HBO to air Dolly Parton’s induction into Rock Hall
LOS ANGELES — Two weeks after the rousing entrance of Duran Duran, Dolly Parton, Eminem and Lionel Richie and many others into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles will air on HBO at 8 p.m. Saturday night, when it can also be seen streaming on HBO Max. If past telecasts are any indication, the 6 1/2-hour event will be cut roughly in half for the television audience.
Many of this year’s Hall inductees had more fame than Judas Priest. None had more rock ‘n’ roll. The heavy metal mainstays delighted a room full of popminded Lionel Richie fans and Duran Duran stans who may well have shunned them in their 1980s heyday.
Parton, who temporarily turned down the honor thinking it should go to a more rocking artist, played up her new status, emerging for her performance in as much black leather as the guys in Judas Priest.
Newly minted members whose careers came behind the scenes rarely make Rock Hall headlines or get major minutes on TV. But sometimes those doing the inducting give them a big boost, as three Hall of Famers did this year.
Janet Jackson (class of 2018), dressed as she did on the cover of her breakthrough 1986 album “Control” to pay tribute to the men who helped her make it, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
Bruce Springsteen (class of 1999) sang the praises of Jimmy Iovine, who rose from a mere studio engineer on his 1975 album “Born to Run” to become one of the most important music executives of the past 30 years as founder of Interscope Records.
And John Mellencamp (class of 2018) made maybe the night’s most memorable speech, a long, sprawling, occasionally awkward but always heartfelt tribute to, of all things, a lawyer.
He inducted Allen Grubman, a co-founder of the Rock Hall and attorney to many current and future members.