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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is gearing up to celebrate its class of 2022 with the public on Nov. 19, and on Thursday (Nov. 10), a trailer for the upcoming special was released.
In the nearly two-minute clip, snippets from the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony earlier this month flash across the screen. Rock hitmakers Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, new wave chart-toppers Duran Duran, hip-hop heavyweight Eminem, synth-pop duo Eurythmics, country legend Dolly Parton, R&B hitmaker Lionel Richie and pop singer-songwriter Carly Simon are all seen accepting their prestigious honor, along with introductions from star-studded attendees. Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis also joined the Rock Hall with the “award for musical excellence.”
“Rock and roll is not a color,” Richie is seen saying in the teaser. “It’s a vibe!”
Artists are eligible for Rock Hall nomination 25 years after their first commercial recording came out. Of this class, Eminem, Duran Duran, Richie, Simon and Parton see induction after appearing on the ballot just once. This is also Eminem’s first year of eligibility; 2022 marked the second nomination for Eurythmics and Benatar.
The 2022 ceremony also marked the first time in the Hall’s 37-year history that six female acts — Benatar, Parton, Simon, Cotten, Robinson and Annie Lennox (who comprised Eurythmics with her partner Dave Stewart) — were inducted in one class.
Watch the trailer below, and be sure to catch the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, streaming November 19 on HBO Max, which you can sign up for here.
Godsmack scores its 12th No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart – and its fifth in a row – as “Surrender” lifts to the top of the Nov. 12-dated survey.
The Sully Erna-fronted band’s streak of five No. 1s dates to “Bulletproof” in 2018. The group followed with “When Legends Rise” (2018), “Under Your Scars” (2019) and “Unforgettable” (2020) prior to its latest leader.
Godsmack breaks out of a three-way tie for the sixth-most No. 1s in the tally’s 41-year history. Shinedown leads all acts with 18.
Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay18, Shinedown17, Three Days Grace13, Five Finger Death Punch13, Van Halen12, Godsmack11, Disturbed11, Foo Fighters10, Metallica10, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)10, Volbeat
Godsmack first appeared on Mainstream Rock Airplay with “Whatever,” which reached No. 7 in 1999. The band achieved its first No. 1 with “Awake” in 2001.
Concurrently, “Surrender” leaps 11-5 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3.3 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. “Surrender” ties the band’s highest rank on the list, which began in 2009, alongside “Love-Hate-Sex-Pain” in 2010 and “Unforgettable” in 2020.
“Surrender” also pushes 13-11 on the multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 484,000 official U.S. streams in the tracking week ending Nov. 3.
Lighting Up the Sky, Godsmack’s eighth studio album, is expected in February 2023. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s When Legends Rise, which debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart that May and has earned 650,000 equivalent album units to date.
Dan McCafferty, original lead singer for Scottish hard rockers Nazareth, has died at age 76. The vocalist’s passing was announced by founding bassist/backing vocalist Pete Agnew, who revealed in an Instagram post that McCafferty died on Tuesday afternoon; at press time no cause of death had been announced.
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“This is the saddest announcement I ever had to make,” Agnew wrote. “Maryann and the family have lost a wonderful loving husband and father, I have lost my best friend and the world has lost one of the greatest singers who ever lived. Too upset to say anything more at this time.”
McCafferty, born on Oct. 14, 1946 in Dunfermline, Scotland was a co-founder of Nazareth, which came together in 1968 with guitarist Manny Charlton and drummer Darrell Sweet joining McCafferty and Agnew. The band released their self-titled debut in 1971, which was followed by 1972’s Exercises and 1973’s Razamanaz.
But it wasn’t until their sixth album, 1975s Hair of the Dog, that the group broke out beyond their European success, thanks to their rocked-up cover of the Everly Brothers’ 1960 song “Love Hurts.” The showcase for McCafferty’s muscular vocals rose to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hair of the Dog also marked the band’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200 charts, where it rose to No. 17 in March 1976, according to data provided by Luminate.
Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” was the highest-charting version of the tune — also famously covered by Cher as the title track of her 1991 album of the same name — and it has become a go-to power ballad in dozens of movies, including Wayne’s World, This is Spinal Tap, Dazed and Confused, Rock Star, Empire Records, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and many more.
McCafferty fronted the band until his retirement from touring in 2013 due to unspecified health issues and appeared on 23 studio albums through 2014’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Telephone; he was replaced by Linton Osborne in 2014, who in turn was swapped out for current singer Carl Sentance. McCafferty also released a pair of solo albums during his time with the group, a self-titled 1975 collection and 1987’s Into the Ring, as well as his final solo effort, 2019’s Last Testament.
See Agnew’s tribute and watch a live version of “Love Hurts” below.
Greta Van Fleet postponed four more shows on their Dreams in Gold U.S. tour on Tuesday (Nov. 8) as singer Josh Kiszka continues to recover from a ruptured eardrum. After playing at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night, the band alerted fans that upcoming gigs in El Paso, Texas (Nov. 8), Tucson, Arizona (Nov. 9) and Anaheim (Nov. 11) and Sacramento, California (Nov. 12) have been postponed.
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“I just wanted to express how beautiful and how awe-inspiring these couple of shows have really been, truly. Also, unfortunately, they’ve been rather painful,” he said in a video message to fans announcing the postponements. “The last time I spoke with you, I had asked for your understanding; I was dealing with a ruptured eardrum. Unfortunately, while the eardrum continues to heal, it also has continued to cause me great deal of physical pain, which has made it very difficult to perform.”
Kiszka said he’d been fighting through the pain over the past week and trying to “push through” for each show, but he’d reached the point where, “I think I need a period of time for more healing. Unfortunately, that means rescheduling the shows for the rest of this month, which kills me to do this, especially on such a short notice. I’m truly sorry to everyone in El Paso, Tucson, Anaheim and Sacramento. This year has been an extremely humbling experience. I can’t begin to thank all of you enough for your seemingly endless support and understanding.”
Kiszka said the four postponements were a “truly disheartening setback.”
This is the second string of dates GVF have had to postpone due to the injury suffered by Kiszka at an Oct. 8 show in Bangor, Maine. At the time the singer said he’d been experiencing a “situation” in his left ear that’s “caused plenty of infections, tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and difficulty hearing.” At that time, the band postponed a series of shows due to the ear issue, pushing back gigs in Hollywood, Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida, as well as Raleigh, N.C. and Greenville, S.C.
The group said they will share the new date as soon as they are available; existing tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled gigs, with any refunds available at point of purchase. The band’s next scheduled tour date is Dec. 9 at the Mark G Etess Arena in Atlantic City, NJ.
Check out Kiszka’s message to fans below.
The 1975 frontman Matty Healy brought out an unusual snack while onstage at the band’s New York show: raw meat. The British singer pulled out a slab of red meat while performing at Madison Square Garden, causing a major spectacle.
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A shirtless Healy devoured the meat before getting on his knees and crawling across the stage.
The spectacle was not new for fans of The 1975, who are used to Healy’s onstage antics. Even Healy’s mother, actress Denise Welch, tweeted that she witnessed his bizarre behavior as well. “I saw it too,” she wrote with three cry-laughing emojis in response to a journalist who tweeted: “There is no way I could possibly explain to my 18-year-old self that I just watched Matty Healy grope himself onstage and eat a raw steak before crawling into a television.”
It wasn’t just viewers in New York that got to see the act: The concert was broadcast on Twitch as a part of an Amazon Music UK event.
The band is currently on tour after releasing its fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, last month. The Madison Square Garden show is just the tour’s third stop since beginning Nov. 3 in Connecticut. The North American leg of the band’s tour will end in Pittsburgh on Dec. 17.
Watch a safe-for-work version of the video below:
Joe Walsh says the hardest thing about putting together his VetsAid benefits for the past six years has been “the ask.”
“I had to ask other artists if they would considering coming and participating and I’d never had to do that before, and I was very uncomfortable about it,” Walsh tells Billboard via Zoom. “I didn’t know if it would work.” It clearly has, but it turned out Walsh didn’t even have to invite one of the biggest names, Dave Grohl, to play at this year’s event, taking place Nov. 13 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
“I hesitated to ask him, but it was his idea,” says Walsh — who played both of Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins benefit concerts with his band James Gang, which is also on the VetsAid bill. “He said, ‘I’m gonna come’ and I said, ‘What are you gonna do?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, but I’m coming.’”
Grohl is billed as a special guest on the lineup, which also includes Nine Inch Nails, the Black Keys and the Breeders, with comedian/actor Drew Carey hosting. Walsh says Grohl “can do anything he wants. He’s gonna play a couple James Gang songs. I’m sure he’ll play ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ with me, probably help sing it.” Grohl performed “Funk #49” with James Gang at both of the Hawkins tribute concerts.
Walsh — whose father was a military flight instructor who died while on active duty in Okinawa, Japan, when Walsh was just 20 months old — founded VetsAid in 2017 to raise funds and awareness for the needs of veterans and their families, distributing funds to grassroots organizations in the communities where the concerts are held and beyond. VetsAid, in partnership with the Combined Arms Institute, has so far distributed more than $2 million in grants from the benefits and other fundraising efforts.
The acts playing this year’s VetsAid show all hail from Ohio; Walsh, though born in Kansas, moved to the state as a youth and attended Kent State University, where he formed his band the Measles. He joined the James Gang during late 1967, scoring Billboard Hot 100 hits “Walk Away” and “Funk #49” before leaving the band in late 1971.
“It’s gonna be all Ohio bands,” Walsh notes, “and there’s a great history of music that came out of Ohio. I’m grateful that I was in Ohio in a band that could play downtown (in Cleveland) and there were 11,000 students on campus that came downtown and supported us. That’s how I put in my 10,000 hours. Ohio has always been that way. There’s places to play and a lot of support. It’s a great place for musicians to work at their craft.” As for other possible collaborations, Walsh adds that “knowing musicians from Ohio, I don’t know who’s gonna be playing with who, and I can’t wait for that soup to get stirred.”
There were early reports that VetsAid would be a final gig for the James Gang, which also includes founding drummer Jimmy Fox and bassist Dale Peters. But Walsh says that may not be the case. “Glenn Frey (his late bandmate in Eagles) used to say never say never, so I’m not,” Walsh explains. “We played the concerts for Taylor Hawkins and it worked really good; we got in front of an audience and we were able to do what we used to do. I haven’t played loud on 11 in a long time; I play in a vocal group, so I have small amps. It’s different to turn it up and go for it, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until we started cookin’ with the James Gang. I can’t wait to play again.”
At both of the Hawkins concerts — Sept. 3 in London and Sept. 27 in Los Angeles — James Gang performed “Walk Away” and “The Bomber” suite as well as “Funk #49.” “What got me was how much love there is in the world for Taylor, and how much Taylor would have loved to be at VetsAid,” recalls Walsh, who’s also contributing to an album celebrating original James Gang member Glenn Schwartz, which is being curated by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. “It was a pilgrimage of musicians. The green room was kinda like the Star Wars bar, and we all got a chance to bond, which we don’t get to do anymore in the digital age. It was profound backstage, and the amount of love that came off the stage and back from the audience was, yeah, profound.”
For those not in Columbus, VetsAid will be livestreamed via veeps.com, with tickets on sale via vetsaid.veeps.com. Net proceeds will go to the charity, while Fandiem and Bandsintown are also participating in helping to raise additional money. This year’s grant recipients include Paralyzed Veterans of America — Buckeye Chapter, Hire Heroes USA, the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, the Resurrecting Lives Foundation, Back the Heroes Rumble and more. Updates and other information can be found at vetsaid.org.
Like a lot of people who said they were headed for the border over the past six tumultuous years in the country, Ozzy Osbourne swore his days in the U.S. were numbered. As recently as early September, the metal icon seemed poised to bounce back to his native England after it was announced that the BBC had green-lit a revival of the beloved Osbournes series starring the first family of metal.
