Red Hot Chili Peppers are to be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 2012! They will be joining several other groups including the Beastie Boys and Guns N’ Roses.

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Anthony Kiedis was interviewed by Rolling Stone shortly after he found out:

Did you get emotional?
The most emotional part for me was thinking about Hillel Slovak. That was where it got me. I felt very good about it, but I felt very much like our work has only just begun. Now that we’ve got Josh in the band, we have a chance to make some great records over the next few years. But there was something about going back and thinking about something that we started in a living room with Hillel Slovak. Because he’s no longer with us, it seemed emotional and beautiful. It’s really kind of his induction that I’m most excited about. He’s a beautiful person that picked up a guitar in the 1970s and didn’t make it out of the 1980s, and he is getting honored for his beauty. 

Do you feel weird about getting in while the band is still so active? Some bands say they worry it conveys the impression that they are done.
I don’t feel weird about it. I know what the next few years look like for our band, and I’m incredibly excited to be playing with these guys. I feel like our creative well is running over. I don’t think it’s going to stigmatize us. Nothing has the power to diminish the love we have for what we’re doing right now. It’s just an interesting interlude to be accepted into the Hall of Fame while we’re still vibrantly going about our business.

One of the cool things about it is that all of the past inductees vote. So, I don’t know, Paul McCartney had the chance to vote for you.
I have an absolute smile on my face while you say that.

And you’ll be on the wall in Cleveland near Elvis Presley.
As a kid, I was anti-Elvis. I just didn’t get it. Once I stopped being so judgmental I found the great wonder of Elvis and all that he did. I was a little self-centered gutter punk in the early 1980s and all I wanted to do was diss everybody. I remember going to Graceland as a kid and talking shit while I was there. Now if I went there, I’d think about all the great things he did and what a great musician he was. 

Do you think that John Frusciante will come to the induction?
Ummm… Wow. It would be a guess on my behalf on whether or not he’ll come. I can’t imagine that he would, but it’s a “you never know” kind of thing. I haven’t talked to him in quite a while. I don’t know where he’s at these days. He’ll obviously be more than welcome, and embraced if he does. If he doesn’t, that’s cool too.

I’m guessing they’ll bring your former drummer Cliff Martinez in too, but I really don’t know.
I would imagine that he would want to come. Both he and Jack Irons would want to come. 

Read the full Rolling Stone interview with Anthony Kiedis here

Many thanks to everyone who’s posted links about this on my Facebook pages.