Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame taps Beastie Boys, Guns N Roses, Laura Nyro and Red Hot Chili Peppers for newest class

Two classic voices of New York music will take their place in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame this year.

They include The Beastie Boys, who brought a rock-tinged, snot-nosed, Lower East Side, sensibility to Bronx hip-hop, helping it cross-over to the mainstream in the '80s.

Then there's Laura Nyro, who employed an unprecedented mix of Spanish Harlem soul and Broadway sophistication to create some of the most indelible pop songs of the '60s, from "Wedding Bell Blues" to "Stoney End."

At the same time, Hall voters honored two prime examples of California guitar-music: Guns N Roses, who turned gritty, Sunset Strip-centric heavy metal into a world wide phenomena, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who matched L.A. pan-sexuality to a newly muscular brand of funk and rock.

The HOF made a significant nod to the U.K. as well for 2012, ushering in Donovan, the first poster child for English flower power who also provided a key link between the early ’60s British folk revival and the decade's later advances into psychedelia.

The final inductee for 2012 also epitomizes British music, but in two key guises — the classic mod-era group Small Faces and that band’s later incarnation as The Faces.

The earlier “Small” group featured soulful lead singer Steve Marriott, while the latter Faces coalesced around an ever better-known, scratchy-voiced frontman: Rod Stewart.

The class of 2012 will also boast blues guitarist Freddie King (in the category of “Early Influences”), and impresario Don Kirshner (in the non-performer slot). In the category of “musical excellence,” the hall will induct engineer supreme Tom Dowd (best known for his soulful Atlantic recordings of the late ’60s), New Orleans R&B engineer Cosimo Matassa and classic-rock producer Glyn Johns, who oversaw iconic works from “Who’s Next” to The Stones’ “Sticky Fingers.”

Artists nominated this year who got left out in the cold, include The Cure, Eric B. & Rakim, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Rufus with Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, The Spinners and War.

The latest list of inductees shows a marked bent towards rock of a more recent era. Guns N Roses get in with their very first nomination, the Chili Peppers with their second. Artists have to have a discography dating back 25 years to be eligible.

The induction ceremony April 14 will be in Cleveland, just the third time this 27-year-old event has taken place in the museum's home city instead of New York.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/rock-n-roll-hall-fame-taps-beastie-boys-guns-n-roses-laura-nyro-red-hot-chilli-peppers-newest-class-article-1.987915#ixzz1fs83GTN8