The day the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot was announced, Nominating Committee member Alan Light appeared on SiriusXM to explain some of the thinking that went into the choices.

One of the more controversial nominees this year was Lionel Richie as a solo artist instead of Richie's previous group The Commodores. Alan Light explained the dilemma:

"We have kicked around in previous meetings, is it the Commodores, is it Lionel… What’s the right way to handle this? Maybe they’re more the funk band, does Lionel encompass that piece of his history, does that tell that story?

"I was thinking about Lionel.. There’s always that slot at Bonnaroo for the legacy headliner artist. They had McCartney, they had Elton, they had Billy Joel… and Lionel Richie was that slot one year. And I think he may be the only one in that slot that isn’t in the Rock Hall. And when you line him up.. Are you going to argue he’s on the level with Etlon and Billy, well when you put him in front of a crowd like that, it kind of feels like he’s in that altitude. He’s in that game. He’s got that sort of catalog, he’s got those sort of hits. People love him that much."

SIriusXM host Nik Carter also made a strong case for why The Commodores should be in. Alan Light responded:

"This is me speaking, not on the behalf of the committee. The icon of Lionel Richie has outstripped the status of the Commodores. That he is at that level of a familiar, and a celebrated, and a beloved name…I just think he jumped ahead on the line. I will certainly say that he’s got a better shot on the ballot than the Commodores would with the voting body.

"But if you’ve got to place your bets, you’re not putting them both on the ballot, you’ve got to put one on the ballot. I just think between American Idol host, writing “We are the World,” and all of the touchstones, he headlines at Bonnaroo, he’s that sort of a figure. I think it made an impact on people last year seeing the way people responded to Lionel when we saw him at the induction, he inducted Clarence Avant last year, and seeing the way the room and the other artists responded to Lionel Richie left an impact on those of us who were thinking of this stuff.

"You’re putting your chips somewhere, I just think if you’re advocating for him, if you’re advocating for that catalog, I think it’s a lot better shot with his name on that ballot in front of the whole voting body than the Commodores name would be."

Light had also mentioned he was not good at predicting who the voting body favors, but he obviously feels confident about the Nominating Committee's choice. While a Lionel Richie solo induction doesn't technically remove The Commodores from consideration, as we have seen with the Nile Rodgers / Chic situation, it seems likely their future induction chances would drop to almost zero.

Light also addressed the induction chances of the MC5 (6th nomination) and the New York Dolls (3rd nomination):

"It scares me to see the MC5 and the New York Dolls on the ballot. It scares me a little bit to see Duran Duran and Eurythmics on the ballot. Because when you have bands that are seen in a similar sort of lane [that can split votes]."

…

"The Hall of Fame continues to grow the voting body, bring other people into vote, younger people in, diverse voting body and everything else, but the biggest chunk of voters now who get this ballot and have to vote on this ballot are people in the Hall of Fame. People like the surviving members of Little Anthony & the Imperials, they’re like the 28 guys in Chicago, you know, there’s a lot of people getting this ballot, and no disrespect to people who are legendary artists, but who may not really know who the hell the New York Dolls and the MC5 are. And that’s a hurdle to get over. That is a challenge."

Alan Light on the expanded use of the special categories in 2021:

"The Hall was obviously more active, more aggressive in the non-ballot inductions last year. Putting in so many through the Early Influence and Musical Excellence and everybody seemed totally fine. LL went in as a Musical Excellence winner and gave the performance of the night, that’s what everybody walked away talking about and no one was like, “oh, but he didn’t really get in that way, he got in this way.” It was kind of liberating for the Hall to see, maybe we’ve got a freer hand to be able to, with people that have been nominated a bunch but don’t get in but we really think deserve it, to people that are a little more left of center or out of mainstream or whatever it is, I think we’re going to see more people going in through those doors than we have in years past. And I think that’s great, I think it worked great last year and we got a lot of worthy people in. And I wouldn’t be surprised if with some of these acts, like the [New York] Dolls, that ultimately is what ends up happening. I don’t know that that’s going to happen this year, but that wouldn’t surprise me."

Asked which two artists he put on the table at the meeting, Alan Light said he nominated Eminem and Mary J. Blige. On the question of why Eminem and not OutKast, Light responded:

"This was going to be the year that I was going to stand up and bang hard for OutKast, but on the one hand it’s obvious, but Eminem is a force that we cannot underestimate. The guy was the biggest selling artist from 2000-2010 in the world, and the third biggest selling artist between 2010-2020. That is a dominance that is a generational sort of impact. And 16 Grammys, and winning the Oscar for Lose Yourself, the impact across so many not just the rap audience but a rock audience. I said OutKast has got to wait because I don’t want to put those two, again I’m afraid of a split vote. I think it’s too much to say people would vote for OutKast and Eminem as two of their five. I’m still fighting for hip hop. I want to take the wins where I can get them. Like Eminem’s a win. Let’s do that and get him and double back. Because I want to continue to put in the deserving bodies where I see an opportunity to do that."

Two years ago, Light named Carol Kaye as the biggest Rock Hall snub. But despite the expanded use of the special categories, she's still on the outside. Inductees in the special categories should be announced with the performer winners in May.