Raucous Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction with Public Enemy, Rush and Oprah

The 26th annual ceremony officially inducted Roosevelt’s Public Enemy, progressive rockers Rush, blues guitar wizard Albert King, disco queen Donna Summer, hard rockers Heart, singer-songwriter Randy Newman, producer Quincy Jones and manager Lou Adler into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

However, the night, which will be broadcast May 18 on HBO, was far more raucous than that — from Don Henley calling Newman’s induction “shamefully overdue” to Foo Fighters Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins egging on the crowd, overwhelmingly filled with fans of Rush, by yelling the names of the band’s albums in chronological order with growing intensity.

Chuck D. said that from his unique vantage point on the stage, he could see the crowd’s bewildered reaction to Flavor Flav’s speech, which bounced from promises to retire his clock necklace to explaining how Public Enemy was instrumental in getting the state of Arizona to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday.

“I was looking at 10,000 folks — a large percentage of them, wealthy white folk — looking astonished,” Chuck D. said backstage. “I had to just think of the producers at HBO, the producers of the show just saying, ‘What the -- ! We’ve never had anything like this before.”

While Public Enemy received the rare honor of being induced into the Rock Hall in its first year of eligibility, the group, which Henley called “this peculiar, perplexing organization,” had Rush wait 14 years and Newman more than two decades. Newman and Henley teamed up to sing “I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It)” as a commentary on the wait, which Newman has borne graciously.

SEE PHOTOSLI's Public Enemy then and now

Rush drummer Neil Peart drew a huge ovation for his acceptance speech. “We’ve been saying for a long time this isn't a big deal,” he said. “Turns out, it kind of is.”

After all, as Chuck D. said in his acceptance speech, “"We all come from the damn blues. Let's not get it twisted.”