YEAR
1994
INDUCTED BY
Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds)
CATEGORY
Performers
There is no mistaking the warm, grizzly rasp of Rod Stewart’s voice.
Irresistibly charming and undeniably talented, Rod Stewart has dabbled in hard rock, lightweight pop, schmaltzy ballads and definitive covers. Whatever material he chooses to perform, he delivers it with one of the finest voices of his generation.
Rod Stewart
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Michael Hill
In this season of the unplugged, it seems only natural for Rod Stewart, like Eric Clapton and Neil Young, to reintroduce his early work to the MTV generation in a setting more intimate than the arenas to which he’s become accustomed.
After all, classic songs like “Every Picture Tells a Story,” “Mandolin Wind” and “Cut Across Shorty” were never completely plugged in anyway. They rocked with the spirit, if not the sound, of the blues: simply, bawdily, honestly.
Delta earthiness was provided by omnipresent slide guitar, and a more homespun Celtic melancholy was evoked by the strings that often echoed the folk-ish melodies.
