is one of many reasons why I don’t pay attention to such stuff.
Link Wray’s videos sucked, that’s why.
I found it ridiculous that Eddie and Alex Van Halen weren’t there.
Would I be right in assuming that the R&RHOF exists simply to give Cleveland a reason to exist?
I’d comment on this post, but I checked into rehab today.
Re #3,
If Cleveland didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have such cinematic masterpieces such as “Major League 2″ and “Howard the Duck”. The hall of fame is a fantastic waste of money, the people are really nice though.
I had a scroll of ancient lettuce once. Not too bad when drenched in Ranch dressing.
Cleveland’s a cool town. The fact that the R&R Hall of Fame blows doesn’t change this.
WM: lol.
Brian, what’s cool about Cleveland? The 12 hours I spent there were anything but pleasant. But it was all in a scary, seedy hotel just off the freeway.
Brian, what’s cool about Cleveland?
Lots of cool old buildings and little ethnic neighborhoods with their own unique identities, which aren’t so easy to find anymore. Great Lakes Brewery. The West Side Market. My Mind’s Eye Records in Lakewood. The Beachland Ballroom.
That does sound *way* cooler than naked drunk people passed out next to toilets on a balcony, and a blind guy in his underwear asking for a light.
Or maybe not.
That does sound *way* cooler than naked drunk people passed out next to toilets on a balcony, and a blind guy in his underwear asking for a light.
Yeah, that’s gonna suck pretty much anywhere, regardless of locale.
The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame makes me feel old.