Music legends join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Members of Metallica Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hamett, Robert Trujillo and James Hetfield (L-R) at the Rock and Roll Hall of fame induction ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. PIcture / Reuters

NEW YORK - Rebel rockers the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd have finally been ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after years of rejection but the Sex Pistols didn't bother to show up.

The 2006 class of inductees also included jazz legend Miles Davis and New Wave group Blondie, who made little secret of the antagonism between current and past members of the band at a ceremony marked by controversy, awkwardness and no-shows.

The ballroom of New York's Waldorf Astoria was packed with aging, long-haired rockers decked out in suits and gowns. Waiters in white ducked through swing doors adorned with graffiti to match a stage set designed to bring an air of seedy rock to the luxury of the chandeliered ballroom.

Musicians become eligible for consideration 25 years after their first recording and for several of those honored on Monday, the induction came too late for them to enjoy it.

Davis died of a stroke in 1991, Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a drug overdose in 1979 and several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a 1977 plane crash.

Living up to their reputation for thumbing their nose at the establishment, the Sex Pistols snubbed the ceremony.

Still remembered for outraging British society with such nihilistic anthems as "Anarchy in the U.K.," the punk rockers faxed a letter to organizers saying: "We're not your monkey."

"Next to the Sex Pistols, Rock and Roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain," said the letter which was read out by Hall of Fame vice president Jann Wenner.

British heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath and Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd were also rejected previously by the 700 or so "rock experts" who vote on a shortlist, but both turned up.

The original crew of Blondie were inducted into the Hall of Fame but it was the band's current lineup led by a red-haired Deborah Harry who performed three of their hits, including "Call Me." There was an awkward moment when the original band members said they wanted to join in but and were turned down.

Guitarist Chris Stein said backstage law suits over royalties had soured relations.

Black Sabbath, formed by four friends from Birmingham, England, almost 40 years ago, chose not to perform but singer Ozzy Osbourne, who was kicked out of the band in the late 1970s, said that was not because of any antagonism.

"If we'd have played everyone would have been f*****g dead at the end, the volume we play at," said Osbourne, the self-proclaimed "prince of darkness" who recently had a popular revival on the television reality series about his family, "The Osbournes."

Osbourne said that he was happy to be given the honor, despite anything he may have said to the contrary on the seven previous occasions when the band was rejected. "I thought at the end of the day they're never going to do it," he said.

Fellow heavy metal stars Metallica introduced the band, noting the honor came "a decade or so late," before performing the Black Sabbath songs "Iron Man" and "Hole in the Sky."

Like Black Sabbath, Florida band Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of the biggest and hardest-living bands of the 1970s. They played their best known hit "Sweet Home Alabama."

Several of Miles Davis's children accepted the honor on his behalf. "Father changed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Davis's daughter Cheryl said backstage, recalling his jazz roots and his impact on other musicians.

Trumpeter Herb Alpert and business partner Jerry Moss, the founders of A&M Records, were inducted as nonperformers.

Former Police frontman Sting introduced the pair, describing how they started the A&M record label back in 1962 with an initial investment of $100 each and built it into one of the most successful independent record labels.

- REUTERS/VNU