2006 Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame induction

March 2006 © The Rock Radio

On Monday night (March 13th), the 21st annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The honorees included Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Sex Pistols, and the late jazz trumpet legend Miles Davis, while A&M Records founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss were given Lifetime Achievement Awards in the Non-Performer category.

In addition, there was a show-opening tribute to the late Wilson Pickett by soul legend Solomon Burke, Leela James, Marc Broussard, and E Street Band sax player Clarence Clemons, and a show-closing salute to New Orleans performed by Elvis Costello, the Band's Robbie Robertson, and Crescent City legends Allen Toussaint, Buckwheat Zydeco, and the Wild Magnolias.

An edited version of the ceremony will air on VH1 next Tuesday (March 21st).

2006 ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES:

BLACK SABBATH

(Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Terence "Geezer" Butler, and Bill Ward)

Formed in Birmingham, England in 1968, Black Sabbath stands as the premier purveyors of heavy metal. Enormously influential, the group's songs dealt with black magic, Satanism, apocalypse, death, and destruction. Virtually every heavy band since then owes Black Sabbath a debt of gratitude for opening the doors.

Black Sabbath was inducted by Metallica.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich noted that every heavy band owes a debt of gratitude to Black Sabbath:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "I wonder how many times on this very night in the last 20 years that the words 'If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here' have been uttered. Well, here we go once more. Bill, Geezer, Ozzy, and Tony -- if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here."

Metallica frontman James Hetfield says Black Sabbath is central to all of hard rock and heavy metal:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "Never have I known a more timeless and influential band. They have spread their wonderful disease through generations of musicians. They are always listed as an influence by heavy bands to this day, (and) they are loved and highly respected as the fathers of heavy music. It truly is a dream come true to induct into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame such a significant group of musicians -- and in the words of our fearless leader Ozzy Osbourne, 'Let's go fucking CRAZY!' Here is Black Sabbath!"

Metallica also performed two Black Sabbath songs: "Hole In The Sky" and "Iron Man."

In their acceptance speeches, frontman Ozzy Osbourne and drummer Bill Ward talked about the long time it took Sabbath to be honored, and the lasting effect of the band's music.

Ozzy Osbourne noted that Black Sabbath's induction was kept on hold for quite a while:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "First of all, I'd like to thank the people who arranged this, for finally getting us up here, because we have, we've been chosen, like, seven times to my mind, to my knowledge to receive this award. And this is the eighth time, and so we're finally here."

Bill Ward said that Sabbath's induction should help demonstrate how important heavy metal is in rock history:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "Hopefully, our induction tonight will add further validation, as other bands already inducted in the past years have begun to establish, which is that hard rock and heavy metal may have an endearing and everlasting place in rock history."

LYNYRD SKYNYRD

(Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Bob Burns, Steve Gaines, Ed King, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, and Leon Wilkeson)

Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed Southern Rock groups of the 1970's. Their distinctive triple-lead guitar sound made their songs "Freebird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" American anthems and staples of FM radio.

Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted by Kid Rock.

Kid Rock talks about Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "Ronnie Van Zant was the truth. To me, he was a true Southern poet. He was the simple man that he sang about."

Kid Rock jokes about the long list of members of Lynyrd Skynyrd:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "Artimus Pyle, I mean, c'mon, great drummer. You know, we go through the list now, Johnny, and Rickey Medlocke, and Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Ean Evans, Carol Chase, Dale Rossington, Michael Cartellone, there's been, this is a hard speech to write, there's been over 25 members on this fuckin' band, alright? They had more members than the frickin' YMCA, you know what I mean?"

Kid Rock tells a story about playing "Sweet Home Alabama" for soldiers in Iraq:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "I went to Iraq a couple years ago to play for our troops, and we were kind of in front of about 5,000 kids at Saddam International airport in a hangar there. And we didn't really have a band together, there was a military band onstage. You know, these kids were kind of like, 'hey man, get up and play for us, get up and play.' So we kinda grabbed us some musicians and other people together, we kinda put together a makeshift band, last second I looked out at those kids and, like, what do they want to hear? First thing I did, (hums opening of 'Sweet Home Alabama') and they went nuts. That kinda sums it up for me right there."

In his acceptance speech, Gary Rossington made sure to salute the fallen members of the band:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "I really would like to thank Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, and Leon Wilkeson, and Steve Gaines for all the great songs they wrote that allows me to be here, and all these guys, you know? And it's an honor to have known 'em and played with 'em, and, and them being our friends."

Lynyrd Skynyrd performed "Sweet Home Alabama" with Kid Rock sharing lead vocals, and they closed their set with "Freebird."

THE SEX PISTOLS

(Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Paul Cook, Steve Jones, and Glen Matlock)

Over the course of their short and turbulent career, the Sex Pistols released a single album -- Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols -- that ranks as one of the most important rock records ever released. The album changed the course of rock and roll, kicking the British punk movement into high gear.

In a highly-publicized rejection, the Sex Pistols declined to appear at the induction. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner reads a fax sent by the band to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "This is a fax to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 'Next to the Sex Pistols, rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. You're a museum. Urine is wine. We're not coming. We're not your monkeys, and so what.'"

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss

Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss founded A&M Records in Los Angeles in 1962. Starting with a few hundred dollars in pooled resources, Alpert and Moss built one of the most successful independent records labels in the world. Artists that were signed to A&M include: Procol Harum, Supertramp, Peter Frampton, Free, the Police, Joe Jackson, the Neville Brothers, Captain Beefheart, John Hiatt, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Alpert's own group the Tijuana Brass.

Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss were inducted by Sting.

Sting said that the combination of Alpert and Moss deserves to be held in the same regard as some of the great pairings in music history:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "The music business is full of famous partnerships - Lennon & McCartney, Leiber & Stoller, Goffin & King. Songwriters in the main, who shared the workload and the credits of some of the greatest songs of the 20th century. The partnership we are honoring tonight was not a songwriting partnership, but what they forged together is as enduring and influential as any of those songs in the history of recorded music."