By the time I pulled the plug on the Freaks Hall I thought we'd jumped the shark and let in too many while other obvious names were left by the wayside. Instead of fixing it, I just ended it. But, I have always been pretty damn proud of our very first, original class of inductees. It was 2014 and we voted on groups and artists who weren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (TM) at the time. We ended up with an inaugural class of 16 that has remained unmatched. When you look at the year by year additions, you see a trend downward. We got it just right the first time. I look at it now less as the first class of a hall of fame and more of a Rock 'n' Roll Freaks Mount Olympus. If you need a refresher, our pantheon was,... Lester Bangs Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio The Cramps Dick Dale Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Love MC5 ? & the Mysterians New York Dolls John Peel The Pretty Things The Seeds The Sonics Paul Revere & the Raiders The 13th Floor Elevators Lin
Link Wray, #1 vote getter in the #FreaksHall election, 2014 The Rock 'n' Roll Freaks Hall was established by the Rock 'n' Roll Freaks Facebook group in 2014. The idea was to recognize bands and artists who were not, and in most cases, never would be, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In our first election, we selected 16 of the most popular artists and groups among the Freaks faithful, as well as perhaps the most influential rock critic and disc jockey in rock 'n roll history. We continued electing new classes through 2022, nine of them in all. All of these years later, not a single one of those original 16 have been invited to Cleveland. As the de facto director of this imaginary institution, I have overseen each of those elections and as the years have progressed, and we've moved further up the rock 'n' roll history timeline as far as eligible candidates, there's been less and less enthusiasm among the group members at large, which kind