The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Class Of 2012 Could Include Eric B & Rakim And Guns N' Roses
The Cure, Eric B. & Rakim, and Guns N' Roses are among the new-to-the-ballot artists on the list for for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame's class of 2012, announced this morning; they join previous nominees the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Donna Summer. Full list below. 
Guns N' Roses ca. 1987: If nothing else, that pouf should be immortalized for eternity.
Beastie Boys
The Cure
Donovan
Eric B. & Rakim
Guns 'N Roses
Heart
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
Freddie King
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rufus with Chaka Khan
The Small Faces/The Faces
The Spinners
Donna Summer
War
(I voted last year and have no idea whether I'm being invited to make my voice heard in the Rock Hall's fitful attempts to establish a canon of American pop music—which, really, is what's happening here; the use of the term "rock and roll" is a red herring that just makes people with chips on their shoulders about What Real Music Sounds Like get all angry about Madonna—again. Although I'd probably vote for GNR for reasons that are both sentimental and rooted in reasons related to the fact that Appetite For Destruction remains a snarling beast of an album, still able in its best moments to sound like an inescapable nightmare 25 years after it first hit stores. Plus, you know, what could happen at the induction ceremony, etc. Everything else is up for grabs, though. Do I honor the Cure's ability to turn unending gloom into something beautiful? Eric B. & Rakim's pioneering hip-hop artistry? Joan Jett's reclamation of part of the no-girls-allowed rock clubhouse? Heart's bombastic awesomeness? Chaka Freakin' Khan? At least I have time to think it over. Maybe next year I'll be invited to the big party!)
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