Kid Rock can stand there swigging a beer looking like he couldn't care less is because he could never, ever even begin to understand Patti and the depth of her work. Even though he is laughing all the way to the bank, it's his loss.
Oh for goodness sakes. To all the people criticizing that she should have thanked Robert Mapplethorpe, William Burroughs, Hilly Kristal, blah, blah blah! Get a life! She thanked the people she should have; her parents, spouse, kids and band members, plus a classy thanks to Clive Davis. I think this was probably one of the classiest acceptance speeches in RRHF history.
Who of us here watching Patti could not be swept up by her positivity and earthy goodness? At her core is such decency and genuine warmth that she just melts your heart. I love her music and I love her.
As a 26 year old I don’t know much about Patti Smith. I’ve been watching several videos of her and I can just see that she is so smart, articulate, so spiritual, and just true to the spirit and way of life that is Rock’n’Roll and Punk, unlike many of the people sitting there with their flashy hats and jackets.
So grateful this great artist was inducted into Hall of Fame. She's a true artist, writer, poet, and social activist! The first to set poetry to music to create a new art form. She follows her heart & only cares about the work she creates. She doesn't give a Fu*f about money or fame.
I’ve been listening to Patti Smith since I was 13! I’m a 54 year old grandma and STILL listen to her music on the daily! My teenage friends always questioned my love for her music, maybe they couldn’t hear the lyrics as well as I did? Nonetheless, she was and still is my favorite artist of all time! I heard “Because the Night” on the car radio recently and the damn dj gave credit to Patty Smyth! I was so hopping mad that I pulled over and called into the radio station and demanded the correction; funny, they complied;-)! Patti Smith is and always will be a legend! She deserved this, Congrats!!!
I hugged her one time in a book store, how embarrassing to gush over a star but I was nearly in tears, something I've never experienced in a chance encounter with a famous artist. Who does that, invading someone's physical space like that, gahhh. After she left the store, I nearly passed out from mortification, that I had just humiliated myself by becoming a puddle of emotion in her presence. This was at the now gone Gotham Book Mart in midtown Manhattan where I worked as a clerk and cashier, and she came through dropping off signed copies of one of her books for us to sell. She smelled so good! She was completely open, smiling, friendly, the type of person who hugs a stranger because they told her they were a lifelong fan and admirer. Maybe she saw how shook up I was, this would have been in 1996 or so, I was young. You assume a legend like her might be aloof or unwilling to speak with us mere mortals, but she was nothing like that. If you had passed her on the sidewalk, you would have just figured she was a bohemian hippie mom, with long slightly dreaded hair, wearing a long skirt and a t-shirt under a flannel shirt, like an artist who just came from their studio after sculpting or painting all day. Well, that's my story about a brief brush with a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend! I made an ass of myself but she was so nice it didn't matter! There are some people who are down-to-earth perceptive sweet-hearts, good kind souls. Then there are people like Kanye, who demand no one even look them in the eye or speak to them lest their bodyguards rough them up, just assholes who put on an act because they lack talent, brains, basic humanity, so they cover it up by an elaborate charade of phony superiority. I still have two buttons she gave me, one said peace and one said noise, from a new album. Thank you Patti, for being so kind to a starry-eyed kid, one of the Sonic Youth babies that you birthed in the No Wave movement of the 1970s.
In "Just Kids" she tells about the first time she was invited to do a poetry reading back in 1971 and someone suggested adding music. She thought of a guy she knew who played the guitar, called him and asked him if he could "play a car crash on the guitar". He said "Sure!" and agreed to add some musical background during the reading. That was Lenny Kaye. He's part of her band to this day. I find that so beautiful.
I saw her show in Glasgow, Scotland in the 90s. Before she went on stage she was down mingling with the audience just to say hi. I love that. I think she's amazing.
