One of the more inspired moments from the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in April was the teaming of several female rockers with the surviving members of Nirvana as the Seattle grunge band, absent lead singer Kurt Cobain, was admitted into the hall.

That performance will be among various highlights culled from the 5 1/2-hour running time of the actual ceremony to produce a still-hefty three-hour-plus special that premieres Saturday on HBO.

Pop & Hiss has excerpts of performances by Joan Jett and Nirvana, Yusuf/Cat Stevens and Peter Gabriel.

Jett applied her buzzsaw vocals to “Smells Like Teen Spirit”; Sonic Youth’s Kim Thurston took over the mike for “Aneurysm”; Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, handled “Lithium”; and teenage New Zealand pop phenom Lorde wrapped the four-song set singing “All Apologies.”


Nirvana was welcomed in along with Stevens, Gabriel, Linda Ronstadt, KISS, Hall & Oates, the E Street Band, Beatles manager Brian Epstein and Rolling Stones manager-producer Andrew Loog Oldham.

Yusuf, who concluded his own set with his 1971 hit “Peace Train,” honed in on the disparate nature of the evening when he arrived on stage and commented, “I never thought I’d be on the same stage as KISS, to be honest.”

And he congratulated Rock Hall voters for electing “someone who doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs, doesn’t throw television sets out of hotel rooms and only sleeps with his wife. ... It’s a slightly bold move -- and very rock ‘n’ roll.”

Gabriel’s set included his 1986 hit “In Your Eyes,” Hall & Oates performed a handful of their signature hits, KISS declined to perform but expressed appreciation for the induction that followed a breathless welcoming speech by Rage Against the Machine/The Nightwatchman guitarist-singer-songwriter Tom Morello, and a quintet of rock and country singers saluted Ronstadt, whose Parkinson’s Disease has left her unable to sing and drastically curtailed her travel.


Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Carrie Underwood, Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow revisited several of Ronstadt’s hits from the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

“The 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony” special is scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. PDT/EDT. It’s to be repeated June 4 (9 p.m.), June 7 (4:45 p.m.), June 10 (2:30 p.m., 4:15 a.m.), June 16 (5:15 p.m., 2 a.m.), June 22 (8:45 a.m.), June 27 (1:45 p.m.) and June 30 (8:15 a.m.).