Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond Inducted Into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond (pictured), Dr. John, Darlene Love, Tom Waits and Leon Russell were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on Monday night, along with record executives Jac Holzman and Art Rupe. The ceremony will air Sunday March 20 on Fuse.

Fellow musicians, including Bette Midler, Paul Simon and John Legend paid tribute to their peers and legends at the annual ceremony. While inducting Brooklyn native Diamond, Simon cracked jokes about the singer's lengthy wait, the New York Daily News reports. Six words: You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore," he said, quoting the artist's popular duet with Barbra Streisand. "Unfortunately, if it's Barbra Streisand, it's not rock 'n' roll," to which an animated Diamond responded: "I would still sing that song. I don't give a s–t. And guess what? Barbra doesn't give a s–t, either."

Diamond, apparently a little jet-lagged and disoriented, apologized to the audience for his lack of preparation. "Here I am. I'm sorry I didn't write a speech. I just got off tour from Australia, I did a show two days ago, I got on a plane, commercial, yesterday. I've been flying my a– off for 45 hours, got in this morning. I have no idea where we are… What are we doing here? What the heck is going on right here?" he said during his acceptance speech. The crooner followed this rambling up with, ""What time is it? What day is it? And what the f–k is this country?!" before taking the stage to perform his classic "Sweet Caroline."

Rockers Cooper and Waits were slightly tamer by comparison. The "rock villain" Cooper gave his acceptance speech with a snake draped around his shoulders, before bringing out a children's group from Ronald McDonald House—outfitted in his signature black eye makeup—onstage to perform the chorus of "School's Out" alongside him. —EMILY EXTON