Joplin, Zappa Added to Rock’s Hall of Fame

Janis Joplin and rebel rocker Frank Zappa were two of a wide-ranging group of artists inducted Thursday night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Joplin and Zappa joined Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Al Green, the Allman Brothers Band and other artists in the 10th class of inductees.

“Without trying, Janis became an icon, the only goddess in a sea of rock gods,” Melissa Etheridge said as she inducted Joplin, a blues-rocker who died of a drug overdose in 1970.

An inordinate number of posthumous inductees were included--Joplin, Zappa, motorcycle accident victims Berry Oakley and Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers; drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, dead in 1980; and four of the five founding members of the Orioles, a ‘50s R&B; vocal group inducted as an early influence.