Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
M M. Welcome to Induction Vault, a production of I
Heart Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
m M. The band Yes pushed the boundaries of rock,
(00:33):
expanding the musical experience on record and in concert. They
created complex, progressive and virtuosic rock streets built on influences
ranging from psychedelic rock to classical music. In they were
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by
Getty Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush, who were themselves
inducted a few years earlier. This is a special moment
(00:55):
as one prog rock band gets to induct one of
their prog rock heroes. Both Jetty and Alex share personal
stories about the power of Yes music, the impact it's
had on generations of fans, and how through Yes they
were tuned into a wider world of possibilities. Each member
of Yes, John Anderson, Trevor Raydon, Allan White, Bill Bruford,
(01:18):
Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman all share remarks in remembrance
of their bass player Chris Squire, who passed away in
the only number of the band to have played on
every album, Chriss Widow Scotland. Squire is there to accept
on his behalf. Rick Wakeman closes things out on a
lighter note, keeping the audience laughing and groaning with his
(01:38):
cheeky British pub humor. Well, hello, and we thought where
(02:01):
you waited a long time to get in the Hall
of Fame. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, it is our great,
great honor to be with you and Yes this evening, Alex,
thanks getting I want an honor to be here tonight
(02:23):
doing this. It's really really great. We all start somewhere,
And for me, my journey with Yes began when I
was a teenager, gently fishing out the Yes album out
of the sleeve, being just a bit freaked by the
disembodied head on the cover, placing the needle in the groove,
sitting back letting the music wash over me. I may
have smoked a cigarette or something, but pretty sure he did.
(02:48):
But Yes for my gateway band. In so many ways,
there's nothing so fleeting yet enduring about the way music
feels when you're seventeen years old. As Yes played in
my room, I played two. I spent hours picking my
way through songs like Starship Trooper and Yours is no disgrace,
(03:09):
how well, how wonderful was that swirling outro and Starship Trooper.
I must have played that a million times. But I
love their music even more once I learned to master them,
and not that I really did. I never did them justice,
but I love them still. Yes helped give me the
(03:32):
gift of music, which is everything, as you know, and
made me want to be a better musician, and that
provided some of the determination to one day stand on
this stage giving tribute to this amazing band. I'll leave
you with this. The musical choices we make in our
(03:55):
youth helped mold who we become. Choose the guitar trop
for going for the one Yeah. Choose learning to play
Starship Trooper on a cheap secondhand guitar Not so easy.
Choose Chris Squire's amazing bass tone right head. Choose John
(04:18):
Anderson's ethereal vocals. Choose Fragile. Choose wearing a cape before
Rick Wakeman did this guy right here Choose staying out
all night to see your favorite band. Choose Roundabout. Choose
(04:39):
the glorious guitar work in Honorable Lonely Heart So Beautiful.
Choose the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and definitely
choose Yes, block blob blah like he can play Starship Trooper.
(05:06):
I don't think so. So I'd like to ask if
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would indulge me
for a few moments to share some personal experiences of
Yes the band. So picture this. In the early seventies,
I spent up from one to three years in grade
(05:26):
ten in high school seated at the back of the
class with my new pal, Oscar. He was sat just
across from me, and the teacher's words were bouncing aimlessly
off us as Oscar rifts on some of our favorite
Monty Python skits. He had me at the Dead Parrot
gag for sure. How could we not become friends? But
(05:46):
it wasn't just the ministry of silly walks that we
bonded over. I can still recall one of the days
that we opted out of school and we're sitting cross
legged on the floor of Oscar's room as he introduced
me to an album called Time and a War heard
by a band called Yes that I had never heard of. Right,
(06:07):
I still thrilled to the base part and no opportunity necessary,
no experience needed, the way I did the first time
I heard it that day for years people asked me
why I played a Rickenbacker bass, and I have. All
I have to do is point to that album, that song,
and Chris Squire's incredibly original playing to provide the answer. Later,
(06:34):
still Oscar played me, yours, there's no disgrace. Then I've
seen all good people. And we both sat there open
mouthed as the songs rose up around us and our
musical world shifted and fell from its axis. I might
have been a young musician jamming in basement rooms of Toronto,
but through Yes, I was tuning into a wider world
of possibilities, one where music seemed to have no limitations.
