Police Lead Hall’s New Wave
“It’s a very good night to be British,” said Elton John last night
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He wasn’t
kidding. At the heart of the evening’s festivities was the
nineteen-year-old institution’s honoring of the Clash, Elvis
Costello and the Police, a trio of U.K.-based rock and roll acts
who led a second British invasion. Two of the three (the Clash, who
lost frontman Joe Strummer in December, didn’t perform) and AC/DC,
the Hall’s first Australian-born band, offered some of the most
energetic mini-sets since the founding of the Hall.
The ceremony, which will air March 16th on VH1, began with
introductions by a triumvirate of Rock Hall founders — chairman
Ahmet Ertegun, vice chairman (and Rolling Stone editor and
publisher) Jann S. Wenner, and president Seymour Stein. Wenner gave
a status report on the Rock Hall’s museum in Cleveland (which will
include a George Harrison exhibit next year) as well as leading a
moment of silence following the reading of those in the industry
who died in the past year. Wenner also made the first of several
anti-war statements that peppered the evening, saying, “It would be
nice for a few hours to ignore the drums of war in Washington,
D.C.,” and then quoted from John Lennon’s “Give Peace a
Chance.”
As Stein admitted in his remarks a few minutes earlier, the Hall
is “still to a certain degree, catching up.” Part of that catching
up was the induction of the evening’s first act, the Righteous
Brothers, who opened with “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” before
being saluted by Billy Joel, who prefaced his speech by assuring
all in attendance that despite a recent car accident, “I’m in one
piece . . . but I want to let [Police frontman and noted
environmentalist] Sting know, no tree is safe on Long Island. I’ve
had it with the frickin’ trees.”
“I don’t know how these guys aren’t in already,” Joel said,
recalling his first encounter with the duo of Bill Medley and Bobby
Hatfield, and how he was knocked out as a kid by “that huge Phil
Spector Wall of Sound.” In reference to Spector’s recent arrest in
the fatal shooting of an actress in Los Angeles, Joel quickly
added, “I’m not going there right now.”
“Bill Medley comes in with this ode to our favorite topic of
conversation at that age,” Joel said of “Lovin’ Feelin’.” “It was a
triumphant moment for guys of that age everywhere. The recording
lasted something like four minutes, which in that era was like
sitting through [Wagner’s] ‘Tristan und Isolde.'” Perhaps the
greatest lesson he learned from the band, Joel said, was that,
“White people can be soulful. This was a life-changing idea.”
Backstage, the non-sibling Brothers were among the evening’s
most enthusiastic honorees. “What does it mean to us?” Medley said.
“It’s everything. This is forty-one years in the business. If it
ended tomorrow, it’s still amazing.”
Paul Shaffer introduced and led the house band through iconic
snippets by Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer, drummer Benny Benjamin
of Motown’s Funk Brothers, and saxophonist Steve Douglas of
Spector’s famed Wrecking Crew.
Elvis Costello then took the stage for a charged run through
“Pump It Up,” before taking a break for Elton John’s induction
speech, which ribbed his counterpart for his handle (“the cheeky
fucker chose Elvis . . . what fucking nerve!”). “He’s like a
chameleon,” John said of Costello. “His songs have no musical
boundaries. He’s completely his own man. Elvis did his homework. He
was influenced by the greats, but didn’t give a shit.”
Costello, for his part, thanked John for his “very eloquent,
very complete and deeply profane speech,” before introducing the
Attractions, with whom he was inducted. Two Attractions —
keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas — performed with
Costello, while estranged bassist Bruce Thomas appeared only for
the induction. “It’s no big secret that we haven’t always gotten
along,” Costello said, “but seeing Joe Strummer’s daughters made me
realize this isn’t the place to air petty grievances.” Bruce Thomas
added only, “Thanks for the memories . . . that’s it.”
“Can we get any more fucking pleased with ourselves,” Costello
said before leading the band through “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror/You
Really Got a Hold on Me” and the staple cover of Nick Lowe’s
“(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.”
