What’s In A List?
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Today Rolling Stone published their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. I haven’t seen the full list yet, but I’ve posted the top 20 at Breaking Rock News, which you can check out . From what I see, so far their picks seem fairly reasonable. But that’s not always the case with Rolling Stone. In fact, sometimes their lists can be detrimental to your health.
A few years ago my pal Timmy B and I were on our way to Columbus, Ohio for Farm Aid. Along the way we stopped off in Cleveland to hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and enjoy a meal at Alice Cooperstown. Neither one of us were feeling particularly good after dinner so we stopped off at a pharmacy to pick up some Advil. While in line I saw an issue of Rolling Stone with Jimi Hendrix on the cover and an article listing the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. I picked up the magazine, and as we got back on the highway I started reading off the list as Timmy drove. While few would argue with Jimi’s placement at number 1, there were some extremely suspect decisions on there. Eddie Van Halen at #70? David Gilmour only at #82? As I read through, I watched as my friend behind the wheel seemingly got more angry with every number. He was red-faced, and then sick to his stomach. Finally somewhere on the interstate we had to pull over. I waited patiently asTimmy B ran into the bushes and and was horribly sick.
Some may think it was a bad burger, but both of us to this day blame the ridiculousness of Rolling Stone on Timmy’s sudden and painful pitstop. Check out the original list below, leave your thoughts, and use “list” as today’s bonus code.
1Jimi Hendrix
2Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8Ry Cooder
9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones
11Kirk Hammett of Metallica
12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
13 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
14 Jeff Beck
15 Carlos Santana
16Johnny Ramone of the Ramones
17 Jack White of the White Stripes
18John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
19 Richard Thompson
20 James Burton
21 George Harrison
22 Mike Bloomfield
23 Warren Haynes
24 The Edge of U2
25 Freddy King
26Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
27Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
28 Stephen Stills
29Ron Asheton of the Stooges
30 Buddy Guy
31 Dick Dale
32John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service
33 & 34Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
35John Fahey
36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG’s
37Bo Diddley
38Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac
39 Brian May of Queen
40John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
41Clarence White of the Byrds
42Robert Fripp of King Crimson
43Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
44Scotty Moore
45 Frank Zappa
46 Les Paul
47 T-Bone Walker
48Joe Perry of Aerosmith
49 John McLaughlin
50Pete Townshend
51Paul Kossoff of Free
52 Lou Reed
53 Mickey Baker
54Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane
55Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple
56 Tom Verlaine of Television
57 Roy Buchanan
58Dickey Betts
59 & 60Jonny Greenwood, Ed O’Brien of Radiohead
61 Ike Turner
62Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band
63Danny Gatton
64Mick Ronson
65Hubert Sumlin
66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour
67Link Wray
68Jerry Miller of Moby Grape
69 Steve Howe of Yes
70Eddie Van Halen
71 Lightnin’ Hopkins
72 Joni Mitchell
73Trey Anastasio of Phish
74 Johnny Winter
75 Adam Jones of Tool
76Ali Farka Toure
77Henry Vestine of Canned Heat
78 Robbie Robertson of the Band
79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997)
80Robert Quine of the Voidoids
81 Derek Trucks
82David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
83 Neil Young
84 Eddie Cochran
85Randy Rhoads
86Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
87Joan Jett
88 Dave Davies of the Kinks
89 D. Boon of the Minutemen
90Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper
91Robby Krieger of the Doors
92 & 93 Fred “Sonic” Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5
94Bert Jansch
95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
96 Angus Young of AC/DC
97 Robert Randolph
98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer
99Greg Ginn of Black Flag
100Kim Thayil of Soundgarden