2011.09.27 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer - Guns N' Roses Among Nominees For 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions

Guns N' Roses, Eric B. and Rakim and the Cure among nominees for 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions

By John Soeder, The Plain Dealer

Will Cleveland become "Paradise City" next year for Guns N' Roses?

The hard-rocking band is among a wide-ranging slate of 15 artists that have been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, when the pantheon will enshrine its next class here.

The 27th annual induction ceremony is booked for Saturday, April 14, at Cleveland's Public Auditorium. Leading up to the big night will be a full schedule of related festivities, starting on Thursday, April 5.

Guns N' Roses, whose hits include "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City," were nominated in their first year of eligibility.

"It's a great honor," said guitarist Gilby Clarke, a Cleveland native who was a member of Guns N' Roses in the early '90s.

"The band deserves it," Clarke said by phone from his home in Los Angeles. "It was a long time coming."

Eric B. and Rakim, a groundbreaking hip-hop duo, were nominated in their first year of eligibility, too.

Also making their debut on the ballot are the Cure, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Freddie King, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, the Small Faces/the Faces and the Spinners. All of those acts were previously eligible.

Back in the running after failing to get enough votes in the past are the Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Donna Summer and War.

The nominees were set to be announced today by the New York-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which oversees the induction process.

Taking it to the next level

"The 2012 nominees embody the broad scope of what 'rock and roll' means," Joel Peresman, president and CEO of the foundation, said in a news release. "From vocal groups to hip-hop, from singer-songwriters to hard-rocking artists, this group represents the spirit of what we celebrate at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

Artists become eligible for nomination 25 years after the release of their first recording. The hopefuls were chosen by the Rock Hall's 35-member nominating committee, whose ranks include musicians, journalists and music-industry executives.

Ballots will be sent to more than 500 voters, including previous inductees.

The 2012 inductees are expected to be announced in late November or early December. Typically, five artists make the final cut.

Tables and VIP packages for the induction ceremony are almost sold out. Individual tickets will go on sale in December.

To coincide with the inductions, the Rock Hall will unveil new exhibit space in the museum and celebrate the grand opening of the museum's library and archives on Cuyahoga Community College's Metropolitan Campus.

The prelude in April will also include the launch of a major new exhibition, a free "Concert for Cleveland," a free-admission day at the museum, a gospel concert and special educational programming, including a national broadcast of the Rock Hall's "On the Road" distance-learning series.

This will be the third induction ceremony in Cleveland.

In 2007, Rock Hall officials and city leaders announced an agreement to bring the event here every three years, starting with the 2009 ceremony, where the honorees included Metallica and Run-D.M.C. In addition to international media exposure, the festivities two years ago generated $13 million in economic impact, according to Team NEO.

"We're going to try to take it to the next level, as best we can, in terms of the overall presentation and the artists we bring in for the other events," said Terry Stewart, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

"We're excited about it. We have a few years of experience under our belts now. Fortunately, everybody felt we did almost everything well the last go-round."

The 2012 inductions will cost between $6 million and $7 million to mount, Stewart said. He declined to reveal how much money has been raised to date.

"We've made a substantial dent," Stewart said. "As much as you can feel good about that kind of number in this kind of business environment, we feel good about it. We're sure we're going to get there."

Cleveland also hosted the inductions in 1997. The ceremony is usually held at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Unfinished business for GN'R

If Guns N' Roses receive enough votes to get in, it could set the stage for a historic reunion -- or a train wreck of rock 'n' roll egos.

The group has been through numerous lineup changes, with frontman Axl Rose as the sole mainstay. Over the years, relations between Rose and some ex-bandmates have ranged from tense to toxic.

It's unclear which members would be enshrined if Guns N' Roses were inducted.

If Clarke had his way, co-founders Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steven Adler (drums) would be honored, along with later recruits Matt Sorum (drums), Dizzy Reed (keyboards) and Clarke himself.

"I was a fan of the band even before I joined, so I'd love to see the original five guys play a song," Clarke said.

"That was always one of the great things about the band -- you never knew what to expect. . . . I'm not speaking for Axl, but I think in his eyes, everything is fine and the band is carrying on. But I think the public would like to see the people [at the inductions] who made the most popular albums.

"There's unfinished business within the band, certainly."

https://www.cleveland.com/popmusic/2011/09/guns_n_roses_eric_b_and_rakim.html

Related article in the New York Times, Sept. 27, 2011:
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Guns N’ Roses and Eric B. & Rakim Are Nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

By James C. McKinley Jr.

Guns N’ Roses, the hard rock band whose glory days were in the 1980s, and Eric B. & Rakim, one of the most influential rap groups of that era, were among the 15 artists nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year, the hall announced this morning. Both were nominated in their first year of eligibility.