(06:59):
It was a risp night in V two, and Oscar,
myself and this guy Alex Lifestin lined up overnight around
the block that was then Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens to
finally witness Yes live for ourselves. The sky was a
high dome of stars, and as I recall, Alex kept going,
kept us going by nipping to the store and bringing
(07:21):
back honey dew drinks. Really, I can close my eyes
now and I'm back there intellectually, visually, viscerally, sitting in
Row ten. It was like nothing I'd ever seen or
experienced before. It was actually profound, and it's not overstating
things to say that it changed the way I played
and listened to music forever. And so here we are
(07:45):
decades later, and the music of Yes is still echoing
down through the years, showing me that music truly is
a continuum. So on behalf of Oscar, my good friend,
and Alex's Neil's not here tonight, Alex and myself, I say,
thank you. Yes. It's our great, great clear vilege and
(08:07):
our great honor to right a terrible wrong. And so
finally welcome Yes into the rock and roll pul of Fame.
After the break, we'll hear from members of the band
Yes on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Boult, Hello, everybody, truly,
(08:42):
this is for the Yes bounds everywhere. Really, it's kind
of interesting. I went to the Home of Fame about
four years ago with my beautiful wife Janey. There she is,
and I walked around the whole of Fame and all
(09:02):
my heroes were there, every one of them. From Little Richard.
I can't believe you guys, You're so beautiful. Look at you.
You're all so beautiful. Are Bill Haley Bill Haley and
(09:24):
the comments. Stevie wondered, all these great people and we're
gonna join them. I can't believe it. It's truly amazing.
I was very lucky. You know. It's actually forty nine
(09:45):
years ago tonight that I met Chris Squire at a
bar the seventh of April. Seventh of April. There's a
magic moment when I met Chris. I remember going to
him to say, Hi, Chris, how are you? He was
so tall. I can't believe it. Anyway, we got a
(10:08):
bank going. We had a guitar player called Peter Banks.
Really we had a drummer called Bill Bruford. He's there,
Mr Bill Bruford, he's behind me. But Chris is in
(10:30):
heaven now, and Peter Banks he's in heaven. And the
spirit of them they're there tonight. They're here with us tonight.
That's for sure. I don't know what to say anymore.
I just love being here. You guys are beautiful. You
are beautiful. I say a big shout for my my son, Damien,
(10:57):
and Deborah and Jeed, okay it, Bodie and India, my grandchildren.
I can't believe I've got grandchildren. It's amazing. Life has
passed me by so fast. I can't believe. I'm so
glad we're in. Yes. Yes means a lot to me. Yes,
missus Trevor Rayburn, Hi there. Bill just said to me,
(11:25):
make sure your flies up when you get up. M h.
I gotta thank you so much. This is a incredible honor,
and it's great to be inducted with my friends out
there and like Needle and Jonathan and everybody, and along
with everyone that's being inducted, I want to thank you all,
(11:47):
and my beautiful wife Shelly, and my extremely talented son Ryan,
Brian Lane, Larry Maggot, thank you so much for everything.
And I passed on to who is it Rick white
in Oh sorry call a wife. Thanks not heavy, it's
(12:11):
too heavy. Um, Hi everyone, thank you. It's great to
see everybody. This has been a long journey. I'd like
to thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for
this induction, and secondly, I like the you know, really
(12:31):
thank my wife and family for being here tonight with me,
and and I'm also all of our great fans from
all over the world. They've been absolutely wonderful through this
band's career. And um, I'd like that acknowledge. Chris Squire,
(12:53):
I worked with him for forty three years and he
was one of my best friends ever and we had
a relationship. It really cold and thank you all. Look
for this. Thank you. Okay, I'm Steve how I'm only
(13:24):
going to take a minute now. But of course we
love to thank all our fans for believing all these
years that we deserve and need to be inducted into
the rock and roll of fame. Anyway, Fames different for
many people, and some may long for basking it's glory,
others merely accepting their notoriety for their musical endeavors. And
(13:46):
since music speaks long after its creation, the services as
a payment for those with the respect for those who
are no longer with us today, allowing those to remain
to shine in a light on all those contributors to
those such great ideas and melodies and lyrics and arrangements
and direction of this yes music. Nothing can take away
(14:10):
the response we've gotten from our fans, who obviously have
a different ear from the general music lovers. Fortunately for us,
they're able to distinguish the textures and the harmonies and
the discords and the dynamics of the dramatic and the
humble and the soft and the low and the quiet.
