No rhyme nor reason on 2012 rock inductees
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With the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you just never really know.
Even when an induction seems like a sure thing it isn't, and maybe that's why the honor perennially raises more questions than it answers with its list of inductees.
The 2012 inductees, announced yesterday, are no different.
Would anyone have expected '60s singer-songwriter Laura Nyro to have garnered more support from the Hall's voters than Joan Jett or Heart -- who were also on the nomination short list?
Can anyone name a song from inductees The Small Faces besides "Itchycoo Park"? And wouldn't that make them less likely to get into the museum than any number of the rock powerhouses still waiting their turn -- including Kiss, Rush, and Cheap Trick?
Did all the people carping about the inclusion of the Beastie Boys forget about all the rock guitar samples on "Licensed to Ill" and the thunderous opening of "Sabotage"?
Even the only inductee that seemingly everyone would agree on -- Guns N' Roses, who will get inducted in their first year of eligibility -- have questions attached, though those center on whether they will perform at the ceremony. After all, it's no secret that frontman Axl Rose and the rest of the bandmates who made the band's legendary "Appetite for Destruction" album aren't on the best of terms, with Rose the only original member left in Guns N' Roses.
Another question mark will be the Beastie Boys, who haven't had a live performance since Adam "MCA" Yauch was diagnosed with cancer in his parotid gland in 2009, though the band has since announced that he has beaten the disease.
The induction ceremony will be held April 14 in Cleveland, instead of its usual home at the Waldorf-Astoria in midtown Manhattan. Unlike previous years, it will not be carried live. A special from the event is set to air in May on HBO.
