The tug of war between art and commerce is clear in the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (HBO, 8 p.m.) that’s become a big annual concert event. It’s also clear which side is winning.
Now set in arenas instead of a hotel ballroom, it’s bookended by arena filling acts. The event, recorded last month at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, begins with a half hour of Stevie Nicks bleating just about the only four solo hits she ever had; it closes with Def Leppard ringing out three of its five hits. Always mentioned in each induction speech is the amount of records sold, as if the honor were now just another sales reward.
In between are a few of the artful acts the hall once prided itself on including, from the Cure, who acquit themselves live as a band worth including, to Radiohead, whom many in the audience may have been learning about for the first time.
But only two of the five members of Radiohead even attended, the rhythm section; nobody stepped up to play their music. Same thing for Janet Jackson, who came up to the podium and smiled through her speech but never intended to sing.
The Zombies, meanwhile, had reunited and had been planning for this day for years; they were the oldest act among the class of 2019, had been nominated the most before getting in. They had something to prove with their set, but were asked only to play their three radio hits, nothing deeper from the album that likely cemented their legacy,” Odessey and Oracle.”
All of it brought up the usual troubling questions of who gets in the Hall and who doesn’t. The Cure got in, fine; but not The Smiths? Robert Smith said they were inspired in party by the melodicism of The Buzzcocks (whose Pete Shelley was in the show’s ever-growing In Memoriam section). But the Buzzcocks aren’t in, either.
David Byrne mentioned Can while inducting Radiohead; what do you think the chances are of that influential German group is in getting in? (Kraftwerk still isn’t in either). And Def Leppard cited T. Rex as an inspiration (nope; not in either).
Even in the filmed piece accompanying their finale induction, (presumably) lead singer Joe Elliott says all Def Leppard ever wanted to be was “a musical can of beer – pull the ring off and have a good time.” All well and good, but does that man they deserve to be enshrined alongside the Beatles and the Stones? Put “Pour Some Sugar on Me” (the inevitable topper of their set) into the Stripper Song Hall of Fame and be done with it. Now, all we’ve done is open the door for Motley Crue’s induction in Cleveland.
The whole of Def Leppard remains on stage for the one-song “jam” that closes the three-hour show, but the tune isn’t one of theirs; instead it’s the anthemic “All the Young Dudes” that David Bowie wrote for Mott the Hoople — a band that hasn’t been inducted either. Nevertheless, its lead singer Ian Hunter was on hand to lead the performance, which saw more participation from inductors and hangers-on (Susanna Hoffs and Little Steven among them) than inductees.
The odd group of inductees this year, which also included Roxy Music, seemingly more for their style than their substance (either way, founding member Brian Eno skipped it), signaled some things about the annual inductions. The Hall seems to be finished bringing anybody in from the 50s (though some deserving people including Johnny Burnett and the Rock and Roll Trio and the recently deceased Dick Dale have been left behind). Even the 60s seems to be done, now that the Zombies are in (though Warren Zevon, the MC5, Harry Nilsson, Gram Parsons and the Monkees never got in)
There was no R&B this year aside from Jackson, and nothing from hip-hop. They’ve moved from punk to the occasional post-punk group (the Cure).
Another case could be made of the people inducting being more famous than the people they were presenting. But the speeches from Trent Reznor for the Cure and Hoffs for the Zombies were heartfelt and sincere (the Bangles singer said she listens to the Zombies ever day!).
And having Harry Styles induct Nicks seemed fitting in just one way: One undeserving person inducting another.
The days of having every member of the band getting to say something at the microphone is gone; Robert Smith spoke (rather eloquently) for his revolving bandmates (which now apparently includes Reeves Gabrels); Bryan Ferry spoke for Roxy (he listed without irony a list of more than a half dozen bass players they’ve gone through).
Perhaps individual speeches were cut in the final edit, but I for one would have liked to have heard from Hugh Grundy, the Zombies drummer who, before the band reunited in 2008 spent most of his working life as a professional driver and pub owner.
In the audience occasionally seen clapping was Neil Finn; not that his bands Split Enz or even Crowded House ever have a chance of being inducted (though a case could be made for fine output). No, he was there as current sideman for Fleetwood Mac in a show of band support for Nicks before they all go off to another anonymous arena quite like this one, no doubt.