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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 8:58:37 GMT -5
HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS MARRED BY ROWS AND REFUSALSThe 21st Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony held in New York City last night (13MAR06) was marred by the ongoing feud between past and present members of BLONDIE, and the SEX PISTOLS' refusal to attend. Former Blondie members NIGEL HARRISON and FRANK INFANTE unsuccessfully sued DEBORAH HARRY, CHRIS STEIN and CLEM BURKE in 1999 when they were excluded from the band's reunion tour. Former bassist GARY VALENTINE is also no longer a performing member of Blondie after a similar legal dispute. But guitarist Infante was desperate to take to the stage with his former friends to perform HEART OF GLASS RAPTURE and CALL ON ME. When accepting his award from GARBAGE rocker SHIRLEY MANSON, Infante pleaded, "Debbie, are we allowed?" She replied, "Can't you see my band is up there?" Infante, Valentine and Harrison had no choice but to leave the stage, leaving Burke, Harry and Stein to perform with more recent members. Meanwhile, punk legends the Sex Pistols refused to collect their award, and sent a profanity-laden letter in their place, which compared the Hall Of Fame to "urine in wine". Rolling Stone magazine founder JAN WENNER read out the correspondence in full, before urging JOHN LYDON and his bandmates to collect their awards at a later date. He said, "If they want to smash them into bits, they can do that too." BLACK SABBATH, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, MILES DAVIS were also inducted into the Hall Of Fame, while HERB ALPERT and JERRY MOSS were given a lifetime achievement award in recognition of A+M Records, which they co-founded.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 9:15:20 GMT -5
Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie, Sex Pistols, Davis in rock hall
By David Bauder ASSOCIATED PRESS March 13, 2006
Ozzy Osbourne may be better known now as an addled reality TV star, but his musical legacy with Black Sabbath gets its due with an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie, Miles Davis and the Sex Pistols are also joining. Sabbath influenced a generation of heavy-metal fans – including Metallica, which was booked to pay tribute at Monday's ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel – but had to wait a decade for induction.
That annoyed singer Osbourne, who was badmouthing the hall for snubbing Sabbath even before he shot to fame with “The Osbournes.” In Sabbath, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward joined Osbourne in fashioning heavy, dark tales like “War Pigs” and “Paranoid.”
Southern rockers Skynyrd, whose name was a deliberately misspelled “tribute” to a hated high-school teacher, made much of its memorable music before a 1977 plane crash killed singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines.
Countless cigarette lighters have been lifted in salute of Skynyrd's epic “Free Bird.” “Sweet Home Alabama” is such a well-known prideful statement of Southern heritage that the title was later swiped for a Reese Witherspoon movie.
Behind the unnerving stare of singer Johnny Rotten and the lacerating lyrics of “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant,” the Sex Pistols appeared the most shocking of the first punk-rock generation in the mid-1970s.
The Pistols imploded after only one album, bass player Sid Vicious later died of a drug overdose and the band was overshadowed musically by peers like the Clash and Elvis Costello, who both made the rock hall before them.
Time hasn't diminished their spirit: the Pistols declined to participate in their own induction, issuing a statement comparing the hall to “urine in wine.”
Blondie was the most commercially successful of a fertile New York rock scene that also produced hall members Talking Heads and the Ramones. Singer Deborah Harry gave Blondie its look and name.
The act brought a stylistic diversity to the top of the charts on the rock-disco anthem “Heart of Glass,” the reggae remake “The Tide is High” and playful rap song “Rapture.”
Each of the acts is still active. Blondie and the Sex Pistols reformed after long dormant periods, and so did Sabbath, who frequently headlined the popular Ozzfest summer concert tours.
The late trumpeter Davis is a legendary figure in jazz, but the rock hall took notice of his restless experimentation that included rock, soul, funk and hip-hop. Herbie Hancock was scheduled to induct Davis.
The hall also is giving a lifetime achievement award to Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, founders of the influential A&M Records label that bore their initials and signed artists like the Police, Supertramp, John Hiatt, Cat Stevens and Alpert's band, the Tijuana Brass.
Inductees are honored at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland. Highlights of the 21st annual ceremony will be shown on VH1 on March 21.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 9:20:57 GMT -5
Sabbath in, Pistols out for Rock Hall of Fame inductionLast Updated Mon, 13 Mar 2006 CBC ArtsOzzy Osbourne and his band Black Sabbath will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Monday night, after declining to be considered for the honour in 1999. (AP Photo/PA,Yui Mok)The Sex Pistols have refused to attend their induction into Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Ozzy Osborne and other members of Black Sabbath, who previously declined, have said they'll be on stage Monday night. The ceremony for new inductees will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. The ceremony for new inductees will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. New Wave group Blondie and the remaining members of southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd are also scheduled to attend. Jazz great Miles Davis will be honoured posthumously. Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the co-founders of A&M Records, will also be recognized Monday night, in the non-performance category. The induction ceremony usually includes appearances by and tribute performances to the five to seven inductees added to the hall of fame annually. But British punk rockers the Sex Pistols announced in their colourful way that they'll give it a miss, calling the institution "urine in wine." "We're not your monkeys, we're not coming. You're not paying attention," the music rebels said in a scrawled note posted on their website. Johnny Rotten, lead singer of the Sex Pistols, famously described the hall of fame as "a place where old rockers go to die." Black Sabbath's publicist has said all four original members of the band, including Osborne, who achieved new fame in a reality TV series about his family, will attend, though they will not perform. Metallica will do a tribute to them. In 1999, when the band was first nominated for induction, Osbourne asked that its name be taken off the list. By 2001, he had changed his mind, saying he would "go for it," but the band was overlooked until 2006. Kid Rock will honour Lynyrd Skynyrd. Two of the Southern rockers are still in the touring edition of the band and former drummer Artimus Pyle leads a Skynryd tribute group, but three members of the original group died in a 1977 plane crash. Herbie Hancock will induct Davis, nominated for his ability to merge jazz with rock and other musical styles. He died in 1991. Members of new wave band Blondie have promised to be there, though they might not all be talking to one another. Lead singer Debbie Harry, now 60, and former guitarist Chris Stein are no longer a couple, though they have played together recently. Two former band members, Nigel Harrison and Frank Infante unsuccessfully sued their colleagues for being left out when Blondie re-formed in 1999 and there is still bad blood between the two halves of the band. Shirley Manson of Garbage, another woman who fronts an otherwise all-male band, will pay tribute to Blondie. The induction ceremony will be simulcast to the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland and presented on VH1 on March 21.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 9:25:00 GMT -5
