http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20070110/en_music_eo/2c5955c60bf6_412e_aca9_0ebb...

Van Halen Hot for Rock Hall, R.E.M. Also Tapped by Josh Grossberg
Wed Jan 10, 5:18 PM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Van Halen is preparing for a reunion. Whether they
like it or not.

The notoriously splintered rock band was tapped Monday for induction into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joining alternative rockers R.E.M.,
hit-making girl group the Ronettes, punk poet Patti Smith and
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the first rap act to ever make the
cut, in the class of 2007.

Now, we just have to wait and see whether Van Halen can put the animus aside
and show up to collect their plaques and play a set.

Virtuoso guitarist and band cofounder Eddie Van Halen and his
drumming brother, Alex, have been singer-less since the turn of the
millennium. Original flamboyant frontman David Lee Roth was bounced
from the band. His replacement, Sammy Hagar, departed under bad
terms. Bassist Michael Anthony became persona non grata with the
brothers Van Halen since taking up with Hagar.

And we haven't even mentioned ex-Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone, who piloted
VH to one disastrous album that the band never fully recovered from.
(Cherone didn't make the cut for Van Halen's Rock Hall roster.)

In a joint statement, Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Roth said, "It is an
honor and a privilege and we would like to thank the fans and the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame committee." Hagar, meanwhile, called the news "humbling"
and said he hoped everyone would get along for the induction.

While Van Halen has been sidelined by turmoil and turnover since 2000, all
those years running with the devil have certainly paid off. The band is only
one of seven Hall of Fame acts to have at least two albums sell more than 10
million copies in the U.S., ranking alongside the immortal likes of the
Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Eagles.

Van Halen scored their biggest sustained success with "Diamond" Dave at the
helm, issuing one rock hit after another, including "Everybody Wants Some,"
"Panama," "Hot for Teacher," the chart-topping "Jump" and covers of the
Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman."

Under Hagar's stewardship, the boys kept the party going, though many of
their songs tended to veer toward the poppy. While diehards grumbled, Van
Halen pulled in new fans with such radio-friendly tracks as "Why Can't This
Be Love?" off 5150, the first Van Halen album to debut at number one on the
Billboard 200, and "When It's Love" and "Black and Blue" off follow-up
OU812. Van Halen won its first Grammy in 1991 for Best Hard Rock
Performance.

While Van Halen rode the airwaves to the top of the rock world, Athens,
Georgia-based R.E.M. began its ascent from college rock radio darlings to
the vanguard of the 1990s alternative radio revolution on the strength of
cerebral tunes addressing social and political issues.

The lineup of singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills
and drummer Bill Berry made its mark with the release of 1983's now classic
Murmur, which spawned the popular singles "Radio Free Europe" and "Talk
About the Passion." By the end of the decade, R.E.M. hit the mainstream with
"The One I Love" and "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel
Fine)" off 1987's Documen,t and "Stand" off the band's 1989 major-label
debut, Green.

R.E.M. scored superstar status with 1992's multiplatinum, multiple
Grammy-winning Out of Time, which spawned the ubiquitous single/video
"Losing My Religion," followed by Automatic for the People with the hits
"Drive," "Man on the Moon" and "Everybody Hurts."

At the time, the band landed the largest recording contract advance in
history from Warner Bros. Records, but R.E.M.'s mid-'90s output suffered
from lackluster critical and commercial reaction. This coincided with Bill
Berry's exit from the band in 1997 following a near-fatal brain aneurysm.
R.E.M. has since forged ahead as a trio using various studio drummers, but
Berry is expected to rejoin his former bandmates when they play at the
induction ceremony.

One of the first to make a congratulatory call to Stipe was fellow inductee
Patti Smith.

"I decided that I wanted to make music and be in a band...now she and I are
great friends," Stipe told Reuters. "It was great to be able to congratulate
her back."

Hailed as punk rock's "poet laureate," Smith never reached the commercial
heights of others in the class of '07. But her volatile mix of spoken-word
poetry and hard-driving rock on her 1975 debut, Horses, firmly cemented her
place among rock's elite. She is best known for her one commercial hit,
"Because the Night," cowritten by Bruce Springsteen, off 1978's
Easter LP.

Famed for their beehive hairdos and such mid-'60s ditties as "Be My Baby,"
"Baby I Love You," and "Walking in the Rain," the Ronettes were one of the
top acts from Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" factory. The trio of lead
vocalist Veronica "Ronnie" Bennett, sister Estelle Bennett and cousin Nedra
Talley disbanded in 1966. Two years later, Veronica Bennett married Spector
and launched a solo career (they divorced in 1973).

It's doubtful Phil Spector will make the trip to New York for the
ceremony-he's the defendant in a murder case in L.A. Spector, who was
enshrined in the Rock Hall in 1989, goes on trial for the slaying of B-movie
actress Lana Clarkson Mar. 5, exactly one week before the inductions.

Grandmaster Flash will have the honor of becoming the first rapper to join
an elite club that has up until now paid little attention to a genre that
eschews musical instruments.

As a deejay, the Grandmaster is credited with laying the foundation of
hip-hop in the '70s by having the Furious Five (Kid Creole, Cowboy, Melle
Mel, Mr. Ness, Raheim) rapping ghetto over music emanating from his
turntable.

Other eligible veteran acts on this year's ballot, who, like Van Halen and
R.E.M., debuted in 1981 or earlier-but who won't be saying "Hello,
Cleveland!"-included Chic, the Dave Clark Five and Joe Tex.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are scheduled to be held
Mar. 12 at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.