The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its five inductees for 2012, with Guns N’ Roses arguably the biggest name and most likely to bring extra drama to the ceremony, which will be held at Cleveland’s Public Hall for the second time.
The other inductees span the last 30 years of rock and its ever-increasing number of subgenres: Alt-rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers, folk fairy Laura Nyro, eclectic hip-hop trio the Beastie Boys, British blues rockers the Small Faces/Faces, and psychedelic folk-rocker Donovan will join the hallowed halls of rock. Artists are eligible 25 years after their first release of music.
Guns N’ Roses
For many Cleveland fans, Guns N’ Roses, currently on tour (they were scheduled to play Youngstown on Wednesday night) with lone original member Axl Rose, will be the main attraction for the ceremony April 14. The band arose from the mid-’80s L.A. scene, but didn’t bask in the glam-rock, party-hearty getups and songs of many of its contemporaries.
Frontman Rose, guitarist Slash, drummer Steven Adler, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin and bassist Duff McKagan brought considerable street cred to their 1987 debut album Appetite for Destruction in songs such as Welcome to the Jungle and the heroin cautionary tale Mr. Brownstone, while wooing millions of rock chicks with Sweet Child O' Mine. The band expanded its membership and its musical palette with the sprawling Use Your Illusion 1 & 2, featuring the nine-minute, epic, power ballad November Rain, and became the biggest rock band in the world before the “classic lineup” imploded because of drugs, artistic and personal differences, the pressures of superstardom and more drugs.
The big question for the ceremony will be if that classic lineup will appear on stage together to accept the honor, and whether the members will be able to put aside their long-burning issues (mostly between Rose and everyone else) to knock out a song or two.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been around for nearly 30 years with the nucleus of singer Anthony Kiedis and bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary. The band formed in 1983, mixing rap, punk, rock and funk in crazed legendary live shows that often featured the group wearing nothing but carefully placed tube socks.
The group has had several membership changes over the years, first necessitated by the overdose death of original guitarist Hillel Slovak, and drummer Jack Irons’ departure shortly thereafter. Their replacements, guitarist John Frusciante and longtime drummer Chad Smith, were part of the band's rise to pop stardom in the ’90s with the albums Mother's Milk (1989), Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), Californication (1999) and By the Way (2002). In August, the band, now featuring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, released its 10th album I'm With You, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts and received a Grammy nomination for best rock album.
Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys, Adam “MCA” Yauch, Mike “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz, began in Brooklyn in 1979 as a punk rock trio who quickly embraced hip-hop. Their 1986 debut Licensed to Ill not only erased any questions about whether white dudes could rap, but also became a classic of the era with tunes such as Paul Revere and the goofy rap/rock hybrid Fight for Your Right to Party.
Early in their careers, they were known for being loose, lascivious goofballs, but albums such as the sample-heavy, experimental Paul's Boutique (1989) and the eclectic, Check Your Head and Ill Communication featured the trio playing live instruments and expanding their subject matter beyond partying and boasts. They released their 10th album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, in 2011.
Small Faces
The induction of the Small Faces/Faces also makes two of its members, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, two-time inductees (Stewart as a solo artist in 1994 and Wood with the Rolling Stones in 1989). The band had two eras: the Small Faces, a tight R&B and psychedelia-influenced band featuring bassist Ronnie Lane, organist Ian McLagan, drummer Kenny Jones and singer Steve Marriott; and the Faces, a much looser, booze-fueled blues-rock band featuring a young Stewart in Marriott's place along with guitarist Wood, fresh from a stint in the Jeff Beck Group. The band had hits with Stay With Me and Ooh La La but was never as popular stateside as in Britain. Lane died in 1997.
Laura Nyro
Singer/songwriter Laura Nyro may be best known for the songs she wrote that were hits for others, including Blood, Sweat & Tears’ version of When I Die, the 5th Dimension's take on Wedding Bell Blues and Stoned Soul Picnic, and Eli's Coming for Three Dog Night.
Nyro, who died of ovarian cancer at 49 in 1997, also left classics with her sophomore album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and its follow-up New York Tendaberry (1969).
Donovan
Singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch, known simply as Donovan, was a blueprint Summer of Love-style psychedelic folk rocker who had hits in the late 1960s with Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow. He still tours periodically, including an appearance at the Kent State Folk Festival in 2005.
Other honorees
Honorees in other categories are: Texas electric blues guitarist Freddie King, as an early influence; rock promoter Don Kirshner, who died this year and whose long-running television show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert introduced many rock fans to new music, receiving the Ahmet Ertegun nonperformer award; and recording engineers/producers Tom Dowd (Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, John Coltrane), Glyn Johns (The Who, the Band, the Eagles) and Cosimo Matssa (Fats Domino, Little Richard, Aaron Neville), who will be honored for musical excellence.
Missing the cut
Nominees who will have to wait until at least 2013 are hip-hop pioneers Eric B. & Rakim, Latin-tinged R&B funksters War, bedrock alt-rockers the Cure, smooth soul men the Spinners and a quartet of ladies, hard rockers Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Heart, Rufus featuring R&B vocal powerhouse Chaka Khan and disco queen Donna Summer.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Read his blog, Sound Check Online, at www.ohiomm.com/blogs/soundcheck.
