0030: The 30 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:27
Tags:
- 1. (TIE) Bob Dylan & Elvis Costello (What a cop-out, eh?)
- 3. James Brown
- 4. The Beatles
- 5. The Rolling Stones
- 6. Joni Mitchell
- 7. Nick Drake
- 8. Stevie Wonder
- 9. The Band
- 10. Adam Again
- 11. Pavement
- 12. R.E.M.
- 13. Aretha Franklin
- 14. The Who
- 15. Van Morrison
- 16. The Velvet Underground
- 17. Neil Young
- 18. XTC
- 19. Todd Rundgren
- 20. Prince
- 21. U2
- 22. Sonic Youth
- 23. Love
- 24. Captain Beefheart
- 25. Elvis Presley
- 26. Mark Heard
- 27. Sly & the Family Stone
- 28. The Smiths
- 29. The Beach Boys
- 30. David Bowie
les, do you really not think that The Byrds deserve to be on this list. I'd put them up against almost anyone on here, with a couple of exceptions perhaps. I hope this is an oversight (please)...
Johnny Waco
Sorry, Johnny. The Byrds came very close, and would certainly be in a top thirty list. They just barely missed out on this one.
Forgive me?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Oh, dear. This really needs a bit of updating...
Nirvana, but no Pavement? Really....
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
hey where is the jam on all of these lists!! i don't think i saw them on your 100 list!! THE JAM ! come on!!!
You know, that is truly a major and dead-on criticism of my lists. While I love a few Jam singles, I don't really know the albums very well. No doubt, the fact that, last I knew, they were all out of print in America has quite a bit to do with that. From all I hear, I would probably love them if I could spend some more time with them.
So, I guess I will have to hunt some copies down. Do you listen to vinyl? I did spot a vinyl copy of one of the albums down the other day, but I'm always unsure about American vinyl versions of British albums. Some times they're fine, some times they are awful (such as the American Columbia Elvis Costello's This Year's Model I got a few weeks ago)...
So, yeah, you're probably right. The lack of Jam in my list might very well be a horrible over-sight on my part. I'll try to correct that.
Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I know this is your well-thought out list but I have just a few small things I would change...
The Who ahead of Joni Mitchell and The Band.
Dylan ahead of everyone, even Costello.
R.E.M. ahead of Stevie Wonder, and
the Allman Brothers would appear in the top 15.
Interesting suggestions. The only one I really recoil from is the Allman Brothers. I like them, and I love the Fillmore album, but I can think of several artist which came close to making this list and they just aren't one of them.
R.E.M. over Stevie Wonder is interesting, but I personally can't quite swing that. I may inch The Who up eventually, but probably not so high that they would pass either Joni or The Band. And I did consider breaking the tie at the top in Dylan's favor. Of course, then I consider Costello, and then I went back to Dylan, and then...
:)
This list is always one of the hardest ones for me to put together, and I suspect any given week the details may well vary even if the overall picture would remain the same.
You should create a similar list. From viewing your other great lists, I bet I'd love it!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I guess I'll have to rack my brain and determine my top artists of rock.
I'm sorry you don't enjoy the Allman Brothers like many of us here in Georgia.
I've actually visited Duane Allman's gravesite. It's about 45 minutes from my house. I guess the Georgia bias goes into effect for REM too...
I would like to see a list of your greatest Dylan songs, or greatest songs in general.
I'm interested whether we have the same opinion on his songs.
dcstar
Boy, that would be a hard list to create. Let me think about it...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
You know, despite the relatively low placement of some of my favorites, I love this list. I'm glad to see Costello and Dylan share the top spot, and the showings of both Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake are encouraging.
While I wouldn't say that Love is better than Elvis, or that Stevie Wonder is better than The Velvet Underground, this may be one of the best albums on Listology.
Thank you very much!
I don't remember when I posted this list - I know it wasn't too terribly long ago - but the biggest change I would probably make here would be to inch Bowie up a bit more. Or not. I'm still consider a few minor revisions.
Again, thanks for the compliment!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I am curious why Bob Dylan or Elvis Costello.