Patti Smith
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Year:
2007
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Inducted by:
Zach de la Rocha
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Category:
Performers
Introduction
The high priestess of punk-poetry.
Rock was getting too slick for its own good when Patti Smith burst on the scene and tore it apart. She shrieked and howled literate yet street-savvy lyrics, unflinchingly confronting topics from religion to the Beat movement.
Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine Inducts Patti Smith
Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine Inducts Patti Smith at the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony-
Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine Inducts Patti Smith00:05:01
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Patti Smith Acceptance Speech00:07:45
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"Because the Night"00:03:49
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"Gimme Shelter"00:04:30
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Patti Smith Inducts Lou Reed00:06:57
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"Pale Blue Eyes"00:05:41
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"People Have the Power"00:04:58
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"I Wanna Be Your Dog"00:03:35
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"Because the Night"00:05:11
Hall of Fame Essay
2007
Patti Smith isn’t like the rest of us. Blame it on the childhood bout with scarlet fever that left her with recurring hallucinations a few years after her birth, in 1946.
Or perhaps on her view of faith. “They were open-minded people,” she once said. “They had interests that ranged from horse racing to religion to UFOs,” causing Smith to pursue religion for most of her childhood - but never catch it.
“I started out as a missionary, but I couldn’t find a religion that didn’t promise things to some people to the exclusion of others. The personal voyage into some kind of light shouldn’t be denied to anybody.”
The opening to “Gloria” might be one of the greatest moments in American music.
Photography: Kevin Mazur, WireImage