Eminem, Jimmy Page, Flea Among Presenters At 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony

Eminem, Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the artists who will induct the 2009 class of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers at a ceremony in Cleveland on April 4th. Eminem, who returns from a long hiatus with a pair of Relapse albums due out this year, will welcome rap icons Run-DMC into the Rock Hall. San Francisco metal gods Metallica will be inducted by Flea, whose own band will become Rock Hall-eligible next year.

(Photos: see this year's Rock Hall class and the artists who will honor them.)

One Yardbird will induct another as Jimmy Page salutes his former band mate and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Beck. This will be Beck's second time as an inductee: he entered the Hall as a Yardbird in 1992; this time it's for his solo work. (Page, himself a two-time Hall of Famer reentered as a member of Led Zeppelin in '95.) This year's all-star jam already promises to be a guitar fan's dream. Not only will Beck, Page and James Hetfield be on hand, but Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood will be there to induct R&B singer-guitarist Bobby Womack.

A pair of popular late-night television musicians will also be on hand. David Letterman's sidekick Paul Shaffer will honor songwriting great Spooner Oldham, while E Streeter and Conan O'Brien bandleader Max Weinberg will welcome DJ Fontana into the Hall. Another E Street Band member will take the stage when bassist Garry Tallent posthumously inducts Elvis Presley's bassist Bill Black. Finally, Smokey Robinson will take the podium to pay tribute to vocal group Little Anthony & the Imperials.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be carried live on Fuse at 9 pm on April 4th, and Rolling Stone will have you covered in the days leading up to the event. For all the cover stories, photo histories, definitive playlists and each artist's road to the Rock Hall, be sure to check out our coverage in one convenient spot:

• Rolling Stone's Essential Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Coverage

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  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
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  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
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  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

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