Month: March 2019

via Rolling Stone

Def Leppard led an all-star jam of Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes” to close out the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The jam included Queen’s Brian May, the Zombies’ Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent, the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, “Little” Steven Van Zandt and, the surprise guest, Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople, who emerged from backstage to join the inductees and presenters for the rendition of the David Bowie-penned classic.

“There’s usually an all-star jam but we’re gonna try something different. More sedate, less messy, more classic,” Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott told the crowd at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The Def Leppard singer also introduced Hunter as “a gentleman whose band 45 years ago today released their last studio album. He fronted that band for about five years; he’s fronted himself about 40.”

Elliott has long professed that Mott the Hoople is his favorite band, telling Rolling Stone of “All the Young Dudes” in 2018, “It’s the anthem of our generation. I first heard it when I was 12. It was the definitive moment for a bunch of scruffy teenage kids in Sheffield and all over the U.K. – maybe more in the U.K. than in America. I had been a fan of the band since their early days when they were making hard rock, and I was totally up with Ian Hunter’s persona, his voice; everything about him resonated with me.”

The all-star jam closed out an epic Rock Hall ceremony that featured a Roxy Music reunion, the Cure’s hits-filled mini-set, the Zombies’ performance and Stevie Nicks delivering a medley with Don Henley and Harry Styles.

via Variety

Even more than most awards shows, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finds itself boxed in by ceremony. Realistically, there’s only so much you can do with a template that rarely veers from performance / induction speech / acceptance speech: At best, you’ll have mind-blowing performances and touching speeches of genuine gratitude, grace and humor; at worst, the opposite, with speeches that more resemble interminable wedding toasts.

And despite Queen guitarist Brian May’s comment on this evening that rock music is “alive and well,” the sort of rock and roll that’s celebrated in this 33-year-old institution is rapidly becoming a museum piece itself: The last culturally galvanizing rock band was Nirvana, over a quarter-century ago. Thus, the Rock Hall’s job has become less about recognizing talents that have finally reached the 25-year-since-first-record eligibility and more about a second chance — or third, fourth, fifth or more — for the ones that were passed over in past years, along with a shamefully token nod to other genres, most often R&B and hip-hop.

Yet the excruciatingly long 34th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday night did manage to produce some genuinely moving moments, especially a dignified speech from Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott about the astonishing ups-and-downs of the band’s career, and some trademark hilarious and historically fascinating battiness from Stevie Nicks. The Cure, Roxy Music, the Zombies, Janet Jackson and Radiohead were inducted as well; the latter two did not perform. (A source tells Variety that Jackson decided not to perform because the Rock Hall show will be broadcast April 27 on HBO, the network that produced the controversial “Leaving Neverland” documentary containing multiple allegations of child abuse against Michael Jackson, Janet’s late brother.)

The evening started off with one of the show’s strongest performances — and definitely the most amusing speech — from Nicks, who was joined in song by both former paramour Don Henley and current friend and fanboy Harry Styles. She brought a bevy of her inimitable bon mots to a nearly 15-minute acceptance speech and lots of between-song banter. Nicks talked at length about the “original ‘Stand Back’ scarf” that she was wearing and how her mother said it was too expensive but “look at how well it’s held up over the last 35 years.” She talked about how “Leather and Lace” (for which she was joined by Henley) was originally written for star country couple Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter “but they didn’t stay married so I took the song back,” and how “Edge of Seventeen” was about John Lennon’s death and “something that happened between Tom Petty and his first wife, and it’s so heavy that each time you play it, it feels like you’ve never played it before. So ladies and gentlemen,” she concluded, “go with pain.” Okay then!

Styles, clad in an electric blue suit, took Petty’s duet role for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and inducted Nicks, who he said was an early musical influence — he recalled hearing her songs with his parents when he was barely five — and raised eyebrows when he said, “She is everything you’d want in a lover and a friend,” although their long embrace seemed more familial than romantic. At the end of her set Nicks picked up a tambourine bedecked with streamers, swirled her scarves and casually did her trademark witchy dance from one side of the stage to the other — a true pro making sure the audience got what they came for.

Radiohead got a strong induction speech from David Byrne, who said he was “surprised and very flattered” when he first learned that the group had named themselves “after a song I had written, and I couldn’t help wondering why that song?,” he paused. “I don’t want to know!”

