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

I dealt with the same issue for a few of my choices. Weezer has made about a dozen good songs in the past 15 years, but those first two albums are in my pantheon. Pinkerton may be the most affecting album I've heard. (And, yes, I realize that makes me sound like I'm Holden fucking Caulfield of the 1990s. That's fine.) I dropped Nas a spot because, at his best, he's my favorite rapper, but Illmatic was the only time he really put it all together for a classic album. Still, he's made a lot of great songs since. I left The Cure off my list because they've made some horrible, completely unlistenable music to go along with their best work, Disintegration and The Head on the Door.

 

I know this list will only make sense to me, but here goes:

(In no particular order after top three)

Led Zeppelin
Rush
Eric Clapton
Dave Matthews Band
Iron Maiden
Metallica
George Strait
Garth Brooks
Johnny Cash
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Alice In Chains
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Collective Soul
Fleetwood Mac
Phil Collins
The Police
Tom Petty
Van Halen
The Rolling Stones
Queen

 

Hmmm ... with no repeating of groups and solo sorts:

1. Genesis
2. Rush
3. James Taylor
4. Earth, Wind & Fire
5. Stevie Wonder
6. Marvin Gaye
7. Elton John
8. Billy Joel
9. Pink Floyd
10. Chicago ('70s era)
11. Led Zeppelin
12. Sting (and keep in mind he wrote all The Police's material)
13. Ray Charles
14. The Beatles
15. Joe Jackson
16. Bruce Springsteen
17. The Bee Gees
18. Simon & Garfunkel
19. Pearl Jam
20. John Williams (for those of you who might have caught a big-budget flick the last generation or so ... )

 

Top 20 is tough. I'm set on my top 2, but the other 18 aren't in any order:

1. Parliament
2. Funkadelic
Rakim
Nas
Jay-Z
Prince
Michael Jackson
James Brown
Sly Stone
Curtis Mayfield
Isaac Hayes
Dr. Dre (from the World Class Wreckin' Cru through NWA and solo stuff)
Metallica
Herbie Hancock
Wu-Tang Clan
The Roots
Kool Herc/Grandmaster Flash/Afrika Bambaataa (one of the three, just not sure which one yet)
Stevie Wonder
Pink Floyd
And, of course, Phil Collins.

 

OK, sounds like people would rather do favorites rather than "greatest", which makes sense - it's easier for everyone to define their personal favorites rather than having to apply some sort of arbitrary "greatest" standard.

So, let's do this: everyone PM me your Top 20 FAVORITE musical artists (in order) - it's a lot easier for me to compile this if they are all in my in-box rather than spread throughout the thread. Let's set the deadline at a week from Friday (July 27) to give everyone time to put some thought into this and feel comfortable about their rankings. I'll take that list and go all Casey Kasem on it from there.

Sound good?

 

I'm picturing James Hetfield looking around, wondering how he ended up in this neighborhood.

 

I'll take a crack at a rough favorites list (and rmanfredi, I'll PM it to you as well):

1. Split Enz
2. Elvis Costello
3. Crowded House
4. The English Beat
5. U2
6. Joe Jackson
7. Fishbone (but only if I pretend anything recorded in the past 20 years never happened)
8. The Who
9. The Smiths
10. The Jam
11. Midnight Oil
12. The Plimsouls
13. Ben Folds
14. Cheap Trick
15. Van Morrison
16. Social Distortion
17. Butch Walker
18. The Perrnice Brothers
19. Wilco
20. R.E.M.

Honorable mention: Eliiott Smith, Neil Young, Echo & the Bunnymen, Squeeze, The Gaslight Anthem, The Kinks, The Hoodoo Gurus, Material Issue, Ryan Adams, The Damnwells

 

My off-the-top favorites:

1. Elvis
2. Elton John
3. Billy Joel
4. The Beatles
5. Van Morrison
6. Stevie Wonder
7. Simon and Garfunkel
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Rod Stewart
10. Roy Orbison
11. Queen
12. Mamas and the Papas
13. Louis Prima
14. Journey
15. Kansas
16. Chicago
17. Jim Croce
18. Jackson Browne
19. The Guess Who
20. Fats Domino

 

1. Pink Floyd
2. Guns and Roses
3. Queen
4. Johnny Cash
5. Elton John
6. U2
7. Bob Seger
8. Bruce
9. Scorpions
10. Otis Redding
11. Marvin Gaye
12. John Lennon
13. John Mellencamp
14. Louis Armstrong
15. Janis Joplin
16. Ray Charles
17. Tom Petty
18. James Brown
19. Bob Dylan
20. Led Zeppelin

 

ha. now there is an original thought.

 

Based on my enjoyment, not their relative greatness.

1. Bob Dylan
2. The Beatles
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. The Who
5. The Ramones
6. Pavement
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Radiohead
9. Nick Cave &The Bad Seeds
10. Johnny Cash
11. Joy Division
12. Neil Young
13. Sam Cooke
14. Otis Redding
15. The National
16. Talking Heads
17. Roy Orbison
18. Peter Gabriel
19. Arcade Fire
20. The Beach Boys