Slouched against the lectern at the 25th annual Rock

and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a shirtless Iggy

Pop snarled, “I am the world’s forgotten boy.”
No more. After years of being named finalists to enter the hall of
fame, then
getting outvoted, the Stooges were finally inducted this year, in an
event held
at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday night and telecast on the Fuse cable
channel.
“After the seventh time” the Stooges were nominated, said the band’s
guitarist,
James Williamson, in his acceptance speech, “we were beginning to think
we would
have to take pride in not getting in.”
Behind him, Mr. Pop, 62, was already unbuttoning his white dress
shirt,
getting ready to jump, drop to his knees, strut and twist across the
stage and
down into the black-tie audience. Introducing him, Billie Joe Armstrong
of Green

Day had described him as “the most confrontational singer we will
ever see.”
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Pop declared: “Roll over, Woodstock. We
won.”
For the Hall of Fame, this was a year of belated admissions. Along
with the
Stooges, the hall’s latest performing members are the Swedish pop group ABBA,

the reggae songwriter Jimmy

Cliff and two English bands, Genesis and the Hollies. All but ABBA,
which
coalesced in the early 1970s, have careers dating back to the 1960s.
Songwriters who supplied girl groups, R&B groups and Elvis

Presley in the 1950s and 1960s, working in cubicles in the Brill
Building
and nearby 1650 Broadway, were also inducted: Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman,
Otis
Blackwell and the teams of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Ellie
Greenwich and
Jeff Barry.
“From the bottom of my heart and with the greatest humility,” Ms.
Weil said,
“I thought you guys would never ask.” Eric Burdon and Ronnie Spector,
who had
hits with their songs, were on hand to perform them.
Younger performers who were nominated this year, like the influential
rapper
LL
Cool
J, will have to wait.
This was a gathering baby-boomers could recognize. “We started out in
the
’60s — now we’re in our 60s,” said Terry Sylvester of the Hollies.
Genesis brought progressive-rock — a style that still divides rock
purists
even as its complexities filter into indie-rock — into the Hall of Fame.
After
Phish played Genesis’s “Watcher of the Skies,” Trey Anastasio, the guitarist
and
leader of Phish, praised Genesis for being “rebellious, restless and
constantly
striving for something more than the obvious.”
“Every musical rule and boundary was questioned and broken,” he said.
Genesis had a two-phase career: first with Peter Gabriel as lead
singer, and
then with Phil

Collins, who started as its drummer. “This band has been in so many
different guises,” Mr. Collins said. Mr. Gabriel did not attend the
ceremony; he
is rehearsing with an orchestra for his coming tour. “He has a very
genuine,
legitimate excuse,” said Genesis’ bassist, Mike Rutherford.
Phish performed Genesis’ songs, while the Hollies’ vocal harmonies in
their
British Invasion hits “Bus Stop” and “Carrie Anne” were filled out by
two
members of Maroon

5, Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael. Mr. Levine hit the high notes
for
“Carrie Anne,” while Pat Monahan, from the band Train, took over lead
vocals for
“Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.”
Graham Nash, who is already a Hall of Fame member with Crosby, Stills
and
Nash, chided the Hollies for having big hits after he left.
Only half of ABBA was on hand for its award, the first for a
Scandinavian
band: Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, who named Swedish folk
music,
German schmaltz and John Philip Sousa among the group’s influences.
Faith Hill
belted out ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All,” with Mr. Andersson leading
the
backup band on piano.
Mr. Cliff, whose songs and acting in the movie “The Harder They Come”
helped
spread reggae far beyond Jamaica, is only the second reggae musician to
join the
hall, following Bob

Marley. “This was a new music form,” Mr. Cliff said, “with a new
culture.”
He was inducted by Wyclef

Jean, the Haitian rapper, singer and songwriter from the Fugees.

“When we saw Jimmy Cliff we saw ourselves,” Mr. Jean said.
Mr. Cliff listed rockers as his inspirations, and said joining the
hall was
“another stepping stone to higher heights.” His voice was clear and
buoyant as
he sang “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross” and,
with
Mr. Jean, “The Harder They Come.”
Anxieties about the shrinking music business were a persistent
undercurrent
in the speeches. Steven

Van Zandt of the E Street Band, digressing on his way to introducing
the
Hollies, half-joked that the business was “artistically, financially and

spiritually bankrupt.”
Mr. Pop warned: “It’s a big industry. If they make the right
decisions it
will stay a big industry.”
David

Geffen, who founded Asylum, Geffen and Dreamworks Records, joined
the hall’s
roster of music business executives, claiming he had never dreamed of
being
honored. “I have no talent,” he said with a
smile.