Clash guitarist happy for Sex PistolsMonday, March 13, 2006After several years on the ballot, the Sex Pistols are finally getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - even though the punk icons have announced they don't plan to attend Monday night's (March 13th) induction ceremony in New York City. Others are happy to see them get the honor, though, including Mick Jones of the Clash, which were inducted in 2003 ."I think they deserve everything they get, not-withstanding getting back together again. They should do that, you know, if they want to, and that's fine." The Clash did not play at their induction ceremony due to the death of frontman Joe Strummer just three months before. Jones added that even though the two bands were perceived as rivals, he has a warm spot in his heart for the Sex Pistols "We were great rivals. We were sort of allies at the same time. You know, we come from the same kind of place, and we were both actually from West London, mostly. So we had that. And we were all really good friends with them as well as being rivals to them." The Sex Pistols were together for just over two years and released only one proper album, but are credited with pioneering the mid-'70s punk movement in Britain. The group broke up in January of 1978 at the end of a U.S. tour. Its original lineup, with original bassist Glen Matlock in place of the late Sid Vicious, reunited for a tour in 1996. VH1 will broadcast a taped version of the Hall of Fame ceremony at 9 p.m. ET on March 21st.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 9:30:46 GMT -5
Rock, Stock, and Two Smoking PistolsPosted by Scott Smith in MusicAs Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Sex Pistols and others are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight, we’re wondering how important such an institution is in a time when a “Top 100 Fill-In-The-Blank Bands Of All Time” list pops up every time we turn on the television. After all, the best AP writer David Bauder can do is to masquerade this mash note to Debbie Harry as a news story about the ceremony. If it didn't matter to us, we probably wouldn't be as irritated over Bauder’s speculation that the Pistols are skipping the ceremony because they’re upset that their “peers” (the Clash, Talking Heads and Elvis Costello) were inducted before they were. This statement is both amusing and ludicrous. Internet postings aside, there’s one simple reason the Pistols are foregoing this event: there’s no money in it. We’ll be the first to say the Sex Pistols deserve a place in the Hall for their influence on rock music and rock mythos, but they were neither the first nor the best of their genre or generation. To refer to the Clash, the Heads and Costello as their peers is like saying Chicagoist is a peer of CNN because we both have Web sites. Download the single of any ten indie rock darlings and you’ll hear the influence of all three. The Sex Pistols remain an influence on many bands too, but only until those bands learn to play their instruments properly. We know some people get nauseous at the very thought of a rock canon, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is still important. For all its faults*, it’s the only legitimate recognition of an art form that is illegitimate in the eyes of most, even though the ceremony is more corporate than anything this side of Rolling Stone. We’re probably going to get to a point where we stop caring about who gets the nod (we predict this will happen no later than 2025, when Sum 41 becomes eligible). But for now, we’re just happy we do. * A good friend of ours maintains that until Yes gets inducted, the Hall has no relevancy. Reasonable people could argue that said relevancy is reinforced by such an omission.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 9:59:22 GMT -5
about rock’s hall of fame Sex Pistols to awards ceremony: ‘kiss this’Published March 13, 2006Left, John Lydon — better known as the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten — refuses to attend the ceremony tonight at which the Pistols will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Other inductees are Blondie (Debbie Harry, centre) and Black Sabbath (singer Ozzy Osbourne, right). Former Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten has nothing but disdain for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is why he won’t be attending tonight’s induction ceremony. The singer, who now goes by his real name, John Lydon, appeared as a guest on ABC’s late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live Friday, and was asked why he and his two surviving partners from the ground-breaking punk band were snubbing the hall. “They never cared who we were,” Lydon said. “They never bothered to correct the incredible fatal, bad mistakes about our legend and legacy in their museum, and up until now, they’ve rejected our nomination for three years running, and now they want a piece of us. “Well, guess what? KISS THIS!” he said, making a rude gesture. Tonight’s other inductees into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, which will hold its annual induction dinner at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, are Black Sabbath, Blondie, Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd and music executives Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. “When I began as a Sex Pistol, “ said Lydon,” there was no Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and suddenly this organization is put on top of us like we have an obligation to them. Well, it’s the other way around. Don’t use my name to prop up your ... nonsense.” When it was first announced the group would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, the Sex Pistols declined the honor with a coarse message posted on their web site. As for Black Sabbath, Metallica will not only induct the group into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame on tonight, but will also perform a short set of Sabbath songs. “Not only will we be inducting Sabbath, we are going to make a humble attempt at playing some of their songs live in front of the gathered masses, including, most humbling of all, the four members of the band themselves,” Metallica said in a statement on its web site. “For all of us in Metallica, Black Sabbath are a major influence not only on our music, but on our lives, and as you can imagine, we’re psyched to join Bill (Ward), Geezer (Butler), Ozzy (Osbourne) and Tony (Iommi) for the induction ceremony.”
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:03:28 GMT -5
Meet the Rock and Roll hall of Fame class of 2006
By MALCOM X ABRAM Knight Ridder Newspapers
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation must see the trouble ahead.
They've had it relatively easy for the past 20 years, filling the Cleveland museum with classic rockers, influential blues and R&B performers and a dash of punk.
But as the years of eligibility reach the '80s (artist are eligible 25 years after their first recording), the pickings are going to get slim. They will be forced to consider bands such as Duran Duran and Motley Crue and more hip-hop and heavy metal for their future VH1 telecasts.
