Two dramatically different Los Angeles bands from the same era, Guns N' Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, have been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the hall announced on Wednesday.
New York-based rappers the Beastie Boys were also voted into the hall, as were singer-songwriters Donovan and Laura Nyro and the British group that first went by the name the Small Faces and later shortened it to the Faces.
In honors chosen by special Hall of Fame committee, blues musician Freddie King will be inducted as an early influence, producers Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns and engineer and studio owner Cosimo Matassa will enter the hall as non-performers, and the late impresario Don Kirshner will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Guns N' Roses (above) and the Chili Peppers, both of which emerged from Los Angeles clubs in the 1980s, were voted in in their first year of eligibility. Donovan and Nyro, by contrast, have been on the ballot in the past but have been passed over numerous times.
As members of the Small Faces and the Faces, singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood will be entering the hall for the second time. Stewart has been inducted for his solo career, while Wood became a member because of his long tenure in the Rolling Stones.
On the ballot but missing the cut were the Cure, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Donna Summer, the Spinners and War.
The induction ceremony will take place on April 14 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, which gives warring Guns N' Roses bandmates Axl Rose and Slash four months to patch up their differences and agree to the usual induction-ceremony reunion.