While the members of Radiohead were famously on the fence about whether or not they would attend, what was surprising on this night was that the one member who’d said he definitely wanted to go — bassist Colin Greenwood — was not in attendance, but two who were ambivalent — guitarist Ed O’Brien and drummer Phil Selway — did. Both were extremely gracious and grateful: “We may not be the best musicians and we’re certainly not the most media-friendly band,” Selway said, “but when we connect with people it feels amazing.” O’Brien added, “I just want to say this is such a beautifully surreal evening for us, and it’s a very far cry from where we come from. It is a big f—ing deal and I wish the others could be here because they would be feeling it too.”

 

The evening’s first middle-aged screams erupted when Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and John Taylor took the stage to induct Roxy Music, recalling being teenagers in the summer of 1972 when David Bowie and Roxy electrified their Saturday television shows. “Their sound was a shock to the system, a psychedelic Sinatra, pulp science fiction,” Le Bon said, with Taylor adding, “I am always proud to say that without Roxy Music there would be no Duran Duran.” The band’s supremely classy frontman, Bryan Ferry, spent most of his speech thanking musicians (including the absent founding members Brian Eno and Paul Thompson), producers, engineers, managers, and of course designers the group has worked with over the years. The group — with classic-era members saxist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson — played a tight set that included abbreviated versions of “Out of the Blue,” “Avalon,” “Love Is the Drug” and “More Than This.”

A different tone of audience enthusiasm greeted Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who inducted the Cure. He recalled the group’s music breaking into his alienated rural childhood, “Immediately this band struck a chord with me — a lot of darkness I felt in my head was coming back at me through the speakers.” He concluded by saying, “In the past I’ve been ambivalent about certain award ceremonies, and thought ‘How can I take this awards ceremony seriously if they don’t even acknowledge The Cure?’ And then not so long ago I got a phone call I wasn’t expecting and here we are. Let’s just say I’ve never been as happy to eat my words as I was on that day.” (Read his full speech here.)

Cure frontman Robert Smith, sporting as ever rats-nest hair, heavy makeup and red lipstick, gave a slightly awkward but grateful speech, saying that speaking is “completely different to singing onstage and much more difficult” and comically closed by saying “Where’s my ‘wrap it up’ sign?” The group then paid tribute to former drummer Andy Anderson, who died of cancer earlier this year, by opening their brief set with the cataclysmic “Shake Dog Shake,” a deep cut from their crazed 1984 album “The Top,” before launching into the crowd-pleasers “A Forest,” “Love Song,” “Just Like Heaven” and “Boys Don’t Cry.”

Janelle Monae, rocking black leather, fangirled shamelessly over Janet Jackson, who she called the “queen of black-girl magic” and recalled first hearing about from her mother: “It was so refreshing to see someone who looked like me.” She admitted that Janet’s picture has been the screen-saver on her phone for seven years, and “every time I look at it I remember to focus,” and thanked her not only for her musical and cultural influence but also for being a leader in the LGBTQ community.

Jackson, wearing a black outfit with orange plumage on the pants, talked about how she’d originally wanted to go to college and become a lawyer but “it was my father’s dream for me to become a wonderful performer,” and recalled him bringing her to A&M Records as a 14-year-old, where she signed her first record deal. She spoke about “always tagging along with my brothers” yet “as the youngest, I was determined to make it on my own.” She also recalled her pride at seeing her brothers inducted into the Rock Hall, and said, “But never in a million years did I expect to follow in their footsteps — and tonight your baby sister is here.”  She thanked many people but told Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the hitmakers behind her breakthrough album “Control” and many other hits, and Roots drummer Questlove to stand up and be recognized; when thanking her choreographers, she said I never thought I was a good dancer” to uproarious laughter from the crowd. She concluded with a “personal thank-you to every fan,” and finished by saying, “Please Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 2020 induct more women.”

The Zombies could have found few truer fans than Bangles singer Susannah Hoffs to induct them. She recalled hearing their songs on the radio as a child in her parents’ car, and said “I’ve loved the Zombies for as long as I can remember.” The bandmembers gave overly long but gracious speeches, noting that it was 50 years ago to the day that their single “Time of the Season” reached number one, but they’d already broken up because the album from whence it came, the classic “Odessey and Oracle,” had stiffed on the charts. They then performed four songs, also including “Time of the Season” and their first hit, “She’s Not There.”

Queen guitarist Brian May took the stage for the final induction: his longtime friends Def Leppard. He recalled first meeting them backstage at a concert in 1981, saying, “Hi, I’m Brian May from Queen” and they replied, “No sh–.” He singled out singer Joe Elliott as one of his best friends and noted that when Leppard guitarist Steve Clark died of alcoholism-related illness in 1991, May was one of the first people to call Elliott, and that when Freddie Mercury died not long after, Elliott was the first to call him. Elliott gave a gracious and very well-written speech in which he gave considerable credit to the contributions from Clark as well as founding guitarist Pete Willis, producer-cowriter Mutt Lange and early managers Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch.