For years, music fans who care have been complaining that the foundation is a music industry good-old-boys club, and as the pool of obvious inductees becomes shallow, some omissions have become more glaring. The class of 2006 rectifies several of these slights, but also lends the proceedings an air of desperation.
The inductees will be welcomed on Monday in New York, in a ceremony to be simulcast live at the hall. Tickets are $10 through Ticketmaster. A heavily edited version of the ceremony will air on VH1 March 21.
Here is the class of 2006:
BLACK SABBATH
Nearly every strain of metal — and there are many — has this quartet at the root of its genealogical tree. Sabbath's worthiness has been a no-brainer since they became eligible in 1995, and their exclusion has only made the voters look petty and vindictive over singer Ozzy Osbourne's disparaging comments about the hall.
There were heavy bands before Sabbath, such as Blue Cheer, but Sabbath took the term "power chords" to a new level. Guitarist Tony Iommi's slowed-down mutant blues riffs, drummer Bill Ward's big grooves, Geezer Butler's throbbing bass and dark lyrics (which occasionally espoused the virtues of love and God) and of course Osbourne's signature high-pitched whine, all crystallized by a macabre image and subject matter, sparked controversy and became the de facto image for much of the genre.
Bred in the English industrial wasteland of Birmingham in 1969, the four members started as a jammin' electric blues band called Earth, playing songs by Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters and others (for a taste of the band doing relatively straight blues, check out the 10-minute Warning from their debut). After realizing there was already a more popular band with the same name, they redubbed themselves Black Sabbath after one of Iommi's songs.
Their debut, released in 1970, charted in both the UK and the States, beginning a four-album genre-defining streak — Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume IV and the keyboard-augmented Sabbath Bloody Sabbath contain the bulk of the hits still heard on radio. Intra-band problems fueled by the usual drug and alcohol excess, plus two lame records in a row (Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die), drove Osbourne from the band in 1979 to start a very successful solo career.
He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio, who co-wrote and recorded two successful albums (Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules) before being replaced in 1983 by Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gilliam. Both Butler and Ward would also leave the band and return, which soldiered on with Iommi and various replacements until 1997, when the original quartet reformed for a live recording. Since then the group has headlined Osbourne's wildly successful Ozzfest four times.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
They're the quintessential Southern rock band, one whose influence can still be felt in hip bands like Kings of Leon and mainstream ones such as 3 Doors Down. While many folks (including, obviously, some rock hall voters) find their Stars and Bars-waving pride provincial and offensive, their music is embedded in contemporary Southern culture and classic rock radio, and thousands of people, Southern and otherwise, were raised on their songs and attitude.
Whereas the Allman Brothers were essentially a blues-rock band that frequently dipped into jazz and country, Skynyrd took blues, country, rock and a hard-drinkin,' hard-livin,' proud redneck attitude and turned it into a marketable lifestyle and a string of hit singles and albums. Their initial run ended in a tragic 1977 plane crash that took the life of charismatic singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, backup vocalist Cassie Gaines.
The group formed in Jacksonville in 1965 as My Backyard, around the core of Van Zant, guitarist Gary Rossington, guitarist Allen Collins, bassist Leon Wilkeson and drummer Bob Burns. They renamed themselves in tribute to their high school gym teacher, Leonard Skinner, who was infamous for being tough on longhairs.
The band's debut, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd in 1973, contained Freebird, an ode to Duane Allman and a song that touches as many people as it offends. The album went gold and garnered them an opening spot on The Who's "Quadrophenia" tour. Their second album, 1974's Second Helping, contained the radio staple Sweet Home Alabama, a declaration of their Southern heritage and answer to Neil Young's "Southern Man." The band would record three more albums before the plane crash, each one adding more tunes to classic rock radio, including the funky Saturday Night Special, That Smell, the epic live version of Freebird, the humorous Gimme Three Steps and What's Your Name, among others.
After the crash the band dissolved, and the surviving members embarked on various projects but never found the success they had as Skynyrd. In 1987 the band reformed with Ronnie's little brother Johnny on vocals to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the crash, and they've been active ever since.
BLONDIE
Much less a slam dunk for induction than the Sex Pistols, Sabbath or Skynyrd, the New York quartet was the most commercially successful and musically friendly band to come out of the legendary CBGB's/Max's Kansas City punk and new wave scene of the late 1970s.
Blondie didn't carve out a unique musical niche like the Ramones or Talking Heads, or force rock fans to reconsider their ideas of a guitar hero like Television, or scare people like Patti Smith and Richard Hell. They were a pop band, fronted by Debbie Harry, a glam and sexy bottle blonde who, even when she was affecting a pretty, vacant stare (as in the Heart of Glass video), always seemed a bit smarter and more streetwise than other singer/bombshells of the day. She inspired many young women, including Madonna, who would adopt and expand on the pose to make herself a star.
The band's sound was relatively open, mixing strains of '60s girl groups, new wave, disco and some new thing from the Bronx and Queens called hip-hop. Both their 1976 debut and follow-up Plastic Letters were met with little fanfare stateside but their third record, Parallel Lines, broke them worldwide.
That 1978 album was pure pop, with the disco hit Heart of Glass and the tough-chick rock anthem One Way or Another as well as fan favorites Hanging on the Telephone and Sunday Girl. Eat to the Beat featured Dreaming and the new wave spaghetti western-tinged Atomic.
Blondie was always strong singles band, and Autoamerican contained their cover of the Paragons' reggae classic The Tide is High and Rapture, one of the first rap/pop crossover hits. That would prove to be the band's peak; guitarist Chris Stein grew ill from a genetic disease, forcing the dissolution of Blondie in 1982. Harry, his lover, cut her budding solo career short to take care of him.
But like most of the other inductees, the group reformed in the '90s to ride the nostalgia wave and has been periodically active since.
