N.W.A., Chicago, Deep Purple inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

NEW YORK, April 9 (UPI) -- N.W.A., Cheap Trick, Deep Purple and Steve Miller were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York Friday night.

Noticeably missing was Chicago co-founder Peter Cetera, who was with the band during its most successful years, but left in 1985 to pursue a solo career.

Chicago co-founder Robert Lamm said he was disappointed Cetera missed the event because he couldn't agree with the other musicians about performing at the gala.

"The Deep Purple guys aren't playing now, but it's just the fact that they stood up and stood with the band and accepted the honor," Rolling Stone magazine quoted Lamm as saying. "And it is an honor [and] that's the way it should have been. If Peter didn't want to play or couldn't play or couldn't sing or whatever, at least he could have stood with us. I think he certainly deserves it. I think it's unfortunate."

Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and MC Ren, the surviving members of the ground-breaking rap group N.W.A., attended, but did not perform. Ice Cube previously said event organizers did not give him and his bandmates the support they needed to do the show they wanted to do.

"The question is: Are we rock and roll? I say you're [expletive] right we're rock and roll," USA Today reported Ice Cube said at the ceremony at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. "Rock and roll is a spirit. ... Rock and roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and in life. That is rock and roll to us."

"This is proof to all the kids out there, growing up in places similar to Compton, that anything is possible," Dr. Dre added. "Me and the guys standing right here, we're absolutely no different or better than any of you."

The ceremony will air on HBO April 30.