At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, lovefests ranged from Carole King reciprocating Taylor Swift’s love to Drew Barrymore on the Go-Go’s.<\/b>
\nAt the 36th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday night \u2014 which marking the return of the event to a live setting in Cleveland, after last year\u2019s strictly virtual edition \u2014 there were plenty of surprises among the performance choices, which included Taylor Swift opening the show with Carole King\u2019s \u201cWill You Love Me Tomorrow\u201d and Paul McCartney and Foo Fighters closing it with \u201cGet Back.\u201d Among those unexpectedly joining jams were Eminem and Jennifer Lopez for LL Cool J, and Keith Urban filling in for Bryan Adams in a Tina Turner medley. Among speeches, the intrigue included Dave Chappelle in person and Barack Obama on tape helping to induct Jay-Z. The class of 2021 was being honored at Cleveland\u2019s 12,000-capacity Rocket Mortgage Financial Fieldhouse in Cleveland, ushering Carole King, LL Cool J, the Go-Go\u2019s, Tina Turner, Todd Rundgren, Randy Rhoads, Gil Scott-Heron, Kraftwerk, Billy Preston, Charley Patton and music executive Clarence Avent into the hall. While the action was plentiful on stage, backstage inductees and inductors fielded questions and posed for photos in the press room going on in the press room. Carole King, who made history as one of three women inducted twice into the Hall, was still clearly moved by Swift\u2019s performance. \u201cI came in briefly when she was rehearsing,\u201d she said. \u201cThe version that she did tonight was amazing. She just owned it and she made it her own in a way that I have never heard done that way, and that is my joy as a songwriter, to see how different people interpret a song.\u201d King is already in the hall as a songwriter alongside one-time partner Gerry Goffin, and made history as the third woman to be inducted twice, along with Stevie Nicks and fellow 2021 inductee Tina Turner. Backstage, she talked reverently of Goffin, who died in 2014. \u201cHad he been here tonight, he would be here cheering me on just like in the musical \u2018Beautiful\u2019: \u2018You\u2019re going all the way.\u2019 He really was a supporter of me, long after we weren\u2019t married anymore,\u201d she said. Being inducted a second time is different, she said, because she was being inducted for something she never thought she would do, \u201cwhich was to be a performer.\u2026 I feel that as a performer, after all the years I have been actually doing it, was just part of the way that I bring music to people,\u201d she said. \u201cI understand what an audience comes to see. I know they don\u2019t expect perfection, so that\u2019s good. They get the song from the heart with great players.\u201d King was clearly the belle of the ball backstage, posing for photos and getting hugs backstage with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Jay-Z, Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, Swift and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, who portrays Aretha Franklin in the film \u201cRespect,\u201d and performed the Goffin-King-written classic, \u201c(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.\u201d Also making a stop backstage was Angela Bassett, who portrayed Turner in the movie \u201cWhat\u2019s Love Got to Do With It?\u201d \u201cI couldn\u2019t say anything but yes,\u201d Bassett said about inducting Turner into the hall. Turner, she said, is an inspiration, \u201cturning pain into power and her hurt into triumph.. and (showed) what is possible for a woman at any age at any stage.\u201d LL Cool J spoke backstage about hip-hop\u2019s place in the hall and why it is essential, saying he was happy the hall \u201cexpanded to include other genres.\u201d \u201cFor me as a kid growing up at a time when they took music out of the schools, at a time the world was really changing, the Bronx was a war zone,\u201d he said. \u201cIt changed our lives. Me being a kid from Queens, it gave us an opportunity to express ourselves creatively and artistically and to really level up. It gave us a way to really see the world. As a young Black kid in Queens it made me feel empowered. It was the first time I saw kids that looked like me saying something that sounded powerful because, to be honest, most of the time I saw them on the news was\u2026 in handcuffs.\u201d Hip-hop, he said, connected kids and stories \u201call over the world.