ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 1988 (BEST YEAR) - WALDORF ASTORIA HOTEL - LAMINATE.

Nobody knows what got underneath Mike Love’s skin when the Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. It was only the third ceremony and they were getting in alongside the Beatles and Bob Dylan, so he could hardly feel his group was somehow getting dissed. But when he took to the podium, out came the most notorious speech in Hall of Fame history.

“The Beach Boys did about 180 performances last year,” he said. “I’d like to see the Mop Tops match that! I’d like to see Mick Jagger get out on this stage and do ‘I Get Around’ versus ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,’ any day now. And I’d like to see some people kick out the jams, and I challenge the Boss to get up on stage and jam.”

At this point Paul Shaffer and his band kicked into “Good Vibrations” in an attempt to get him to stop, but Love wasn’t quite done. “I wanna see Billy Joel, see if he can still tickle ivories,” he said. “I know Mick Jagger won’t be here tonight, he’s gonna have to stay in England. But I’d like to see us in the Coliseum and he at Wembley Stadium because he’s always been chickenshit to get on stage with the Beach Boys.”

It was a night of notable absences, with Diana Ross and Paul McCartney staying home due to feuds with their groups, but Mick Jagger was indeed in the audience. To put it mildly, the rest of the Beach Boys were horrified. “Carl Wilson came up to me afterward,” said Shaffer. “He handed me his award and said, ‘Our career is over.'”