The latest additions to the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were inducted last night, and, as previously reported, the list of those making their entry this year comprises Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, REM, The Ronettes, Patti Smith and Van Halen.
REM reformed as their original four piece to perform at the event. Inducting the band, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder said: "REM's music is truly all-encompassing. They used every colour on the palette, they invented colours on their own and they put up this huge mural of music and sound and emotion."
Van Halen, meanwhile, did not manage a reunion, perhaps unsurprisingly, given that, as previously reported, Eddie Van Halen has just gone into rehab. Only guitarist Sammy Hagar and former bass player Michael Anthony turned up, Dave Lee Roth having stayed away due to arguments over what he would perform for the occasion. Hagar said he wished they could have had all the bandmates there, but it was not to be, telling the audience: "It's hard for Mike and I to be up here to do this, but you couldn't have kept me away from this with a shotgun".
Jay Z inducted Grandmaster Flash, saying: "Thirty years later rappers have become rock stars, movie stars, leaders, educators, philanthropists, even CEOs. None of this would have been possible without the work of these men". The choice of the rap artist is of course significant as it's the first time a hip hop act has been inducted into the Hall Of Fame.
Interestingly, after the Ronettes had performed, bandleader Paul Shaffer read out a note from Phil Spector saying "I wish them all the happiness and good fortune the world has to offer". Which is of course interesting because of objections it's claimed he had to the group's Hall Of Fame induction.
The event also paid tribute to one of the institution's founders, the late Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun, who, as previously reported, died at the end of last year.