Los Angeles music fans rejoice: home-grown bands Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns N’ Roses have been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. RHCP and GNR highlight a group which Hall of Fame Foundation CEO Joel Peresman says “embod[ies] the broad scope of what ‘rock and roll’ means.”

Each band must “have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination,” meaning all 2012 nominees hit the scene by 1986. The list of 15 nominees will will be cut to approximately five before next April’s ceremony in Cleveland:

- Beastie Boys

- The Cure

- Donovan

- Guns N’ Roses

- Heart

- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

- Eric B. & Rakim

- Freddie King

- Red Hot Chili Peppers

- Rufus with Chaka Khan

- The Small Faces/The Faces

- The Spinners

- Laura Nyro

- Donna Summer

- War

The 2012 nomination is the second for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who made the top 15 in 2010, their first year of eligibility. The band released its tenth studio album, I’m With You, last month and is about to launch a European tour. One has to wonder if longtime guitarist John Frusciante, who left the band during the post-Stadium Arcadium hiatus, will return to the stage and collaborate with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer if the Chili Peppers are inducted.

While a RHCP reunion is foreseeable, it’s a different story with Guns N’ Roses. The thought of Axl Rose sharing a stage with his former band has garnered nothing but false hope for the past two decades. Since Rose, the front man infamous for an uncontrollable temper, and guitarist Slash split in 1996, rumors of a GNR reunion have periodically popped up and been quickly shot down. 

Appetite for Destruction, the band’s 1987 album which boasts Sweet Child O’ Mine and Welcome to the Jungle, is frequently considered one of the greatest hard rock records of all time. GNR released five studio albums with the Rose/Slash before a 15 year drought; Chinese Democracy, the long-anticipated 2008 album, was a critical and commercial failure. 

In February, a war of words between the two egos again crushed hopes of a reunion. Slash, who stated in an interview with LA Daily News that an Axl Rose apology would be a good start to getting things back on track, received a quick response from Rose via Twitter: “Contrary to anyone’s claims there are no concrete plans, nor were there ever, for a tour...”

Time will tell if a Hall of Fame induction puts old feuds aside and returns focus to where it belongs: upon the frets and microphone. The official inductees will be announced later this year; the ceremony will be held on April 14, 2012. 

Reach reporter Greg Asciutto here.