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The Freaks Hall is Dead. Long Live The Freaks Hall.

 

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 of makes sense when our first class, the cream of the crop, is still 100% unrecognized. Who wants to vote for 80s hardcore bands when Lester Bangs and the New York Dolls are still waiting in line?

So, what I'm getting at here is that this year's class, which we voted on in late 2021, is going to be the last class of the Freaks Hall, at least for the time being. I think we've made the statement we set out to make eight years ago. In the meantime, I'm going to consider our original 16 as the REAL Rock 'n' Roll Freaks Hall. Let's put these legends up on the pedestal that they deserve to be standing on, and recognize them for what they are, which is the greatest of all-time. We will re-evaluate if Jann Wenner's lackeys start getting their shit together.

THE "REAL" ROCK 'N ROLL FREAKS HALL: The Original 16

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

Link Wray

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