The announcement came after Ozzy’s statement a month earlier that he was “fed up” with America and that his family was headed back to England because of the relentless string of mass shootings in the U.S. “Everything’s f—ing ridiculous there. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings,” Osbourne said in a an interview with The Observer.
But in a new cover story for Consequence of Sound, Ozzy said after decades of living in Los Angeles he’s on the fence about making the move permanent. “I’m getting a bit of flak from people,” Ozzy said about the reaction to news of the planned pack-up that will set the stage for the BBC reality series Home to Roost. “To be honest with you, if I had my way, I’d stay in America. I’m American now.”
Osbourne gave a bit of context for the decision, saying wife/manager Sharon Osbourne’s booting from the daytime TV chat program The Talk was one of the reasons the couple no longer felt like this was the safest place for them anymore.
“When my wife got called a racist on [The Talk], she is absolutely not a racist,” Ozzy said of Sharon’s March 2021 booting from the syndicated show after 11 seasons over her defense of British chatter Piers Morgan, who had mad disparaging comments regarding Meghan Markle. “Her friend is Piers Morgan… She didn’t say, ‘I agree with him.’ She just respected his ability to have freedom of speech,” Ozzy explained. “That’s all that she said. And she got a lot of flak from that, so we actually had to have f–king armed guards and all that.”
Sharon Osbourne also said safety in L.A. was an impetus for them to pack up the gargoyles and split. “When I first came here, I thought I was in heaven. In the ’70s, if you loved music, this was the place to be,” she said. “It’s not that hub anymore. It’s not exciting anymore. It hasn’t gone sideways, it’s gone down. It’s not a fun place to live. It’s dangerous here. Every big city’s got crime, but I don’t feel safe here. Neither does Ozzy.”
To be clear, though, Ozzy said he’d still rather stay put. “To be honest with you, I don’t want to go back [to England],” he told CoS. “F–k that.”
According to the BBC, producers expect to film 10 30-minute episodes for BBC One and iPlayer of Home to Roost, which will find the clan — Ozzy and Sharon, son Jack and daughter Kelly — living their new life at their 350-acre Welders House estate in Buckinghamshire. Producers promised to chronicle everything from Sharon’s recent 70th birthday party to daughter Kelly’s soon-to-be-born baby, Ozzy’s upcoming tour to the big move itself.
Nandi Bushell picked the perfect time to pay tribute to a rap god. In fact, on the eve of Eminem getting formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the 12-year-old British drummer phenom tipped her hat the only way she knows how: by ripping through a killer cover of Slim Shady’s 2013 anthem “Rap God” just hours before Marshall Mathers joined the ranks of rock royalty.
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“Guess who’s back? My first new cover in almost 6 months! #rapgod by @eminem!,” Bushell tweeted, noting that her stick-spinning, booming version was inspired by HAL, the drummer for Japanese rockers CVLTE. But there was even better news. After years of expertly covering other people’s songs — and picking up new pals like Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl in the process — Nandi said she’s got big things in store.
“I am still working on my original songs. Coming soon!,” she added. “I can’t wait for you to hear them. Working on my speed and consistency.”
In the video, a smiling Bushell bounces her sticks off the floor, hits a pummeling double-kick drum and blasts out double-time beats to go along with the track of Em’s verbal blitzkrieg.
Longtime friend and collaborator Dr. Dre inducted Eminem on Saturday night, recalling how just about nearly everyone tried to discourage him from working with the then-unknown rapper, saying no one believed or saw the vision. “I knew that his gifts were undeniable,” Dre said during his speech. “Each of us was what the other one needed — and I was willing to bet my entire career on it.”
Em took his place this weekend alongside a 2022 Hall of Fame class that also included Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon.
