Guns N Roses gratefully accepted their induction to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday (April 14, 2012). Well, most of them did. The band's temperamental leader, Axl Rose, last week announced that he was declining his invitation to the ceremony, saying "There's a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the actual realities.So let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move on. People get divorced. Life doesn't owe you your own personal happy ending especially at another's, or in this case several others', expense."
So, on Saturday, the 'classic' line-up of the band (Matt Sorum, Duff Mckagan, Slash and STEVEN ADLER) all made their way to the ceremony, where they were inducted by Green Day. Artisan News Service have posted a video of Duff Mckagan's podium speech in which he referred to Axl's absence, saying "as we progressed, these fans came along and they were relating to the songs. I don't know if they were relating to us, so much; the songs spoke to them. I don't know if it matters who's here tonight because it's about the music that that band created.
Other artists inducted to the Hall of Fame over the weekend include Donovan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Freddie King, The Small Faces and The Faces. The Faces performed live at the ceremony, with former Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall on vocals.