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Welcome To The Rock Hall Class Of 2024
These days, with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s expansive definition of “rock,” there’s something for most everyone at the induction ceremony, one of the most fulfilling live experiences a music fan of any stripe can have.
This year’s will take place at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Oct. 19 featuring inductees from a wide swath of musical genres, including rock (Peter Frampton, Foreigner), hip-hop (A Tribe Called Quest), pop (Cher), funk (Kool & the Gang), metal (Ozzy Osbourne), rock-jazz-jamband fusion (Dave Matthews Band) and R&B/hip-hop (Mary J. Blige). And there’s more when you include the disparate groupings of the Musical Influence Award’s Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall; and Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield representing the Musical Excellence category in addition to trailblazing executive Suzanne de Passe, 2024’s Ahmet Ertegun Award recipient. You can read more about all of these inductees in the following pages.
And if you can go or tune in to the Induction Ceremony, do, it’s history in the making. Each induction includes four powerful elements, which when taken together form an incredibly robust multi-dimensional narrative. This includes: a high-quality short doc with the inductee’s tent poles, primary sources, performance snippets and more; a presenter (or collaborator) whose life is deeply enriched by the inductee (this year’s includes such high-wattage luminaries as Dr. Dre, Dua Lipa, James Taylor, Jelly Roll, Julia Roberts, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Demi Lovato, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D and Ella Mai); the honoree’s speech, which they write themselves and provides great context and insight; and finally, the inductees’ performances, which at times features the world-class The Roots, this year’s Rock Hall house band, and always gives the most perspective into an artist’s genius than all the words combined.
If you’re not at the festivities at the Rock & Roll capital of the world, pop on your Disney+ or Hulu to livestream the festivities or tune into ABC at a later date and be prepared to ROCK!
Peter Frampton Shows Us The Way Into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame: The Pollstar Interview
In the summer of 1976, there was not a bigger artist on the planet than British singer/songwriter/guitarist Peter Frampton. A seasoned musician in his teens, Frampton had been grinding away in various bands for more than a decade by that point, including chart and live success with outfits The Herd and Humble Pie before breaking off as a solo artist in 1971. After a series of studio records released to middling success, Frampton exploded on his fourth solo record, the live double album that changed everything in Frampton Comes Alive!, released in January of ’76.
Recorded primarily at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco (his first as a headliner) and promoted by Bill Graham, Comes Alive! seized the public’s rock ’n roll imagination and catapulted Frampton into global stardom. The album, which has now sold more than 8 million copies, produced radio hits “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Show Me the Way,” spurred sold-out arenas and stadiums around the world, and expanded Frampton’s presence to multimedia saturation.
Then, seemingly as suddenly as it started, Frampton’s career faltered, a turn of events that has been endlessly pondered in the decades since as a cautionary tale. From Frampton’s perspective, he went back into the studio too soon, and was also recklessly marketed as a “pinup,” to use his word. Though he remained busy and creative, his carer languished for nearly a decade until receiving a major boost when childhood mate David Bowie invited him along as featured guitarist on the massive “Glass Spider World Tour.” Frampton has remained an active—and respected—recording and touring artist in the years since, culminating with his induction as part of the Class of 2024 for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Today, Frampton, at 74-years-young, is far from bitter and instead says he “has never been as happy” as he now is living in Nashville. Good humored, with proper British manners and a quick laugh, Frampton appears beyond grateful for both the loyalty of fans and his enduring fraternity with other artists past and present. A few years ago, Frampton revealed he had been diagnosed with inclusion body myositis (IBM), a progressive muscle disorder causing weakness in the limbs, among other issues. Even so, Frampton continues to perform live, if seated, and had just returned home from a New York City parks benefit when he spoke to Pollstar.
Long Live Rock (Media Platforms)! Why The Rock Hall’s Induction Ceremony Is A Music Nerd Paradise
At least you know I’m not lip-synching,” said Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran after an audio glitch forced his band to halt its performance to a packed-out Microsoft Theater (now the Peacock Theater) in Los Angeles for the cold opening of the 2022’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Thankfully, it was an anomaly, an exceedingly rare misstep during what is one of the most complex live events to produce and ultimately one of the most fulfilling live experiences a music nerd can ever have.
