We know you probably didn’t watch the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony last night. So here’s a quick run down of what you missed:

• Gamble & Huff, Little Walter, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen, Madonna, and John Mellencamp got inducted.
• Leonard Cohen was introduced by noted boxing blogger Lou Reed and covered by Damien Rice who, despite doing the world’s billionth “Hallelujah” cover in the vein of Jeff Buckley, was surprisingly moving.
• Justin Timberlake introduced Madonna in the speech of a thousand frat boy sex puns (“induct her … enter the hall“), talked about Madge’s many imitators (“and I may have even dated a couple”), and shared an anecdote of that time she gave JT a B-12 shot in the ass.
• Madonna gave an awesome speech about taking drugs with her closest confidants and working hard that made us love her a little bit more.
• The Stooges Iggy Pop covered “Burning Up” and “Ray Of Light” in tuxedo. (Just kidding he was only wearing jeans obvs.) Also Mike Watt was wearing a fantastic mustache.
• Billy Joel did a good job introducing John Mellencamp, and people in the heartland learned for the first time last night Billy is “Jewish, not Italian.”
• John Mellencamp is the most boring man alive. And his son is definitely better looking than you.

But as with all these things, there’s plenty that went down away from the film crew. For a little more detail on the shitshow, Stereogum sent ace photographer Kyle Dean Reinford to spend the night in the Waldorf-Astoria press room, taking pictures of the inductees and the many random celebrities in attendance (Ed Burns and Christie Turlington?). Here’s his report of what you didn’t see or hear on TV…

Read More...