The 2011 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class has been announced, and the marquee inductees will include Tom Waits, Alice Cooper and Neil Diamond. Also included in this year’s inductees are Darlene Love and Dr. John. The ceremony will take place on March 14, likely featuring tribute covers of varying quality and Waits giving a speech that sounds like the aural equivalent of gargling hot asphalt.

There was a pretty broad field this year, and among the notable snubs were the Beastie Boys (their time will probably come later), Donna Summer and Bon Jovi. Perhaps most criminally, the J. Geils Band was denied. And nobody denies the J. Geils Band.

Waits, at his best: