Friday Flashback

Stars & Stipe Forever

January 23, 2009 0 Comments

On Tuesday night, MTV presented the “Be The Change” Youth Ball, celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden.

The live event kicked off with a performance from Kanye West, before the newly installed POTS took the stage. After thanking young voters for their support, Barack was joined by his wife, Michelle, and the First Couple dazzled the audience (and viewers) with some fancy footwork set to an instrumental version of “At Last.” With the “old-school” portion of the evening over, Fall Out Boy and Kid Rock kept the party going.

It had been sixteen years since MTV last feted an inauguration with live performances. That event, 1993’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Inaugural Ball, marked the election of Bill Clinton and Al Gore (and capped the channel’s first-ever “Choose Or Lose” voter campaign). The night featured a lineup of Don Henley, En Vogue, Boyz II Men, and 10,000 Maniacs, and as Obama did on Tuesday, Clinton showed his gratitude by dropping in on the party (after an introduction from the fabulous Tabitha Soren).

While the roster of talent on hand back then now seems a bit of a snooze, they represented some of music’s biggies in 1993 (well, forgetting the puzzling inclusion of Henley). During the 10,000 Maniacs’ set, the star-wattage got a huge boost when R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe joined Natalie Merchant at the mic for two songs.

In addition to joining forces for a delicious “Candy Everybody Wants,” Stipe and Merchant presented a fantastic, out-of-left-field version of Lulu’s “To Sir With Love”:

“To Sir With Love,” originally a B-side to the 10,000 Maniacs’ “Few and Far Between” single, can also be found on the band’s excellent 2004 compilation, Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure, and Unknown Recordings, available via Amazon.