And as Bill used to say, when asked, what is
(14:31):
Yes music? Bill would say, simply, some of it's fast
and some of its slow. I'd just like to take
a minute now just to thank my wonderful wife and
a wonderful family who have been behind us through the
highs and the lows. And it's Georgia and Dylan and
Zoe and zoomneath Georgia, Drew and Diego and we love
(14:56):
you are very very much and Stephan, Adam through the
last nine years, Adam Allan and I am with Chris
Quire through its final years with along with Jeff Downs
and John Davidson, Billy Sherwood and myself, we've all been
working together to staying the standards set by the very
idea of Yes. We look forward to continuing to on
(15:17):
earth more great works of Yes. Thank you very much.
I did, uh consisting go up the story of my life,
and I said, um, all right, I have to go
(15:40):
like the um I'd like to. Obviously, I'm very happy
here for a couple of reasons to be in Brooklyn.
One is the fact, obviously of being part of Yes
and getting inducted into the Rock Roll Hall of Fame.
And the other is something I really probably shouldn't tell
you is that less than half a mile away from
it's very building was where I had my very first
(16:03):
meaningful sexual experience. No no, no, no, no, no please,
no no, it wasn't very good. Huh. It never is
when you are your own um. Anyway, as Steve said,
(16:24):
I thank you to his wife, I want to say
thank you to mine. Unfortunately she's not here tonight. When
I left her this morning, I think she was in
a coma. Actually, well I think she was in a coma.
Sex was still the same, but the washing was piling
up and I but, uh, I would like to thank
(16:51):
apart from all the guys in yes that I worked with,
my father, who played a massive part in my In
Michael musical career, and my family were all in the
edge turn of business. Were genuinely were very very poor.
My father was an Elvis impersonator. Uh and well there
wasn't much call for that in and but he was.
(17:19):
He taught me a lot. I remember he sat me
down once and said, Sony said, don't go to any
of those really cheap, dirty, nasty sleazy strip clubs, because
if you do, you'll see something you shouldn't. So of
course I went and I saw my dad. They are yeah,
(17:43):
well a lot. I'd like to thank the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame very much, friend Darting, I said.
The only thing I would say, I'm glad that we
were actually out third because as you get older, you know,
the old things like the prostates started acting up a
bit and the distance between comfort breaks gets less and less. Um.
(18:07):
But I would like to say quite seriously how important
it is to have have the old examination, which I
had indeed on Monday. And for you you ladies who
don't know, it's really tough. You have to get in
the old fetal position. You hear the old plastic glove
go on the rubber glove, and then it's like a
(18:27):
gopher going on holiday. Insider ranks them and no. While
I was having my Whilst I was having my examination,
the doctor said to me, said, Mr Wakeman. He said,
there's no need to be embarrassed. It's not unusual to
get any erection to this kind of procedure. And I
(18:51):
I said, I haven't got an erection. He said, I know,
but I have. They Thank you very much, God bless you.
How do I like? Please Rollcome Scotty Square. Thanks for
(19:21):
joining us on this week's episode of Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame Induction Vault. For more on your favorite inductees,
to shop inductee merch or to plan your trip to
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, visit rock hall
dot com plus vie Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Induction Special on demand on HBO Max. Our executive producers
are Noel Brown, Shelby Morrison, and Esa Gurkey. Supervising producer
(19:45):
is Taylor Shakoin. Research and 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 in
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame m M. For
(20:06):
more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.