A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction left a member of Blondie feeling like they were attending their own funeral.
Though the Parallel Lines hitmakers were rightly placed in the annals of rock history, the ceremony could not have gone much worse for the band. Blondie members, past and present, packed the stage in what became a chance for those who had left the band to broadcast their rage. Barbed comments were made about vocalist Debbie Harry and other bandmates too, with the experience soured entirely. Nigel Harrison, guitarist Frank Infante, bassist Gary Valentine and keyboardist Jimmy Destri, joined the band on stage, and that is where the problems began. Infante and Harrison had been involved in a court case with the rest of the band, while Destri had only just left the group once their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination was confirmed.
It led to a clearly uncomfortable moment on stage, and left one member of the band suggesting it was like they were at their own funeral. Infante’s speech at the ceremony made it clear he and the former members had wanted to perform, but were unable to.
He said: “I’d like to thank the Hall of Fame for inviting us, and for not writing me, Gary and Nigel out of rock ‘n’ roll history. This is like one of the greatest gigs you could do as a musician.
“Actually, one thing that would make it better would be if we could actually perform for you tonight, but for some reason, some of us are not allowed to do that. I don’t know what we could do about that. I’d like to play.” He then turned to Harry and added: “We’d like to play with you guys – me and Nigel. Pretty please! Pretty please, Debbie!”
Harry then headed to the podium and replied: “Can’t you see my band is up there?” Infante responded: “Oh, your band? I thought Blondie was being inducted tonight.” As Harry began listing the current line-up, Infante interrupted, adding: “Are they being inducted? I don’t know!”
Though it seemed the moment could not get any worse, Harrison then approached the podium and said: “It’s nice to see everyone out of the courtroom, that’s the first positive thing.
“I gotta say, after watching all that footage of us tonight, I felt I was going to my own funeral. It’s messed up for us. We wanna play; obviously, we were part of it. We’ve been led to believe we weren’t part of it. It sucks. Welcome to bingo night.”
Group co-founder Chris Stein was spotted at a press conference after the show gripping his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame trophy, and warned those in attendance of why he was keeping hold of his award. He said: “The reason I’m holding onto this is in case I run into any of those fuckers.” You can watch the whole Blondie awards induction below.
