The 38th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place in New York.

The thirty-eighth Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place in New York. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum is located in Cleveland, but the annual show is staged in show business capitals. Last year it was held in Los Angeles, and now at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The heroes of the evening were Bernie Taupin, Rage Against The Machine, Kate Bush, Link Wray, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, The Spinners, Kool Herc, Chaka Khan, Al Kooper and Don Cornelius. Tells Igor Gavrilov.

Compared to the release of a new album by The Rolling Stones and a new song by The Beatles, any event in the field of rock seems insignificant. But if we’re talking about the return of the titans, we can’t ignore Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page’s first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in eight years. Page was invited to New York to pay tribute to guitarist Link Wray, considered the inventor of the power chord and the father of garage rock. The Barclays Center screens featured a video of Jimmy Page talking about Link Ray’s extraordinary role in music history, and then Page appeared in the flesh to perform Ray’s classic “Rumble.”

In the hands of Jimmy Page was a massive double-neck Gibson guitar, familiar to Led Zeppelin fans from many videos. Not to say that this complex instrument was so necessary for the performance of “Rumble”. It was rather a symbolic gesture addressed to the fans. Page was in fine form at the Barclays Centre, a follow-up to Robert Plant’s sensational first performance of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in October at The Concert Platform charity concert in London.

Now we know that both the vocalist and guitarist of Led Zeppelin are in the ranks, and fans have reason to again discuss their possible reunion.

Link Ray was not at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony; he passed away in 2005. English singer Kate Bush did not come, although she is still alive. A speech in her honor was given by Annie Clark, who performs under the stage name St. Vincent. “How can someone be so brilliant, pure and completely free? Vocally, musically, physically? asked Annie Clark. “I am in awe of Kate Bush!” St. Vincent performed the song “Running Up That Hill,” which was released in 1985; in 2022, after appearing in the TV series “Stranger Things,” it topped the world charts, and by the summer of 2023, it had gained 1 billion streams on the Internet.

In her letter addressed to the organizers of the ceremony and the audience, Kate Bush did not explain the reasons for refusing to attend the holiday, but wrote a few warm words about Elton John, listening to whom she learned to play the piano and write songs, and about his co-author Bernie Taupin, who also was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that evening. It was introduced personally by Elton John. In his speech, he mentioned their new joint album, which, as the musician promised, “will surprise you to the core.”

Taupin said, among other things, that he was honored to stand on stage that evening with “a group of such deeply articulated women and outstandingly articulated black artists.”

The remark was related to the recent scandal involving Rolling Stone magazine founder Jan Wenner. In one of the interviews dedicated to the release of the book “Masters,” which contains conversations with outstanding musicians, Wenner was asked why there were no women among his interlocutors. The journalist responded that “none of them articulate their thoughts convincingly enough on the same intellectual level as men.” He also added, “Maybe I should have included one black artist and one female musician in the book, just to prevent that kind of criticism.” After this interview, Jan Wenner was removed from the board of directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bernie Taupin’s line made it clear that in his performance, women and black artists articulate everything as it should.

Elton John performed his and Taupin’s hit “Tiny Dancer” at the party, and only with a piano, and not in a dance arrangement with Britney Spears, which has become a super hit on radio stations in the last year.

Bernie Taupin is 73 years old, Elton John is 76, Jimmy Page is 79, but among the ceremony participants there was an even older man.

90-year-old country classic Willie Nelson has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

He wrote his first song in 1940, and in 1961 Patsy Klein performed his first hit “Crazy”; he recorded a total of 72 albums, and all this, as they say, without taking a rolled-up cigarette from his mouth, and not with tobacco at all . Singing in honor of Nelson were Dave Matthews, Chris Stapleton and Sheryl Crow, who was also honored that evening in Brooklyn along with other Hall of Fame inductees.

The evening at the Barclays Center was particularly important in the history of hip-hop. Missy Elliott became the first female rapper to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and DJ Kool Herc was honored as the host of the first hip-hop party, which took place 50 years ago.

Highlights of the show also included a surprise duet between Chaka Khan and SIA, an appearance by Olivia Rodrigo during a tribute to Sheryl Crow, a tribute to George Michael, preceded by his Wham! Andrew Ridgeley, a collective performance of The Band’s song “The Weight” in memory of Robbie Robertson and a speech by Tom Morello, who that evening had to take the rap for the entire Rage Against The Machine group. RATM is the most politicized of the rock and rap formations of recent decades, and at the same time, there are contradictions within the group that have not been resolved for years. “Can music change the world? – said Tom Morello. “That’s our whole damn goal—to change the world!” He ended his speech with a call to change the world for the better in any way possible: “You can be an activist, you can create a rock band, or you can just follow your conscience instead of orders.”