Yet the evening’s most emotional moment came when he addressed the lows that have come with their spectacular highs: Clark’s death, guitarist Vivian Campbell’s ongoing battle with cancer, and drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a 1984 car accident.

“Although there seemed to be a looming sense of tragedy around every corner, we just wouldn’t let it in,” he said. “It did seem that every time we made some musical headway, life would knock us back down somewhat. [The group’s 1983 album] ‘Pyromania’ is a raging success, then Rick has a life changing accident. He survived it and came out the other side stronger.”

He paused as the crowd gave a rousing standing ovation that didn’t stop after the usual standing-ovation timespan — it grew as everyone gradually realized, seemingly in unison, that this guy really overcame odds that anyone would consider unbeatable. The applause grew louder as Allen noticeably teared up, giving a thumbs-up sign to the crowd and getting hugs from his bandmates, a couple of whom were weeping as well.

Elliott then picked up the narrative of the band’s wildly dramatic career, which has seen them rise and fall in popularity along with the tragedies. “[The 1987 blockbuster] ‘Hysteria’ gave us the global success that we’d always craved… and then we lost Steve. But we survived and came out the other side stronger people. And that’s the way it’s always played out throughout our career. So let’s face facts here, if alcoholism, car crashes and cancer couldn’t kill us, the ’90s had no f—ing chance!”

The group then knocked out four of their biggest hits, “Hysteria,” “Rock of Ages,” “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” and although the performance could not match the drama of the speeches, it made for an irresistible final scene for the inevitable Def Leppard biopic.

After a few desultory minutes, Def Leppard was joined onstage by May — brandishing his trademark red guitar — Hoffs and various Zombies and, surprisingly, Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter, for a finale of Mott’s 1972 hit “All the Young Dudes.” The song, penned by David Bowie, has only a tangential connection to the evening’s honorees (May and Def Leppard performed it at Freddie Mercury’s tribute concert in 1992) — and the fact that they’re all actually quite old dudes was not lost on anyone — but it was a fine one to have resonating in the crowd’s collective heads as they exited the arena, more than five hours after most of them had entered. And with that, a few minutes after midnight, the show wrapped.

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#RockHall2019 with our friend @brianmayforreal

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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame streaming live from the red carpet.

via Cleveland

BROOKLYN, New York – It was clear from the start that the 34th annualRock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony would be different and focused – as it should be – on the music.

Gone were the opening speeches, the corporate game, etc. Instead, it was Stevie Nicks, the ethereal Fleetwood Mac singer who became the first woman inducted twice into the Rock Hall, belting out her hit “Stand Back.”

A jam-packed Barclays Center stood as one to pay homage to the 70-year-old singer-songwriter, dancing – some of the crowd mimicking her signature spinning move – as she said, “Hello, New York,” as only she can.

Having Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Don Henley join her on “Leather and Lace,” from her hit debut solo album, “Bella Donna” was a pleasant surprise. Having former One Direction singer and rising solo superstar Harry Styles stand in for Tom Petty on the first single off that album, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,’’ just added to that.

“She stepped onto a stage with incredible ease; I remember it well,’’ quipped Styles, who was born in 1994, in presenting her for induction.

“However you feel or want to feel, there is a Stevie Nicks song that will meet you there,’’ he said.

Nicks herself was as loquacious as she was gracious, jokingly referring to her many romances and noting she was available as a speaker if anyone needed someone who would ramble on and on.

Drummer Phil Selway, whose band Radiohead was one of two inductees who did not play – the other was Janet Jackson — thanked Hall of Famer David Byrne for presenting them for induction . . . and for letting them “borrow” one of his songs for their name, “and not asking for it back.”

In another surprise, Roxy Music founder Bryan Ferry was the only member of the band to speak after the group was presented for induction by Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Simon LeBon. Not that that was a bad thing, as it put the band onstage – minus synthesizer whiz Brian Eno, who did not attend the ceremony – for a set that began with the haunting “In Every Dream Home a Heartache.”

The band’s five-song set – which included the big hit “Avalon” and the synthesizer-laden “Editions of You” – could’ve hit stores yesterday. It’s too bad that in an earlier email interview with The Plain Dealer, Ferry noted, “I have a full programme,’’ when asked if there was a chance for a reunion.

