The 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony happened last night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, where acts like Hall & Oates, Kiss, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt and Peter Gabriel were bestowed with the designation (see the full list of this year’s inductees here). But the biggest moment(s) of the night came when grunge pioneers Nirvana were honored, 20 years after Kurt Cobain’s death.
R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe was on hand to introduce the group, saying, “Nirvana were artists in every sense of the word. Nirvana tapped into a voice that was yearning to be heard. Nirvana were kicking against the mainstream. They spoke truth and a lot of people listened.”
“They were singular and loud and melodic and deeply original,” he continued. “And that voice. That voice. Kurt, we miss you. I miss you. This is not just pop music. This is something much greater than that.”
As Rolling Stone notes, it wasn’t just lip service; Stipe and Cobain had a real-life friendship, and even planned to record together in Georgia before Cobain’s death. Courtney Love has said she found a copy of Automatic for the People in Cobain’s stereo after his body was discovered. The R.E.M. song “Let Me In,” from 1995’s Monster, was inspired by Cobain. (Watch Stipe talk about the loss of his friend in a 1994 video.)
To close out the ceremony, the remaining members of Nirvana played Nirvana songs with vocal help from Lorde, Joan Jett, Kim Gordon and others. Check out Lorde take the lead on “All Apologies” below.
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