The other artists who are receiving their first nominations include Freddie King, the Cure, Heart, the Spinners and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The list also contains several acts that have been nominated before, among them the Beastie Boys, Donovan, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and War.

The nominees were chosen by 40 critics and musicologists who serve on the hall’s nominating committee. The ballots will now be sent to a larger group of 500 critics, musicians and industry professionals who vote on them. Every year, the hall inducts at least five artists or groups from the list. The choices are announced in late November and a ceremony will be held to honor the inductees on April 14. Next year, the ceremony will be held at the Cleveland Convention Center, as it was in 2008.

The nomination of Guns N’ Roses did not come as a surprise. The Los Angeles hard rock band brought a raw sound back to the charts in the late 1980s when pop was dominated by dance music, laying the groundwork for the grunge movement that followed. They were superstars when the original band stopped touring in 1994, having left behind a large catalog of hits, including “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

Eric B. & Rakim –- the rap duo from Queens — are credited with raising the bar for rappers when they released their debut single, “Eric B is President,” in 1986. It was a hard-hitting James Brown sample over which Rakim rapped dense lyrics, packing lines with internal rhymes, meters and wordplay that have influenced most of the top rappers since then. Only two other hip-hop acts are in the hall of fame — Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Run-D.M.C.

Artists become eligible for the hall of fame 25 years after their debut album or single. Many musicians have careers that span more than three decades, so some hall-of-famers are still touring and recording.

https://web.archive.org/web/20211009091038/https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/guns-n-roses-and-eric-b-rakim-crack-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-nominee-list/

Another related article, Metal Insider, Sept. 27, 2011:
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Guns N’ Roses Nominated For Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

By Zach Shaw

In their first year of eligibility, Guns N’ Roses have been nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In other words, they’re among 15 finalist eligible for the voting ballot to be inducted with the Class of 2012. Also appearing on the ballot this year are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joan Jett, The Cure, Beastie Boys, and a few others.

While only the five eligible with the greatest amount of votes will get inducted, it’s pretty much a guaranteed thing that GN’R will get in. Unfortunately, though, it won’t just be because of their legacy. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and writer Dave Marsh (highly influential members of the voting committee) know damn well the press the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame would receive if they could convince the classic GN’R lineup to perform at the ceremony. It would be the reunion that no one thought could ever happen.

However, there’s also the sad potential that things could end up like the Van Halen induction (where only Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony appeared at the ceremony, which Jimmy Kimmel referred to as “like having a Pac Man reunion where only Inky and the cherry show up”). That’s a fear that even Duff McKagan has expressed before. Making the situation even stickier is that Axl Rose is about to embark on a U.S. tour with his new GN’R lineup. Will the Hall Of Fame let the new Guns perform the ceremony? Would Axl even show up to the ceremony, thus leaving the Hall Of Fame with a performance by Slash, Duff, Izzy (maybe), and whoever else wants to join them onstage for karaoke? Or could the Hall Of Fame do the impossible and actually get Axl and Slash to appear on the same stage?

Well that’s the speculation and gossip they want to occur leading up to the ceremony on April 14, 2012 (being held in Cleveland, OH this time). We won’t find out for sure which five bands will have made it into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s 2012 class until January. GN’R rightfully deserve to be inducted, as Appetite For Destruction is still one of the most influential rock albums of the past two decades. Now if only bands like KISS, Rush, Cheap Trick, and Deep Purple could get some love from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

https://metalinsider.net/welcome-to-the-hof/guns-n%E2%80%99-roses-nominated-for-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame

Another article in Spin, Sept. 27, 2011:
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Guns N’ Roses, Cure Nominated to Rock Hall

Written By Marc Hogan

Hard-rock icons Guns N’ Roses are among this year’s batch of first-time nominees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot, along with goth-pop forefathers the Cure and hip-hop pioneers Eric B. & Rakim, the organization announced today. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Heart also lead the list of first-timers.

Also receiving their first Rock Hall nods are the Small Faces/Faces, the Spinners, Rufus with Chaka Khan, and Freddie King. Also on the ballot are returning nominees Donna Summer, Donovan, Laura Nyro, and War. The winners will be inducted at the ceremony April 14 in Cleveland. The event will be open to the public.

Artists become eligible for nomination 25 years after releasing their first single or album. More than 500 voters will receive ballots allowing them to weigh in on who from this crop of nominees should make it into the Rock Hall.

Guns N’ Roses’ nod comes at a busy time for Axl Rose and his bandmates. GNR recently unveiled a U.S. tour that will kick off on October 28 in Orlando. Check out the latest additions to the tour over at Ticketmaster.

Leading up to the induction ceremony, the Rock Hall has 10 days of festivities planned. Events will include tours of the newly redesigned museum, the launch of what the organization says will be a “major” new exhibit, and the opening of the museum’s new library and archives.

https://www.spin.com/2011/09/guns-n-roses-cure-nominated-rock-hall/