Gen Xers Should Check Out the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards

On HBO

The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is now broadcasting on HBO, and if you’re a kid from the Eighties like me, it’s like your teenage dreams coming true. The mix of performers is perfect, with a whole slew of the pop, rock, soul and hip hop artists we grew up with, plus Dolly Parton, who is of course a goddamned national treasure.

SPOILERS AHEAD — BUT STILL, YOU SHOULD WATCH

The night started with Robert Downey Jr. introducing Duran Duran, who then took the stage and absolutely killed it. The love in the room for this iconic Eighties band was electric. Since these guys have never stopped performing and touring, they sound as good as they did back in the day, and the star-studded audience had nothing but props for Double Durans.

But the night was full of Eighties music gods like Judas Priest, the Eurythmics, Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who were musicians with Morris Day and the Time, but ended up doing production and songwriting for an impressive lineup of stars like Janet Jackson, George Michael, Duran Duran, the Human League and Mary J Blige.

Of course Lionel Richie wasn’t just huge in the 1980s — he started out with the Commodores in the 1970s, and the Rock & Roll Hall…