CLEVELAND — The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame revealed its 2021 class this week and everyone's abuzz, so I thought it might be fun to share one interesting trivia fact about each inductee along with exactly seven seconds of one of their songs, because that's as much as we can legally play without violating copyright and risking litigation.
So who's ready to Rock & Roll, very briefly and sporadically?!?!
But first, congratulations to Rage Against The Machine for being nominated but not selected for induction, as being disrespected by the system is obviously more on brand for them.
Fun Inductee Fact #1
The production cost of The Go-Go's first music video, for the song "Our Lips Are Sealed," was paid for by the band The Police. They were fans of the young band and wanted to help out. Nice blokes.
Fun Inductee Fact #2
I'll bet you didn’t know that Rock Queen Tina Turner is now officially Swiss. She applied for permanent status in Switzerland in 2013 and gave up her U.S. citizenship. I'm sure it's nothing personal.
Fun Inductee Fact #3
Did you know Carole King and her daughter sang the theme song for the long-running mother/daughter sitcom "Gilmore Girls"? That’s interesting, right?
I've heard my sisters talk about that show. Is that still a thing?
Fun Inductee Fact #4
As our uncles have repeatedly informed us, it's a travesty that it took this long for Todd Rundgren to get into the Rock Hall. But they didn't tell us he was also a tech whiz.
That's right, Rundgren created the world's first color graphics tablet back in 1980. It was even licensed by Apple, so turns out, he's got a lot of layers.
Fun Inductee Fact #5
Local connection alert! Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl has the distinct honor of having not a street, but an alley officially named after him in Warren, Ohio, which is the city of his birth. Also mine, not that anyone gives a woof.
And Fun Inductee Fact #6
New Hall member Jay-Z attended the same high school as fellow rap legend Busta Rhymes, and they even once rap-battled each other in the cafeteria, with Jay-Z coming out on top. So if you have any memories of anything that happened in your high school that you thought was cool, it turns out you were wrong.
Finally, special shout out to German band Kraftwerk, who are finally being inducted under the Early Influence category. Kraftwerk essentially invented electronic music, and whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing is totally dependent upon whether you ever lived in an apartment next door to someone who was really into techno.
In closing, congratulations to all of the 2021 Rock Hall inductees, and welcome to Cleveland. And just in case you're watching, Weird Al Yankovic, hang in there, buddy. Your day is coming, and justice will be yours, my friend.