The Hall of Fame Salutes Punk Rock

From rhythm and blues to funk to punk to new-wave to teen-idol crooning, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored an array of styles and performers this past week as it paid tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Chet Atkins, Brenda Lee, Gene Pitney, Isaac Hayes, and perhaps most notably, The Ramones and The Talking Heads -- the first bands of the punk era to become inductees.

The ceremony led into a highly edited VH1 special, in which a speech given by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who inducted The Ramones, was cut much shorter than its rambling 17-minute length. "They were armed with two-minute songs that they rattled off like machinegun fire," Vedder said of The Ramones, according to the New York Times, "and it was enough to change the Earth's revolution. Now it's Disney kids singing songs written by old men and being marketed to 6- and 7-year-olds, so some kind of change might have to happen again soon."

Afterward, in another induction speech, Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis told that audience that hearing the Talking Heads for the first time made him want "to have sex with a lot of librarians."

Regardless of whom you'd like to meet "among the stacks," it's easy to have a love affair with the Hall of Fame's Class of 2002 … through books like the ones here, of course!

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Edited by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Johansen, Dee Dee Ramone, Patti Smith, Malcolm McClaren … those are just a few of the many characters who lent their voices to telling this story of the rise of New York City punk rock (for the book's L.A.-centric counterpart, check out We Got The Neutron Bomb). Constructed entirely of interview excerpts, Please Kill Me gives the behind-the-scenes scoop on bands that made it big -- including Blondie, The Ramones and The Talking Heads -- as well as lesser-known acts like The Dictators and Television. Along the way, of course, there are plenty of anecdotes involving drugs, sex, and mayhem in this wild romp through the gutters of memory lane.

This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century
by David Bowman
This biography from novelist-cum-music journalist Bowman chronicles the Head's story as they venture from art school to CBGBs (where they got their start opening for The Ramones) to the Billboard charts, as they added elements of new wave and African funk to their ever-experimental sound. Helping to explain the band's context in the art world, Bowman even discusses how their work intersected with that of other movers and shakers in avant-garde circles such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Brian Eno, and Twyla Tharp. Perfect for anyone who ever wanted an answer when David Byrne asked, "How did I get here?"

Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones
by Dee Dee Ramone
From his strange childhood in Berlin and Munich to his world tours with The Ramones to his heroin-quitting days in a cheap hotel, Lobotomy tells the story of bassist, songwriter and novelist (Chelsea Horror Hotel) Dee Dee Ramone, and, as expected, it ain't the prettiest of tales. Amidst the violence, addiction, and rock-and-roll history-making, Dee Dee recalls his memories of Sid Vicious, Johnny Thunders, and most notably, legendary producer Phil Spector -- who once held The Ramones up at gunpoint while he made them listen to him play "Baby I Love You" on the piano until 4:30 a.m. Although it's not the definitive biography of The Ramones (for that, see The Ramones: An American Band by Jim Bessman), Lobotomy has more than enough rough-edged charm to delight Ramones fans as well as the uninitiated.

Cooking With Heart & Soul
by Isaac Hayes
It makes sense that the man who hit the big time with an album called Hot Buttered Soul would have a deep-rooted passion for Southern cooking. In fact, long before he became South Park's Chef, Isaac Hayes worked as a short-order cook and made countless meals for his own five children as a single father. Cooking with Heart and Soul, however, is more than a mere recipe book; it's also full of fond reminiscences of Isaac's life as a songwriter, composer, superstar, and soul-food gastronomist. A lover of healthy living, Isaac thankfully incorporates his passion for both the delicious and the nutritious in his recipes, and the results are sensational. Cook on, Black Moses!

The New Sins
by David Byrne
Bound in red faux-leather and full of strange photographs and illustrations, including a revised map of the inferno, and text that claims to be "translated out of the original tongues," this latest literary offering from former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne seems like it could be the product of a bizarre religious cult. Like most dogmatic tracts, it's a book that can be both taken seriously or laughed at, and never fails to bewilder. So, what is it exactly? Well, for one, it's a piece of Art in the guise of religious kitsch…yet it's also a profound meditation on the contradictions of faith and sin. However you care to describe it, The New Sins is both hilarious and thought-provoking, a "laptop for the soul" that's perfect for both the righteous and the wayward.

For further reading ...

• Rock and Roll Biographies!