In September, Spin spoke to Bushell about her upcoming debut EP, Into the Abyss, which will feature her first collection of original songs after years of posting viral cover videos and jamming with the Foos on “Learning to Fly” at the London Taylor Hawkins tribute concert earlier in the month. She’s already released the first single from the five-song effort, “The Shadows,” as well as “Forsaken,” which was inspired by a song she was invited to sing on by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello to help Afghan girls and young women at a school learn to play guitar under the repressive Taliban government.
Bushell said her originals are inspired by everyone from Billie Eilish to Slipknot and Twenty One Pilots. “I also wrote everything and I played everything,” she said.
Check out Bushell’s cover below.
Mimi Parker, the vocalist and drummer of rock band Low, died on Saturday (Nov. 5) following a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 55.
The Duluth, Minn.-based group, which also includes Parker’s husband and bandmate Alan Sparkhawk, confirmed the sad news through its official Twitter account on Sunday.
“Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but she passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours,” Low tweeted in a statement. “Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.”
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Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but She passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.— LOW (@lowtheband) November 6, 2022
In recent weeks, Low announced the cancellation of upcoming concert dates in the United Kingdom and Europe while Parker continued treatments for her cancer. She was diagnosed with the disease in December 2020.
“There have been difficult days, but your love has sustained us and will continue to lift us through this time,” Sparkhawk wrote in an Instagram post on Oct. 7. “With tears, we say thank you and hope to see you soon.”
Parker was born and raised in Minnesota, and her mother was an aspiring country singer, the vocalist and drummer previously told Chickfactor. Parker first played drums in her high school marching band, and began dating her future husband Sparkhawk during junior high school, according to NPR.
Sparkhawk and Parker, both practicing Mormons, formed Low in 1993 with original bassist John Nichols. The band, which featured other rotating members throughout the years, would later become a standout name in the “slowcore” rock sub-genre. Low’s 1994 debut album, I Could Live in Hope, received critical acclaim, and the act went went on to release 13 albums during its nearly 30-year career.
Parker is survived by her husband, Sparhawk, and their two children, Hollis and Cyrus.
The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony brought a handful of legends to Los Angeles on Saturday night (Nov. 5) to commemorate and celebrate one another. And as John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, revealed, L.A. will now join Cleveland and New York as a regular home for the annual honors.
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The 2022 class included Dolly Parton, Eminem, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon. Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis also joined the Rock Hall with the “award for musical excellence.”
Yet they were far from the only stars in the room: attendees included Dave Grohl, Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, Ed Sheeran and Bruce Springsteen (whose longtime manager, Jon Landau, is stepping down as chairman of the Rock Hall, which he co-founded).
Also being honored: Elizabeth Cotton, who rose to prominence for playing the guitar both upside down and left handed; Sylvia Robinson, singer, producer and co-founder of Sugar Hill Records; singer and activist Harry Belafonte; legendary producer and executive Jimmy Iovine; and famed entertainment attorney Allen Grubman.
Though long — clocking in at five-and-a-half hours — the unrushed evening allowed for a surplus of special moments, from superstar jams to the recounting of beautiful memories from music’s greatest talents.
Ahead of the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony airing Nov. 19 on HBO, here are the highlights.
Dolly Parton Live Debuted New Music
“If I’m gonna be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I’m gonna have to earn it!” exclaimed Dolly Parton. Prior to performing, she spoke about how she had initially declined the honor, saying at the time she didn’t feel worthy enough. “Back when they tried to put me in, I didn’t think I had done enough, but I get it’s a little bit more than that now,” she said in her speech.
Yet, the country icon still felt she had something to prove, and as such live-debuted a brand new song off her upcoming rock album (How many of you rockers are gonna help me out?” she asked the room, surveying the audience). Rocking a black latex jumpsuit with large colored jewels and a matching guitar — on which she shred through a solo — Parton performed the new track with Zac Brown on guitar and backing vocals. “I still got rock and roll down in my country soul,” she sang.
Her set included P!nk and Brandi Carlile duetting on “Coat of Many Colors,” Sheryl Crow and Zac Brown Band singing “9 to 5” and a grand finale featuring every inductee (minus Eminem, naturally) for a whopping rendition of “Jolene.”
