Yesterday afternoon, I posted the introduction for the newly-established Rock Hall Reconsidered Project that outlined its rules and goals. We’re applying the induction system of the Baseball Hall of Fame to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an alternative induction process. We’ll be starting from scratch - from 1986 to the present (which would be 2022/1996) - and seeing if we can produce better, more well-rounded classes. While the Baseball HOF’s induction system is far from perfect, it certainly appears to be more throughout and better overseen than the Rock Hall. This will be an interesting experiment and I hope we do a much-better job addressing the backlog of worthy candidates (most of whom never even made the actual ballot).

As stated in the “Introduction,” the ten committee members will decide which artists appear on the official ballot every round. Each committee member submits a list of 40 artists from the pool of eligible artists every round and whichever 40 artists get the most votes appears on the official ballot that week. From there I create a Google poll and emailed it to the voters where they selected up to 10 artists to complete their ballots. Just like this year’s actual fan vote, the artists’ names are listed in randomized order to make the process a bit more unpredictable and interesting. Whichever artists receive 50% or more of the total votes will receive induction. Keep in mind that only the committee members cast ballots in the first four rounds and the ballots sent to a larger voting body (outside the committee) will take place starting in Round 5.

Because these four initial rounds are voted on by just the committee members, artists receive immunity and their totals (especially those poll less than 5% in a round) are not counted against them. But starting in Round 5, artists who receive 5% or more of the total votes will automatically qualify for the next round. If an artist receives less than 5% of the vote, then they are disqualified from appearing on future ballots and are eligible for the veteran’s ballot (which doesn’t happen until we enter 1996/1970 in a few months). And following the Baseball HOF’s induction system, artists are only allowed a maximum of 10 years of eligibility before they are disqualified for consideration in the Performers category. More details will come later but I cannot emphasize how important this will be in the coming weeks.

For the first 5 rounds, we will be exclusively focusing on artists who released their first record in or before 1960. Essentially these 5 rounds will serve as our inaugural class (pre-1986) and it’s our way of expediting the process and getting most of the early rock and roll icons inducted before the ballots are given to voters outside the nomination committee. With hundreds of artists already eligible, it was certainly a daunting task to narrow our initial nominations to just 40 names. But we somehow made it work and came to a consensus for the official Round 1 Ballot:

Full Results:

100%: Chuck Berry, Little Richard

90%: Elvis Presley

70%: Aretha Franklin, Buddy Holly & The Crickets, James Brown & The Famous Flames, Sam Cooke

60%: Fats Domino, Ray Charles

40%: Muddy Waters

30%: Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Link Wray, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Everly Brothers

20%: Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye

10%: Big Mama Thornton, Carole King, Etta James, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike & Tina Turner, Patsy Cline, Ruth Brown

0%: B.B. King, Carl Perkins, Dion & The Belmonts, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Jackie Wilson, John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Ricky Nelson, Ritchie Valens, Roy Orbison, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Coasters, The Drifters, The Supremes, Wanda Jackson

Artists Who Were Considered by the Committee but Ultimately Didn’t Receive Enough Votes to Appear on the Round One Ballot: Allen Toussaint, Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley & His Comets, Bobby Darin, Brenda Lee, Buddy Rich, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Del Shannon, Duane Eddy, Eddie Cochran, Ella Fitzgerald, Elmore James, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Frankie Valli, Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Reed, Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, LaVern Baker, Lloyd Price, Lonnie Donegan, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Neil Sedaka, Odetta, Professor Longhair, Quincy Jones, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Solomon Burke, The Clovers, The Dominoes, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, The Platters, The Staple Singers, Willie Dixon, Wynonie Harris

Thoughts? Comments? Let us know in the comments section below and/or on Twitter. Use the #RockHallReconsideredProject to follow the latest news and updates.