Rock & Roll Hall of Fame adds Alice Cooper, snubs Kiss again

[HMG Celebrity News] – In a announcement that will once more leave the faces of true ‘Kiss’ fans almost pink with despair, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love and Alice Cooper have been tapped as the 2011 inductees for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 69-year old Diamond has been eligible for years, yet constantly got overlooked. But he takes the delay in good humor;

“I thought about it occasionally, but I figured they’d get around to me at some point,” PopEater quotes him as saying.

Darlene Love has also been waiting some time. The 72-year old’s earthy vocals have been thrilling crowds for fifty-one years, but today she’s best known for her Christmas performance on the ‘Late Show with David Letterman,’ which has been a fixture since 1986.

“I can actually breathe,” Darlene gushed when told of being chosen. “Finally it’s done! It hasn’t hit me yet. I still have that nervous stomach, and I’m still excited.”

A comparative freshman at a mere 62, Alice Cooper is also jazzed about his enrollment.

“It crosses your mind, but you think of all the guys who aren’t in there and you go, ‘Wow.’” he told reporters “You realize it’s a waiting game. You don’t sit around holding your breath for it.”

Sadly, others can still not exhale – Bon Jovi was nominated for the first time this year and got nothing. Similarly snubbed were LL Cool J, the J. Geils Band, the Beastie Boys and Donna Summer.

Neil got his break way back in 1967 when he wrote ‘I’m a Believer’ for The Monkees, and he’s been employed ever since. But he sounds sanguine about the long wait for selection;

“The music I was doing was not in vogue,” he recalls. ”I was like a lone voice out there, because it was the English invasion. I’m just glad they did it before I’m dead.”

And Darlene already has plans for the big day. She wants two of her heroes – Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Van Zandt to present the award, but she admits things could get frisky;

“This is going to be a helluva jam session!” she joked.

The induction ceremony will be held on March 14th in New York, and will be shown live on Fuse.

Photo: Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi