SJ.com's Greatest Musical Artists of All-Time List

Which I think would kind of be the fun of this - to take all of our musical interests and compile them.

 

Have everyone submit their Top 20 list of "Recording Entities" -- bands, solo artists, etc. -- in English-language popular music since the begining of the consumer-music era (roughly 1920).

I would guess probably 10 will be near-consensus. After that things will go crazy.

 

Well, trying to take an objective look at greatness without regard to my personal taste, I'd say:

1. Elvis
2. Frank Sinatra
3. Louis Armstrong

 

So if I throw Nickleback on my list, will my entire list be thrown out? [/bluefont]

 

This is a quickie, off-the-top-of-my-head list that basically put my own personal taste through filter in which personal favorites like Uncle Tupelo, Chris Isaak, the Jayhawks, and the Black Crowes, though favorites of mine, don't make it because they simply don't have the historical heft. I'm embarrassed about the lack of black and female artists, but it is what it is.

1. The Beatles
2. The Rolling Stones
3. Bob Dylan
4. Elvis Presley
5. Buddy Holly
6. Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band
7. Jimi Hendrix
8. Neil Young
9. Led Zeppelin
10. AC/DC
11. Nirvana
12. Lynyrd Skynyrd
13. Elton John
14. Eminem
15. U2
16. R.E.M.
17. The Who
18. Stevie Ray Vaughn
19. The Allman Brothers Band
20. The Grateful Dead

Close HM: Prince; Pearl Jam; Janis Joplin; Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters; Madonna; Tupac; Dr. Dre; Marvin Gaye; Jack White/The White Stripes; The Clash; The Ramones; Metallica; Wilco; Kanye West; The Byrds; Michael Jackson/The Jackson Five; The Temptations; The Supremes; The Beastie Boys.

 

based on a moderate amount of thought and some (but not much) research. . . .

1. Louis Armstrong
2. The Beattles
3. Duke Ellington
4. U2
5. Bruce
6. The Rolling Stones
7. Elvis Pressley
8. Elvis Costello
9. Eminem
10. BB King
11. Jack White
12. Janis Joplin
13. Billie Holiday
14. Tom Petty
15. Roy Orbison
16. Dr. Dre
17. Madonna
18. Metallica
19. Dylan
20. Woody Guthrie

 

I think the matter of greatest vs. favorite has to be decided and the labels have to be clear.

My top-10 greatest musical acts list would include the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley. My top-10 favorite musical acts list would include Guns N' Roses and Weezer. And let's not even get into rap.

There'd be overlap, of course. Bruce Springsteen and Prince would be on both lists. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and The Who and Stevie Wonder would at least be contenders.

But the differentiation is important. We're mostly journalists and former journalists, and part of that job, in theory if not in practice, is removing personal connection from work. When we're asked by a boss to list out the greatest football players in the history of the college we cover, we try not to factor in the feeling we had seeing that one magical run by that running back who tore up his knee as a sophomore and never ran like that again.

I'd like to think most of us can create our own sets of pseudo-objective standards to hold an artist against, to grade through, in forming lists about greatness. But maybe the favorite artists list would be more interesting, more personal.

 

I've tried as much as possible to keep my personal tastes out of this list. I'm looking for timeless artists whose influence on popular music was decisive.

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. Frank Sinatra
4. Louis Armstrong
5. Ray Charles
6. B.B. King
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Buddy Holly
9. Chuck Berry
10. Bob Dylan
11. Jimi Hendrix
12. Woody Guthrie
13. The Who
14. Bruce Springsteen
15. Aretha Franklin
16. Stevie Wonder
17. John Coltrane
18. The Byrds
19. Nirvana
20. Robert Johnson

 

I decided to do my list a little different. If we're talking greatest, I interpret that as most influential, outside of my own interests.

For example, I may love the Rolling Stones, but you can trace the Rolling Stones back to artists/bands of greater influence on other bands, even if I think the Stones carved a niche all their own.

From 1920, the most influential on popular music. These were the artists and bands that created or refined their own form of music and launched a 1,000 imitators:

1. The Beatles
2. Duke Ellington
3. Hank Williams
4. Robert Johnson
5. Woody Guthrie
6. Chuck Berry
7. Louis Armstrong
8. Elvis Presley
9. The Carter Family
10. Bob Dylan
11. Miles Davis
12. Smokey Robinson -- other Motown artists, like Marvin Gaye, might be more my taste, but Robinson basically invented the Motown sound.
13. Michael Jackson -- for better or worse, he's probably the dominant well-spring of the pop sound of the last 30 years
13. Miles Davis
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. George Clinton
16. Dr. Dre
17. Public Enemy
18. Metallica
19. The Clash
20. Frank Sinatra

Honorable mention (in no order): Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Kraftwerk, Buddy Holly, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Led Zeppelin, Sly Stone, Velvet Underground, Nirvana and probably dozens of others I missed.

 

Keep giving me some feedback on if you'd rather see a "greatest" or "favorite" artist list. I've waffled on it several times and I'd really want to do this right and in a way that you guys get something fun out of it.

 

I think my list of "greatest" would look a lot like Bubbler's. I'd delete a few and among my replacements would be Sam Cooke, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Grand Master Flash, Patsy Cline

 

Grand Master Flash and Patsy Cline??