Los Angeles bands Guns N' Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers top the list of inductees for the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was announced early Wednesday morning.
Guns N' Roses, later dubbed “The World's Most Dangerous Band,” emerged on L.A.'s rock scene in the mid '80s. Within a few years, they ruled the Sunset Strip, albeit with less frosted lipstick and a far more “fuck you” spirit than most hair metal bands. Their seminal 1987 album, Appetite for Destruction, is widely regarded as one of the best rock albums of all time, and is the highest-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. This was the first time the band appeared on the hall's ballot.
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The Red Hot Chili Peppers formed a couple of years before Guns N' Roses, influenced by not just punk but also funk. Unlike GnR, the band has remained mostly intact, releasing its 10th album this year.
Other inductees include the hugely influential New York hip-hip trio Beastie Boys, the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, Donovan, and British rock group The Small Faces/The Faces, of which Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood were both members.
Though the latest incarnation of Guns N' Roses is scheduled to play Los Angeles' The Forum on December 21st, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony has already stirred talk of an original-band reunion. The ceremony will take place in Cleveland on April 14th.
