The 2013 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony was a special night. Held on April 18 at the Nokia Theater is Los Angeles, the evening saw Rush, Heart, Public Enemy, Randy Newman and the late Donna Summer and Albert King welcomed into the Hall Of Fame.
“Rock and roll has forever been ensconced in mystery,” said Dave Grohl as he and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins introduced Rush ahead of their induction. “Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil that early morning that Satan knocked upon his door; the death of Paul McCartney in 1966 and the conspiracy to replace him by an exact double; Elvis sightings... Jim Morrison sightings... Axl Rose sightings... But there is one mystery that surely eclipses them all: when the fuck did Rush become cool?”
The Foo Fighters would later perform a tribute to Rush wearing wigs, kimonos and fake moustaches, before Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart brought the house down with a performance of Tom Sawyer.
But the highlight of the night had yet to come. Following Public Enemy's induction, Chuck D noted “All this music goes back to the blues”, and his words were borne out by the night's closing all-star jam, which saw the him and fellow New York rapper Daryl McDaniels (aka DMC from Run-DMC) fronting a one-off supergroup featuring all three members of Rush, Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, John Fogerty, Tom Morello,. Gary Clark Jr. and Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins, for a seven-minute jam on Robert Johnson's immortal blues classic Crossroads.
Jam sessions don't get much more impressive, as you can see in the footage below:
Though he didn't speak about them on the night, Dave Grohl is also a huge Public Enemy fan, who once described the New York band's debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show as “a total revolution in hip-hop.”
“The duality of Flavor Flav and Chuck D is just amazing, man,” he told Melody Maker. “It’s necessary, almost, that someone as heavy and right on as Chuck D should have some sort of relief. The sounds on this record, and their lyrics about their 98 Oldsmobile’s… they just seemed like this gang with their own scene.”
