Each year when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stages its induction shindig, we rock fans get all giddy. We wonder what sort of musical magic will unfold as the honorees strap on guitars, honey-coat their vocal cords and pick up their drum sticks to perform during the now-traditional concert and jam.
Like the time Axl Rose and Bruce Springsteen jammed on the Beatles' "Come Together" when John Lennon was inducted as a solo artist in 1994 ....
Like the time Tina Turner joined Mick Jagger to sing "Honky Tonk Women" when the Rolling Stones were inducted in 1989 ....
Like the time the Beatles were inducted in 1988 and the jam on "I Saw Her Standing There" found the stage elbows-to-butt-cheeks with the likes of George Harrison, Jagger, Springsteen, Jeff Beck, the Supremes' Mary Wilson, a morose-looking Bob Dylan and a dozen other rockers, both royalty (Brian Wilson) and court peons (Journey guitarist Neal Schon, Paul Shaffer).
Like the time the Lovin' Spoonful were inducted in 2000 ....
Those moments and many more -- except for the Spoonful gig -- are captured on the just-released, nine-DVD box set "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live."
Along with 125 performances spanning the 24-year history of the museum, the set also includes backstage footage and the induction speeches of stars lauding stars (Little Richard inducting the Isley Brothers, Steve Winwood inducting James Brown, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler inducting Led Zeppelin -- and remembering how his girlfriend became his ex-girlfriend after she encountered Jimmy Page during an early Zep tour of America).
But this monster box set ignores one of the most remarkable performances during the rock hall ceremonies.
It was, Lovin' Spoonful bassist Steve Boone told me during a phone interview in 2006, "a rather horrendous induction performance I'd like to forget about."
The Lovin' Spoonful, that 1960s folk-rock, pop and jug band revivalist group, were inducted into the hall in 2000. During rehearsals with keyboardist Paul Shaffer and the house band for the Spoonful's induction performance, the Spoonful members were "jamming and getting warmed up," Boone said. "Shaffer stopped the rehearsal and said, 'Man, I can't believe you haven't been playing together all this time. You sound terrific.'"
Then, when vocalist John Sebastian "got up to sing, you could hear a pin drop -- or a jaw drop," Boone said. Age had ravaged Sebastian's voice.
"It was obvious then that John couldn't sing the leads," Boone said. "The feeling in the room was like 'Oh God, this is bad.' And it (the band's induction performance) was. It was too delicate a situation. You don't want to be the jerk who makes waves and refuses to go up there. This is not a news flash. I've told anybody who asks me that it was one of the most embarrassing nights of my life in public performance."
While I couldn't find the Spoonful performance among the hours of footage on the DVD box set (surely it's not included), ironically there are plenty of moments when the cameras catch these musical gods and goddesses being all too human.
Very few of these stars appear comfortable or confident addressing an audience with a podium rather than a guitar in front of themselves. For example, Aerosmith's Joe Perry, inducting Zep along with bandmate Tyler, comes across like a nervous third grader reading a class book report.
Even more ironically, it's the star-powered jams that make these rock gods seem human.
Speaking at the induction of Cream in 1993, Eric Clapton said he was against the idea of a rock hall: "Until recently I didn't believe in this institution ... It seemed to me that rock 'n' roll should never be respectable." But Robbie Robertson convinced him that "minor and major miracles take place in here."
Then Clapton noted he was reuniting with "two people I love very dearly (his Cream mates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker). Yesterday we played together for the first time in 25 years."
And, as the trio performed "Sunshine of Your Love," they looked like giddy school kids who were making noise in their first garage band.
That same carefree glee -- of discovering (or rediscovering) that youthful, even innocent rock 'n' roll fire that first ensnared these artists 30, 40 or 50 years ago -- plays across the faces of these aging music titans again and again.
And we fans are grateful that these stars chose to embrace Danny and the Juniors' "Rock 'n' roll is here to stay" mantra rather than that the Who's "Hope I die before I get old" credo.