Parton put it best: “We’ve got a star studded stage up here, don’t we?“
Eminem Ripped Through a Hits-Filled Medley
During Dr. Dre’s induction speech for his longtime friend and collaborator Eminem, the super producer recalled their first session. The rising rapper came to Dre’s home studio, listened to an unfinished track and immediately got on the mic to say: “Hi, my name is…” thus creating a soon-to-be mega hit.
Eminem fittingly opened his set with the track, before even more appropriately showing off his hyper-speed skills with “Rap God.” And it just kept getting better. Steven Tyler made a surprise appearance for “Dream On,” which Em samples on “Sing for the Moment,” only to be replaced by another guest star, Ed Sheeran. The pop icon, with his acoustic guitar in hand, helped deliver an impassioned “Stan.” The medley then moved into “Forever” before closing out with “Not Afraid.”
For a rapper whose piercing eyes and vicious verses could kill, his speech — for which he put on his glasses — was less of an attack and more of a thank you note, especially to Dr. Dre. Or, as Em called him, “the man who saved my life.”
Duran Duran Shared Some Heavy News
While Duran Duran was arguably met with the evening’s loudest cheers, not every moment the band spent on stage was a celebratory one. Following an induction from Robert Downey Jr., in which he revealed the band played a short set at his 50th birthday party (seven years ago) and shared the secret to longevity — “consistent quality over time, plus headbands” — frontman Simon Le Bon sang a powerful though accidental a cappella opening to “Girls On Film.” Despite the band’s sound not working, he remained in good spirits, joking, “We just had to prove to you that we weren’t lip syncing.”
The band then played “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Ordinary World,” complete with an orchestra, before delivering a moving — and unexpectedly sad — speech. Simon began by reading a letter from former member Andy Taylor, in which he explained his absence and revealed he has stage four prostate cancer.
“I’m truly sorry and massively disappointed I couldn’t make it. Let there be no doubt I was stoked about the whole thing, even bought a new guitar with the essential whammy!” the letter read. “I often doubted the day would come. I’m sure as hell glad I’m around to see the day.”
Lionel Richie Had a Belt-Off With Dave Grohl
The story Lenny Kravitz told while inducting Lionel Richie of how, 25 years ago, his grandfather interrupted their first jam session was hard to top. But halfway through Richie’s beautifully arched set — which opened with “Hello” and closed with a fun-filled dance along to “All Night Long” — he delivered a show-stopping moment.
During “Easy,” Dave Grohl made a surprise appearance — wearing a velvet blazer perhaps inspired by the one Richie himself was wearing — to offer support as lead guitarist. It wasn’t his shredding that stole the show, but rather the growling belt-off that ensued between the two after Richie held the mic to Grohl. And though without context it may have seemed like a heated debate over who is lower maintenance, the conviction on both ends is what sold the spontaneity of it.
“We are celebrating one of the funniest jokes in my life,” said Richie, “because all of the songs I wrote and recorded, so many people told me, ‘These are the songs that will destroy your career.’”
Olivia Rodrigo and Sara Bareilles’ Embodied Carly Simon
Sara Bareilles pulled double duty, both inducting and performing on behalf of Carly Simon, who was unable to attend the ceremony. Bareilles beautifully belted the Grammy-awarded “Nobody Does It Better” before welcoming another performer to the stage: Olivia Rodrigo.
Rodrigo performed the classic Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “You’re So Vain,” which was called “the biggest hit that has kept everyone guessing for 50 years” in Simon’s celebratory montage. And yet, Rodrigo sang with a convincing clarity, like she knew exactly who was at fault. In the same video package, Taylor Swift praised “Vain” for being “the best way anyone has addressed a breakup.”
As Simon wrote in a letter, read by Bareilles: “I am humbled, shocked, proud, overachieved, underqualified and singularity grateful.”
