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LOS ANGELES — Lionel Richie is soaring. Pat Benatar growled. Duran Duran stumbled, but remained sophisticated. Eminem is Eminem.
The four shows found very different ways to celebrate Saturday night, but now all can forever say they’re members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So did Carly Simon, Eurythmics, Harry Belafonte, Judas Priest and Dolly Parton, who gave a warm hug after temporarily rejecting the honor.
After a memorable speech from bald Robert Downey Jr., Duran Duran took the stage and launched their breakthrough hit “The Movie” in 1981 girl”.
The screaming crowd was there, but the music wasn’t. The band is barely audible except for singer Simon Le Bon, whose vocals are essentially a cappella.
It was an interesting, if inauspicious, start to a mostly slick, often triumphant performance.
“Wonderful world of spontaneous rock!” shouted Le Bon, 64, when the band stopped to start again.
Playing at maximum volume, they played tunes including “Hungry Like a Wolf” and “Ordinary World,” and soon returned to what Downey called the essential quality: “CSF — cool, sophisticated fun.”
A few hours later, Lionel Richie brought cold and warmth to the room as he opened his set with an alternate ballad “Hello” that seemed to lift him almost from the weight of that moment collapse.
“His songs are the soundtrack to my life, your life, everyone’s life,” Lenny Kravitz said when introducing Richie.
After “Hello,” Richie briskly sings “Easy,” his 1977 hit with the Commodores. When Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl unexpectedly played guitar solo and swapped vocals with Richie, the atmosphere changed from smooth to triumphant. This resulted in a chant, celebratory rendition of 1983’s “All Night Long” that elicited the biggest repercussions of the night.
In his acceptance speech, Ritchie lashed out at those who have accused him of going too far from his black roots throughout his career.
“Rock and roll is not a color,” he said. “It’s a feeling. It’s a vibe. If we let that vibe through, the room just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
Eurythmics hit the stage with a soulful, danceable rendition of 1986’s “Missionaries.”
“Well, I was born to be the original sinner, I was born from the original sin,” singer Annie Lennox sang, as the audience applauded and rose to their feet four hours into the show. It was followed by a stirring rendition of their most famous hit, “Sweet Dreams.”
Moments later, her musical partner Dave Stewart called Lennox “one of the greatest performers, singers and songwriters of all time.”
“Thank you, Dave, for this great adventure,” Lennox said tearfully.
Throughout his career, Eminem has been an outlier. He was the only hip-hop artist inducted, and the only one to reach his heyday after the 1980s, and he brought an edge to the party that was missing outside of Judas Priest’s heavy metal style.
He also took the guest star game to another level. After a brief opening with 1999’s “My Name Is”, he invited Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler to sing “Dream On” for 2003’s “Sing for the Moment,” a sample of the Aerosmith classic. He then invited Ed Sheeran to sing his part in the 2017 Eminem jam “River” as the rain fell on the stage.
“I probably shouldn’t really be here tonight for a couple of reasons,” Eminem, in a black hoodie, said as he accepted the honor. “One, I know, I’m a rapper, and that’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Of the more than 300 members of the Hall of Fame, he is only the 10th hip-hop artist.
He was recommended by his producer and mentor Dr. Dre, who credits him with saving his life.
But the hit producer of the 1980s defined the night.
“Pat is always going to the bottom of herself, roaring out of the speakers,” Sheryl Crow said in her introduction to Benatar.
Benatar took to the stage with her longtime music partner and husband Neil Giraldo and showed the power moments later.
“We’re still young!” The 69-year-old soared in the 1983 version of “Love is a Battlefield,” her long gray hair fluttering.
Inductees who missed the ceremony included Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, who battled advanced prostate cancer for four years, Belafonte, 95, and Simon, who lost her sister. Joanna Simon and Lucy Simonboth also singers, suffered from cancer for several days last month.
Carly Simon is this year’s first-time nominee after 25 years of qualification. Olivia Rodrigo, 60 years younger than Simon, was the youngest performer of the night, taking the stage to sing Simon’s signature song “You’re So Vain”.
Janet Jackson, in a black suit and a pile of hair on top of her head, recreated the cover of her breakthrough album “Control,” and she invited the two men with whom she made this and many other records, writer and Producer Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
When the nominees were announced in May, Parton ‘respectfully’ refused, saying that she does not seem suitable for the position of the country’s core artist. She was persuaded and ended up making headlines Saturday night.
“I’m a rock star now!” she shouted as she accepted the honor. “It was a very, very, very special night.”
Parton said she would have to retroactively get her spot.
She disappeared, reappearing moments later, wearing black leather and an electric guitar, and breaking into a song she had written for the occasion.
“I’ve been rocking since the day I was born,” she sings, “and I’ll rock until the day I leave.”
She ended the night by leading her inductees to the All-Star Game in her country classic “Jolene.” Le Bon, Benatar and even Rob Halford, the Judas priest singer, sang a verse.
“We have a star-studded stage here,” Parton said. “I feel like a town bumpkin.”
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