What’s In A List?
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
May 29th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Well, my girlfriend & I are furious at this list, just like you said we could be. Where’s Slash!!!!???? The Radiohead at 59 & 60??? Radiohead doesn’t even use guitars!!!!!! Angus Young at 96!!!??? Neil Young at 83????!!!!!! ROlling Stone Magazine is “THE ENEMY” just like in ‘Almost Famous’!!!!!
May 29th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I don’t agree with the list, it’s absurd. David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Angus Young, Tom Morello, and Slash are on my top 5.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Slash of G&R, Mark N for Dire Straits, Alex Lifeston of Rush, just to name a few. where are they
May 29th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
surprising Eddie Van Halen is so low, but a real ommission is the Purple One, Prince?
May 29th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
WOW,
A female actually made the list, and a Canadian, and one of my favorites, Joni Mitchell, good for her, but the rest of the list is a little out of whack.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:06 am
strange list…
no Rik Emmett or Alex Lifeson, but oddly enough John Frusiante made the list..
Somebody has a crack problem at Rolling Stone Magazine….
May 30th, 2008 at 8:21 am
rolling stone magazine is a joke. I know everyone else said this but no slash????? come on!!! how the hell is kurt cobain so high? he only can play 3 chords! after seeing this list I know I will never purchase a rolling stone magazine ever again. what a joke!
May 30th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Where’s Richie?
May 30th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Hi Andrew, It looks like the list is a 100 most popular guitarists.
Kurt Cobain was not a great guitarist - he was a great song writer & musician for his time - but very popular. Ike Turner in the top 100 - huh ? Joan Jett as a top 100 Guitarist - huh ? Eddie at 70 - huh ? Angus Young - 96 - huh ? Somebody missed a whole lot picking this list…Rik Emmett, Slash, Alex Lifeson, Jeff Healey - I agree, all missing, where are they ? and absolutely I agree with Rita - Prince is an amazing guitarist, but rarely gets recognized as such .. Eric Johnson is missing, alot of of 80’s shredders are missing too - Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Nuno Buttencourt, Marty Friedman, Joe Patrucci, Zakk Wylde, Dimebag Darrell, etc…EVH not in the top 3 is very wrong.
Hendrix, Page, & EVH should be the top 3. Andrew, Take this issue of Rolling Stone and line your Bird cage with it..
See Guitar World’s reaction to the list:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1079309/posts
See a Dedication to the top 10 chosen by Guitar World Mag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBHVUeh7TGo
May 30th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I think Rolling Stone has a problem with Canadians. Where are Rik Emmett (Triumph), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Randy Bachman (Guess Who, BTO), Myles Goodwyn (April Wine), Liona Boyd and Gordon Lightfoot.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Jimi Hendrix himself called Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) the best guitar player in the world. Did I miss his name on the list?
May 30th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
RS is a totally crap magazine - Mojo is the road forward.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
THIS IS LIST IS GARBAGE.
I DIDNT EVEN SEE SLASH OR DID I MISSED IT.
MEANWHILE KURT COBAIN AT #12???
HES NOT EVEN A GUITARIST. IN FACT HE DOESNT HAVE ANY SONG WITH GREAT SOLOS IN IT. THEY ARE JUST PURE CHORDS. IM GLAD NIRVANA IS DEAD………………………………………………….
METAL IS ALIVE…LONG LIVE METAL MUSIC……………..THRASH METAL…\m/…