By Steve Newton
As I mentioned yesterday, since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has just announced its seven inductees for the Class of 2023, my own little institution located in the wilds of British Columbia–Newt’s Rock Hall–is gonna counter with seven different inductees of its own.
And of course mine will be better.
Or at the very least, more rock ‘n’ roll.
Without further adieu, the inductees into Newt’s Rock Hall, Class of 2023, are:
Soundgarden, the Replacements, the Guess Who, Bad Company, Mahogany Rush, the Edgar Winter Group, and the Stray Cats.
And taking over Link Wray’s spot in my inaugural Class of 2015–because the rules explicitly state that there can be no crossover between the inductees in Newt’s Rock Hall and that other, lesser one in Cleveland–is the mighty Dick Dale.
Here’s the current list of inductees into Newt’s Rock Hall. Can you believe that none of them have made it into the official RRHOF yet? Boggles the mind. (Please note: my Rock Hall was shuttered due to the pandemic, so there were no Classes of 2021 and 2022.)
Class of 2023: Soundgarden, the Replacements, the Guess Who, Bad Company, Mahogany Rush, the Edgar Winter Group, and the Stray Cats.
Class of 2020: Rainbow, BTO, Steve Earle, Boston, Little Feat, and Badfinger (Badfinger replaced Todd Rundgren, who was finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2021; Boston replaced Judas Priest, who were finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2022).
Class of 2019: Mountain, the Cramps, Roy Buchanan, Nazareth, the Georgia Satellites, the New York Dolls, and the Tragically Hip (yes, I’m Canadian).
Class of 2018: Motörhead, Free, the MC5, Humble Pie, the J. Geils Band, and Angel City (Angel City replaced T. Rex, which was finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2020).
Class of 2017: Warren Zevon, Albert Collins, Ronnie Montrose, Rick Derringer, Gary Moore, and Jethro Tull.
Class of 2016: Blue Oyster Cult, Mott the Hoople, UFO, Ten Years After, and Robin Trower.
Class of 2015: Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, Dick Dale, Iron Maiden, and Thin Lizzy (Thin Lizzy replaced Deep Purple, which was finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2016; Dick Dale replaced Link Wray, who was finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2022).
To hear my audio interviews with the legends of rock since 1982, become a patron of the Newt on Patreon. The raw, unedited interviews posted so far include Newt’s Rock Hall inductees Link Wray, Gary Moore, Warren Zevon, Dick Dale, Paul Rodgers (Bad Company), Iron Maiden (Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, and Steve Harris), Blue Oyster Cult (Buck Dharma), Albert Collins, Ronnie Montrose, Motorhead (Lemmy Kilmister), Mountain (Leslie West), the Cramps (Poison Ivy), Roy Buchanan, the Georgia Satellites (Rick Richards), Steve Earle, Judas Priest (Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton), Little Feat (Bill Payne), the Guess Who (Randy Bachman), and the Tragically Hip (Gord Downie, Rob Baker).