Patti Smith & Zack de la Rocha, 2007

Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha inducted Patti Smith into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, perfectly encapsulating the punk-poet’s contributions as musician and activist. The 2007 Rock Hall ceremony marked a victory for punks and revolutionaries the world over.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yah, Welcome to Induction Vault, a production of I Heart
Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame m hmm.

(00:31):
In two thousand seven, one confrontational voice honored another as
Rage against the Machines, Zach Dela Rocha inducted Patti Smith
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dayla Roacher
perfectly encapsulated the punk poets contributions. As musician and activist.
Smith doesn't just sing, she screams, cows and chants above all,

(00:54):
Dayla Roacher proclaimed Smith quote revealed truth, regardless of the
political and social consequences. The two thousand seven Rock Calls
ceremony marked a victory for punks and revolutionaries the world over. UM.

(01:19):
I read an article recently with the author some critic
had identified the very moment that the cultural revolution died.
If you can believe that, according to this guy, the
spirit passed in the summer of nineteen sixty nine when
violence broke out at a free Rolling Stones concert at
the Ultimot Speedway. How such a ridiculous conclusion could be

(01:44):
drawn escapes me when you consider that the seventies would
produce some of the most revolutionary art that the world
would ever see. If there was even a grain of
truth to what this guy had to say, somebody forgot
to tell Patti Smith. Yeah. By the time A. Mary

(02:08):
Baraka had released the now infamous poem It's Nation Time,
and Marvin Gay two years later released What's Going On,
one of the sparks that set the punk Prairie Fire
had left South Jersey for the Lower east Side of Manhattan.
In with Lenny Kay, Ivan Krawl, Richard Soul, and J. D. Dougherty,

(02:33):
Patty Smith released Horses. The opening to Gloria might be
one of the greatest moments in American music. The piano
line and the space within it speaks to us like

(02:55):
a dark gospel, and then you hear that voice and
you think nothing could be this haunting and nothing could
be this healing at the same time, and then the
words Jesus died for someone's sins but not mine, delivered
like someone who left the church that was oppressive America

(03:18):
and burned it to the ground. The body of the
song becomes a celebration of the outsider and possesses a
chaos that only Patty can summon and only she can control.
She sings, screams, howls, chance so it tuned to the
moment that anticipating the next one is an impossibility. The

(03:43):
breath between her words is as powerful as the words themselves,
and by the end of the song, a couple of
things were made. A parent punk seeds have been planted,
the culture would be changed forever, and it would be
hard for me to her listen to Van Morrison again.

(04:05):
In nineteen seventy six, Patty released Radio Ethiopia, the songs
a little more refined, but still daring and still carry
that outsider's dignity. In eight she released Easter, where, along
with Bruce Springsteen, co wrote she would have her first

(04:27):
hit because the Night. But Patty's spirit ultimately proved too
restless for radio and far too threatening. She seemed far
more interested in creating transcendent, poetic moments than fashionable hits,

(04:49):
because she had already carved her legacy and something much deeper.
The movement she helped define. Explain why people like me
related more to the Bad Brains than we did to
the Eagles, why we champion the clash and hated Ronald Reagan,
and why and why we dropped our textbooks and picked

(05:11):
up Sana Sanchez, Alan Ginsburg and lengths and hughes, expanding
rocks boundaries. Patti Smith, the poet, revealed truth, regardless of
the political and social consequences. Patty once said, I stand
in front of a microphone and I'm not afraid. And

(05:32):
she remains just that, fearless, fearless throughout her losses, fearless
as a mother, fearless when she put the Bush administration
up on the firing line for this illegal war and
pulled her poetic trigger. Fearless and pros and fearless in

(05:57):
her life. It is my honor and privilege to induct
Pattie Smith. It's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
After the break, we're here. The excepted speech from Hattie
Smith on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction bolt.

(06:25):
Thank to you, mhm, thank you, um, I uh sorry,
I'm I'm very proud to be here, and I'm really

(06:49):
very happy. And if it seems like I'm not, it's
just that so many people that I love that would
that are so happy for me, have a different seat
there a bit higher up. But them that I know that.
But my mom and my dad, and my brother and

(07:12):
and Fred and so many people that I love for
are with US, and first I would like to thank
Clive Davis. Clive. When I came to Clive, I was

(07:33):
really awkward, arrogant. I couldn't really sing. I had pretty
uh clumsy movements. I had a lot of guts, not
a whole lot of talent, but he um he had
faith in me and let me go out of the
gate just a colt and stayed with me. Thank you, Clive.

(07:58):
And I want to thank my present company Columbia, who's
being so kind to me at this time, and the
three women who shepherd me all through my years Jane Friedman,
I'm on my back, and Rosemary Carol. I want to

(08:23):
thank It's like at the Academy Awards, isn't it. I
want to thank all of the musicians that I have
collaborated with. Rock and roll is a collective, it's a brotherhood.
I want to thank my musicians in the seventies, especially

(08:46):
the late Richard Soul and Ivan Krall, and in recent
years I would like to thank Oliver Ray and Tom Lane.
I have a very small crew, probably the smallest crew

(09:09):
in rock and roll, but they are very loyal and
through the years, from my late brother Todd Smith to
Yik Wang to Barry Dorrier. God bless you, God bless
our cruise. We are nothing without our crew, and I
would like to thank my family my the support I

(09:36):
get from my beautiful daughter Jesse and my son Jackson,
who will be playing with us tonight, and my present
band Tony Shanahan Shady Doherty who has played this with

(10:00):
me since nine, and my my good friend and collaborator,
but most of all, my good friend and champion Lenny Ka.

(10:28):
Many of you may not know that the Rock and
Hall Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation has a
program to aid musicians in need. As a as a
tax exempt organization, they have the capabilities and the resources

(10:54):
to help musicians in need, and so we encourage the
Rock and Roll Foundation to help our musicians in need,
as well as to encourage us and to give us
accolades who are not so in need. Please let's all
help our musicians and musicians in need know that the

(11:17):
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation exists. Please call
upon them. My mum. Lastly, I'm I'm sorry. My late husband,

(11:40):
the great fred Sonic Smith, once predicted a long time ago,
actually right before he passed away, and the end of
ninety four we had an argument in the kitchen while

(12:01):
I was peeling potatoes, and uh, he said to me, Tricia,
one day, you're going to get into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. And I said that and I
hain't and he said, yes, you will, and you're not
gonna like it, or you might feel rebellious, or you
might feel guilty because I'm not in it, and I'm

(12:24):
clearly the better one, and he was. But he asked
me please to accept it like a lady, and not
to say any curse words, and to make certain to

(12:45):
salute new generations, because it is the new generation that
will redefine the landscape of rock and roll, and together
they have the power and unprecedented power to unite and
make great changes in our world, to make our world

(13:06):
a better place where sometimes we have tried and failed.
So I salute the new generations, and I thank everyone
who has encouraged me through the years, and all the

(13:27):
people that come to our concerts and help me when
I forget the words, which is all the time. And
I accept this wonderful honor in the name of Fred's
Sonic Smith. Thanks for joining us on this week's episode

(13:57):
of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault. For
more on your favorite inductees, to shop inducting merch or
to plan your trip to the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, visit rock hall dot com plus view they
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on demand
on HBO Max. Our executive producers are Noel Brown, Shelby Morrison,
and Lisa Gurkey. Supervising producer is Taylor Shakogne. Research and

(14:22):
archival assistants from Isabelle Keeper and Shannon Herb. Thanks again
for joining us on this week's episode of Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault. Induction Ball is a
production of I Heart Radio and The Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

(14:42):
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your favorite podcasts