Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Rough Night for Rock

R.E.M. ended out a lengthy night of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions with a gracious salute by Michael Stipe to the other inductees: Van Halen, Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and The Ronettes.

The Athens, GA native band, who set the stage early in the 80s for a myriad of alt-rock and, later, emo bands was honored at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria. Michael Stipe and crew even played The Stooges’ “I wanna be your dog” to the delight of ceremony attenders.

The night’s shocker (for me anyways) was the lack of Van Halens that showed up to accept the HOF award for Van Halen. The only members to show up were Sammy Hagar (VH’s 2nd frontman) and Michael Anthony (the bass player that was fired just in time for their supposed reunion tour this summer).

Here’s the scoop. Eddie Van Halen is in rehab for alcoholism. Eddie has a known past with alcohol. Despite a long stint of sobriety, he was reportedly “drinking his butt off” during their 2004 tour. His brother Alex declined to appear, as did original frontman David Lee Roth. VH’s reunion tour for this summer was called off in late February, due to internal conflicts after only one rehearsal.