At the beginning of Saturday night's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, the biggest story seemed to be the guests who would not attend. Axl Rose's tantrum made the most headlines, but the illness-induced absence of cancer-stricken Beastie Boy Adam Yauch also threatened to put a damper on things. By the end of the five-hour ceremony, the story was, appropriately, more about the music.

  • The 800-pound gorilla made his presence known shortly before midnight when Green Day came out to induct Guns n' Roses, carefully avoiding mention of the words "Axl Rose," but defending the singer as a genius against loud crowd boos. The original band's remaining members -- other than Izzy Stradlin -- also skipped mention of their missing singer, and all delivered classy speeches. They later performed three early classics -- "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" -- with Slash's solo band singer Myles Kennedy filling in for the wacky Axl and Stradlin's replacement, Gilby Clarke, on guitar.
  • The Red Hot Chili Peppers not only brought a slew of past members to the party, they gave them prime placement during the induction ceremony, allowing original skinsman Cliff Martinez to offer up the first speech. Flea and Anthony Kiedis gave sweetly nostalgic acceptances, prominently mentioning late founding guitarist Hillel Slovak, before bouncing through an energetic set keyed by a three-drummer-powered "Give It Away." The Peppers later invited a slew of other attendees -- including Billie Joe Armstrong, George Clinton and Ronnie Wood -- for a short but punchy jam on Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground."
  • Public Enemy leader Chuck D and LL Cool J both lavished praise on The Beastie Boys, giving credit for the group's role in establishing their own careers. The two attending Beasties, Adam Horowitz and Michael Diamond, gave surprisingly nice speeches, and read a note from bandmate Adam Yauch, who is suffering from cancer. They didn't take the stage themselves, and a posse led by Kid Rock and Travis McCoy filled in admirably on a sharp medley of their hits.
  • Green Day kicked off the show with a furious take on their own "Letterbomb," punctuated by dozens of F-bombs and topped off with a powerful cross-stage guitar throw by Billie Joe Armstrong.

 

Motley Crue singer Vince Neil opened up his Girls, Girls, Girls strip club in Las Vegas Saturday night -- and he ended up take a fall while performing. Neil was starting the song his club is named after and attempted to climb on the strippers' stage when he took a tumble. Bit Neil didn't miss a beat. He started the vocal right on time.

 

Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler took a break from working on the band's reunion album Thursday night to jam with a bunch of musicians he's influenced. Butler was the surprise guest at Samson's "Metal Masters" series at the Key Club in Hollywood. He joined ex-Pantera singer Phil Anselmo, Megadeth's David Ellefson and Chris Broderick, Anthrax's Frank Bello and Charlie Benante, and members of Slayer to play Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky."

Before Butler came on stage, the musicians performed a brief set of songs by Pantera and Slayer.

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Linkin Park's single "Burn It Down" will be available today at all digital retailers. The track comes from their new album, for which they'll announce a title and release date later today. Linkin Park will tour this summer in support of the album, reportedly with Incubus.

Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington tells Spin that fans can expect their new album to sound a bit more familiar. He says, "On the last two albums, if someone brought in a song that felt very 'Linkin Park,' we were like, 'Mmm, let's move on.' We now know we have the skills and the tools to take those ideas and make them into what we're actually looking for, as opposed to getting into it and discovering that it just sounds really nu-metal."

IN STORES TOMORROW:

Evans Blue: Graveyard of Empires (Sounds + Sights Entertainment)
This is the fourth album from the Canadian rockers.

Thousand Foot Krutch: The End Is Where We Begin (TFK)
The sixth album from the California rockers is their first on their own label.

 

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