I do love a good list. Back in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine polled a group of music experts - critics, industry bigwigs, artists - to come up with their "100 Immortals" list. They have now gone back and polled those same folks again to update their list, now called "100 Greatest Artists of All Time." The title is a bit misleading. If you read the intro to the special issue that is on stands now, Jann Wenner says it is a list "of the most influential artists of the rock & roll era," and it is a "broad survey of rock history, spanning 60's heroes and modern insurgents, and touching on early pioneers and the bluesmen who made it all possible." That is more accurate, explaining why there are no jazz artists at all, nor pre-rock giants like Sinatra, etc.
It is kind of interesting to compare the 2004 and 2011 lists to see movement/changes. There was not that much change overall. Some artists dropped and some moved up. Pink Floyd, Queen, Metallica, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jay-Z, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, REM and Talking Heads are the artists who were not on the 2004 list but who did make the 2011 list, nudging off Louis Jordan, Etta James, NWA, Miles Davis, Ricky Nelson, Martha & the Vandellas, Roxy Music and Lee "Scratch" Perry. It is odd that Pink Floyd was omitted completely from the 2004 list, yet appear here at #51. If you want to see both lists, side by side, Future Rock Legends has done a good job.
Honestly, there are not too many suprises. As there probably shouldn't be. Top 10 (in order from 10 to 1): Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and...who the hell do you think? The Beatles. Glad to see blues pioneers Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf listed, as they had a huge impact on rock and roll.
It is a nice issue of the magazine to buy, because each entry on the list has an essay written about the artist/band by a famous admirer (Peter Buck on The Kinks, David Bowie on Nine Inch Nails, Keith Richards on Gram Parsons, Lou Reed on David Bowie, Eddie Vedder on The Who, Chris Martin on U2, etc.) The essays are interesting perspectives on each artist. For instance, I like Robbie Robertson's essay on Bob Dylan, as he talks about recording with Dylan and Dylan's writing process in the studio, as Robbie witnessed it. Or Billy Gibbons talking about the early days when his band ZZ Top opened for The Allman Brothers, and how he and the other guys in Top would stand on the side of the stage each night and watch Duane Allman and Dicky Betts play into the stratosphere. Cool stuff for music geeks.
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3 comments:
Like your thoughts on the new Rolling Stone list. I too like some of it, yet I feel that this list isn't complete. I mean Rush had a huge impact on rock music as well as Heart. If I could change this list I would probably remove CCR from it. I know, strange, but I only like a few of their songs and I don't really see their impact. Also put U2 from 30 to 101 (Bono's an ass!).
To me these list make me think that Jann Wenner has an evil plan to write out the 1970s and 1980s because he thinks these decades were awful. But it is a conspiracy theory.
All the above is just my opinion.
I want to know what you think about this Dez.
Ah, Rolling Stone still rolling along after its last faint spasms of life about 15 years or so ago. I know I'm deeply biased, but R.E.M. so far behind Aerosmith, Metallica, and Eminem seems just perverse, despite the occasional pleasure I take in all those acts.
OK, I've already spent too long thinking about this.
Do you have to buy it or is there a link online?
I started reading their top guitarist list, and got so exasperated I immediately gave up, regretting the time spent there almost at once.
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