Revisiting The Beatles' 1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

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Revisiting The Beatles' 1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
By Troy L. Smith, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on April 07, 2015


Former Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr are joined by the late John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono as they accept Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awards. Scanned from a library print on March 11, 2009 rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. (UPI)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have never shared an embrace at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

Call it a result of unique circumstances or bitter grudges. But it will all change on Saturday, April 18 when McCartney inducts Ringo Starr into the Rock Hall as a solo artist.

The Beatles were inducted as a band in 1988. Yet Paul McCartney chose not to attend. George Harrison, Ringo and John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono were on hand to accept the honor.

Mick Jagger inducted the band. Ringo then came to the microphone to deliver a few jokes.

"I've been nominated to say hi and thank you," said Ringo. "You can sit down. I'm going to be here for hours."

"I'd really like to thank everyone here and everyone that's inducted us into the Hall of Fame...Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Harrison went on to say, "The reason we became a band is because of all of the other people who are in the Hall of Fame already...We just wanted to get guitars and get in a band because we didn't have proper jobs at the time. Anyway, it sort of turned out fine and got a bit bigger than any of us expected."

 


Harrison and Ringo later hit the stage with an all-star lineup featuring Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and others to perform "I Saw Her Standing There."



Meanwhile, McCartney released a statement:

''After 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences, which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven't been, so I would feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.''

Clearly, issues have been resolved. McCartney inducted Lennon as a solo artist in 1994 and will do the same for Ringo in Cleveland. In fact, McCartney says the genesis of Ringo's induction began with him:

"I said, 'Let me see what I can do,'" McCartney recently told Rolling Stone. "And I talked to Bruce Springsteen and I talked to Dave Grohl, and they both said he should be in. And I said I'd do the induction. That took care of it."

There you have it.