Rockers Find Making Up Is Hard to Do : Hall of Fame: Cream gets over differences to perform together; Creedence Clearwater Revival does not.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony Tuesday at the Century Plaza Hotel was a night of both renewal and rejection--in one touching moment capturing the music’s ability to reconcile, and in the next casting a bright spotlight on the animosity that can intrude on the most idealistic music.

The members of the landmark blues-rock trio Cream hadn’t played together publicly since their 1969 farewell concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker have kept their distance from each other in the intervening years.

But when singer-bassist Bruce stepped to the microphone to acknowledge the group’s induction, which climaxed the evening, he observed, “I think that must be what rock ‘n’ roll is about. It brings people together. And if the three of us could be together again, anybody could be together again, I’ll tell you.”

Guitarist Clapton, whose fame has far surpassed that of his colleagues, was more emotional in his address.

“I’ve been reunited with two people I love very dearly,” Clapton said, pausing briefly to collect himself. “It’s very moving.”

Cream backed up the words a little later with a blistering live set, but the performance that preceded theirs touched off a renewal of hostilities within one of America’s classic groups.

When John Fogerty took the stage to play some of his Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, he was flanked by Robbie Robertson and Bruce Springsteen rather than Creedence’s surviving members, bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford. That partnership ended in acrimony in 1972 and there are no signs of reconciliation. (In a recent interview, Fogerty characterized his relationship with his former bandmates as “like eyeballing each other over a minefield. . . . I think there are a lot of strong not-so-positive feelings.”)

As the threesome and the house band launched “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” Cook and Clifford left their table (located on the opposite side of the room from Fogerty’s) and walked out of the room, returning later for Cream’s performance.

After the music ended and the lights came up, Cook stood holding the unused bass that he’d brought in anticipation of playing.

“I personally thought it was somewhat tasteless that Creedence is inducted and John gets to play the Creedence songs, with a band of stars of course,” said Cook.

“We figured that John could set aside whatever (expletive) grievances. Doug and I were both very hurt. We found out just today that we weren’t gonna get to play ‘Born on the Bayou.’ It was (Fogerty’s) decision. . . . I came down to rehearsal this afternoon and said, ‘John, what’s the deal?’ He says, ‘I’m not playing with you guys ever again.’. . . I decided just to get up and leave. I didn’t want to hear them.”

In between those extremes were the annual ceremony’s customary range of lighthearted and touching moments.

True to form, reclusive inductee Van Morrison was absent, and it looked as if the same would hold true of Sly Stone, whose career with Sly & the Family Stone was marked by notorious non-appearances, and whose life continued to be troubled by drug problems as recently as 1989.

With its leader missing, the other six members of the multiracial ensemble gathered at the podium and chanted the signature refrain from their 1970 hit “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” then took turns making acceptance speeches. Sly’s sister Rose Stone was wrapping it up when she said, “Oh, wait a minute, there’s something I almost forgot . . . “ setting the stage for the star’s belated entrance--apparently a bit of theatrical teasing.

One of the most stirring addresses came from slick TV entrepreneur Dick Clark, who, after defending himself against critics of his “white bread” personality, summarized the meaning of the Hall of Fame with surprising eloquence and passion.

“For a guy with little or no musical talent to be welcomed into this group is really overwhelming,” he said. “I would like to accept this honor in behalf of the majority of us in the room who don’t have the musical talent, who can’t sing or can’t compose, who can’t get up and play.

“We are the fans of these magnificent people who come up here and just turn your insides out. . . . They have created this wonderful thing called rock ‘n’ roll that has become for all of us the soundtrack for our lives, and I thank you for letting me join the Hall of Fame.”