economical sociology: Beastie Boys To Be Inducted Into Rock Hall By Chuck D

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Beastie Boys To Be Inducted Into Rock Hall By Chuck D

Comedian Chris Rock will do the honors for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
By Gil Kaufman

Michael 'Mike D' Diamond, Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz and Adam 'MCA' Yauch of the Beastie Boys
Photo: WireImage

It's still unclear which members of Guns N' Roses will show up for the April 14 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony,  if they will bury the hatchet and jam together, or even sit at the same table. But on Tuesday (March 2) we learned who will induct the rest of the class of 2012 into the Rock Hall when the 27th annual ceremony takes place in Cleveland next month.

The Beastie Boys will be inducted by none other than Public Enemy frontman and hip-hop icon Chuck D. While the pairing might seem incongruous at first, old-school rap fans might recall that D's early rap records had a huge influence on the Beastie Boys, the two groups released their debut albums on Def Jam within two months of each other and PE actually opened for their labelmates on the tour in support of the B Boys' smash full-length debut, Licensed to Ill.

Comedian Chris Rock will do the honors for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, while "Sopranos" star and E Street Band member "Little" Steven Van Zandt will handle the duties for the Small Faces/The Faces. Among the other bold names on tap to do the inductions: John Mellencamp will handle psychedelic crooner Donovan, Bette Midler will induct late pop singer/songwriter Laura Nyro and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill will speak on behalf of blues guitar icon Freddie King.

Also on tap are singer/songwriter Carole King, who will speak on behalf of non-performer producer Don Kirshner, the Band's Robbie Robertson, who will talk about producers/engineers Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns and R&B legend Smokey Robinson, who will induct the sidemen in the Blue Caps, the Comets, the Crickets, the Famous Flames, the Midnighters and his own backing band, the Miracles.

The induction ceremony will be televised on HBO on May 5 at 9 p.m. The big mystery remains whether the famously battling ex-bandmates in GNR will show up for the ceremony and if they will perform together for the first time in nearly 20 years. The Hall also did not yet reveal who would induct the iconic Los Angeles hard rock band, but promised that more details about performances, presenters and special guests would be announced at a later date.

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