Deep Purple members set to be inducted include most of the Mk 1, II and III lineups: Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Rod Evans, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

"I knew it would probably happen one day," Paice tells Rolling Stone. "I do appreciate how difficult it probably was for them to do it with so many lineups, so many different members. It's a minefield, really. I suppose it's rather nice."

Deep Purple have been eligible for entry since 1993 while 2016 marks their third nomination in the past three years. To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

Will Deep Purple members from different eras be able to put aside their differences to perform at the 2016 event? "I have no idea," says Paice. "I haven't even thought about it. No idea. We have to accept that there are personalities that don't see eye-to-eye in our history. How that would work, I have no idea. Whether that could be put aside, I don't know. It's definitely one to contemplate and think about."

Lord passed away July 16, 2012 at the age of 71 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, and singer Evans' whereabouts remain a mystery. Among the wild cards on the night is Blackmore, who left the lineup in 1993 and went on to form the medieval folk band Blackmore's Night in 1997 with then-girlfriend and now-wife Candice Night.