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| photo: Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame / Facebook |
Steve Miller was inducted into the 2016 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame during an April 8 ceremony at New York’s Barclays Center.
The Steve Miller Band has had 25 members in the past five decades, but the guitarist stood alone at the podium to accept the honor as the sole inductee on behalf of his group.
Miller was honored at the event alongside fellow inductees Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Chicago and N.W.A.
Following an induction speech by The Black Keys, the Milwaukee-born rocker traced his music career from the 1950s forward, including a key move from Chicago to San Francisco in the mid-60s.
After recognizing all the members of his band through the years, Miller offered a comment on the Rock Hall.
“I encourage you to keep expanding your vision,” he said, “to be be inclusive of women, to be more transparent in your dealings with the public and most importantly, to do much more to provide music to our schools.”
Miller and his band then delivered a three song mini-set of timeless classics including “Fly Like An Eagle”, “Rock’n Me” and “The Joker.”
Miller returned to the stage to join the all-star jam at the end of the evening led by the night’s final inductees Cheap Trick.
The guitarist made some headlines backstage with a rambling speech before the press about his thoughts on the evening, reports the New York Times.
"The whole process needs to be changed; from the top to the bottom,” said Miller. “Doesn’t need to be this hard, there’s nothing fancy going on out there that requires all of this stuff. They need to get their legal work straight, they need to respect the artists they say they’re honoring, which they don’t — I don’t have any of my paper work...signed. I have no licensing agreement with these people, they’re trying to steal my footage, they’re trying to make me indemnify them.”
“When they told me I was inducted they said, ‘You have two tickets — one for your wife and one for yourself,” he added. “Want another one? It’s $10,000. Sorry, that’s the way it goes.’ What about my band? What about their wives?”
On a related note, the involvement of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner as chairman of the Rock Hall Foundation and one of the institutions’ founders is often cited as uncomfortable by artists and fans, given the magazine’s penchant for favoritism of some artists over others.
Interestingly, Rolling Stone has published the text of acceptance speeches by all of the 2016 inductees except Miller, and the media outlet has not made any references to his backstage comments at press time … two days after the event.
The Steve Miller Band will launch a summer tour of North America on June 17 in Northfield, OH, with shows ending September 4 in a co-bill date with Santana, Journey and Doobie Brothers at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
See also:
Steve Miller Band announces North American tour
Steve Miller thrilled with 2016 Rock Hall induction
Deep Purple, Cheap Trick among 2016 Rock Hall Of Fame inductees
Steve Miller thanks fans for Rock Hall nomination
Search The Steve Miller Band at hennemusic
