It's hard to know just how worked up to get about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In a way, nothing it does really matters, because with rock 'n' roll, you don't need any stinkin' ballots and you don't need any stinkin' trophies. Johnny Rotten addressed that quite elegantly by simply not showing up for the Sex Pistols induction.

And yet, enough aging rock stars have taken it seriously (even punkish ones like Elvis Costello, Mick Jones and Patti Smith) to give the Rock Hall an air of respectability.

With that said, Iggy Pop & the Stooges turned the entire thing into a charade Monday night by thrusting ROCK AND ROLL right into the faces of the people too stubborn to vote the band into the Rock Hall.

Last year, Smith and fellow inductee Michael Stipe made their Stooges plea by breaking into "I Wanna Be Your Dog." This year, Madonna, in one of her more inspired moves, actually invited Iggy and the Stooges to the party to disrupt an otherwise snooze of a show.

The proto-punks from her native Detroit blasted through two Madonna songs -- "Burning Up" and "Ray of Light" -- with typical raw power and the social anarchy of a shirtless Iggy. The suits in the crowd just stared dumbly back at them, prompting Iggy to plead "Feel the music ... Feel SOMETHING!" He also dropped into Justin Timberlake's lap, which was pretty priceless.

The question for the Rock Hall members now to ponder is: What sense does it make to have the Sex Pistols, Clash or any band of that stripe in their museum if the Stooges, arguably the original punks, aren't there with them?

And, more to the occasion of Monday night, what sense does it make to leave out the Stooges and enshrine non-rock artists such as Leonard Cohen and Madonna?

Elect Iggy for 2009.

The show airs in edited form Saturday at 11 p.m. on VH1.