Chewsday Challenge

Here’s the setup:

The Rock ‘N Roll Hall Of Fame (a stupid concept all by itself, but we can discuss that some other time) has decided that they’ve cocked the whole thing up, and want to start from scratch.  In other words, the HoF is completely empty and needs refilling.  And in their magnificent wisdom, they’ve given you the job of deciding the inductees, with the following restrictions:

The inductees must be genuine rock ‘n rollers:  no jazz, no country and only a few exceptions for the blues can be made.  The inductions happen every year.  The list of inductees may not be longer than twenty in any given year.

I’ll start the ball rolling with my thoughts on the topic.  I’m going to do it more or less historically, just to make things simple (I think), and they’re in no specific order.

Year 1, in which I list the early rock-and-rollers, but leave the R&B vocal bands and singers for next year:

1. Elvis Presley
2. Bill Haley and the Comets
3. Albert King
4. Chuck Berry
5. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
6. B.B. King (one of the “blues exceptions”, because denying B.B. the honor would be sacrilege)
7. Jerry Lee Lewis
8. Little Richard
9. The Everly Brothers
10. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
11. Del Shannon
12. Carl Perkins
13. Bo Diddley
14. Roy Orbison
15. Fats Domino
16. Ricky Nelson
17. Gene Vincent
18. James Brown
19. Duane Eddy
20. Link Wray

Feel free to argue the selection, or tell me about notable exclusions from the list.  One last thought:  I’ve excluded the “influencers” (e.g. Muddy Waters and all those Depression-era blues artists), because otherwise we’ll be here all day.