Friday, December 20, 2013

Cat Stevens Reacts to his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction


"I'm not sure I feel very comfortable being in a museum, but you can't stop life doing things to you," Yusuf Islam says of his surprise selection ... Also: a "bluesy" album is eyed for late-2014

Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf (Islam), had recently returned from a South American tour when he learned he was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "How prepared can you be for something like that to happen?" he says. "I wasn't very prepared. But since it's happened, it kind of tickled me quite a lot. It's great to know there are people out there who appreciated my work. It's great."

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2014. According to Rolling Stone, Nirvana, KISS, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Hall and Oates, and Linda Ronstadt will be inducted during a ceremony held next April.

In addition, The E Street Band will be given the Award for Musical Excellence, while The Beatles manager Brian Epstein and The Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldgham will both receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.

The Replacements, N.W.A., Chic, The Zombies, Deep Purple, The Meters, and Yes were among the final nominees who failed to make the cut.
"There's no problem. It's me," Yusuf tells Billboard, adding with a chuckle that, "I don't think anybody should begrudge me the small satisfaction of this honor by giving it to someone else. I'm feeling very good about it, and it kind of affirms one of my lyrics (from 1971's 'The Wind'), which says 'Where I end up, what I think, only God really knows."

Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf Islam, converted to Islam in the 1970s after seven years of multi-platinum success in the United States. It was 17 years between his final LP as Cat Stevens (1978’s Back To Earth), and the first CD as Yusuf Islam and more than a decade until his first pop album in nearly 30 years (An Other Cup in 2006).

Another random online forum took a different look at the induction and the comment by making them about Islam vs. Judaism. They wrongfully insist in plugging religion in everything.

Cat Stevens - In Concert (live at the BBC 1971) [720p]

1 comments:

  1. And people wonder why it is so hard to get peace in the Middle East... What if he was thinking, "I don't have a lot in common with KISS because, no offense but my music is nothing like the loud, aggressive, sex-drugs-rock'n'roll music they make," and he didn't even realize the religious implications until the words were out of his mouth and rocketing around the internet? I'm willing to believe that Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam hasn't memorized the faith practices of every other famous musician in the world. Honestly, do you picture him binge-watching "Gene Simmons Family Jewels"? Sometimes you can just stick your foot in your mouth without it being a Freudian slip/hate crime.

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