Dolly Parton, Eminem, Judas Priest and More Inducted Rock Hall of Fame

This year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, with Eminem, Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Judas Priest, Eurythmics and more among the Class of 2022.

For his performance, Eminem delivered a medley of hits, beginning with ‘My Name Is’ and ‘Rap God’. He played ‘Sing for the Moment’ with Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler and ‘Stan’ with Ed Sheeran. He also delivered his verse from the Drake, Kanye West and Lil Wayne collab, ‘Forever’, plus ‘Not Afraid’. Later in the evening, Em was inducted by mentor Dr. Dre, who said the rapper had “brought hip hop to middle America and offered kids who looked like him a way to connect to it.”

Eminem Performs a Medley of Hits at the Rock Hall Induction Ceremony

The evening began with Robert Downey Jr. inducting Duran Duran. The UK new wave band performed a medley of hits, including ‘Girls on Film’, ‘Rio’ and ‘Ordinary World’. The band’s former guitarist Andy Taylor was not present for the performance – Taylor was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer four years ago, as Le Bon explained to the audience.

Eurythmics were inducted by U2 guitarist The Edge and later performed their songs ‘Would I Lie to You?’, ‘Missionary Man’ and ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’. Pat Benatar was joined by longtime musical collaborator and husband Neil Giraldo, who was also inducted. The pair performed ‘Love Is a Battlefield’.

Dolly Parton was inducted by P!nk. During her acceptance speech, Parton acknowledged the minor controversy she sparked earlier in the year. The country singer initially declined her Rock Hall nomination, believing the honour was for “the people in rock music.” She later reversed her position, saying she would “gracefully” accept the induction if selected, and the Rock Hall confirmed her induction the following month.

“Back when they said they were gonna put me in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I didn’t really feel like I had done enough to deserve that,” Parton said. “I didn’t understand at the time that it’s about more than that. But I’m just honoured and so proud to be here tonight.”

She later performed the new song ‘Rockin’ Years’, as well as ‘Jolene’. For the latter, she was joined by Benatar, Eurythmics’ Annie Lenox and Dave Stewart, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Brandi Carlile and more. Watch that below.

Lionel Richie was inducted by Lenny Kravitz and performed his solo classics ‘Hello’ and ‘All Night Long’, plus the Commodores hit ‘Easy’. For the latter, he was joined by Foo Fighters front person Dave Grohl on guitar.

Carly Simon was unable to attend the ceremony due to the recent deaths of her sisters. Sara Bareilles read an acceptance speech written by Simon and Olivia Rodrigo performed her hit ‘You’re So Vain’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnTNp_2hW1g

Judas Priest, after being inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame by Alice Cooper, delivered their first performance with early drummer Les Binks since 1979, and first with former guitarist K. K. Downing in more than a decade.

The evening was closed out by Bruce Springsteen, the Zac Brown Band and John Mellencamp, who covered ‘Great Balls of Fire’ by the recently deceased Jerry Lee Lewis. Lewis was part of the Rock Hall’s first inductee class in 1986. Elsewhere, Janet Jackson inducted her collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Producer turned industry mogul Jimmy Iovine and the late Sylvia Robinson were also inducted.

.@springsteen just closed the show at the 2022 @rockhall ceremony with a tribute to The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis. Backed by @zacbrownband and with special guest @johnmellencamp. pic.twitter.com/gzXS46EYmi

— None But The Brave Springsteen Podcast (@NBTBPodcast) November 6, 2022