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It was well past midnight when U2 finally took its place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The trailblazing Irish rock quartet joined the Pretenders, the O’Jays, Percy Sledge and Buddy Guy in the hall’s 20th class of performers. The four-hour induction ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel began Monday night and ran into the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Hall of Famer Bruce Springsteen welcomed U2 into the elite club. In a hilarious introduction, he teased the band about everything from its recent iPod commercial to singer Bono’s mullet hairstyle in the 1980s.

During their acceptance speeches, Bono, guitarist the Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. reminisced about their early days together in Dublin.
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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its twentieth anniversary — and the fiftieth anniversary of rock itself — Monday night in a ceremony that peaked with Bruce Springsteen inducting U2 and Neil Young ushering in the Pretenders. Justin Timberlake welcomed the O’Jays into the Hall, B.B. King and Eric Clapton joined forces to pay tribute to fellow bluesman Buddy Guy, and Rod Stewart inducted soul singer Percy Sledge.

“They’re both a step forward and direct descendants of bands who thought they could shake up the world,” Springsteen said of U2. “This was a band that wanted to lay claim to this world and the next one, too.”

“Born in the U.S.A., my ass,” U2’s Bono said as he took the stage. “That man was born on the north side of Dublin.” U2 then closed the ceremony with a four-song set, including “Until the End of the World,” with Bono wandering through the high-powered crowd, spraying champagne and singing to the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones. They then moved into “Pride (In the Name of Love),” with Bono adding a few lines from Springsteen’s “The Promised Land.” Read the rest of this story »

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Irish rock band U2 on Wednesday won the record-of-the-year Grammy Award for the second consecutive year, this time for “Walk On,” a ballad dedicated to Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

U2, which led the nominees at this year’s Grammys with nods in eight categories, ended up with four awards at the ceremony. The band’s career haul now stands at 14 Grammys, including the 2001 record of the year Grammy for “Beautiful Day.”

U2’s members — singer Bono, guitarist the Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. — beat out India.Arie’s “Video,” Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’,” Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” and San Francisco rock band Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.”

The record of the year Grammy, which also goes to the song’s producers, engineers and mixers, is for a commercially released single or track from a current year’s album.

© Reuters, 2002. All rights reserved.

U2 Star Voted One Of World’s Top Rockers

by Neil Michael

BONO has been named as one of the greatest rock stars of all time.

In next month’s Q music magazine poll, the charismatic U2 frontman comes in at number 18 beating the likes of Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen.

John Lennon was voted the top rocker, above fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley and Madonna.

The only other Irish inclusion is Elvis Costello who was ranked 94 in the poll.

Boyzone and The Corrs, despite their huge international success, were not included in the list.

Bono, who also beat Led Zeppelin’s Robert Clamp and blues legend James Brown, is described: “He saved the world with his silly glasses and leather trousers.

“History often records only the mullet and the flag waving, but from the start Paul Hewson blew in like a fire storm.

“He was the most motivated front man since Joe Strummer and the least bit bothered with stilted notions of cool,” says Q magazine.

“The passion and bravery of his IRA-bating speech in 1988’s Rattle And Hum - which left him in a very vulnerable personable position - has been very widely respected.

“Elsewhere he deserves to be saluted for his pioneering stage-diving tactics, his early hymn-like song writing and his later Dylanesque delight in the lyrically incisive and ironic.

“He also deserves to be saluted for his continual work as a political figurehead and for his standing as the most magnetic on-stage performer of the post-punk age.”

Despite this glowing praise, Bono has been quoted as saying: “I don’t really believe in the rock star role.

“For me, after many years of trying to dodge, I have at last found a way of playing with it.”

© 1999 The Mirror. All rights reserved.

IRISH GROUP

1. U2
2. The Corrs
3. Ash

IRISH MALE SINGER

1. Bono
2. Jack L
3. Neil Hannon

IRISH SINGLE

1. U2: “Sweetest Thing”

IRISH ALBUM

1. U2: Best of

IRISH LIVE ACT

1. U2

IRISH SONGWRITER

1. Neil Hannon
2. U2/Bono

IRISH MUSICIAN

1. Donal Lunny
2. Edge
3. Sharon Shannon
4. Tim Wheeler
5. Van Morrison
6. Larry Mullen

IRISH SLEEVE

1. U2: Best of

IRISH VIDEO

1. U2: “Sweetest Thing”

OVERALL BEST POLLING ACTS

1. U2
2. REM
3. Ash

© 1999 Hot Press. All rights reserved.