SEX PISTOLS
In their roughly three-year existence, the Sex Pistols became the gob spat around the world, inspiring a generation of aimless, angry Brits, Americans and others to pick up instruments and raise a ruckus; actual musical talent was not required. The rock hall voters first chose the more eclectic and political Clash and the more tuneful Ramones before acknowledging the Pistols' undeniable influence.
In retrospect, the band's lone album and punk manifesto, Never Mind the Bollocks, doesn't adhere to the stereotypical "louder and faster" ethos of much of the punk that followed. Musically, it sounds more like angrier, elemental takes on glam rockers Slade and the New York Dolls, but singer Johnny Rotten's bitter, nihilistic lyrics, sung with his patented sneer, are what turned them into the scourge of Britain.
The band began in the early '70s when guitarist (then vocalist) Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook started a band called the Strand. Both Jones and Cook hung out at a hip boutique called SEX, run by bon vivant and budding manager Malcolm McLaren, where bassist Glen Matlock was an employee. The young band needed a singer and when John Lydon appeared, wearing a homemade "I Hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt, he was asked to audition. He sang Alice Cooper's Eighteen and became the band's front man.
With McLaren pulling strings and inventing a mythos (he famously once said he wanted them to be the Bay City Rollers) the band's first single, Anarchy in the U.K., featuring lines such as "I am an antichrist" and "Your future dream is a shopping scheme," caused a big stir and got them dropped from their label, EMI. Virgin released their next single, God Save the Queen, in time for the Queen's Jubilee celebration. Its "God save the Queen, she ain't no human being" lyrics and "No future!" chant cemented the band's status as Public Enemy No. 1 even before the album was released.
By this time Matlock had been ejected and replaced by Rotten's friend John "Sid Vicious" Ritchie, and the already barely floating ship began to sink. Not only could Vicious not play a note, he quickly succumbed to the burgeoning punk image, preferring to shoot heroin and act up with girlfriend Nancy Spungen rather than learn how to keep time.
The band attempted a train wreck of a U.S. tour in 1978, adding to their mythology, and the group finally tore asunder with Rotten uttering another famous line: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" After the breakup Vicious continued his downward spiral, culminating in the mysterious murder of Spungen and his own eventual overdose at 21.
Rotten went back to Lydon and formed Public Image Limited, the other band members tried their hands at various solo endeavors, and their legend grew. In 1996, the band (surprise!) reformed, ostensibly to celebrate their 20th anniversary, and toured with Matlock back on bass.
In typical Sex Pistols style, Lydon has already told the rock hall that the band won't be attending the ceremony, adding a few cutting opinions of the whole concept in a note posted on his Web site.
MILES DAVIS
Just about any museum dedicated to honoring musicians should have a spot open for Miles Davis. One of the jazz icons who only needs one name, along with other innovators such as Bird, Dizzy and Pops, the music icon's 50-plus years in music included most of the major movements in jazz, and his sprawling 1970 double album Bitches Brew is widely credited (for better or for worse) as the birth of fusion.
Presumably, it's that controversial magnum opus and his subsequent melding of rock, funk, R&B, pop and improvisation that has him included as an inductee. The 1970s albums such as In a Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On the Corner got him branded a sellout by jazz purists, but also made him a mainstream star and a hip cat to have in your record collection.
Rather than the complex structures and virtuoso playing of later fusion bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever (which both feature former Davis band members), Davis' early '70s albums are made up of lengthy jams seemingly formed more around musical concepts than chords, with dirty funk rhythms inspired by pop artists such as James Brown and Sly Stone while band members work in, around and through the grooves following Davis' lead.
Decades later these albums are still discussed and dissected by those who love and hate them.
JERRY MOSS AND HERB ALPERT
Alpert is best known as leader of the Tijuana Brass, but when he and Moss teamed up with to form A&M Records in 1962, it became one of the most successful artist-begun labels ever. Among its successes are the Carpenters, Carole King's massive Tapestry, Quincy Jones, Janet Jackson, Cat Stevens and briefly the Sex Pistols. Moss and Alpert will be inducted in the non-performer category.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:07:55 GMT -5
Route to Hall a trail of tragedy and transformation
By AP
This year's crop of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is as disparate as could be. A quick rundown on what the class of 2006 did to arrive at the pearly gates of Cleveland for the big ceremony tonight.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD - "Free Bird! Freeeeeee Bird!!!" Skynyrd is more than a rock band; it is a battle cry. To much of the South, it is a point of pride, as well. After Neil Young's critical songs Southern Man and Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd famously responded with Sweet Home Alabama. But it's the guitar epic Free Bird that remains the unconfirmed most-requested encore in music. Tragedy struck the band in 1977 when singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines died in a plane crash. In the late '80s, a version of the band reunited with Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, and has frequently toured since.
SEX PISTOLS - Bands today might trash a hotel room; the Sex Pistols trashed a country. The nihilistic British punk rockers have approached mythical status for their brief, uncompromising career in the late '70s. They produced only one album, Never Mind the Bollocks, which included the riotous single God Save the Queen. Johnny Rotten formed the band, and "bassist" Sid Vicious later joined. Soon after an infamous American tour, Vicious was arrested for murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, and months later died of a heroin overdose. The Sex Pistols, the epitome of punk, are now mostly seen on hipster T-shirts.
MILES DAVIS - He might be the greatest trumpeter in jazz history. He was a force of reinvention that would put Madonna to shame. Surrounding himself with young, progressive musicians, Davis first broke new ground with cool jazz, most notably on the classic 1959 album Kind of Blue. In the late '60s and '70s, he went electric and produced groundbreaking, psychedelic fusion, combining jazz with rock 'n' roll (the reason for his induction to the Rock Hall). Long a drug abuser, Davis died of a stroke in 1991.