For full profiles of the seven inductees by The Plain Dealer’s Chuck Yarborough, see cleveland.com/entertainment.

A special moment of a night full of special moments was a quote from Robert Smith in the traditional clip leading up to the induction of the Cure. Talking about the allure of the band, he said he observed the group “hasn’t changed the world, but there have been moments when we were slightly different.’’

He did that in a pretty simple way: “Put stark words to uplifting melody to get their attention.”

Inducted by former Clevelander Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, the band had a way of connecting with people who previously had been isolated from the world.

“I left home for the big city of Cleveland,’’ small-town Pennsylvania native Reznor said. “Everything changed. Just being able to tune into college radio made my head explode.’’

“The first album I heard was ‘The Head on the Door,’ ’’ he said. “I hadn’t heard anything like it before. A lot of darkness I felt in my head was coming back at me through the speakers and blew my mind.”

“It’s a surprise for us, but a very nice surprise,’’ said an obviously emotional Smith, his trademark disheveled hair, eyeliner and ruby-red lipstick in full view, like some sort of emo-Goth parody of Bette Davis, in response to what till that time was the biggest ovation of the evening.

“It’s been 40 years since our first album came out,’’ said Smith, who seems almost painfully shy. “In that time, obviously there have been a lot of people who’ve played a part in the Cure story, for better or worse. I would like to thank everyone who’s been in the band.’’

Janelle Monae, inducting Janet Jackson, was equally eloquent: “Janet has a crown, glory and legacy all her own.’’

Add gracious, as Jackson spread her thanks among her family, her mentors, her producers, God and even her choreographers — including Paula Abdul.

“In 1997, my brothers were recognized for their musical passion by being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and I was so proud,” Jackson said. “I witnessed along with the rest of the world my family’s extraordinary impact on popular culture, not just in America, but all around the entire globe and … and as the youngest in the family, I was determined to make it on my own.

“But never in a million years did I expect to follow in their footsteps,’’ she said. “Tonight, your baby sister has made it.”

The Zombies entered the Rock Hall 50 years to the day when their song “Time of the Season” became the No. 1 single in the United States. As if being inducted into the Rock Hall needed more cachet, that did it.

So it was a pleasure to hear the band roll into that hit, as well as “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No,’’ pretty much the soundtrack for an era. Curiously – or maybe not – it’s one that began in a studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

“One day reaching back to 1956, my cousin played me 2-1/2 minutes of music which changed my life,’’ said the Zombies’ Rod Argent. “That music was Elvis [Presley] singing ‘Hound Dog.’

“If you didn’t live through the ’50s, it’s hard to imagine the gulf between England and America,’’ he said. “I was 11 years old, and I couldn’t imagine being a part of the same world [as Elvis].’’

But the highlight for any concert is the headliner, and the Def Leppard induction, with Queen’s Brian May presenting the band, didn’t disappoint.

May and Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott have known each other for years, and the Queen Hall of Famer has shared a stage with the band a time or two. He shared one particular story, about a night when Elliott saved his life.

It was the “Pyromania” tour, and, as you might expect, pyrotechnics were involved. May went into the final song jamming as hard as ever as a guest of Def Leppard at a show at the Los Angeles Forum, thinking Elliott’s exhortations and cries of “Brian! Brian! Brian!” were merely the Def Leppard’s way of saying he was impressed with May’s solo.

Uh, no.

Just before a huge wall of flame erupted during the finale – which would have incinerated May – Elliott pulled him to safety.

“Joe Elliott saved my life,” May deadpanned.

Elliott himself showed off some of his charisma, noting the trials and tribulations of the band that included drummer Rick Allen losing his arm in a car crash, alcoholism claiming the life of guitarist Steve Clark, cancer for guitarist Viv Campbell and ups and downs in the band’s popularity.

“If alcoholism, car crashes and cancer couldn’t kill us, the ’90s didn’t have a [bleeping] chance!’’ he said.

The wit and wisdom – plus a story about learning his first three chords from his mother when he was 8 years old (“I’ve learned two more since then, and I realized I didn’t need them”) – made for a sweet ending to a night that lasted more than five hours.

And, as befitting a headliner, the band kept the crowd on its collective feet, rolling through hits that started with “Hysteria” and included as expected, and ended rightly so, with an audience sing-along on “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”

And in a variation of the usual all-hands-on-deck finale, Argent, the Zombies’ Colin Blunstone, May, Susanna Hoffs, Stevie Van Zandt and Ian Hunter (who will be in Cleveland in April) joined the band for an epic (if pitchy) version of Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes.”