These days, with its expansive definition of “rock,” there’s something for almost everyone at the induction ceremony, which this year will be held at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse where inductees from a wide swath of music genres will be honored. In addition to rock (Peter Frampton, Foreigner), there’s hip-hop (A Tribe Called Quest), pop (Cher), funk (Kool & The Gang), metal (Ozzy Osbourne), rock-jazz-jamband fusion (Dave Matthews) and R&B/hip-hop (Mary J. Blige). There’s much more when you include the disparate groupings of the Musical Influence Award’s Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall; and Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield representing the Musical Excellence category in addition to trailblazing executive Suzanne de Passe, 2024’s Ahmet Ertegun Award recipient.
CAA’s Jenna Adler On How A Tribe Called Quest Shifted Culture
It may come as a surprise that A Tribe Called Quest only got into the Rock Hall in 2024 – almost 10 years after becoming eligible for induction thanks to their debut album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythmcoming out in 1990.
The record, and especially its follow-up, The Low End Theory, were nothing short of revolutionary in terms of what hip-hop could sound like. Q-Tip, the late Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White had created a truly unique sound: a blend of soul, jazz, and rock samples, serving as the canvas on which the group spilled out some of the most profound lyrics ever spoken in rap music.
The band’s agent at CAA, Jenna Adler, described their legacy as “poetry, that transcended music and spoke to everybody. They shifted culture, fusing all the genres, rock, jazz, all through their records, at a time when the cool kids didn’t know what jazz was, or thought it was something that only their parents listened to.”
If You Could Turn Forward Time: Cher Enters Rock Hall
In 2003, Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian), was on her way to retirement when she launched “Living Proof: The Farewell Tour.” She initially set out to play 49 shows, capping off a luminous career that began in the mid-’60s, first as part of the ground-breaking husband-and-wife duo Sonny & Cher, who were considered part of the counterculture, and then as a phenomenally successful solo artist, actress and fashion icon. Along the way, she smashed glass ceilings and ran circles around critics while winning an Oscar, Grammy and Emmy.
True to her resplendent and resilient form, instead of bowing out, Cher’s farewell tour turned into a massive mid-career comeback expanding to 200 dates and grossing $200 million – the highest-grossing tour for any woman at the time. That record wasn’t broken until 2008. Still, to this day, only a handful of women have ever surpassed Cher’s touring gross.
Dave Matthews Band Jams Into The Rock Hall
Emerging from the fecund college scene of the University of Virginia in the early 1990s, Dave Matthews Band has spent more than three decades brewing a unique stew that’s proven poppy enough for radio, musically interesting enough to draw critical attention and enduring enough to create fans ever eager to hear what’s next.
The band’s eponymous lead singer and guitarist was born in South Africa and bounced from his home country to England to New York before settling in Charlottesville. He’s largely self-taught on his instrument of choice, which results in chord fingering and strumming techniques that have confounded the formally-trained ever since he took the stage for the first time in the early ‘90s. Unfettered by orthodoxy, Matthews’ reliance on efficiency of motion and ease of transition allows for a grooviness and smoothness that is the foundation for his band’s sound.
His voice — itself an amalgam of all the places he’s lived — is a map of the world, an auditory adventure that can growl and shriek and swoon and purr in rapid succession.
Juke Box Heroes: Family, Friends, Fans & A Whole Lot Of Hits Propel Foreigner To The Rock Hall
Foreigner was almost over before it even began.
When English musician Mick Jones found himself stuck in New York City and without a gig, his manager encouraged him to continue writing songs and to put his own group together. His first recruit was keyboard player Al Greenwood. The pair jammed and wrote for two weeks, but Greenwood became impatient and had decided to tell Jones this new group wasn’t for him, that he’d stick with his old band.
And then Jones played him the opening riff to “Cold As Ice.”
Robert ‘Kool’ Bell On How Kool & The Gang Is Continuing To Celebrate The Good Times
Kool & the Gang’s indelible, danceable tunes are at home everywhere from wedding receptions to political conventions (both Democrat and Republican) to movies (including “Jungle Boogie” featured in “Pulp Fiction” and “Summer Madness” in “Rocky.”) And Kool & the Gang has even made it to space, with the mega-hit “Celebration” played as one of the wakeup songs on the Space Shuttle program’s final mission in 2011.
“My mother told my brother and I, Ronald (who was the major writer for ‘Celebration’), ‘People always like a good melody that’s easy to remember,’” Kool & the Gang co-founder and bassist Robert “Kool” Bell tells Pollstar. “‘Celebrate good times’! Or ‘Get Down On It.’ Those types of songs. It captivated our audience for so many years. I mean, you got The Muppets doing ‘Celebration.’”
