Rolling Stone has just confirmed that Guns N’ Roses will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by (drum roll please…) Green Day. That’s right, the California pop punk group (who are currently working on a new album) will be inducting GN’R at the induction ceremony on April 14 in Cleveland, OH.
Of course, while we know who will have the honor of inducting the group, there’s still the question of who from GN’R will actually show up. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed originally said that all of the original members would be on hand for the honor.. However, drummer Matt Sorum recently said that guitarist Izzy Stradlin will likely not attend, and Slash revealed to Rolling Stone that he still has no clue about the status of Axl Rose since “He hates my guts.”
One thing that’s safe to assume, though, is that the original lineup will not be performing at the ceremony. For one, while Sorum, Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler say that they’ll be there, they also keep playing the “I don’t know, but unlikely” game (which might as well just mean “no”). Then, musical director/producer Paul Shaffer (or whoever might be controlling his Twitter account) let it slip that GN’R wouldn’t be performing at the ceremony. Of course, Shaffer’s people quickly took down the tweet and denied everything, it’s a safe bet that they were simply trying to cover their asses.
So now this leads us to ask a question that might cause mixed feelings: will Green Day be performing in GN’R’s place? Rolling Stone says that it’s “unclear” whether that will happen, but it wouldn’t be the first time a presenter filled in for an absent inductee. In fact, Velvet Revolver did exactly that when they inducted Van Halen in 2007. Plus, Green Day previously performed in honor of The Ramones during their induction in 2002, while frontman Billie Joel Armstrong inducted The Stooges in 2010.
So what will happen? Guess we might have to wait until April 14. But one thing is definitely for certain: having Green Day induct Guns N’ Roses is further proof how out of touch the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame truly is in regards to hard rock. It’s like having Blondie’s Debbie Harry induct Jay-Z because they both have rapped.
