Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2005

I wanted the sum-total of Mr. Sledge's acceptance speech to be "Hey, Bolton! Never gonna happen!"

I agree wholeheartedly w/ your perception of the festivities. The Pretenders did indeed rock, harder than they have in years and even the OJ's could resurrect some classic emotional connections w/ their material. The VH1 producers and directors need some schooling though, choosing to really showcase what was a really inspired set from U2 and not allow for the full flavor of Buddy Guy to "play all night." They also promo'd that Buddy was playing w/ BB and Eric for the first time in years when(see below) they had played several songs together in April of 04 in Texas; Jimmy Vaughn sat in as did that virtuoso of the pedal steel--Robert Randolph.

My most favorite Buddy Guy moment was a dozen or so years ago at Slims in SanFran, when he first got an FM transmitter for his guitar. He ended up playing out on the street w/ the crowd gathered in front(sold out show) singing to them, while those of us inside could still hear his guitar flowing seemlessly w/ his band. It was so magical.

Last night i could switch between VH1 and local PBS' s showing of Crossroad Guitar Fest--made for great moments w/ the blues and other future hall of fame performers mixing it up w/ current and a newly inducted one. It is not often you get that sort of TV synchronicity enlivening an evening with real and excellent live music.

Poor Neil gets so much flak for his physical presence; he suffers from severe epilepsy and takes serious medication for it. Then again, he isn't the most attractive rocker out there either, or as BB said--who could be better looking than Buddy Guy.

I wanted the sum-total of Mr. Sledge's acceptance speech to be "Hey, Bolton! Never gonna happen!"
LOL. Joe Queenan has the best take on Bolton I've ever seen:

For years, I'd been vaguely aware of Michael Bolton's existence, just as I'd been vaguely aware that there was an ebola virus plague in Africa. Horrible tragedies, yes, but they had nothing to do with me. All that changed when I purchased a copy of The Classics. When you work up the gumption to put a record like The Classics on your CD player, it's not much different from deliberately inoculating yourself with rabies. With his heart-on-my-sleeve appeals to every emotion no decent human being should even dream of possessing, Michael Bolton is the only person in history who has figured out a way to make "Yesterday" sound worse than the original. He's Mandy Patinkin squared. His sacrilegious version of Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home to Me" is a premeditated act of cultural ghoulism, a crime of musical genocide tantamount to a Jerry Vale rerecording of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" And having to sit there, and listen while this Kmart Joe Cocker mutilates "You Send Me" is like sitting through a performance of King Lear with Don Knotts in the title role.

I agree wholeheartedly w/ your perception of the festivities. The Pretenders did indeed rock, harder than they have in years and even the OJ's could resurrect some classic emotional connections w/ their material. The VH1 producers and directors need some schooling though, choosing to really showcase what was a really inspired set from U2 and not allow for the full flavor of Buddy Guy to "play all night."
I agree. U2's set was inspired, and I'm glad they showed a lot of it, but I definitely wanted to see more of Buddy Guy's set. VH1 does a pretty lousy job of producing those shows in general.
Poor Neil gets so much flak for his physical presence; he suffers from severe epilepsy and takes serious medication for it. Then again, he isn't the most attractive rocker out there either, or as BB said--who could be better looking than Buddy Guy.
I didn't know that his awkward movements on stage were the result of medication. Despite his appearance, I'm a big Neil Young fan. He's an amazing songwriter, and he plays with such a raw and sincere energy.

I didn't know that his awkward movements on stage were the result of medication. Despite his appearance, I'm a big Neil Young fan. He's an amazing songwriter, and he plays with such a raw and sincere energy.

I concur. His was the only performance I remember from some 9/11 tribute thing a few years back. He played Lennon's Imagine, and it was terrific.

The same is perhaps true of fellow inductee Percy Sledge, whose song When a Man Loves a Woman is one of the all time great soul songs.

Legend has it he wrote this improv style, on the spot in a club after a bad break-up. Not sure if that's true or not.

Bono, by the way, also gives great induction speeches.

Bono gave an amazing speech at the 1994 grammy's to introduce Sinatra.

I remember hearing it live, and immediately changing my assessment of Bono.

JY-
That's a great speech. The one he gave for Bob Marley was incredible. By the way, you can see a transcript of Springsteen's speech here. It's not a very good transcript. Whoever did it totally missed the reference in the second paragraph here:

A great rock band searches for the same kind of combustible force that fueled the expansion of the universe after the big bang. You want the earth to shake and spit fire. You want the sky to split apart and for God to pour out.
It's embarrassing to want so much, and to expect so much from music, except sometimes it happens -- the Sun Sessions, Highway 61, Sgt. Peppers, the Band, Robert Johnson, Exile on Main Street, Born to Run -- whoops, I meant to leave that one out (laughter) -- the Sex Pistols, Aretha Franklin, the Clash, James Brown...the proud and public enemies it takes a nation of millions to hold back. This is music meant to take on not only the powers that be, but on a good day, the universe and God himself -- if he was listening. It's man's accountability, and U2 belongs on this list.

The italicized part was a reference to the rap group Public Enemy and their album called It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. And the last line is supposed to be "It demands accountability....". But the rest of it is more accurate, and it captures some of what made it such a great speech. My two favorite passages from it:

It's in U2's great rhythm section that the band finds its sexuality and its dangerousness. Listen to "Desire," "She Moves in Mysterious Ways," [sic] the pulse of "With or Without You." Together Larry and Adam create the element that suggests the ecstatic possibilities of that other kingdom -- the one below the earth and below the belt -- that no great rock band can lay claim to the title without.

And this about Bono:

His voice, big-hearted and open, thoroughly decent no matter how hard he tries. Now he's a great frontman. Against the odds, he is not your mom's standard skinny, ex-junkie archetype. He has the physique of a rugby player...well, an ex-rugby player. Shaman, shyster, one of the greatest and most endearingly naked messianic complexes in rock and roll. (laughter) God bless you, man! It takes one to know one, of course.
You see, every good Irish and Italian-Irish front man knows that before James Brown there was Jesus. So hold the McDonald arches on the stage set, boys, we are not ironists. We are creations of the heart and of the earth and of the stations of the cross -- there's no getting out of it. He is gifted with an operatic voice and a beautiful falsetto rare among strong rock singers. But most important, his is a voice shot through with self-doubt. That's what makes that big sound work. It is this element of Bono's talent -- along with his beautiful lyric writing -- that gives the often-celestial music of U2 its fragility and its realness. It is the questioning, the constant questioning in Bono's voice, where the band stakes its claim to its humanity and declares its commonality with us.

He really did capture the juxtaposition of spirituality and sexuality that is the key to so much great music, and not just rock and roll.

I've been looking for a transcript of Springsteen's induction speech everywhere. Springsteen's speech was gorgeous. So articulate and passionate it reminded me of the writing of Robert Gordon, Peter Guralnick or Greil Marcus. I was stunned at how beautiful it was, most fitting to describe one of the greatest bands ever. I now wish I'd heard Bono's induction speeches for Sinatra and Marley. Anywhere I can find them?
I've seen U2 3 times, all in the early 80s. The first at a small theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan (on their 1st tour), the second at Grand Circus in Detroit, and then at Cobo Hall in Detroit. The show at the Grand Circus was awesome (an overused, but here, accurate, word). I was young then, but age still hasn't given me the wisdom to fully understand the intensity of that experience, which was as spiritual as anything I have ever felt. I've seen some wonderful bands, but that was the only show where I felt He was truly in the house.
Anyway, glad I caught your website.
SM