Rock hall of fame admits Abba
Kiss and the Red Hot Chili Peppers fail to make the cut
The Swedish pop group Abba, 1960s Brit-rock pioneers The Hollies and reggae legend Jimmy Cliff will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in March, the Hall of Fame Foundation has announced.
The Stooges, nominated and subsequently rejected seven times, and Genesis also got the nod. They'll be joined by U.S. entertainment industry mogul David Geffen and seven songwriters: Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell.
But Kiss and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, thought to be frontrunners on the short list, did not make the cut.
"It's quite wonderful," Abba's Benny Andersson told Rolling Stone magazine. "I didn't think this would happen because we were a pop band, not a rock band."
But he said the group is unlikely to reunite for a performance at the 25th annual concert and ceremony on March 15 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
"Agnetha [Fältskog] is not flying … And we haven't done anything together in 30 years," he said.