The Bell brothers teamed up with five of their childhood friends — Robert “Spike” Mickens, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, Ricky Westfield, George Brown and Charles Smith — to form an instrumental band in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 known as the Jazziacs. Following several name changes, the group landed a record deal with De-Lite and released their debut self-titled album in 1969.
No More Drama: Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J. Blige Earns Rock Hall Induction
Mary J. Blige has been breaking musical ground since signing on to Uptown Records in 1989, becoming the label’s youngest and first female artist. She made history again with her 1992 album debut, What’s The 411?, combining the grit of hip-hop with the soulfulness of R&B and establishing a blueprint for a new genre: hip-hop soul.
In 2022, she turned heads as the first (and only) woman to perform in a hip-hop-focused co-headlining slot for a Super Bowl Halftime Show, along with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
Now she’s making history again as an inductee of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2024.
The Ozzman Cometh (Again): Ozzy Osbourne Gets His Rock Hall Due As A Solo Artist
Having already gotten his Rock Hall due as frontman of heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath in 2006, Ozzy Osbourne is now rightfully being recognized by the Rock Hall for his solo career, which, when he’d been fired from Sabbath in the late ‘70s, was no sure thing.
“He’d been fired. Everybody was like, ‘Oh, well, he’s gone,’” wife and longtime manager Sharon Osbourne told Pollstar previously. “What lead singer gets fired and then comes back again on their own?’ They hadn’t at that time, not from a band like Sabbath.”
Ahmet Ertegun Award Honoree Suzanne de Passe On Not Taking No For An Answer & The Power Of A Great Attitude
If not for trailblazing executive Suzanne de Passe, the world might not have been introduced to the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson. After all, in her job as creative assistant to Motown founder Berry Gordy, it was de Passe who helped sign the Jackson 5 to the label in 1968 after Gordy initially said no.
De Passe, who got her start in the industry as the talent coordinator at New York’s Cheetah nightclub, is being honored with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Ahmet Ertegun Award, given to non-performing industry professionals who have had a major influence on the creative development and growth of rock ’n’ roll and music that has impacted youth culture. During her nearly six decades in the entertainment industry de Passe has continued trusting her gut and using her persistence to become one of the first leading female executives in the business.
Other notable signings for de Passe, who eventually led Motown’s records division, include The Commodores and Rick James.
She’s also helped pave the way for women in TV and film including co-writing the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the 1972 Billie Holiday biopic “Lady Sings the Blues,” starring Diana Ross. De Passe became President Of Motown Productions, with career highlights including producing and co-writing the Emmy Award-winning anniversary special “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever,” which featured a Supremes reunion and Jackson’s moonwalk. Post-Motown, de Passe went on to found the Emmy Award-winning TV content and production company de Passe Jones Entertainment.
Musical Influence Award: Rock Hall Honors Alexis Korner, John Mayall & Big Mama Thornton’s Impact On Pop Music
The blues may not be featured prominently on streaming and sales charts, but true music fans know the genre’s influence on pop music of the past and present, from The Beatles to Luke Combs to Derek Trucks, has never wavered, and its rebellious spirit lives on thanks to institutions like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The foundation has honored the trailblazers for more than 40 years and evidently continues to do so by recognizing a trio of pioneers who had a hand changing all of pop music, influencing the legendary rock bands who spearheaded the British invasion of the 1960s and Elvis Presley, who borrowed heavily from blues musicians to break into the mainstream. This year, the Rock Hall is presenting the Musical Influence Award to standout singer Big Mama Thornton and British blues masters Alexis Korner and John Mayall.
Musical Excellence Award: Rock Hall Honors Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick, MC5 And Norman Whitfield
Jimmy Buffett, whose “Gulf & Western” style of music combined Caribbean rhythms and instrumentation with the Texas troubadour songwriting influence embodied by friend Jerry Jeff Walker, wasn’t just a musician – he was a culture creator, an entrepreneur and an author, among other things.
Since 1973, his songs reflected his pleasures as a world traveler, pilot, and sailor and were often based on real events: “Jamaica Mistaica,” “Buffet Hotel,” “A Pirate Looks at 40.” But his biggest hits struck chords and made new fans with every release: “Why Don’t We Get Drunk,” “Come Monday,” “Margaritaville,” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” may not have been deeply profound, but they sure were fun.