Iggy Pop, Madonna, and Justin Timberlake. Iggy Pop’s bandmate is quoted below
Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a ceremony at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last night. Justin Timberlake introduced her, and Iggy and the Stooges covered two of her hits, “Burning Up,” And “Ray of Light.”

Madonna personally asked Iggy Pop to perform her songs at the ceremony as a protest against the fact that his seminal group has never been asked to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite being nominated several times. Stooge’s guitarist Ron Asheton gave an interview ahead of the performance and said that his group was the anti-Madonna and that he didn’t even know any of her songs . He also said she’s “using us for business purposes”

“The Stooges represent everything that’s against what she is,” Asheton told the Free Press from his New York hotel this afternoon. “I don’t wish her ill. I don’t hate her or anything. But I’d never even heard of these songs until I had to listen to a tape and figure out what’s going on with them.”

In reality, Asheton says, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform as an act of protest: The group, widely considered a linchpin of early punk, has yet to be inducted by the rock hall, despite six appearances on the nomination ballot. By inviting the group on stage, she sends a message, says Asheton.

Last year’s rock hall ceremony featured a similar demonstration, when the night’s inductees performed the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” during a jam session finale.

“Basically she was upset that we’ve been nominated so many times and never made it, so she asked us to play in protest. And it was under those auspices that I thought we were doing it,” Asheton said. “At first I went, ‘Whaaat?’ Then Iggy said, ‘Why don’t you think about it?’”

It came together quickly: Madonna reached out to Iggy Pop just two weeks ago, Asheton says. The band, which had not performed together since closing out its latest tour in December, worked on the songs long-distance, with the Ashetons in Ann Arbor and Iggy home in Florida.

“Iggy said, ‘We’re gonna rock them up — just play ‘em like Stooges songs,’” Asheton recounted. “They actually sound pretty cool. We just rock ‘em out. You wouldn’t even recognize them as Madonna songs. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve actually enjoyed playing them…”

“I thought that right off the top — that, gee, I just heard she’s got a record coming out, and she’s trying to get a little Stooge shine. She’s a savvy businesswoman,” he said. “I think she actually does like the band. She wouldn’t have asked for us if she didn’t. But she’s also using us for business purposes.”

[From Detroit Free Press]

Madonna was said to look uncomfortable at first when Iggy and the Stooges were performing “Ray of Light,” Iggy jumping around without a shirt as usual, but was said to be laughing afterwards.

In Timberlake’s introduction, he talked about how Madonna gave him a B12 shot in the butt while he was working with her, and made a couple of Britney references:

“Madonna has changed the way our world sounded, she’s changed the way our world looked, and somehow she’s still found time to publicly kiss at least someone I may or may not have kissed myself,” Timberlake said. (It was not the only time Timberlake invoked Britney Spears; later, he said, “the world has long been full of Madonna wannabes, and I might have even dated a couple.”)

[From The Detroit News]

In Madonna’s acceptance speech she said the “F” word a couple times, and made two drug references, but the Detroit News called it “honest and sincere.” Madonna thanked her ballet teacher in Detroit who “told me at the age of 14 that I was special, that I needed to believe in myself, that I needed to go out into the world and pursue my dreams.” She also said of the people who told her she couldn’t make it, “who said that I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing… they pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance.”

Also inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night were John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, Gamble & Huff, late blues singer Little Walter, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five. The lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, Mike Smith, passed away late last month, but his bandmate Dave Clark said “At least Mike knew he was a Hall of Famer.”

I am looking hard to find a clip of The Stooges performance of “Ray of Light” last night. Let me know if you’ve it and I’ll add it to the post.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.