(The nine-DVD box set is available only online at rockhalldvds.com or timelife.com. A three-DVD set will be available in stores on Nov. 3.)
Like the time Axl Rose and Bruce Springsteen jammed on the Beatles' "Come Together" when John Lennon was inducted as a solo artist in 1994 ....
Like the time Tina Turner joined Mick Jagger to sing "Honky Tonk Women" when the Rolling Stones were inducted in 1989 ....
Like the time the Beatles were inducted in 1988 and the jam on "I Saw Her Standing There" found the stage elbows-to-butt-cheeks with the likes of George Harrison, Jagger, Springsteen, Jeff Beck, the Supremes' Mary Wilson, a morose-looking Bob Dylan and a dozen other rockers, both royalty (Brian Wilson) and court peons (Journey guitarist Neal Schon, Paul Shaffer).
Like the time the Lovin' Spoonful were inducted in 2000 ....
Those moments and many more -- except for the Spoonful gig -- are captured on the just-released, nine-DVD box set "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live."
Along with 125 performances spanning the 24-year history of the museum, the set also includes backstage footage and the induction speeches of stars lauding stars (Little Richard inducting the Isley Brothers, Steve Winwood inducting James Brown, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler inducting Led Zeppelin -- and remembering how his girlfriend became his ex-girlfriend after she encountered Jimmy Page during an early Zep tour of America).
But this monster box set ignores one of the most remarkable performances during the rock hall ceremonies.
It was, Lovin' Spoonful bassist Steve Boone told me during a phone interview in 2006, "a rather horrendous induction performance I'd like to forget about."
The Lovin' Spoonful, that 1960s folk-rock, pop and jug band revivalist group, were inducted into the hall in 2000. During rehearsals with keyboardist Paul Shaffer and the house band for the Spoonful's induction performance, the Spoonful members were "jamming and getting warmed up," Boone said. "Shaffer stopped the rehearsal and said, 'Man, I can't believe you haven't been playing together all this time. You sound terrific.'"
Then, when vocalist John Sebastian "got up to sing, you could hear a pin drop -- or a jaw drop," Boone said. Age had ravaged Sebastian's voice.
"It was obvious then that John couldn't sing the leads," Boone said. "The feeling in the room was like 'Oh God, this is bad.' And it (the band's induction performance) was. It was too delicate a situation. You don't want to be the jerk who makes waves and refuses to go up there. This is not a news flash. I've told anybody who asks me that it was one of the most embarrassing nights of my life in public performance."
While I couldn't find the Spoonful performance among the hours of footage on the DVD box set (surely it's not included), ironically there are plenty of moments when the cameras catch these musical gods and goddesses being all too human.
Very few of these stars appear comfortable or confident addressing an audience with a podium rather than a guitar in front of themselves. For example, Aerosmith's Joe Perry, inducting Zep along with bandmate Tyler, comes across like a nervous third grader reading a class book report.
Even more ironically, it's the star-powered jams that make these rock gods seem human.
Speaking at the induction of Cream in 1993, Eric Clapton said he was against the idea of a rock hall: "Until recently I didn't believe in this institution ... It seemed to me that rock 'n' roll should never be respectable." But Robbie Robertson convinced him that "minor and major miracles take place in here."
Then Clapton noted he was reuniting with "two people I love very dearly (his Cream mates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker). Yesterday we played together for the first time in 25 years."
And, as the trio performed "Sunshine of Your Love," they looked like giddy school kids who were making noise in their first garage band.
That same carefree glee -- of discovering (or rediscovering) that youthful, even innocent rock 'n' roll fire that first ensnared these artists 30, 40 or 50 years ago -- plays across the faces of these aging music titans again and again.
And we fans are grateful that these stars chose to embrace Danny and the Juniors' "Rock 'n' roll is here to stay" mantra rather than that the Who's "Hope I die before I get old" credo.
(The nine-DVD box set is available only online at rockhalldvds.com or timelife.com. A three-DVD set will be available in stores on Nov. 3.)
