Run-DMC's Hall of Fame Honor Will Be Even More Special with Tribute to Fallen Mate

With all the '80s "reunions" we've had to endure over the last several years boasting only one or two original members flanked by hired guns and even YouTube discoveries, it's refreshing and heartening to learn that pioneering rap group and 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Run-DMC will not perform at this weekend's ceremony without fallen DJ Jason “Jam-Master Jay” Mizell. Murdered in 2002 in a still unsolved shooting, Mizell won't be able to join Joseph “Run” Simmons and Daryl “DMC” McDaniels as their group is enshrined, but his memory will burn ever brighter thanks to the surviving members' refusal to tap a replacement. That's not only a classy, admirable move but also one that protects the sanctity of musical ensembles as a concept. The trio created Run-DMC's influential music together, and accepting the honor of joining that select list in Cleveland should happen no differently, at the very least in spirit.

And don't forget that although Metallica will be performing at the ceremony (with longtime former bassist Jason Newsted, in an interesting twist), the memory of original bassist Cliff Burton will surely hang heavy in the air as that legendary heavy metal group takes its slot in the Hall. The respect that Metallica has shown for Burton's seminal but ultimately brief influence on the band has always been constant, and now it's actually quite moving to see a similarly reverent gesture extended to Newsted, who served the group through its most popular years. I just hope many veteran bands will take their cue from these two essential '80s artists and show a greater respect for their original and otherwise core members, the ones who helped make the name on which they're touring still today.

Album Cover Image Courtesy of Arista