BLACK SABBATH - Ozzy Osbourne, the lead singer of Black Sabbath, is most likely the only Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee to ever bite the head off a bat, as he did at one Iowa concert. Formed in 1968, the British group was perhaps the first heavy metal band. In the '70s, their dark duds and fondness for the occult helped create a mystique that one day would make for priceless comedic fodder on Osbourne's MTV reality show. But domesticated Ozzy still wasn't enough to take the bite out of old Sabbath songs like Iron Man.
BLONDIE - One of the biggest and most popular bands to come out of the '70s New Wave scene, Blondie was fronted by the, um, blond Debbie Harry. Her voice floated over funky, disco rhythms on their single Heart of Glass. Before breaking up in 1982, the New York band's other hits included Call Me and One Way or Another. They also reformed in a slightly different incarnation in 1999 for the album No Exit, which, unlike most reunions, was well-received by critics and fans alike. Today, Blondie is still going.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:10:08 GMT -5
Sex Pistols join Rock and Roll Hall of FameBY RAFER GUZMÁN STAFF WRITER March 13, 2006In the space of about a year, the Sex Pistols released one album, horrified the Western world with their obnoxious music and broke up. In the process, they galvanized a generation, changed the course of pop music and set a standard -- angry, uncompromising, intensely passionate -- for future bands that would dare to assume the mantle of punk rock. Tonight, almost three decades after the release of that seminal 1977 album, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols," the group -- singer Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, bassist Glen Matlock and his more famous replacement, the late Sid Vicious -- will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum at a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The Rock Hall, of course, represents the one thing the Sex Pistols hated more than anything: respectability. So it's no surprise that the band won't be showing up. "Were not coming," read a misspelled, unsigned but nevertheless "official" statement that appeared last month on www.thefilth andthefury.co.uk. Still, Matlock says he's happy to be inducted. "I suppose it's some kind of interband rivalry. You know, the Clash got in," he said in a recent interview. "I did see Mick Jones' acceptance speech, and he said, 'If it weren't for the Sex Pistols ... ' But he kind of had to say that, 'cause I'll head down to the pub with him sometimes. And he knew I would persecute him mercilessly." Speaking from California while touring with his band, the Philistines, Matlock seems like a personable punk. It's easy to see why he was tagged "the nice one," though Matlock is quick to correct: "The reasonable one," he insists. Band lore has it that Matlock's affability rankled the other Pistols and led to his ouster. He held no ill will against his replacement, Sid Vicious -- in fact, they played a one-off gig together with drummer Rat Scabies and guitarist Steve New as the Vicious White Kids. That August 1978 gig was Vicious' last in England. He died of a heroin overdose in New York the next February. Matlock is even-handed about the other Pistols. He calls Jones the "spirit" of the band, credits Cook with helping create the group's raucous sound and dubs Rotten "a poet." The four later put their differences aside for reunion tours in 1996 and 2003. "If you've got your own hotel suite and you're flying everywhere first class, you can easily afford to come to some sort of accommodation with others," Matlock notes. And he's always up for another Pistols gig: "When we get in a room and start playing, we're the Sex Pistols. Nobody else approaches that."
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:29:07 GMT -5
Some rockers opt to skip the ceremoniesBy George Varga UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC March 12, 2006“I tried to encourage everybody in the band to bleach their hair blond, but nobody wanted to do it,” says Blondie singer Debbie Harry.There should be both more and less drama than usual at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will honor Blondie, the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the late jazz icon Miles Davis. The star-studded event takes place tomorrow night at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, the site of all but two of the previous 20 induction ceremonies. “Being inducted seems to mean a lot to a lot of people, and – by proxy – that has sort of rubbed off on me,” said Blondie's Chris Stein, who will perform here May 23 at Viejas Concerts in the Park with the band he co-founded. “But it's not necessarily a mandate from the masses, so I don't know. We'll see.” That's more than the Sex Pistols will do. The pioneering English punk-rock band, whose lead singer, Johnny Rotten, is now “the official voice” of San Diego alternative-rock radio station 91X-FM, is boycotting the induction ceremony. “We're not coming. We're not your monkeys ... ,” read an unsigned, handwritten note that was posted on the band's Web site late last month. “Next to the Sex Pistols, rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain,” continued the statement, which insiders believe was penned by Rotten. The note also referred to the rock hall's museum in Cleveland as “urine in wine,” and objected to the steep ticket price (up to $2,500 per person) for tomorrow's induction ceremony, although each inductee is given two free tickets to attend. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATEBOOK
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"The 21st annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony" With Blondie, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others; 9 p.m., March 21, VH1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suzan Evans, the executive director of the nonprofit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, downplayed the boycott, saying: “They (the Sex Pistols) are being the outrageous punksters they are, and that's rock and roll.” Rotten was scheduled to discuss the boycott on Friday night's telecast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” His dormant band joins Neil Young and Joni Mitchell on the short list of rock legends who have boycotted their own inductions. (Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first album. A committee chooses the nominees; ballots are sent to 750 voters, including past inductees, music historians, record-industry professionals and critics, this writer included.) Despite speculation to the contrary, the four original members of Black Sabbath will attend tomorrow, according to the band's publicist, although the group might not perform. The veteran heavy-metal group is fronted by singer Ozzy Osbourne, who earned new fame with the MTV reality series “The Osbournes.” His past disdain for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is no secret. “Just take our name off the list,” Osbourne wrote in a 1999 letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “ . . . The nomination is meaningless, because it's not voted on by the fans . . . .” He changed his mind in 2001, when Black Sabbath was again nominated, saying that if the band were ever inducted, he would have to “go for it.” Pioneering English punk band the Sex Pistols is boycotting its induction tomorrow into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "We're not your monkeys," a statement from the group