Young dudes? Maybe not. But dudes – and two ladies – who’d earned respect . . . and enshrinement in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

via TMZ

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott ain’t buying the theory rock is dead, as his band enters the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and he’s got an idea about how to give groups like Wu-Tang Clan their props.

We got an ecstatic Joe, Friday afternoon in NYC, hours before DL’s induction. As you know … Janet Jackson, The Zombies, The Cure, Stevie Nicks and Roxy Music are also going into the Hall. As for the Wu — not even on the ballot, despite being eligible since 2017 and RZA saying they’re overdue for the honor.

Joe has a different POV, and thinks it’s weird when non-rock acts get into the Rock & Roll HOF. His fellow-inductee, Janet, might have something to say about that.

Still, he agrees Wu-Tang deserves an honor … a slightly different one, though.

Mr. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” also names a UK-bred band he believes can take up the mantle as the next BIG arena rock band … a la Def Leppard.

Gunter glieben glauchen globen. Translation: congrats on the Hall, Joe!!!

via ET Canada

It’s been 40 years since Def Leppard released their first album and the band show no signs of stopping according to lead singer Joe Elliott.

Now, as the band prepare to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on March 29, Elliott is sitting down for an exclusive interview with ET Canada’s Carlos Bustamante in New York City, reflecting on the ups and downs of the British rock band.

“We’re working hard and it is hard work but when it’s your vocation, when it’s your hobby, when it’s your calling, or whatever you want to call it, it doesn’t quite seem as hard,” he says, adding after all this time with the band, he doesn’t get tired of playing the hits like “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Animal”.

“I don’t have a problem playing the hits because that’s what put us where we are. They can get tedious in rehearsals but never in front of an audience,” Elliott says, calling touring the “best part” of being in the band.

It’s a good thing Elliott and bandmates Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell aren’t sick of playing their biggest songs. In addition to their Hall of Fame honour, Def Leppard are about to embark on a Canadian tour and a Las Vegas residency in 2019.

Elliott, 59, is prepared to give it his all, giving the fans exactly what they want when they come to a Def Leppard show.

“You want people to leave the building going, ‘Wow they’ve still got it,’” he tells Carlos. “That doesn’t come by accident. That’s a lot of work. That’s warm-ups, that’s just taking care of yourself. Don’t go to nightclubs until six in the morning shouting your orders for a drink and expect to sing like a bird the next night. Ain’t going to happen.”

Getting injured is a serious issue for Elliott, who has worked his way back from severe vocal issues.

“I hurt my voice. I lost my voice three years ago to the point where I thought maybe I would never sing again,” he explains. “But with insane willpower on my part and fantastic belief in my vocal coach we built my voice back up and it’s better than it’s ever been. So yeah, you’re constantly worried about stuff like that. It can end like that!”

Over the years, Elliott and the band have learned to manage through life’s ups and downs.

“Well, we’re a fantastic example of ‘mind over matter,’ if you like,” he explains. “I mean, we have a drummer with one arm, we lost a guitar player to alcoholism, we lost 2 to alcoholism, one of them died.”

“You can either split up and back down or you can ride it out and give it the middle finger and say, ‘We’ll come back stronger, we just need a bit of time to re-evaluate where we are’. We just had a lot of self-belief,” he adds.

That self-belief means Def Leppard have no plans of hanging up their instruments any time soon.

“As long as I can still stand up straight and hit a note. If I can physically do it and I want to do it then I will,” a determined Elliott says. “I think we all know when it’s time to step away, and you hope — the only thing that you can ever really hope — is that it’s your choice. You know, not after some tragic stroke or heart attack or something like that.”

“You want to be able to walk away and go do something else. Fishing or mountaineering, whatever you fancy,” he concludes. “I just hope that when the time does come that it’s my choice.”

Def Leppard’s Las Vegas residency is set to begin August 14 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Their Canadian tour kicks off in Halifax on July 12. See the list of Canadian dates below.

7/12/19 Halifax, NS – Scotiabank Centre
7/13/19 Moncton, NB – Avenir Centre
7/15/19 Quebec City, QC – Centre Videotron
7/17/19 Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
7/19/19 Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
7/20/19 Hamilton, ON – FirstOntario Centre
7/22/19 London, ON – Budweiser Gardens
7/25/19 Winnipeg, MB – Bell MTS Place
7/27/19 Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
7/29/19 Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
7/31/19 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome

Follow along as Def Leppard takes you behind the scenes for their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Like and follow our Facebook for a special livestream from the red carpet on Friday, March 29 at 5:30pm EST. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will air April 27 on HBO.

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