Better Late Than Never for Rock Hall Inductees

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Flavor Flav and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

By IAN LOVETT

Published: April 19, 2013

LOS ANGELES — When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last held its annual induction ceremony here 20 years ago, the singer and songwriter Randy Newman thought he might get his ticket into the hall. (He did not.) And the politically charged rap act Public Enemyhad already logged hits with titles like “Fight the Power” and “Burn Hollywood Burn” that promised to overthrow the established order.

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But Hollywood royalty was on hand to honor both Mr. Newman and Public Enemy here on Thursday night, as both acts were inducted into the Hall of Fame, a reflection of the huge growth in hip-hop’s popularity and influence over the last two decades and of the rapidly growing musical diversity in the hall.

“We represent the hip-hop community that also deserves recognition today,” said Chuck D., one of Public Enemy’s founders. The group is only the fourth hip-hop act to make it into the hall, but Chuck D. predicted that there would be more soon, citing other influential rappers like L L Cool J and Salt-n-Pepa. “Many of them you will see here in the next 10 years,” he said.

Musicians become eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single.

The show’s return to Los Angeles was part of a strategy to make the hall induction ceremony more accessible to the public, which has also involved holding it in larger auditoriums in recent years. In coming years it may rotate among New York, Cleveland (site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum) and Los Angeles, officials said.

In keeping with the pomp that people have come to expect at this city’s award shows, performers filed along the red carpet (sometimes with the help of an escort to fend off the shrieking fans) into the 7,100-seat Nokia Theater. There, a capacity crowd was treated to performers from different epochs and musical genres playing together onstage, a hallmark of Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

Usher did his best Michael Jackson impression as a tribute to the producer Quincy Jones, who was inducted this year. Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fightersintroduced Rush, which was inducted and performed with them onstage. Don Henley, Tom Petty and John Fogerty all played with Mr. Newman.

Aside from Public Enemy, all of the eight inductees had recorded some of their greatest successes by the 1970s, if not earlier. Heart, trailblazers for women in rock music, and the producer Lou Adler were inducted, while the queen of disco, Donna Summer, and the blues guitar legend Albert King were posthumously honored.

Mr. Newman, 69, joked about the age of many of the performers, including himself.

After being snubbed for 20 years, he said, “I did think I was going to have to die and I’d be watching from below with my relatives.” He played a song called “I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It),” about old musicians with gray hair who won’t retire “clogging the stage.”

Mr. Jones, already the recipient of 27 Grammys over the course of a career that has paired him with legends from Ray Charles to Michael Jackson, also noted how long it had taken him to get in. “I didn’t want to get into the Hall of Fame too early, so we waited a while,” he said.

As the night went on, the mood continued to lighten. Flavor Flav of Public Enemy no doubt assumed he had given the longest, most haphazard speech when he went on about his children and the clock he wears around his neck (among other subjects) until even his band mate, Chuck D., was giving him wrap-it-up signals on the stage.

“I only get to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one time in my life,” Flavor Flav said. “I’m enjoying this.”

Not to be outdone, Alex Lifeson, Rush’s singer and guitarist, then gave an acceptance speech in which he repeated “blah blah” over and over for several minutes while aggressively gesticulating, leaving the crowd in hysterics.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/arts/music/rock-hall-of-fame-embraces-randy-newman-public-enemy-and-others.html