declared.The induction of Lynyrd Skynyrd could also be murky. Only two of the death-riddled Southern band's founding members are in the current touring edition of the group, while its former drummer, Artimus Pyle, now leads a Skynyrd tribute group. Jazz great Miles Davis died in 1991, at the age of 65. It is not known who will perform in his honor, or in place of the errant Sex Pistols (at least two of whose four members are rumored to be eager to attend, boycott or no boycott). Also being honored tomorrow (in the non-performance category) are Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss, the co-founders of A&M Records. Coincidentally, the Sex Pistols were signed by A&M Records in early 1977, then dropped six days later – and $150,000 richer – after the label balked at being involved with such a controversial band. At least in the case of Blondie, though, things should be relatively calm. Guitarist-singer Stein and lead singer Debbie Harry co-founded the band in 1974, and its lineup solidified the following year. Like Patti Smith, the Ramones and Talking Heads, Blondie came of age performing at CBGB's, the now-legendary Big Apple nightspot that was an incubator for the punk-rock revolution that followed. Yet, while CBGB's was (and is) tiny, Blondie's aspirations were anything but. “Certainly, we had grand visions, even though we were only playing for a handful of people,” Stein, 56, said. “I always saw us in the same light as the Rolling Stones or the Beatles.” Harry, still a sex symbol at 60, agreed that Blondie had sought large-scale success. “That's part of the allure of being in a rock band,” she said, during a joint phone interview from New York with Stein. “The only other field that is comparable is pro sports.” Blondie was inspired by the girl-groups of the 1960s, vintage comic books and the Big Apple's then emerging drag-queen scene. These influences resulted in aesthetic that was part thrift-shop chic, part do-it-yourself ingenuity. “We wanted to be different and to do something that was affordable,” Harry said. “Everything had overlaying motives – we could afford to go to the junk stores and buy old clothes from the '60s, and we could afford to do some funky things. “I don't think we said: 'Let's do this with a blank slate.' It was more a case of, somebody did one thing, and then someone did something else, and it built up by itself.” Blondie scored its first No. 1 single with 1979's disco-fueled “Heart of Glass.” Two other chart-topping hits followed in 1980, “Call Me” and “The Tide Is High” (the latter a remake of a reggae chestnut by the Jamaican group the Paragons), followed by “Rapture,” which in 1981 became the first hip-hop-oriented song to top the U.S. pop charts. “We were really pleased, but 'Rapture' was sort of an homage, more than an attempt to do it,” said Stein, who remained romantically involved with Harry after Blondie disbanded in 1982 but later married another woman, with whom he has two young children. Part of Blondie's appeal was its blend of pop smarts and winking humor. (Or as Harry reflects now: “We did take what we were doing seriously. But we also knew that we were idiots to begin with!”) The band's appeal also stemmed from her status as rock's leading pinup girl of the late 1970s and early 1980s. But the constant media focus on Harry was a sore point with some band members. “There was a lot of jealousy and insecurity,” she said. “It was crazy,” Stein added. “You had Mick Jagger with the Stones, and now you had a pretty female in front of a male band. It added another thousand points to the equation. But it was always a big bone of contention with the other band members, maybe because Debbie and I were together (as a couple). But I was always proud of her.” Blondie regrouped in 1998, with the former lovers again at the helm. The band's current lineup has now been active longer than the original. But what ultimately makes Blondie, well, Blondie is the hair color that partly inspired the band's name and gave Harry her trademark look. “One of the things that fascinated me was the great blonde film stars, and I wanted to bring that 'filmic' thing to the band, because I could,” she recalled. “It may not seem like a lot, but it is a lot. That was one of the things people really remember about Blondie, and what Chris has said about our image being out there long before the music is true. Photos of me and the band were used a lot, before anybody had heard us, and thank god!”
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:47:54 GMT -5
Fireworks at the Rock Hall of Fame ceremonies Blondie feud in full view at 2006 inductionsTuesday, March 14, 2006Blondie spat: Frank Infante, who once sued to rejoin the band, has words with Debbie Harry onstage Monday.Black Sabbath band members, from left, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler backstage.Family members of the late trumpeter Miles Davis accept the award for his induction.The co-founders of A&M Records Herb Alpert, left, and Jerry Moss enter the hall Monday.Between an ugly feud among Blondie members spilling over onstage and a rancorous letter from the absent Sex Pistols, the latest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class did not enter quietly on Monday. The animosity even made Ozzy Osbourne, inducted with Black Sabbath, seem sedate. As midnight arrived under the chandeliers of the Waldorf-Astoria's grand ballroom, Lynyrd Skynyrd was performing the song that launched countless cigarette lighters, "Free Bird," to celebrate the band's induction. Famed jazz trumpeter Miles Davis completed the honorees. When Blondie, the most commercially successful band to emerge from a fertile New York rock scene that also produced Talking Heads and the Ramones, reformed after 15 years, they didn't include former members Frank Infante and Nigel Harrison. They sued unsuccessfully to join. Infante, Harrison and Gary Valentine, another former member left behind in a business dispute, were barely acknowledged by former chums Deborah Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke as they received their awards. Infante begged to perform with the band. "Debbie, are we allowed?" he pleaded before Blondie performed their hits "Heart of Glass," "Rapture" and "Call Me." "Can't you see my band is up there?" Harry replied. The three rejected members walked offstage, but not before Infante groaned into the microphone. Time hasn't diminished their spirit: the Pistols declined to participate in their own induction, issuing a statement comparing the hall to "urine in wine." Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner read the letter, and invited the band to pick up their trophies at the rock hall in Cleveland. "If they want to smash them into bits, they can do that, too," Wenner said. Behind the unnerving stare of singer Johnny Rotten and the lacerating lyrics of "God Save the Queen" and "Pretty Vacant," the Sex Pistols appeared the most shocking of the first punk-rock generation in the mid-1970s. The Pistols imploded after one album, with Rotten saying, "ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" before walking offstage after their last show for decades. Osbourne may be better known now as an addled reality TV star, but his musical legacy with Black Sabbath got its due with the band's induction. Osbourne has badmouthed the hall of fame for waiting a decade to induct Sabbath, a cause taken up by Metallica member Lars Ulrich in his induction. Metallica guitarist James Hetfield and Ulrich both said their band would not exist without the example of Black Sabbath. "If there was no Black Sabbath, I could still possibly be a morning newspaper delivery boy," Ulrich said. "No fun." Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward did not perform, but Metallica rattled the walls with versions of "Iron Man" and "Hole in the Sky." "Thank you to all Sabbath fans everywhere," Ward said. "Hopefully our induction tonight will add to the validation ... (and) hard rock and heavy metal will have an enduring and everlasting place in rock history." Osbourne thanked his wife, Sharon, who sat in the ballroom with their daughters Kelly and Aimee. Davis was inducted by fellow jazz musician Herbie Hancock, who said the trumpeter often played with his back to the audience simply because he was conducting the band. "He was a man of mystery, magic and mystique," Hancock said. "It was often said he was an enigma. I would venture to say that many who said that just didn't get it." Southern rockers Skynyrd, whose name was a deliberately misspelled "tribute" to a hated high-school teacher, made much of its memorable music before a 1977 plane crash killed singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines. "No one deserved to be here more than Ronnie Van Zant," said his widow Judy, "and he would truly be honored." Johnny Van Zant, who replaced his brother as the lead singer, joined Kid Rock in a duet of the band's hit "Sweet Home Alabama," such a well-known prideful statement of Southern heritage that the title was later swiped for a Reese Witherspoon movie. Each of the acts is still active. Blondie and the Sex Pistols reformed after long dormant periods, and so did Sabbath, which frequently headlined the popular Ozzfest summer concert tours. The hall also gave a lifetime achievement award to Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, founders of the influential A&M Records label that bore their initials and signed artists like the Police, Supertramp, John Hiatt, Cat Stevens and Alpert's band, the Tijuana Brass. "I haven't seen this many people since I played bar mitzvahs years ago," said trumpeter Alpert. Inductees are honored at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland. Highlights of the 21st annual ceremony will be shown on VH1 on March 21. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:49:58 GMT -5
CLASS OF '06 A quick rundown on what the class of 2006 did to arrive at the pearly gates of Cleveland:
Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Free Bird! Freeeeeee Bird!!!" Skynyrd is more than a rock band; they are a battle cry. After Neil Young's critical song "Southern Man," Lynyrd Skynyrd famously responded with "Sweet Home Alabama." But it's their guitar epic "Free Bird" that remains the unconfirmed most-requested encore in music. In 1977, singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines died in a plane crash. In the late '80s, a version of the band reunited with Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny.
Sex Pistols: The nihilistic British punk rockers have approached mythical status for their brief, uncompromising career in the late '70s, and their only album, "Never Mind the Bollocks." John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon formed the band, and "bassist" Sid Vicious -- who was later arrested for murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, and then died of a heroin overdose. "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Lydon ended the band's tour -- and ran.
Miles Davis: He might be the greatest trumpeter in jazz history. Surrounding himself with young, progressive musicians, Davis first broke new ground with cool jazz -- most notably on the classic 1959 album, "Kind of Blue." In the late '60s and '70s, he went electric and produced groundbreaking, psychedelic fusion, combining jazz with rock 'n' roll (the reason for his induction to the rock hall). Long a drug abuser, Davis died of a stroke in 1991.
Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne, the lead singer of Black Sabbath, is most likely the only Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee to ever bite the head off a bat -- as he did at one Iowa concert. In the '70s, the band's dark duds and fondness for the occult helped create a mystique that one day would make for priceless comedic fodder on Osbourne's MTV reality show. But domesticated Ozzy still wasn't enough to take the bite out of old Sabbath songs like "Iron Man."
Blondie: One of the biggest and most popular bands to come out of the '70s New Wave scene, Blondie was fronted by Debbie Harry. Before breaking up in 1982, the New York band's hits included "Heart of Glass," "Call Me" and "One Way or Another." They also reformed in a slightly different incarnation in 1999 for the album "No Exit" -- which, unlike most reunions, was well received by critics and fans alike. Today, Blondie is still going.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 14, 2006 10:52:00 GMT -5
Johnny Rotten Disgusted by RandR Hall of Fame
12-Mar-2006 Written by: Michelle Vaccaro
The Sex Pistols are not happy that they are getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Former Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten does not feel honored that his band is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday. Rotten, who now goes by John Lydon, told “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Friday, “They never cared who we were. They never bothered to correct the incredible fatal, bad mistakes about our legend and legacy in their museum and up until now, they've rejected our nomination for three years running, and now they want a piece of us.” He added, “Well, guess what? Kiss this!” in his response to Kimmel’s question on why he and his former bandmates were not attending the ceremony.
When the group first heard about the induction, they posted a message on their website, declining it.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction will take place in New York on Monday and will air March 21 at 9pm on VH1.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 15, 2006 11:19:45 GMT -5
Sex Pistols spurn Hall of Fame, rebel rockers honoured
Tue Mar 14, 2006 By Claudia Parsons and Chris Michaud
Rebel rockers Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd were finally ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday after years of rejection but the Sex Pistols didn't bother to show up.
The 2006 class of inductees also included jazz legend Miles Davis and New Wave group Blondie, who made little secret of the antagonism between current and past members of the band at a ceremony marked by controversy, awkwardness and no-shows.
The ballroom of New York's Waldorf Astoria was packed with ageing, long-haired rockers decked out in suits and gowns. Waiters in white ducked through swing doors adorned with graffiti to match a stage set designed to bring an air of seedy rock to the luxury of the chandeliered ballroom.
Musicians become eligible for consideration 25 years after their first recording and for several of those honoured on Monday, the induction came too late for them to enjoy it.
Davis died of a stroke in 1991, Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a drug overdose in 1979 and several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a 1977 plane crash.
Living up to their reputation for thumbing their nose at the establishment, the Sex Pistols snubbed the ceremony.
Still remembered for outraging British society with such nihilistic anthems as "Anarchy in the U.K.," the punk rockers faxed a letter to organisers saying: "We're not your monkey."
