“She isn’t fit to tie their shoelaces!”: recounting an awkward encounter between Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed and Madonna at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

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By ( Louder, Classic Rock ) published

A US writer has shared the story of a contretemps that occurred at the event in New York in 2008

Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed in 2008, and Madonna live later the same year
(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Toni Anne Barson/WireImage))

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame saw two musical greats inducted into the US music institution but a story shared this week on Instagram suggests that not everyone was on an equal footing backstage. Heading up that year’s inductees were Madonna and Leonard Cohen, the pop superstar coming off the back of her mega-successful Confessions tour and the legendary singer-songwriter coming out of the wilderness somewhat, having just announced his first tour in 15 years.

But Leonard Cohen was long past having anything to prove, renowned as an all-timer, something enforced by the fact that Lou Reed had turned up to induct him into the Rock And Roll Of Fame – in his introductory speech, Reed said, “We are so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is.”

According to a story posted on Instagram by veteran music journalist and Vanity Fair Contributing Editor Lisa Robinson, though, it appears that message hadn’t filtered through to everyone at the event, especially when it came to trying to watch a performance of Cohen’s classic Hallelujah by Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice on the screens backstage.

“Leonard Cohen would have been 91 today,” Robinson wrote in her caption alongside a picture of her cheerily nestled in between Cohen and Reed taken on the night of the former’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. “When Leonard, Lou and I tried to go into the kitchen,” Robninson continues, explaining that the kitchen was being used as the backstage area at the event, taking place in the ballroom at New York’s famous Waldorf-Astoria hotel, “the bodyguard of a pop star also being inducted that night tried to stop us.”

“I went nuts and said, ‘This is Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed and she isn’t fit to tie their shoelaces’.” At that point, Robinson states, the artist’s manager stepped in and gave the trio the ‘OK’ to come in and watch. “Which we tried to do, despite the talking and the loud gum chewing that went on behind us. One guess as to who that pop star was.”

At which point Detective Google leads us to the door of Madge, the only female artist inducted that year and not one down with sharing her backstage area apparently. It seems she might have previous, though: amongst the comments on the story is one from Daniel Shulman, a former touring member of Garbage, who adds, “Madonna? Her bodyguards pushed Shirley Manson and I out of the way at our own show.”

Niall Doherty
Niall Doherty

Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, Champions Journal, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleague Ted Kessler. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Radiohead, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Florence + The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more.

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