New York —
Yet love is often in short supply at the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, however. For all the good vibes of a career’s crowning achievement, the event can be a display case for long-running feuds, petty jealousies and business disputes. Paul Simon once jokingly suggested the hall create a special wing for musical acts that didn’t get along.
This year’s ceremony, taking place Friday in Brooklyn, has a bumper crop of squabbling inductees.
Current members of Deep Purple have refused to perform with Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist who wrote the signature riff to Smoke on the Water and probably the most identifiable person who passed through the band. He left in 1993. So Blackmore told the hall he won’t show up this week.
A reunion was in the works for Chicago and its former lead singer, Peter Cetera. But something went awry, and Cetera announced that he’d be staying away, too.
Things didn’t look good for Cheap Trick, whose longtime drummer Bun E. Carlos hasn’t played for them in six years. He explained to Rolling Stone last year that “me and the singer don’t get along.” After legal wrangling, Carlos is still considered a member for business purposes, but guitarist Rick Nielsen’s son Daxx now plays drums.
Yet, Carlos is expected to appear Friday and perform with Cheap Trick again for one more night.
Maybe love will prevail after all.
The Beatles actually set a sour tone early. George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, appeared for the act’s induction in 1988, but Paul McCartney stayed away. McCartney cited business differences between band members and said he would “feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling … at a fake reunion.”
That was a bummer, Beach Boys singer Mike Love said that same night in a memorably cranky speech where he took shots at nearly everyone in sight. At one point, he said Mick Jagger was afraid to have the Rolling Stones perform on the same bill with the Beach Boys.
“I’d like to thank Mike Love for not mentioning me,” Bob Dylan deadpanned when he spoke later that night.
McCartney was all smiles when inducted as a solo artist in 1999, five years after Lennon, but his designer daughter Stella didn’t hide her feelings that the honor was overdue. Printed on the shirt she wore that night was the message: “About F–-ing Time.”
The hall and inductees have months to prepare and smooth over unpleasantness for the ceremony. That’s not always enough to avoid awkward moments.
Creedence Clearwater Revival members Doug Clifford and Stu Cook were left uncomfortably standing to the side in 1993 when leader John Fogerty stepped to the stage to play Creedence songs with Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Robertson. Fogerty had bitterly split with the other two and his late brother Tom over business issues.
When Blondie re-formed in 1999, they left out members Frank Infante and Nigel Harrison, who sued unsuccessfully to rejoin. They lost again during the band’s 2006 induction, when Infante pleaded onstage with singer Deborah Harry to perform one last time.
“Debbie, are we allowed?” Infante said.
Nope.