PDA

View Full Version : U2, The Pretenders Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame



Nickdfresh
03-15-2005, 05:10 AM
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Welcomes New Inductees
http://www.u2.spb.ru/i/u2_band.jpg
By David Bauder
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, March 15, 2005; 1:06 AM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Three decades after forming in a Dublin high school and still on top of the music world, U2 was ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, joined by the O'Jays, Percy Sledge, The Pretenders and Buddy Guy.

Appearing after the true rock 'n' roll hour of midnight, U2 was inducted by Bruce Springsteen, who recalled going with the Who's Pete Townshend to check out the competition in a club when U2 was coming up.

"This was a band that wanted to lay claim to this world and the next one, too," Springsteen said.

When he's not haggling with politicians over Third World debt, U2's Bono can sing a pretty mean rock 'n' roll song. The Irish quartet, which is quickly selling out arenas for a fall concert tour, is one of those rare acts still at the forefront of the music scene at the time of its induction.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. won a best rock performance Grammy last month for "Vertigo." U2 hasn't lost its creative edge since forming as Dublin teenagers, starting with rock anthems like "Sunday Bloody Sunday," exploring American roots music, performing introspective ballads like "One" and reaching the top with "Beautiful Day."

Springsteen poked fun at Bono, "jeans designer, soon-to-be world bank operator, just plain operator, seller of the Brooklyn bridge ... soon to be the mastermind of the Bono burger franchise."

"One of the best and most endearingly naked messianic complexes in rock 'n' roll," Springsteen said. "It takes one to know one."

Retorted Bono: "Born in the USA, my ass. That man was born on the north side of Dublin."

Bono told stories about each of his fellow band members, and they all hugged.

"It's an amazing thing to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame feeling like this, feeling like you're putting out your first album," he said.

The O'Jays are best know for their work with Philly soul producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, but the gospel-styled singers are actually from Canton, Ohio. "Back Stabbers" was a big hit in 1972, with "Love Train" and "For the Love of Money" other well-known songs.

After film clips showed them in wild tuxes during the 1970s, the quartet wore simple black suits to perform a medley including each of those songs. They were inducted by singer Justin Timberlake.

"Anyone who's ever written, produced or performed something soulful stands in the shadows of these giants," Timberlake said.

Original members Eddie Levert and Walt Williams are still active, and they were to be inducted with the late William Powell, retiree Bobby Massey and Sammy Strain.
http://www.baydays.com/images/Percy%20Sledge%203.gif
If nothing else, Sledge's voice has been the backdrop to countless romantic encounters. The Southern soul singer is best known for "When a Man Loves a Woman."

Singer Rod Stewart called it "one of the best performances I've ever heard and I'm sure you've ever heard."
http://www.sweconpos.com/posters/pretenders.jpg
The Pretenders came from the same rock generation as U2. Ohio native Chrissie Hynde was a tough but tender role model for women, singing "Brass in Pocket," "Precious" and "Back on the Chain Gang."

The band formed after Hynde moved to London to be part of its fertile music scene. She's soldiered on, with drummer Martin Chambers, after guitarists James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon died as drug casualties.

"They went through all the heartache that rock 'n' roll is built on -- they lost two band members and they never gave up," said Neil Young, who inducted the band and sat in for a ferocious performance of "My City Was Gone."

Hynde told the audience she knows the Pretenders have sounded like a tribute band for the past 20 years. "We are a tribute band," she said. "We're paying tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, without whom we would not have been here."

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of rock 'n' roll, the hall brought Bo Diddley in to perform the Bo Diddley beat with fellow guitarists Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson.

Now a stooped old man, Jerry Lee Lewis moved slowly to the stage to perform "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." But he still managed to kick over his stool and sit on the piano keys.

Guy dominated the Chicago blues guitar scene, and he was ushered into the hall by some pretty decent guitar players themselves -- Eric Clapton and B.B. King.

Clapton recalled seeing Guy perform as a teenager in England. "He was for me what Elvis was probably like for other people," he said. "My course was set and he was my pilot."

And, said the future lead of rock hall inductees Cream, it got him thinking a trio wasn't a bad format.

"I'm just out of words. I just want to play for you tonight," Guy said, before performing a blood-curdling version of "Damn Right I Got the Blues," then apologizing for playing too loud. King and Clapton flanked him for "Let Me Love You Baby."

The dinner offered a clash of celebrity cultures: Mariah Carey breezing in, offering a brief kiss to ex-husband Tommy Mottola, Richard Gere sharing a laugh with King, The Edge checking his Blackberry during the O'Jays' performance.

Highlights of the induction ceremony, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, will be televised 9 p.m. Saturday on VH1.

Frank Barsalona, credited with creating the first big rock 'n' roll booking agency, and Sire Records founder Seymour Stein were being inducted in the nonperformer category. Barsalona was inducted by rocker Steve Van Zandt, dressed in the guise of Silvio Dante, his character from "The Sopranos.

Musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the inductees. Hall of fame members are permanently enshrined in Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35654-2005Mar15.html?sub=AR)
2005 The Associated Press

twonabomber
03-15-2005, 09:39 AM
Hynde was in NY, but her parents were in Cleveland, watching the show at the Rock Hall, on closed-circuit television. nice of her to invite them, huh?