Perhaps the evening’s least abrasive personality was next to be
honored. Reprise Records founder and former Warner Bros. head Mo
Ostin was first introduced by Paul Simon and Saturday Night
Live creator Lorne Michaels in an exchange of comic facts and
quasi-facts about Ostin’s storied career. “Anybody who was at
Warner Bros. during the Mo years knew it to be a wonderful time,”
Simon said, “except for Prince, who was enslaved.”
Neil Young prefaced his glowing comments about Ostin by bluntly
stating, “War sucks. We’re having a good time tonight, but we’re
gonna kill a bunch of people next week. We’re making a terrible
mistake. I feel like I’m in a giant SUV and the driver is drunk as
a skunk.”
Tom Morello, who inducted the Clash (represented by guitarist
Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon and original drummer Terry Chimes
— drummer Nicky “Topper” Headon wasn’t present), clearly spent
more time on his speech than the other presenters — quite possibly
more than any presenter in the Hall’s history. The Audioslave
guitarist recalled his first Clash show as a teen. “I was used to
buying heavy metal t-shirts that had lots of pictures of garish
wizards and dragons on them,” he said. “This Clash shirt was very
different. It had just a few short words written over the heart. It
said, ‘The future is unwritten.’ And when I saw the Clash play, I
knew exactly what that phrase meant. The Clash performed with
passion, commitment, purpose righteousness and an unflinching
political fire. I’d never seen a better band before that night and
I’ve not seen a better band since.”
Perhaps it was the specter of the recently departed Strummer,
particularly in a time of dubious international climate, that moved
Morello to describe the band in a speech that echoed Steinbeck’s
Grapes of Wrath: “Joe Strummer and the Clash will continue
to inspire and agitate well into the future. The Clash aren’t
really gone at all. Any time a band cares more about its fans than
its bank account, the spirit of the Clash is there. Whenever a band
plays as if every single person’s soul in the room is at stake, the
spirit of the Clash is there. Whenever a stadium band or a little
garage band has the guts to put their beliefs on the line to make a
difference, the spirit of the Clash is there. And whenever people
take to the streets to stop an unjust war, the spirit of the Clash
definitely is there.”
U2 guitarist the Edge picked up where Morello left off. “The
last thing that Mick or Paul or Topper or Terry or Joe, bless him,
would want is for me to stand up here tonight and sell you a load
of emotional hype or blarney about the Clash and how fantastic they
were,” he said. “Sorry about that, lads, because that’s exactly
what I’m going to do. Not because they need to hear it, but because
I don’t think the rest of you know how great they were.”
The evening’s next inductee, AC/DC, couldn’t have provided a
more acutely different counterpart. The band ripped into “Highway
to Hell,” with the school uniform-clad Angus Young up to his usual
lewd mischief, at one point sticking the neck of his guitar through
the legs of singer Brian Johnson.
“Thank God for the power chord!” said Steven Tyler, who inducted
the band, and later joined it on “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
“There was no greater purveyor [of it] than AC/DC. The sparks that
flew off the heavy metal and the primal stink behind ‘You Shook Me’
lit the fire in the belly of every kid who was born to break the
rules.”
During their induction, the reunited Police (described by
presenter Gwen Stefani as “a fruit salad of sound all coming
together”) were itching to hit the stage. “We haven’t played
together in eighteen years,” Sting said, “and we’re very keen to do
that, so we’re not gonna make any fancy speeches.” A short series
of thank-you’s ensued before the singer/bassist was joined by
drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers.
The Police then made perhaps the best argument for a reunion
tour in rock and roll history. The trio’s chemistry was pulled from
the crypt as perfectly preserved as a jar of honey, and all three
members seemed to relish the opportunity to dust off “Roxanne” and
“Message in a Bottle,” with Copeland’s cymbal taps and guitarist
Summer’s efficient and thoughtful guitar fills sounding timeless
more than twenty years after the fact.
The evening ended without its trademark all-star jam, fitting
because three of the newest inductees are as reliant on reggae as
they are on the old R&B standbys. So the Police closed with
“Every Breath You Take,” joined on the final round of choruses by
Stefani, Tyler and John Mayer. And, now that the Clash, the Police,
and Elvis Costello have ushered new sounds into the Hall, future
jams may just resemble that fruit salad.