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Yet the the oddness of the juxtaposition that night highlighted a wider irony about the culture being celebrated. He’s never been anyone’s idea of a rebel, in other words. Exit Knights In Satan’s Service, enter the Anglo-Cypriot Islamic Tillerman.Ĭat may have enjoyed a little counter-cultural cache via his association with Harold and Maude (and more recently, Max Fisher), but his image remains a profoundly square one, the epitome of early 70s acoustic AOR. The whole thing was as endearing as it was absurd. He launched into a rambling and rather goofy acceptance speech, giving shout-outs to family members, fellow musicians, and, of course, “the All-wise and Almighty who made us all”. And then Cat Yusuf shuffled up there, grinning like a firecat. He sang a few notes of ‘Morning Has Broken’ and treated Yusuf’s radical conversion to Islam–and subsequent withdrawal from public/Western life–with respect. It was entertaining, but not as entertaining as what came next.Īrt Garfunkel took to the stage to introduce one Yusuf Islam née Cat Stevens. KISS was giving their acceptance speech when I tuned in: Peter Criss gave thanks for his remission from male breast cancer (say what?), a self-congratulatory Ace Frehley struggled to read his notes through enormous rose-tinted glasses, and then Paul Stanley lambasted the board of the Hall of Fame for not allowing more people to vote. Awards ceremonies usually make for great channel surfing interruptions (if awful destinations) and this one was no exception. I happened to catch a few minutes of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony when it aired on HBO the other night.