Seminal figures of the ‘80s and early ‘90s Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns & Roses, and the Beastie Boys will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year, according to the New York Times, along with '60s and '70s music legends Donovan, the late Laura Nyro, and the Small Faces.
The inductees beat out formidable competition this year — including the Cure, Erik B. & Rakim, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts — to land a coveted place in the veritable pantheon of musicians, right next to legends like Madonna, Jimi Hendrix, the Velvet Underground, and Ray Charles.
“My dad cried,” Chili Peppers front man Anthony Kiedis told Rolling Stone when he heard the news. Kiedis founded the Los Angeles band in 1983 with bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary, drummer Chad Smith, and the late guitarist Hillel Slovak. They were known for fusing punk, metal, and rap in the ‘80s, and enlivening their concerts with debaucherous stage antics, long before achieving mainstream recognition in 1991 with "Blood Sugar Sex Magik." The album's release followed Slovak's 1988 fatal heroin overdose, a tragedy the band barely survived but was able to persevere through. “The most emotional part for me was thinking about Hillel Slovak,” said Keidis. “It's really kind of his induction that I'm 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.”
Fellow Los Angeles band Guns N’ Roses's induction comes at their first year of eligibility, which kicks in 25 years after the release of a debut album or single. The band took center stage in the late ‘80s, releasing definitive glam rock album "Appetite for Destruction," which has sold 28 million copies since its 1987 release. After releasing such indelible singles as "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child o' Mine," and "Paradise City," the original lineup — Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler, and co-founders Axl Rose and Slash (notorious nemeses) — dissolved under the pressures of drug addiction and clashing egos. While fans hold out hope that all five original members will reunite, Adler doubts Rose and Slash will overcome their infamous inability to get along. "I don't foresee it," Adler told Rolling Stone. "You figure that time could heal all wounds, but some people just really hold a crazy grudge. They are the Keith Richards and the Mick Jagger [of the band]!"
Representing the East Coast, Brooklyn natives the Beastie Boys, comprising "Mike D" Michael Diamond, "MCA" Adam Yauch, and "Ad-Rock" Adam Horovitz, began as a hardcore punk outfit before evolving into a precedent-setting act: white rappers with inventive lyrical nimbleness and a hybrid sound of rock, rap, and funk. High on their list of achievements: their 1986 full-length debut, "License to Ill," holds the title of hip hop's first number one album. Also on that list are the iconic party anthems "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To) Party," "Brass Monkey," and "Girls."
The late Texas blues guitarist Freddie King will also be honored, along with nonperformers Cosimo Matassa, owner of New Orleans’s J&M Recording Studio, and Tom Dowd, Atlantic records producer and engineer. The induction ceremony and concert, which takes place April 14 at the Cleveland Convention Center in Ohio, is scheduled to air on HBO in early May.