Rock Hall 2017: ELO, Journey, Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, and Yes

[FORD]

After that live box set, things changed a little. "Tunnel of Love" was sort of a "semi-E Street Band" album, since most of them played on it, along with some other musicians. The E Street Band actually split up for a while after that tour, and Bruce released 2 albums in 1992 with studio musicians playing on it. (not as good in my opinion, but they had their moments)

I referred to Nebraska as the true "solo" album because it was mostly Bruce and his acoustic guitar. Though the E Street Band reunited in the late 90s, and has made several albums with Bruce since then, he's also done some side projects like "Devils & Dust" (another acoustic solo record) and "The Seeger Sessions" which, as the title suggests, was traditional folk music, featuring songs popularized by Pete Seeger himself.

[twonabomber]

Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson to induct Pearl Jam, Joan Baez, Yes into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Hall of Famers Neil Young, Jackson Browne and Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush will bring Pearl Jam, Joan Baez and Yes, respectively, into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April.

Those are the first presenters announced by the Rock Hall for the Friday, April 7, ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The news was unveiled in a Rock Hall press release in the early morning hours of Friday.

Still to be determined: Who will induct the remaining members of the Class of 2017, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Tupac Shakur and Nile Rodgers. All but Rodgers are being entering the Rock Hall as performers; Chic founder Rodgers is going in as the Ahmet Ertegun Award Lifetime Achievement winner, a non-performer category.

Tickets for the public, $50 to $500, go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at ticketmaster.com and barclayscenter.com or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Tickets will be available at the Barclays Center box office the following day.

However, Citi cardholders can get tickets to the 32nd annual induction ceremony at a special online presale at citiprivatepass.com from 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 30, to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2.

The Rock Hall also revealed that a special exhibit honoring the Class of 2017 inductees would open on March 31.

"There's a creative committee that looks for these types of connections to find people who are the right fit,'' said Todd Mesek, the Rock Hall's vice president of marketing and communications, in explaining how the institution chooses those who will present artists for induction.

"They look for those connections and a deep appreciation, so that the presenters can speak from the heart on the inductee's impact - both on themselves as well as the fans at large,'' he said.

"Rush was definitely influenced by Yes, and the two groups are both seminal prog-rock bands, so it's a natural fit to have Rush welcome in Yes as fellow inductees,'' said Mesek.

"Pearl Jam continues to play Young's 'Rockin' in the Free World' as part of their sets today, so the relationship - personally, professionally and musically - is deep,'' Mesek said.

"Jackson Browne and Joan Baez are both important singer/songwriters. Baez recorded Browne's song 'Fountain of Sorrow' on 'Diamonds and Rust,' and they've both admired each other's work for some time,'' Mesek said.

Young's ties to Pearl Jam make him an outstanding choice to induct the band. Early in the 1990s, he was dubbed "the godfather of grunge,'' and crossed the generational line when he utilized Pearl Jam as his backup band for his 1995 hit album "Mirror Ball.'' Ten of the 11 songs on the album were written by Young, but one, "Peace and Love,'' was co-written by Young and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder.

Browne's Southern California roots make him the ideal performer to bring fellow Left Coaster Baez into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame fold. Browne, whom Hall of Famers Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles once credited with teaching them how to write songs, is in the hall as much for his gift with melody and lyric as he is for his ability to sing. If there is a criticism of Baez - and there are few legitimate ones - it's that she is primarily known as a cover artist.

But Browne and Hall of Famer Linda Ronstadt are great friends and contemporaries - it was he who got Frey and Henley into one of her early touring bands before the Eagles - and Ronstadt has said that Baez was one of her greatest influences. As Ronstadt is battling Parkinson's disease, which made her unable to attend her own induction in 2014, Browne is a better than adequate sub.

As obvious as those choices are, the tapping of Rush's Lee and Lifeson to bring Yes into the hall may be the best of all. During Rush's 2012 induction, members of the band expressed dismay that they had beaten prog-rock pioneers Yes and King Crimson into the Hall of Fame.

Perhaps one of the sweetest bits of justice is a recollection of an interview given by Chris Squire, the Yes bassist who died of leukemia in 2015. He was asked who he'd like to see induct the band . . . if it ever got in. This is what he told the interviewer from K-Earth 101, a Los Angeles radio station, back in 2013:

"I haven't given it much thought, maybe those Rush guys who got in last year! I'm pretty good friends with Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins (of the Foo Fighters), and they did a great speech for Rush... so probably not them, since they just did one. But if you know Geddy (Lee), let him know that that would be fine by me.''

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