Van Halen, R.E.M. Among Rock Hall of Fame Entrants

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dysfunctional rock band Van Halen was named on Monday to the next roster of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an accolade that paves the way for an awkward reunion of the group's warring members.

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

They will be honored at a black-tie ceremony in New York on March 12, the main fund-raiser for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. Inductees are chosen by music industry insiders from a short-list of acts who become eligible for consideration 25 years after their first recording.

Inductees often perform at the ceremony, although last year's event was marred when Deborah Harry refused to share the stage with some of her former colleagues in Blondie, and none of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols bothered to show up.

This year all eyes at the Waldorf-Astoria will be on Van Halen, the flamboyant Los Angeles rock band famed for such tunes as "Hot for Teacher" and "Why Can't This Be Love." Its various members, past and present, are at loggerheads.

Dutch-born guitarist Eddie Van Halen and his drummer brother, Alex, are the only founding members left after original singer David Lee Roth left in the mid-1980s. His replacement, Sammy Hagar, was fired in 1996 and returned for an uncomfortable reunion tour in 2004. Bass player Michael Anthony was ousted last year, replaced by Eddie's 15-year-old son, Wolfgang.

Hagar told Reuters he looked forward to the ceremony, and to making a heartfelt speech honoring Roth, whose career foundered after he left Van Halen. The problem is that there is little love lost between the extrovert Roth and Eddie Van Halen. Hagar just hoped everyone would be on their best behavior.

"If it turns ugly beforehand, if I see something coming, I wouldn't even go," Hagar said. "It's a cool thing, and I'm happy to be there, but not if it's going to be embarrassing. After all these years and all this success, to go out now and embarrass yourself and tear it down, ugh! I'm getting butterflies just thinking about that!"

Reaction from Roth and the Van Halens was not immediately available.

On a more pleasant note, R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe told Reuters he and his colleagues Mike Mills and Peter Buck would reunite with retired drummer Bill Berry to play at the event. Berry quit amicably in 1997 after a health scare but has performed informally with the band a few times since then.

The group emerged from the college rock scene in Athens, Georgia, to enjoy mainstream success with songs such as "Losing My Religion" and "The One I Love," but it has largely ignored the trappings of the music business. The induction ceremony, on the other hand, where guests must pay thousands of dollars to attend, is the epitome of corporate rock. Stipe said he looked forward to donning a tuxedo for the event.

While many past inductees were past their prime or maybe even dead, Stipe said he was especially proud that R.E.M. was being inducted as a working band. Although its commercial heyday might be over, the band remains hugely popular in Europe and is preparing to record a new album.

The icing on the cake, for him, was the fact that his idol, Patti Smith, was also being inducted. He recalled buying her first album, "Horses," on the day it was released in 1975 when he was 15, and deciding there and then to become a musician.

As with Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five also suffered a messy demise, a year after scoring a worldwide smash with the 1982 single "The Message," a gritty account of ghetto life.

Joseph "Grandmaster Flash" Saddler pioneered hip-hop in the 1970s by transforming the record turntable into a musical instrument.

The DJ recruited rappers to perform over his music, and thus was born the Furious Five -- Kid Creole, Cowboy, Melle Mel, Mr. Ness, and Raheim. When Saddler sued label boss Sylvia Robinson over unpaid royalties in 1983, the band splintered.