The Cars, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, Nina Simone & Sister Rosetta Tharpe were also inducted at 33rd annual ceremony.
The Moody Blues’ Graeme Edge expressed the thoughts of many of the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2018 during the 33rd annual induction ceremony on Saturday night (April 14) in Cleveland’s Public Auditorium. Acknowledging the Moodys’ long period of eligibility before finally being nominated, thanks in part to aggressive campaigning on behalf of the band’s fans, Edge -- the oldest living inductee of the evening at 77 -- said, “It was so long that we were eligible and didn’t make it that I got a real sour grapes [feeling] for everything about it. … When it actually became something for us all to appreciate and have, I did realize that it means the world to me.”
The Moodys -- along with fellow inductees Bon Jovi, The Cars and Dire Straits (and the late Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe) -- have long been on lists of acts snubbed for Rock Hall induction. Saturday's more than four-and-a-half-hour ceremony set things right with a prevailing atmosphere of sincere appreciation -- including from fans who sat in pouring rain to watch red-carpet arrivals and in the Public Auditorium’s upper level -- with only a few barbs about the long waits for induction.
The ceremony, which was filmed by HBO for a May 5 premiere, differed from other years in that Rock Hall co-founder Jann Wenner did not address the gathering and there was no finale that brought inductees and presenters together.
The crowd at Cleveland, Ohio's Public Auditorium did not have to wait long for what was the clear main attraction of the night. Following The Killers' tribute to the late Tom Petty with "American Girl" (and a bit of "Free Falling"), Bon Jovi's hour-plus presentation was presided over by Howard Stern, who gave the band an epic, envelope-pushing-but-loving tribute that took Rolling Stone magazine and Rock Hall co-founder Jann Wenner to task ("Jann required years of pondering to decide if this glorious band that sold over 130 million albums should be inducted. What a tough decision.") and essayed on everything from Jon Bon Jovi's use of hairspray to guitarist Richie Sambora's penis size, as well as the fact that Bon Jovi's sales eclipsed the death tolls from the bubonic plague, the American Civil War and atomic bomb drops.
He also led the crowd in singing a chorus of "Wanted Dead or Alive," chided Bon Jovi's desire to own a National Football League franchise (New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones were band guests on Saturday) and told the frontman that "I'm glad you don't have to sit at home anymore throwing darts at pictures of Jann Wenner."
Bon Jovi was equally expansive and earnest in his acceptance speech. Following remarks by each of the band members ("If I wrote a book, it would be [called] The Best Time I Ever Had," said Sambora, returning to the ranks after leaving for good in 2013), Bon Jovi delivered a nearly 20-minute aural career history, thanking bandmates, management, record company executives, friends and family. "I've been writing this speech many days, in many ways -- some days, it's the thank you speech, some days the f--- you speech," he noted, acknowledging the group's long and controversial exclusion from the Rock Hall. But he kept things mostly positive and sentimental. "It's about time -- that has been the theme of my weekend," Bon Jovi said, looking at his bandmates. "I thank my lucky stars for the time I got to spend with each of you. Tonight the band that agreed to do me a favor stands before you so I can make this reality a dream."
With Sambora and original bassist Alec John Such reuniting with the group, Bon Jovi finished with a crowd-pleasing set that included "You Give Love a Bad Name," "It's My Life," "When We Were Us" from last year's This House Is Not for Sale album and "Livin' on a Prayer."
No comments:
Post a Comment