An official announcement won’t be made until Wednesday morning (December 15 at 10:30am to be exact). However, Hits Daily Double has already reported that shock rock legend Alice Cooper will indeed be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Along with Neil Diamond, Tom Waits, Dr. John and Darlene Love, Cooper will be inducted at the 26th annual induction ceremony on March 14, 2011 at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan.
This is great news if this indeed turns out to be official. The Hall Of Fame has for too long ignored the influence of hard rock and metal legends like Cooper. It certainly gives hope that bands such as KISS, Judas Priest and Rush may finally get their due respect. For me personally, though, Cooper was the one artist who I felt had been snubbed for far too long by the Hall Of Fame. My first experience with Alice Cooper was watching him on The Muppet Show at a young age, which then led me to seeing him live in concert at the age of 6 (my first concert). Ever since then, I have been a die-hard Alice Cooper fan. So I am extremely pleased that after getting ignored by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for far too long, Cooper is finally getting the recognition he deserves. The Alice Cooper Band’s mix of theatrics and rock n’ roll has inspired everyone from KISS to Rob Zombie. Not only did Cooper have the stage show, but also had the music to back it up, with songs like “School’s Out,” “I’m Eighteen,” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” still serving as hard rock anthems for fans worldwide. The only true injustice is that Cooper wasn’t inducted into the Hall Of Fame sooner, being eligible since 1994. Regardless, it’s better late than never.
We will keep you up to date if more is revealed from the official announcement on Wednesday. You can also read Cooper’s statement in response to being placed on the short list of nominees for the 2011 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame after the jump.
“On behalf of Dennis (Dunaway), Neal (Smith), Michael (Bruce) and the late great Glen (Buxton), we are honored to be nominated for induction in to the Hall. Anytime you are nominated in your chosen profession, it’s definitely a compliment to be recognized. It’s hard to fathom possibly being in the same club as artists who inspired us originally, like The Beatles, The [Rolling] Stones, The Beach Boys, The Who, The Yardbirds, and Chuck Berry, and to be nominated the same year as legendary artists like my personal favorite songwriter of all time, Laura Nyro, as well as Donovan, who sang on our Billion Dollar Babies record, and our good friends in Bon Jovi, is a great feeling.
Five guys starting a band, just hoping to meet girls and drink free beer, rehearsing and playing local bars five hours a night for the first few years — that was us. We came up with the theatrics and made every effort not to sacrifice the music one bit; we thought it was like our job to bring theatrics to rock ‘n’ roll. And then, amazingly enough, we were having a bunch of massive hit records which was proof that theatricality and rock ‘n’ roll could, in fact, be joined successfully. We’ve been told that we revolutionized the live concert experience and if that’s truly the case and it’s led to this nomination for induction into the Hall of Fame, the only thing to say is, of course, ‘There’s no business like show business!’”