"Next to the Sex Pistols, Rock and Roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain," said the letter which was read out by Hall of Fame vice president Jann Wenner.
BAND TENSIONS
Heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath and Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd were also rejected previously by the 700 or so "rock experts" who vote on a shortlist, but both turned up.
The original crew of Blondie were inducted into the Hall of Fame but it was the band's current lineup led by a red-haired Deborah Harry who performed three of their hits, including "Call Me." There was an awkward moment when the original band members said they wanted to join in but and were turned down.
Guitarist Chris Stein said backstage law suits over royalties had soured relations.
Black Sabbath, formed by four friends from Birmingham almost 40 years ago, chose not to perform but singer Ozzy Osbourne, who was kicked out of the band in the late 1970s, said that was not because of any antagonism.
"If we'd have played everyone would have been fucking dead at the end, the volume we play at," said Osbourne, the self-proclaimed "prince of darkness" who recently had a popular revival on the television reality series about his family, "The Osbournes."
Osbourne said that he was happy to be given the honour, despite anything he may have said to the contrary on the seven previous occasions when the band was rejected. "I thought at the end of the day they're never going to do it," he said.
Fellow heavy metal stars Metallica introduced the band, noting the honour came "a decade or so late," before performing the Black Sabbath songs "Iron Man" and "Hole in the Sky."
Like Black Sabbath, Florida band Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of the biggest and hardest-living bands of the 1970s. They played their best known hit "Sweet Home Alabama."
Several of Miles Davis's children accepted the honour on his behalf. "Father changed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Davis's daughter Cheryl said backstage, recalling his jazz roots and his impact on other musicians.
Trumpeter Herb Alpert and business partner Jerry Moss, the founders of A&M Records, were inducted as nonperformers.
Former Police frontman Sting introduced the pair, describing how they started the A&M record label back in 1962 with an initial investment of $100 (58 pounds) each and built it into one of the most successful independent record labels.
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Post by Fuggle on Mar 15, 2006 11:28:40 GMT -5
With malice toward some: Blondie, Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath join rock hallDeborah Harry, right, and Chris Stein of the music group Blondie. (AP Photo/Jim Cooper)Between the Sex Pistols and Ozzy Osbourne, there's an air of malice associated with this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. Blondie is doing its part, too. The band being inducted Monday includes two members, Nigel Harrison and Frank Infante, who unsuccessfully sued their former colleagues for being left out when Blondie reformed in 1999. Deborah Harry's voice turns hard when she's asked if the two men will be invited to perform again with Blondie for old time's sake at the Waldorf-Astoria ceremony. Even the Police and Talking Heads managed to set aside bad feelings for a few songs upon their inductions. "Absolutely not," she snapped. "There was no excuse for them suing us. That ended it." Ah, a good, old-fashioned rock 'n' roll feud! Something to add a little spice to the night. Osbourne's appearance is highly anticipated. He's been a longtime critic of the rock hall because it took several years for his band Black Sabbath to be inducted. In 1999, he dismissed the annual vote as "totally irrelevant" to him and asked that Black Sabbath not be considered in the future. Now that Sabbath has made it, he and the band are expected to be at the Waldorf. They won't perform, but Metallica will induct Sabbath and rattle the walls of the high-class ballroom with a tribute. The Sex Pistols, who compared the rock hall to "urine in wine," will be a no-show. Perhaps they were upset by being beaten to the hall by peers like the Clash, Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. "We're not coming," Johnny Rotten and his bandmates sneered in a letter posted on the band's website last month. "We're not your monkeys and so what?" Jazz great Miles Davis and Lynyrd Skynyrd will also be inducted. Herbie Hancock will induct Davis and Kid Rock will honour the Southern rockers. Shirley Manson of Garbage, another woman who fronts an otherwise all-male band, will pay tribute to Blondie. Even before the ceremony, Harry said she noticed a difference in people's attitudes toward the band simply because it was voted in. "It gives us a symbol of credibility that they had not really given us," she told The Associated Press. "It pushed us up a notch in a lot of people's thinking." The platinum-tressed Harry, 60, gave Blondie its name when she formed the act with longtime partner Chris Stein in the mid-1970s. Harry, now a brunette, still works with Stein and drummer Clem Burke in the reconstituted Blondie. Longtime member Jimmy Destri still writes songs but has otherwise quit the rock 'n' roll life. Blondie's energetic rock, topped with breathy vocals from Harry that recalled the girl groups of the early 1960s, fit in with other bands from New York's CBGB scene. But stylistic diversity became its signature. Heart of Glass was a pop hit with a sharp disco beat, Rapture was among the first Top 40 songs to incorporate rap and The Tide is High was a reggae remake. Harry said she and Stein were true city creatures and were influenced by the different forms of music they heard around them. "It's the old art school mentality, the idea of experimenting or doing conceptual pieces," she said. "We weren't really married to one particular kind of style." She takes pride that the form of musical cross-dressing was influential. It's now commonplace, but Blondie took heat from fans and critics at the time. Even some band members weren't fully on board, she said. "There is no accounting for taste," she said. "It took awhile for some of the guys to become a little more sophisticated. Eventually, they did, because times change and styles change." Blondie fell apart in the mid-1980s, which Harry blames on band tension ratcheted up by inept management. She also took time off from music to help Stein, then a romantic partner as well, recover from a debilitating illness. They broke up, but never stopped working together. Harry, who's long forged a parallel acting career, needed some coaxing to reform Blondie. They're caught in a trap similar to many acts their age: maturity and experience have made them better musicians than when Blondie topped the charts, but few people - except for the nostalgic - notice. Like at the start of their career, Blondie is more popular overseas, particularly in England. The greatest hits package that is being released in the U.S. and Canada to coincide with their induction, Sound and Vision, was available in Europe months ago. "In a way, we never really finished our mission," she said. "But I think getting back together and writing new music was a really good thing for us. To have everyone still pretty much with it and alive was kind of a miracle in itself. © The Canadian Press 2006
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