Andy Greene of Rolling Stone reports: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year’s inductees: Nirvana, KISS, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt will all join the class of 2014. The E Street Band will be given the Award for Musical Excellence and Beatles manager Brian Epstein and original Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham will both receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.
The induction ceremony will be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 10th, 2014. It’s the first time the general public will be able to attend the event in New York City. Tickets go on sale in January; HBO will air the event in May.
Artists are eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single. Nirvana, whose first single Love Buzz came out in 1988, are entering the institution their first year of eligibility. “That’s really no surprise to me,” says Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Joel Peresman. “People see the relevancy of that band. We’re just getting into the creative of the show, so I don’t know what’s going to happen with that performance. They have to figure it out.”
KISS have been eligible for the last 15 years, but didn’t get the nod until now. “The Kiss Army has descended on Cleveland in recent years,” says Peresman. “And we’ve gotten thousands of letters. They also did extremely well in the public vote.” (In 2012, the band joked to Rolling Stone, “We’ve been thinking about it and the answer is simply, ‘We’ll just buy it and fire everybody.'”)
The annual induction ceremony has moved out of the tiny New York Waldorf Astoria Ballroom in recent years into larger venues in Cleveland and Los Angeles, where the public can attend along with music industry insiders.
This year’s event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center is the first time the induction has been held in an arena, making it the largest ceremony in the history of the Hall of Fame. “Bringing in the fans adds an incredible energy to the event,” says Peresman. “The fans should have an opportunity to see the show. They are the reason these bands exist.”
Read more at Rolling Stone.
source: rollingstone.com
67 Responses
Forgive my typos, I was in a rush.
I can’t believe Deep Purple did not get in. This truly is the hall of shame. Deep Purple was one of the most influential bands of their time. Blackmore is arguably the greatest guitarist every to play. Basically by not having Deep Purple in de-legitimizes the hall of fame. There are numerous performers in the hall now that would have been opening acts for the bands that opened up fro Deep Purple.
Congratulations to KISS for the induction, albeit a decade or so after it should have happened. For decades knuckleheads all over the planet took pleasure in making fun of KISS. At the same time numerous recording artists (i.e. Garth Brooks, Metallica, Motley Crue, Rush, etc.) spoke of how influential the band had been in their respective careers. Simmons has always had it right in stating that KISS made fools of the critics (for those who care about what the critics have to say). The love of music is subjective and, like a spouse, the attraction is in the eye of the beholder. The KISS following is enormous and has been since the 1970’s. For a band to go through line-up and image changes like KISS has and still command audiences of the size seen during the Monster tour speaks volumes.
The two remaining founding members would not be where they are today without the foundation laid in the 1970’s and rekindled between 1995 and 2001 with Peter and Ace. At this stage in their careers it’s time to bury the hatchet and celebrate the original four properly at the induction.
THANK YOU KISS!!