\u201d Asked about which rock \u2018n\u2019 roll performer inspired him. LL Cool J did not hesitate to name check Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, AC\/DC, Led Zeppelin and Billy Squier. \u201cI would listen to \u2018Hey Joe\u2019 consistently. You got guys like Billy Squier, that one song \u2018The Big Beat,\u2019 was one if the most important records in the whole hood,\u201d he said. \u201cBob Dylan, \u2018Subterranean Homesick Blues,\u2019 come on, man! The words and the lyrics and the stuff he does in that.\u201d He continued about DJs scratching the drum beats of classic songs with vinyl records, and of Run DMC\u2019s collaboration with Aerosmith for \u201cWalk This Way.\u201d \u201cWe appreciate rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. We\u2019re not against rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. We are not anti- rock \u2018n\u2019 roll at all. On the contrary,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all love.\u201d The love was reciprocated by Dave Grohl, who gave LL Cool J\u2019s performance an ovation. \u201cI\u2019ve definitely listened me to some Foo,\u201d LL Cool J said, adding that he and Grohl share a birthday, January 14. \u201cWe both always laugh about that,\u201d he said. He then talked about attending country shows and being impressed. \u201cI don\u2019t listen to country music riding in the car, but when you see country music live, these guys are really connected to relationships and telling stories \u2014 it\u2019s like hip-hop.\u201d Asks who he would like to see in the hall next, LL Cool J name-checked Outkast, Eminem, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B and Rakim, KRS 1 and others that did not have mainstream success. \u201cWe are all looking for something new and fresh. We all want to hear good music, and I don\u2019t know who it was but they said there was two types of music \u2014 good and bad,\u201d he said. Drew Barrymore wrapped herself in a towel and gave herself a facial to recreate the Go-Gos\u2019 iconic 1981 \u201cBeauty and the Beat\u201d album cover before inducting the band. For Barrymore, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was heaven in a place in earth, as she excitedly inducted a band she discovered when she was 6 years old. \u201cIf you\u2019d told tiny me that I\u2019d be up here introducing my heroes into the most notable rock club in human history, I would say, \u2018Well, I will do my best to honor these women,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBeauty and the Beat,\u201d she said, \u201cblew the doors off my life\u2026 It sounded like pure possibility,\u201d she said as she shared a photo of herself and Carlisle from when she was just 9. \u201cI spent hours staring at that cover and the back side, with all of them in the bathtub \u2014 the coolest girls in the world taking a spa day in cool-girl heaven.\u201d Gary Clark Jr. strapped on a guitar after inducting the late blues legend Charley Patton to perform \u201cHigh Water Everywhere,\u201d while Brandi Carlile performed \u201cAll I Have to Do Is Dream\u201d by the Everly Brothers for the In Memoriam segment, joined by twins Tim and Phil Hanesroth for three-part harmonies that paid homage to the Everlys\u2019 two-part magic. Later, Lionel Richie, who flew in to Cleveland one day after performing a sold-out show at the Wynn in Las Vegas to personality induct Avent into the hall, joked with reporters that he got his energy from drinking \u201c12 cups of coffee.\u201d \u201cSo many people are grateful to you, Clarence,\u201c he told an emotional Avent, as the exec known affectionately as \u201cthe Black Godfather\u201d received the Ahmet Ertegun Award on stage. \u201cYou have done so much for me and so many artists, you are truly the Godfather of us all.\u201d A planned all-star jam of Rolling Stones songs honoring the late Charlie Watts was apparently scrapped due to time constraints. Prior to entering the event, all attendees were asked to prove proof of vaccination for Covid-19, with rapid tests being administered to all with access to the backstage area. Last year\u2019s ceremony was moved to late fall due to the pandemic, and John Sykes, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation chairman, confirmed to the press backstage that the ceremony will now take place every November, with the next eligible Class of Fame ready to be unveiled in January. Throughout the weekend inside the hall, fans participated in a virtual fan vote located outside an exhibit of the current inductees, with Motley Crue leading the vote.<\/p>\n