Guns N' Roses, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers Chosen for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The votes are in and next year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class will include Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, the Small Faces/Faces, Donovan and Laura Nyro. Freddie King will enter the Hall of Fame as an Early Influence, while the late producer and TV host Don Kirshner will receive the Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) Award and producers Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns will receive the Award for Musical Excellence. The ceremony will be held April 14th at Cleveland's Public Hall. It will be broadcast on HBO in early May.
Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis got the news while his band was touring Europe."I called my dad and cried," he tells Rolling Stone. "The most emotional part for me was thinking about [late Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist] Hillel Slovak . . . It's really kind of his induction that I'm the most excited about. He's a beautiful person that picked up a guitar in the 1970s and didn't make it out of the 1980s, and he is getting honored for his beauty . . . It really fills my heart with the reality of how much we love doing what we do, and how much Flea and I love each other. We have stuck together through thick and thin and we want to keep on trucking and continuing to do what it is we do."
Guns N' Roses are the only group to be inducted on their first year of eligibility. The original line-up hasn't performed together since drummer Steven Adler left the band in 1990. During an interview last month with VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, Axl Rose didn't completely rule out a reunion. "I don't know what it means in terms of me with the old band and the old lineup," he said. "If we were to be invited, I don't know what they would ask of me. It's up in the air."
Adler remains skeptical that Axl will be willing to perform with the original lineup. "You figure that time heals all wounds," he tells Rolling Stone. "But some people just REALLY hold a crazy grudge. I just had lunch with Slash two days ago. He loves Axl. He holds no grudges towards him. Twenty years of great music wasn't created because of some stupid grudge. . . Can't we just be fucking people who played music and accomplished a huge goal in their life and just play a couple songs? It's only rock & roll, my god! It's not rocket science."
For Faces/Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, the news was somewhat bittersweet. "I was not happy that the Small Faces and the Faces were lumped together," he tells Rolling Stone. "I've given it a lot of thought and I figure, well . . . I'll take it." The Faces have been touring with former Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall, but original singer Rod Stewart recently said that he'd like to reunite with the group at the ceremony. "I'll be happy if he does that," says McLagan. "It certainly would be wonderful."
This is the third time that the ceremony will be held in Cleveland, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. As in 2009, the ceremony will be open to the public.
Related
• Steven Adler on a Guns N' Roses Hall of Fame Reunion: 'My Toes Are Crossed!'
• Anthony Kiedis on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction: 'My Dad Cried When I Told Him'
• Faces and Small Faces Keyboardist Ian McLagan Talks Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Greatest Moments
