Backstage at Rock Hall of Fame Event

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/20/2002 at 02:34 PM EST

Although Monday night's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York drew many of the music industry's power players (such as J Records president Clive Davis, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun and power attorney Allen Grubman), reports PEOPLE, the evening was without appearances from such superstars as Bono, Paul McCartney, and the Rolling Stones, who all brought color to past years' events. Nonetheless, in the midst of a sea of corporate tuxedoes, there was a small handful of celebs, such as Bjork (who quietly watched the event in a rather subdued powder blue outfit), Stevie Nicks (enjoying the Talking Heads' performance and wearing big brown 70s-styled glasses) and even actors Alicia Silverstone and Jason Biggs (soon to appear together on Broadway in a stage adaptation of the classic 1967 film "The Graduate"). One of the night's standout speeches came from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, on stage to induct the Ramones. Vedder, 36, looked more like a kid at a punk-rock show than a presenter at a black tie function, showing off a Mohawk haircut, motorcycle jacket, and a very worn Ramones T-shirt, reports PEOPLE. His rambling speech -- punctuated a few times with swigs from the bottle of wine he brought with him on stage -- included recollections of his having seen the band when he was a kid in Seattle ("It was terribly frightening and totally blissful at the same time"), admiration of the fact that the Ramones played 2,269 live shows ("J.Lo's got a lot of catching up to do"), and the guilty observation that "punk bands now sell 10 times the amount with one record than the Ramones did in their entire career." As for how he deals with outselling his heroes: "That's why I go over to Johnny Ramone's house and do gardening three times a week."