Rhino Factoids: Hey! Ho! The Ramones Go into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

13 years ago today, the best and brightest bruddas to emerge from New York’s ‘70s punk rock movement were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a tremendous honor dampened only by the awareness that it was taking place less than a year after the death of frontman and co-founder Joey Ramone.

The crowd assembled at New York’s Waldorf Astoria went appropriately wild that evening, rising to their feet as Dee Dee, Johnny, Marky, and Tommy Ramone took the stage to accept their award, but that may have been at least partially because they were applauding the fact that Eddie Vedder – who was sporting a Mohawk for the occasion – had finally finished his introduction. Not that Vedder wasn’t trying to express his love of the band and their music, but probably could’ve been a bit more succinct about it: he ultimately went on for 16+ minutes.

In fact, as MTV reported at the time, Vedder began the process of wrapping things up by saying, “After this, I’m sure the evening will move quickly, but it’s the Ramones and it’s punk rock and I’m just about finished and I hope you’re OK with that,” but when he was met with a bit of booing, he replied, “Apparently you’re not. Fuck you.” So, uh, yeah, probably the audience was ready for him to go by that point. Hell, even Johnny Ramone stumbled slightly when offering a thank-you to Vedder, thanking him “for the…great intro.” (Then again, Johnny also threw the audience a curveball of his own by closing his remarks with the incredibly un-punk sentiment, “God bless President Bush, and God bless America.”)

Each of the Ramones took the microphone for a few moments in order to offer their thanks to the various people who’d helped them get to this point in their lives and careers, most notably Seymour Stein, but also including Hilly Kristal of CBGBs, some of the bands who inspired them (the Stooges, the MC5), and some of their peers (Talking Heads, Blondie). The biggest laugh, however, and maybe – or maybe not – the most telling remarks of the night came courtesy of Dee Dee, who used his time at the mike to say, “I’d like to congratulate myself and thank myself and give myself a big pat on the back. Thank you, Dee Dee. You’re very wonderful. I love you.”