ROCK & ROLL HALL of FAME

The radio is playing oldies and just finished with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets. It made me think of a question I've had for years.

Would somebody please tell me why the first inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was Aretha Franklin as opposed to Bill Haley, Hank Ballard, Buddy Holly, Alan Freed, or many others? Nothing against Aretha, but in my mind she wasn't part of the beginning of the genre. When I think of "classic" rock and roll, her name doesn't come to mind.

My choice would have been Alan Freed. After all, he coined the term.