Van Halen, R.E.M. to enter Rock Hall

Van Halen was named on Monday to the roster of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2007. The accolade paves the way for a reunion of the group's warring members.

R.E.M. also made the cut along with pioneering rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, punk poet Patti Smith and 1960s girl group the Ronettes, organizers said.

They will all be honored at a black-tie ceremony in New York on March 12, the main fund-raiser for the RnR HoF and Museum in Cleveland.

Last year, at the 2006 induction ceremony, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd were inducted but it was the notorious Sex Pistols that stole the show by turning down the invitation: "This is a fax to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 'Next to the Sex Pistols, rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. You're a museum. Urine is wine. We're not coming. We're not your monkeys, and so what.'"
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