Rock and Roll Toasts Artists and California

The California bands that celebrated the “L.A. Woman” and mourned being “Stuck in Lodi Again” were inducted Tuesday into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a gala that toasted not only the music of the ‘60s but the state’s emergence in that decade as America’s capital of pop culture.

The Doors, who honed their message of darkness and doubt in the seedy clubs along Sunset Boulevard, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, whose blue-collar rock was rooted in the Bay Area, were among four West Coast acts honored at the gala, which was staged for the first time outside New York.

Also feted were the communal funk of San Francisco’s Sly & the Family Stone and the R & B sass of Los Angeles-born Etta James, along with four other members of rock royalty--Cream, Van Morrison, Ruth Brown and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers.

More than 1,400 recording executives and stars jammed the Century Plaza Hotel for the black-tie event. The surviving members of the Doors were introduced by newcomer Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of the Seattle-based Pearl Jam, and the orchestra struck up “Light My Fire” as the now-defunct band accepted its award.

“We are the Class of 1967, and in case we’ve forgotten, 1967 was the Summer of Love,” said former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Manzarek then read a poem by the group’s late lead singer Jim Morrison, and expressed hope that society will “reinstitute in the ‘90s the feeling and the spirit of the ‘60s.”

In an earlier interview, Manzarek called the evening “a sad night for me because Jim isn’t here.” But he added that “it’s nice to have this event in Los Angeles where it all happened.”

Rock kingpin Bruce Springsteen, meanwhile, eulogized the lost innocence of a generation in his homage to Creedence Clearwater, who he said “played no-frills American music” for “a world that will never again be able to take them up on their simple but eloquent invitation--that if you get lost, come on home to Green River.”

Besides the rock honorees who were the affair’s focal point, TV show host and producer Dick Clark and record executive and producer Milt Gabler were inducted as non-performing members of the Hall of Fame, and singer Dinah Washington was installed as a pre-rock musical influence.

But perhaps the biggest spotlight was reserved for the city in which the celebration was held--a venue that touched not only the careers of the 11 artists and executives who were honored, but underscored California’s coming of age in the ‘60s as force in pop culture and as a hub of the record industry.

“Tonight is a salute to the ‘60s, and to everything that California meant to that era and that culture,” said Jann S. Wenner, vice president of the Hall of Fame, and editor and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine.

During rock’s infancy, the hit sounds came from independent labels around the country and from regional pockets of talent--from Elvis and the rockabilly crowd in Memphis to Little Richard and the R&B; contingent in New Orleans.

But for generations, the industry was largely centered in New York, where the songwriting houses and talent firms controlled the nation’s pop machinery.

Then in the mid-’60s, a new generation of artists surfaced in California, and their success helped Los Angeles, with its inviting climate, to rival New York as a power base and talent source. Not only were young groups attracted here by the success of such acts as the Beach Boys and the Byrds, but many established acts--from Bob Dylan to Neil Diamond--eventually moved here to live.

By the end of the ‘70s, Warner Bros., Elektra, Asylum, MCA, Motown and Capitol composed a solid record-label core in Southern California, and a whole “Southern California sound” had developed around the laid-back melodies of the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne.

Because the Hall of Fame Foundation is based in New York, it was natural that the organization’s early induction dinners be held there. Moreover, under organization rules, artists do not become eligible for the Hall of Fame until 25 years after their first recording, so the emphasis in the organization’s early years was on the recordings of the ‘50s, when New York was the industry’s hub.

As time passed, however, and honors shifted to the music of the ‘60s, Hall of Fame directors pledged to move the prestigious ceremony periodically to other cities--especially Los Angeles.

There was talk behind the scenes of a Los Angeles-based installation in 1988, when the Beach Boys were inducted, and in 1991, when the Byrds were brought in, but nothing materialized. Then this year’s class of inductees presented an opportunity the directors couldn’t refuse.

Los Angeles’ Doors and the Bay Area’s Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sly & the Family Stone are three of the most admired bands in contemporary pop history. Not only did they make dynamic music, but they also reflected in their lyrics and attitude many of the social and cultural elements of their era.

The Doors, for example, combined sensual, blues-based rock with lyrics about inner demons and outer dimensions--a reflection of the charismatic Morrison’s search for new truths in a psychedelic age.

Morrison died of an apparent heart attack at age 27 in Paris in 1971. Before his death, however, the group--which also included Manzarek, Robby Kreiger on guitar and John Densmore on drums--registered eight Top 40 hits, including “Light My Fire,” “L.A. Woman” and “Riders on the Storm.”

Creedence Clearwater Revival, meanwhile, celebrated rock’s blue-collar roots. Led by singer-songwriter-guitarist John Fogerty, the quartet--which broke up in 1972--also included Doug Clifford on drums, Stu Cook on bass and Fogerty’s older brother Tom on rhythm guitar.

Tom Fogerty died in 1990 of respiratory failure. John Fogerty, 47, is now a solo artist.

Sly Stone--whose real name is Sylvester Stewart--was a San Francisco-area disc jockey in the late ‘60s when he formed the hugely influential band that crossed musical, gender and racial barriers. Relying on elements of rock, jazz and R&B;, Sly & the Family Stone scored 11 Top 40 hits and was one of the most commanding acts at the famous Woodstock music festival in 1969.

But the group disbanded in the ‘70s, and Stone’s attempts at a comeback have proven unsuccessful. He has been plagued by personal and professional problems, including being sentenced to a drug rehabilitation center in 1989 after he pleaded guilty in Santa Monica to two counts of possession of cocaine.

Nevertheless, these bands continue to inspire a new generation of musicians. U2, the Grammy-winning Irish rock group, for instance, recently recorded a version of CCR’s “Fortunate Son,” a stinging indictment of the improper use of political and economic privilege. And Arrested Development, one of rap’s most acclaimed newcomers, touched on Sly Stone’s “Everyday People” in its own “People Everyday.”

The Doors have been the subject of numerous books in recent years and were the subject in 1991 of a movie by Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone.

In addition, L.A.-born Etta James, the R&B;/blues singer, did much of her most memorable recording in Los Angeles, including “The Wallflower” (better known as “Dance With Me Henry”), one of the defining records in the ‘50s R&B-rock; merger.

James, who had nine Top 40 pop hits in addition to nearly two dozen R&B; hits, worked in a variety of styles through the ‘60s, a period when she struggled with heroin addiction. She toured with the Rolling Stones in 1979, and last year released an album on Elektra.

The California representation at this year’s dinner could have been even stronger had three other groups not been passed over in the balloting.

Turned away by the Hall of Fame this year were the Buffalo Springfield, the acclaimed late-’60s group that helped launch the careers of Neil Young and Stephen Stills; the Grateful Dead, whose allegiance to a ‘60s sense of community has made it a continuing social-cultural phenomenon in rock, and Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention, whose independent, avant-garde music and approach was among the most distinctive ever in rock.

About 600 voters--mostly record company executives, musicians and critics--select up to seven inductees a year from a list of 15 eligible nominees.

The voting, which is conducted the year before the winners are inducted, is supposed to be based more on craftsmanship and musical impact than on popularity. Some critics, however, have questioned the Hall of Fame choices in recent years, as landmark acts such as David Bowie and Bob Marley have been turned away in favor of more popular but less influential talents.

Although Irish-born Van Morrison is widely considered to be one of the great poets of the musical genre, Cream, for example, was passed over for last year’s induction ceremony, despite the powerful influence exerted by lead guitarist Eric Clapton.

And Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, who doo-wopped the massively popular “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” have been eligible for years, as have Etta James and Ruth Brown, whose R&B; hits were so popular in the ‘50s that Atlantic Records was known as “the house that Ruth built.”

Times staff writer Shawn Hubler contributed to this story.