The Antipodean

It could be Tom Waits alone and I'd be all HELL YEAH but Alice Cooper is pretty damn cool too. Neil Diamond, Dr. john and Darlene Love I'm a bit neutral on. One of the lower "star wattage" groups of recent years. Wouldn't have minded seeing Beastie Boys though.
I'm just glad they passed on Bon Jovi. The bar is pretty low then....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/musi...inductees.html

The L.A. Times music blog
Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper among 2011 Rock Hall inductees
December 14, 2010 | 5:27 pm

Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, the Alice Cooper Band, Dr. John and Darlene Love will be welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next spring, the organization will announce Wednesday.

All five had been long eligible for induction under the hall’s criteria that acts wait at least 25 years after releasing their first recordings. In addition, Jac Holzman and Art Rupe, the founders of Elektra and Speciality Records labels, respectively, are entering the hall as co-recipients of the annual Ahmet Ertegun Award bestowed on influential record executives.

Demonstrating that when Elton John speaks, Rock Hall voters listen, Leon Russell has been selected as the honoree for the new Award for Musical Excellence, previously known as the Sideman category. John had been exceptionally vocal this year when promoting their duet album “The Union” in saying that his Oklahoma-based fellow pianist, singer and songwriter deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.

Of the nominees who were on the final ballot for induction, Bon Jovi, Donna Summer, Chic, Laura Nyro, the Beastie Boys, Donovan, the J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, Joe Tex and Chuck Willis were left to wait for another year to be voted in.

mndtrp

Good for Cooper.

nothingfails

wonder if this means Alice will reunite with his old bandmates. It's been over 35 years

skiman

from rolling stone:

Cooper plans on performing with the band, something he's only done a handful of times since they broke up in 1976. "We're trying to figure out if we do 'School's Out,' do we send balloons of confetti into the audience?"

Supermallet

to Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, and Dr. John. Oh heck, Neil Diamond too.

Josh-da-man

Christmastime for the Jews!

conscience

Tom Waits

cactusoly

Even when they get it right they get it wrong.... Alice Cooper the band is getting inducted but the RNRHOF website posted a video for the song "Poison" which is Alice Cooper solo.

dvdjunkie32

Neil Diamond is rock n roll? lol I guess I need to have the term redefined. I don't consider Stevie Wonder to be rock either. It's a damn shame that Kiss continues to be snubbed.

TomOpus

Good for Alice Cooper. It will be a hoot to see him play with the old band. Sad that Glen won't be there, though.

cungar

Looking forward to the Neil Diamond/Alice Cooper duet on You Don't Bring Me Flowers

cdollaz

Maybe the will do a medley and pair that with Only Women Bleed.

cungar

Wow talk about being anal. You really think the people that voted for Alice Cooper were voting for his old band and not him?

islandclaws

Congrats to The Coop, even if the Hall is a bunch of b.s.

Can't wait to see his performance from the ceremony.

Turd Ferguson

Congrats to Tom Waits. The lack of Rush as even a finalist continues to astonish me. Jann Wenner is an epic tool.

Coral

Tom Waits should've been in a long time ago.

Better late than never I guess.

nothingfails

Stevie doesn't belong in the HOF on what planet? If all the other Motown artists belong, why not the greatest and most talented one of them all? (I know some will argue Marvin, but he's too "chill out" for my taste, Stevie in the 70's was much better IMO)

I'm not a Neil fan, but he's been eligible for 20 years. Rick Rubin made him "cool" again, I think he's earned it when you consider he probably has written and performed more hit records than the other inductees put together (and I say this as an Alice Cooper fan).

nothingfails

What I find interesting is nobody is complaining about the induction of Darlene Love. She was never "rock" but yet Madonna's induction was seen as the apocalypse for a lot of people (largely because some people had to pay up some outstanding debts to people they bet that she'd be forgotten by 1990). No, Madonna's not rock, but neither was/is Darlene.

nothingfails

Solo Alice isn't THAT bad. He lost his edge and went Hollywood I agree but I thought he was damn near solid through 1983. I also think he's regained his mojo in recent years and while he hasn't regained his 70's magic, everything since Brutal Planet has actually been worth checking out.

Some of us grew up in the 1980's so "Poison" was the Alice we grew up listening to. It isn't Billion Dollar Babies but it was still one of the best songs of the era/genre, give me that song over any Poison, Warrant, Winger, etc... tracks from 1989.

Chrisedge

Super glad Alice (the person) is cool with playing with Alice (the old band)...Deborah Harry can suck it for how she treated her old band at the Rock Hall. Bitch.

nothingfails

Yea. I love Blondie and am aware that the current band is largely a new lineup (though Clem and Stein remain, Destri remains as a studio musician but retired from the road), but a Hall Of Fame induction is a once-in-a-lifetime moment that she could've put her ego aside and let Nigel Harrison and Frank Infante to play just that once.

scarredgod

awesome for tom waits, im looking forward to seeing who inducts him and what songs he plays and who will perform a song by him (i think thats how it works) and im curious to what he has to say about being inducted.

dvdjunkie32

I don't consider any Motown to be rock music.

Numanoid

Neil Diamond, fuck yeah. Should have been in on day one.

The Antipodean

Without Alice Cooper there would be no Kiss.