VH1 Rock Honors

The VH1 Rock Honors are an annual ceremony that pays homage to bands who influenced the sound of rock music. Currently, there are no plans of a CD or DVD release of any show.

2006

The first ever Rock Honors aired May 31, 2006, honoring rock icons Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and Kiss. The show was hosted by Jaime Pressly. In Latin America it aired on June 7.

The ceremony opened with the Foo Fighters performing the Queen classic "Tie Your Mother Down." They were soon joined by Brian May and Roger Taylor. After a biography of Queen, Queen + Paul Rodgers performed "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" (ft. Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins on drums), "We Are the Champions" and "Under Pressure". (The Foo Fighters had previously collaborated with May on a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar." for the "".)

Godsmack's tribute to Judas Priest followed, the band playing a medley of "Electric Eye," "Victim of Changes", and "Hell Bent for Leather". After Judas Priest's biography they performed "Breaking the Law", "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'."

The All-American Rejects then performed Def Leppard's "Photograph". During the performance, drummer Chris Gaylor wore nothing but British flag shorts - a reference to what Leppard drummer Rick Allen wore in all the band's old music videos. After Def Leppard's biography they took the stage and performed "Rock of Ages," a long version of "Rocket" with a guitar solo, then continued to play a T.Rex cover off their newest album, "Yeah!", "20th Century Boy." For this performance, Joe Elliott invited Brian May to join the band.

A supergroup was then formed of Rob Zombie, Slash, Gilby Clarke, Scott Ian, Ace Frehley, and Tommy Lee. The six then performed "God of Thunder ." Kiss followed with their closing performance of "Detroit Rock City", "Deuce", "Love Gun" and for encore they performed Makin' Love. This went against traditional Kiss performances as they normally closed with "Rock and Roll All Nite".

2007

The second annual Rock Honors on Vh1 hosted by Bam Margera with appearances by Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Taylor Hawkins, Billy Bob Thornton, April Margera, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Criss Angel. This years show paid tribute to iconic rock bands, ZZ Top, Heart, Genesis, and Ozzy Osbourne.

Nickelback started this year's ceremony, playing the hit ZZ Top song, "Sharp Dressed Man". Billy Bob Thornton then announced the Texas trio. After a biography video, the band took the stage and performed their MTV video hit "Gimme All Your Lovin'", followed by La Grange, Dusty Hill's signature song "Tush" and finished with "Cheap Sunglasses".

Cameron Diaz then took the stage to announce the Seattle Sisters, better known as Heart. After a biography video on the band, Gretchen Wilson, assisted by Alice in Chains performed "Barracuda", joined by Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson. Heart then took the stage and performed "Straight On", "Lost Angel", and "Crazy on You". (TV airing cut out Lost Angel.)

Robin Williams was the next presenter, and announced Genesis. After a biography video, Keane was the next tribute performer, who performed "That's All". Genesis then took the stage and performed their hits "Turn it on Again" and "No Son of Mine", as well an instrumental jam of Los Endos. (TV airing cut out the Los Endos jam.)

Next, in honor of Ozzy Osbourne, Bam Margera gave himself a black eye. Jada Pinkett Smith was the next presenter, who announced Ozzy Osbourne. After a biography video, Queens of the Stone Age performed the Black Sabbath tune, "Paranoid". Criss Angel then appeared, honoring Ozzy by biting the head off a mouse. Ozzy then took the stage, performing his new single "I Don't Wanna Stop", followed by "Bark at the Moon" and "Crazy Train". (TV airing cut out the Bark At The Moon performance, but it airs as a music video on shows like Metal Mania.)

2008

The Who were honored at the 2008 ceremony from the Pauley Pavilion at UCLA instead of the usual Las Vegas. The concert consisted of an hour-long performance by the band as well as tributes by Incubus, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Flaming Lips, Adam Sandler and Tenacious D. [ [http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1588618 VH1.com Rock Honors 2008 Tribute Performers Video Playlist] ] . An edited show aired on July 17, 2008. The television broadcast included commentary from other musicians, celebrities, and The Who itself describing the band's career and impact. It is also the first program in the series to pay tribute to only one artist.

The music performances included:

*Foo Fighters - "Young Man Blues" and "Bargain" (with guest lead vocals by Gaz Coombes of Supergrass)

*Incubus - "I Can See for Miles" and "I Can't Explain"

*Flaming Lips - "Tommy" medley

*Tenacious D - "Squeeze Box"

*Pearl Jam- "Love Reign o'er Me" and "The Real Me"

*The Who - "Baba O'Riley", "Who Are You", "Behind Blue Eyes", "My Generation", and "Tea & Theatre"

Presenters included David Duchovny, Sean Penn, Rainn Wilson, Mila Kunis and Adam Sandler, who performed his own version of "Magic Bus." Performances not used in the TV special will be made available online at VH1.com.

References

External links

* [http://www.vh1.com/shows/events/rock_honors/2006/ Official 2006 website]
* [http://www.vh1.com/shows/events/rock_honors/_2007/vspot.jhtml Official 2007 website]
* [http://www.vh1.com/shows/events/rock_honors/_2008/ Official 2008 website]