ARHOF is an organization devoted to identifying and honoring exemplary rock songs without bias or influence from dubious individuals and entities. Record reviews and song ratings are ubiquitous, but there are no established standards by which music is evaluated. This is fine if people want to share their personal preferences, but what is widely enjoyed is not necessarily what is objectively good. Fast food is by far the most popular cuisine, but few would seriously argue that fast food represents culinary excellence. By employing metrics that are applied to all songs, assessments are consistent and meaningful, and one can make objective comparisons. Exceptional songs are identified using these impartial standards.

The website is designed for users to nominate songs for review. Once a song is nominated, users can evaluate the song. Nominated songs that receive 10,000 votes are submitted to select critics for their assessments. Songs that are highly rated by users and critics are inducted into the Authoritative Rock Hall of Fame.

Taste – what one does and does not like – is subjective. However, quality is not subjective. The assertion that quality cannot be approached objectively is intellectually and culturally destructive. For instance, a person may claim that a song is better than another song because they like it more, but that reduces the function of art to its capacity to subjectively amuse. The aspiration of art, and broadly culture, thereby becomes the endeavor to create expressions that are entertaining, and entertainment is typically fleeting and disposable. There is no need to craft works with meaning when the priority is amusement. Objective metrics provide a framework for consistent evaluation.

Cevin Soling conceived and put forth the metrics in an attempt to introduce objective standards in critical assessments. These metrics are not intended to be the final word on what can and should be evaluated but rather as the first step in an evolving process where they can be developed, expounded, revised, and improved. The site’s Forum is a place where potential revisions can be discussed.

In My Profile, users can decide the importance of each metric. The relative significance selected will affect the overall rating of the song for that user. While there should be minimal variance regarding how each metric is graded among users, the relative importance of each metric will always be subject to debate.