CLEVELAND (AP) — The Rock & Roll Hall Fame induction Saturday night’s ceremony promises to be starry, jammy and bittersweet. So many of the accolades have been lost this time.

Of the seven original members of Kool and the gang, there is only one: Robert “Kool” Bell. There will be no living members of the MC5, which has suffered the recent deaths of its last two original members, drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson and guitarist and singer. Wayne Kramer.Foreigner original bassist Ed Gagliardi and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald have passed away and guitarist Mick Jones has been sidelined by Parkinson’s disease. A tribe called Quest has lost Phife Dawg.

“I wish George was here and the rest of the other guys – the other original members – because they certainly deserve this recognition,” said Hahn Brown, widow of Kool & the Gang drummer and songwriter George Brown, who died in 2023.

In many ways, that includes the Class of 2024 Peter FramptonCher,Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, the late Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick and the late Alexis Korner, the late John Mayall and the late Big Mama Thornton – is a catch-up lesson, reflective turnover in the management of the room.

“There has been a change in recent years from some of the old guard, where you see artists like Rush and Kiss and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Randy Rhodes, the MC5 and Judas Priest coming in. While that may not have been the case before,” says Tom Morello, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist for bands like Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.

Morello recalls raising the issue of membership with Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen’s manager and a former Rolling Stone critic, who was then chairman of the nominating committee.

He told him, “Myself and my friends don’t think about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that much because none of our favorite bands are in it.”

Now it will feature a band Morello has long championed, the MC5, who paved the way for the Stooges, the Ramones, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down.

Saturday’s induction ceremony will take place at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. It will be streamed live on Disney+. A special with highlights and notable moments will air on ABC on January 1.

Cher — the only artist with a No. 1 song in each of the past 60 years — and Blige, with eight multi-platinum albums and nine Grammy Awards, will help increase the number of women in the Hall, which critics say is too many. low.

Artists must have released their first commercial recording for at least 25 years before they are eligible for induction. The nominees were voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals.

There had been a great effort to get Foreigner – with the hits ‘Urgent’ and ‘Hot Blooded’ – into the Hall, with Mark Ronson, Jack Black, Slash, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney all publicly support this step. Ronson’s stepfather is Mick Jones, founder, songwriter and lead guitarist of Foreigner.

Warwick will arrive at the ceremony just a few days after attending a memorial for her longtime friend and collaborator, Cissy Houstonin Newark, New Jersey. Jennifer Hudson and Teyana Taylor will help her settle in.

Other members of rock, pop and hip-hop royalty will be on hand to kick off the class, including Busta rhymes, Dr. Dre, Demi LovatoDua Lipa, Ella Mai, James Taylor, Jelly Roll, Julia Roberts, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney Lucky Daye, Mac McAnally, Method Man, Roger Daltrey Sammy Hagar, Slash and The Roots.