Justin Timberlake, Lou Reed, Billy Joel and More Recruited for Rock Hall Inductions

Justin Timberlake, Lou Reed, Billy Joel and John Fogerty are among the artists that have been recruited to induct this year's class at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony on March 10th in New York. Timberlake, who is shooting the baseball film The Open Road in Louisiana, will fly to NYC to usher Madonna into the Hall, another in a long line of collaborations (he appears on the Material Girl's "Four Minutes to Save the World," the first single from her new album Hard Candy).

In other Hall of Fame news, the Velvet Underground's Lou Reed will induct Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, while Billy Joel will welcome John Mellencamp into the Hall. Additionally, Tom Hanks will introduce the Dave Clark Five, Fogerty will induct the Ventures, Ben Harper will welcome blues great Little Walter and Jerry Butler will induct the songwriting team and Philadelphia soul pioneers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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