Great Random Moments In Rock History

#2: Prince at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony

At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards ceremony in 2004, Prince was inducted and George Harrison, who had recently died, was honored. During the "all star jam," which has become a tradition of the ceremony, the usual suspects of honorees (as well as Dhani, George's son) paid tribute to Harrison with a rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." One by one, the guitarists on the stage, including Tom Petty, took turns taking solos. For the most part, they offered tasteful renditions of what they probably felt was an appropriate homage to the style of George.

And then came Prince. Cool and confident, he strode to the front of the stage, and one can almost imagine him thinking to himself, "all right, time to show these motherf------ how it's done." He proceeded through a solo that ripped a hole through everything that had come before it - one that was so incendiary, so exciting, so vital, that it seemed amazing that it was played on the same instrument that had produced all of the sounds that had preceded it.

But what made the moment truly special was the look on Dhani Harrison's face: he broke out into a huge grin that lasted for the entire time that Prince was in the spotlight, at one point leaning over to Tom Petty and perhaps commenting, "can you believe this guy?" No doubt, he knew that this was the purest tribute offered to his father that evening.