Judas Priest, Mellencamp leave memorable Rock Hall moments

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two weeks after the rousing entrance of Duran Duran, Dolly Parton, Eminem and Lionel Richie and many others into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles will air on HBO at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, when it can also be seen streaming on HBO Max. If past telecasts are any indication, the 6 1/2-hour will be cut roughly in half for the television audience. Here are a few memorable moments from the show, that might get short shrift on TV.

A MOMENT FOR METAL

Many of this year's Hall inductees had more fame than Judas Priest. None had more rock ‘n’ roll. The heavy metal mainstays delighted a room full of pop-minded Lionel Richie fans and Duran Duran stans who may well have shunned them in their 1980s heyday.

Judas Priest showed they could still bang their graying heads as they lit up the Microsoft Theater on Nov. 5 with a set that included “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight," bringing back former members including original guitarist K.K. Downing and ex-drummer Les Binks.

The Priest acceptances speeches that followed made metal feel warm and fuzzy, especially that the face and frontman of the band, Rob Halford, who went last.

“Hello, I’m the gay guy in the group,” Halford began, bringing cheers. He broke ground when he came out in 1998.

“We call ourselves the heavy metal community which is all-inclusive, no matter what your sexual identity is, what you look like, or what you believe in or don’t believe in," he said. “Everybody’s welcome.”

Halford later thrilled the crowd again by singing part of a verse during the evening-ending all-star jam on Parton's song “Jolene,” the kind of bizarre pairing these moments at the Hall are made for.

Or maybe on this night it wasn't so odd. Parton, who temporarily...