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Guns N’ Roses gets Rock Hall invite on Covelli play day
Staff/wire report
Photo
Axl Rose, lead singer of the rock band Guns N’ Roses, performs at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown on Wednesday night. Coincidentally on Wednesday, GNR also was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland next April. Rose took to the Covelli stage at about 11 p.m. Wednesday.
NEW YORK
On the same day that Guns N’ Roses played in Youngstown, the band was named part of the 2012 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The band was named a first-ballot inductee into the Cleveland-based institution Wednesday morning, and played a concert last night at the Covelli Centre.
Also inducted Wednesday were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys, Donovan, the late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro and the The Small Faces/The Faces, which included Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be in Cleveland on April 14. Tickets are $50 and $100 and go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Dec. 17. Go to rockhall.com, or call 877-212-8898. There is a two-ticket limit.
In an interview with The Vindicator last week, Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed was asked about the band’s chances of being in the Rock Hall.
He didn’t have any inside information as to what would happen but he welcomed the possibility.
“Of course it would be an honor [to be selected] because of the other people that are there,” said Reed.
When asked if GNR belongs in the Rock Hall, Reed responded, “Sure, yeah ... Why not?”
Rock Hall voters obviously agree with him.
The seminal rock band whose heyday was in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, is best known for hits such as “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “November Rain.”
Nyro, who wrote such hits the 5th Dimension’s “Wedding Bell Blues” and Blood Sweat & Tears’ “When I Die,” is the only female act to make it this time around. The hall passed on Donna Summer, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Heart and Rufus with Chaka Khan, who were on the ballot for 2012.
But it wasn’t just women who were denied entry into the rock hall for next year. Voters also passed on hip-hop pioneers Eric B. & Rakim, War, the Cure and the Spinners.
Guns N’ Roses blazed on the rock scene in 1987 with their official debut, “Appetite for Destruction.” Fronted by siren-voiced singer Axl Rose, with Slash and Izzy Stradlin on guitars, Duff McKagan on bass and Steven Adler on drums, the group dominated music with its aggressive rock grooves. Early in their career they were criticized for lyrics in the song “One in a Million” deemed as homophobic, misogynistic and racist. They were also defined by their dysfunction, gleefully embodying the mantra of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
The band sold millions and millions of albums, providing a sharp contrast to a pop world defined by the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson. But the group’s turmoil, often on display before the whole world, would cause the core to fall apart by 1996. Their induction should lead to talk once again of a possible reunion, at least for the induction ceremony.
The Chili Peppers, fronted by Anthony Kiedis, with Flea on bass, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, released its 10th album, “I’m With You,” this year.
Information from the Associated Press and The Los Angeles Times was used in this story.