Judas Priest Brought The Pyro
The only (light) pyro of the evening came courtesy of none other than metal rockers Judas Priest. As Alice Cooper said in his induction speech, “I don’t want to hear rock is dead, because it isn’t,” he teed up the band nicely to demonstrate why it’s very alive and well. “Judas Priest,” he continued,” are truly the definitive metal band. Heavy metal didn’t have a look until Judas Priest.”
During lively performances of “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight,” sparks served as an electrified backdrop to the band’s iconic twin guitar sound. “People underestimate just how popular heavy metal is,” Glenn Tipton said. To which Richie Faulkner admitted, “You rebel against the establishment until you realize you are the establishment… and here we are, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame… I’m honored and proud to be a part of it.”
Rob Halford delivered a similarly touching take on metal and this moment, though opened with more of a zinger: “I’m the gay guy in the band,” he said with a laugh. “The heavy metal community is all inclusive, everybody’s welcome… We’re all about the power and the emotion and the dedication and the love.”
Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo Proofed Love Can Be Long Lasting
Sheryl Crow inducted the duo of Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo by holding up the couple’s 1980 Rolling Stone cover. “They were hot!” she exclaimed, noting she was 18 years old when that issue came out. A clear longtime and avid fan, Crow insisted, “They should have been inducted many years ago… Finally, they get what they long deserve.”
To celebrate, the pair performed a roaring set that included “All Fired Up,” “Love Is a Battlefield” and “Heartbreaker.” But when delivering their speech, that ferocity that vibrates through Benatar’s hits was soon replaced with tenderness. As Giraldo spoke of their beautiful and expanding family (they just welcomed an 11-day-old grandson) and called his longtime love “Patricia,” she looked on with wide-eyes as if they had only just met.
Eurythmics Shimmered in Matching Sparkling Suits
After The Edge opened his speech by praising the women of Iran, he loosely quoted Oscar Wilde, saying “the duty of the artist is to make beautiful things.” And no better act, he felt, embodied that sentiment than Eurythmics.
The two seemed intent on proving as much with a set that included a vibrant and rallying performance of “Sweet Dreams.” And when the two insisted, “Keep your head up!” it was clear this song arguably resonates now more than ever — the sign of any true classic.
When it came time for Annie to speak after the set, she was met with a thunderous standing ovation, to which she said in awe: “Oh wow.” The rest of her speech packed more punch, as she spoke about how, by nature, “We musicians are peaceful people… we spread love around the world, not hate and division. We bring people together.”
Terry Lewis Shared More Than He Ever Has Before
To honor the great Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, longtime friend and collaborator Janet Jackson rocked the same look of her 1986 Control cover art — fitting, considering how she said that album was the first time anybody had asked her what she wanted to talk about. With Terry and Jimmy, she said, “it felt like we were kids playing in a sandbox,” plus they listened. “Those stories [I shared] became the foundation of the Control album, and that album sounds fresh to this day,” she said.
Perhaps inspired by her speech — in which she also detailed the pair’s impressive resume, having worked with Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, George Michael, Usher, “my brother Michael” and so many more — Terry took the mic next. He spoke at length of his gratitude, especially for his mom, who used to yell at him and Jimmy to “turn that s–t” down whenever they would make music in the basement. “So thank you, mom, for tolerating all of that noise.”
Jimmy’s reply was simple: “That’s the most I’ve ever heard Terry talk in my whole life.”
Jimmy Iovine Passed On a Key Lesson
As Bruce Springsteen joked in his induction speech for Jimmy Iovine, referencing their first few encounters when Iovine was working in a studio, “[Jimmy] came with the furniture.” As it turned out, being embedded into the studio proved unbelievably beneficial when, one day, Springsteen’s manager came in asking Iovine if he could producer. “Jon [Landau] looked at me and said, ‘Can you do this?’ I’d like to thank myself for having the balls to say, ‘YES.’”
Turns out, he could do it — thanks to those who had taught him a thing or two. And now, the idea of passing it on informs Iovine’s every day life. “Technically I retired five years ago… not,” he jokes. “Thank the people who mentored you and try to be a mentor for somebody else whenever you can, because the truth is, no one gets to a moment like this alone.”