Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N' Roses, and Beastie Boys To Be Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2012

Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has made its announcements of inductees for 2012. Among the performers are rock bands Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns N' Roses along with rap pioneers the Beastie Boys. None of those are big surprises. Red Hot Chili Peppers broke ground with their fusion of rock and funk. They have been one of the world's most popular rock bands for the last 20 years. Guns N' Roses have released only six studio albums, but their Appetite For Destruction album and the Use Your Illusion collections are truly legendary. The group has sold 45 million albums in the US alone and have six top 10 pop singles to their credit. The Beastie Boys blended rock with rap and other sonic experimentation to become one of the most consistently innovative rap acts of all time. Four of their studio albums have hit #1 on the album chart.
Among the other inductees pop is well represented. Singer-songwriter Laura Nyro will be inducted. She has a legacy of writing such hit singles as Barbra Streisand's "Stoney End," the Fifth Dimension's "Stoned Soul Picnic," and Blood, Sweat and Tears' "And When I Die." Her own recordings were critically acclaimed and five consecutive albums broke into the upper half of the Billboard album chart. British singer-songwriter Donovan will also be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. He was a top pop artist of the late 60s best remembered for his top five smash hits "Sunshine Superman," "Mellow Yellow," and "Hurdy Gurdy Man."