On the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2024 Induction Ceremony

The Rock Hall matters because it matters. We can write three million words about how it is a travesty and how much it sucks but the reaction of the musicians, their peers, the people they influenced, their families, and even their fans is the only true reason to pay attention to this institution. Every year someone gets on that stage and is visibly moved or says in their acceptance speech how important it is for them to get this level of recognition or to receive this honor from this particular body, and 2024 was no different. 

I did not attend this year’s ceremony in person, but did watch live. (The only time I’ve attended in person was in 2014 for the E Street Band’s induction.) I planned to watch this one live like I haven’t bothered to in years because of the MC5. I even poked around on Ticketmaster a few times to see what the market looked like because Cleveland is only a few hours away. I am very glad I did not pursue this with any discipline because I would have been furious beyond all belief, because the MC5 were inducted under “Musical Excellence” and not as Performers, which is the category that matters. “Musical Excellence” is a consolation prize. It is the “oops we need to get you in somehow and we can’t get you nominated despite being a band that has influenced other bands across the world for literal decades” category, and that seemed to govern the amount they were permitted to participate. 

Last night’s induction opened with Dua Lipa performing “Believe” solo and then joined by inductee Cher. I like Dua Lipa but this was not a great night for her and energetically was not a great way to open this evening. Zendaya gave the induction speech in an incredible dress that I hoped was vintage Bob Mackie, and it turned out that it was. Cher gave a speech in which she basically flipped everyone off, mentioned all of her number one hits, and how everyone had given up on her.  

Kool and the Gang were next, and you knew going into it that it was going to be unsatisfying because there were only two statues on the podium and you don’t have to be a music history scholar to know that there were more than two people in the band. This was one of many moments in the evening where you saw the results of the Rock Hall’s desperate yearning for relevancy making them induct younger acts the first year they’re eligible because they think it will keep them interesting to the youth. It means that the musicians that made the actual music that you put into a Hall of Fame die before they get a chance to stand on that stage and hold that statue and say thank you to their fellow musicians, to their producers and other collaborators, to their road crew (Peter Frampton was the first one to mention them) and to their fans. 

In what will obviously be the cuts for commercial breaks in later broadcasts, there was a chyron appearing at the bottom of the screen telling viewers what was coming later in the broadcast. It was so clearly meant to be,  “hey, old white dudes, don’t turn off the TV even though you’re going to have to sit through rap artists and people you don’t care about, Peter Frampton and Foreigner are coming! Sammy Hager is gonna induct Foreigner! Sit tight!” But at no point did said chyron ever mention the MC5. With zero fanfare, out came Tom Morello and although he was admittedly wearing a t-shirt for Wayne Kramer’s charity Jail Guitar Doors and a White Panther Party hat, this is Tom Morello and that could easily be his regular daytime attire. It wasn’t until he started speaking that I was sure that he was inducting the MC5.