Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson Induct Lou Reed Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Photo (c) Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Last night, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its class of 2015: Lou Reed, Green Day, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bill Withers, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. 

Patti Smith inducted Lou Reed into the Hall of Fame and Laurie Anderson accepted on her late husband’s behalf. Watch both speeches below. You can read Smith’s full speech here and Anderson’s here.

In honor of Reed, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O and Nick Zinner did “Vicious” and Beck did “Satellite of Love” from Transformer. (Video has not surfaced of those performances quite yet.)

Miley Cyrus inducted Joan Jett, who promptly tore into “Bad Reputation”. She brought out Dave Grohl for a cover of the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb”, and later, Cyrus and Tommy James came onstage for a performance of Jett’s hit cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crimson and Clover”.

Ringo Starr received the Award of Excellence, which was presented by Paul McCartney. Starr performed a series of Beatles and solo songs, and the night ended with the obligatory all-star jam of “I Wanna Be Your Man”.

Fall Out Boy inducted Green Day, who performed “American Idiot”, “When I Come Around”, and “Basket Case”. Later, they came up on stage to do “With a Little Help From my Friends” with Starr and McCartney.

The 1950s R&B group the “5″ Royales won the Early Influence Award, which was presented by Booker T & the MGs’ Steve Cropper.

John Mayer inducted the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose brother Jimmy accepted his award. Later, Mayer teamed up with Dolye Bramhall II, Gary Clark Jr., Jimmy Vaughan and Double Trouble to do a medley of “Pride & Joy”, “Texas Flood”, and “Six Strings Down”.

The Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, Chic, N.W.A., Sting, and Kraftwerk all earned nominations this year, but were not inducted.

Patti Smith:

Laurie Anderson:

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts:

Ringo Starr:

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