rolling stone top 100 list
 

im surprised i didnt find a thread about this, maybe i overlooked, but anyway....
i agree with jimi hendrix at #1 but the guy from the white stripes at #17, thats ridiculous. hes the worst guitar player ever.
is anyone else baffled by this?
we could probably argue about the rest of the list for years, so feel free to make any comments. you can find it at Rolling Stone

well i went to the page and before i got to the list there was a vote for best guitarist and on the list in this order jimi, clapton, eddie, jack white. i voted for eddie who happened to tie with clapton at a whopping 12% jimi got 46% and jack white got 30%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when i got to the list i saw eddie van halen at 70!!! and no where was satriani malmsteen or vai...this list is a fucking joke and must have been compiled by people who have never touched an instrument and make it up for it by writing a rock and or roll magazine.

Yeah.. i was a little dissapointed at the fact that Kurt Cobain was 12 on that list. When it come to guitar... his name shouldnt even be listed.

That's the problem with Rolling Stone and other mainstream media. In order to stay mainstream, they have to pander, even when it means picking people that don't deserve to be on the list and dropping people that do deserve to be there.

Dave Gilmour in the high 80's. Oh well........its just their opinion.

I think the list probably reflects not only technical skill but originality as well. let's get real...Jimmy Page really is a sloppy guitar player, but everyone thinks he's great because he wrote so many memorable riffs. But he isn't exactly technicially proficient (thanks to booze).

Jack White was probably there a bit for current popularity, but also because he does cool stuff with the guitar that you don't hear in other bands (especially for a band where it's just him and drums)

And btw, Gilmour in the 80's is very sad. He's my favorite of all time. He never makes it high on those lists because he lacks the flash and personality of other rock stars. Many Floyd fans wouldn't know him if they passed him on the street. Being a pretty anonymous personality doesn't get you a lot of media attention.

lol...I needed a good joke

Jack White above John Frusciante, Tom Morello, David Gilmour, Joe Perry, Van Halen, Pete Townsend, Frank Zappa, and George Harrison? Did anyone actually listen to the music of these people before placing their votes? Kurt Cobain is also listed way too high but at least he created good music.

Bah.. It's all been said in the Johnny Cash thread. It's not based on talent or influence, it's based on the number of records sold.

BulletBob, Kurt. While he wasn't a fantastic guitarist, he was very influential.

Yeah, where is Joe Satriani on that list? Should be #1

tinfoil
talent and influence?.... and how would you measure those as to order people on a list. There should have been no list... there is no way to measure such a thing... in the end it boils down to individual opinion...

They should really divide their lists into sub lists that have more exact qualifications for who gets on the list..

IE 25 best technical players
25 most influencial players
25 best solo players
25 best. .. rhythm players

or something like that
I mean you can't just say "the 100 best guitarists" and then make a rediculous list like that.

Oy, Rolling Stone should burn in hell for this really sad list. They need to get a bunch of actual guitarists together to come up with a top 100 list, then, and only then would you get an accurate list.

Now you should know by now that most of these list are influenced by "who's hot & who's not"

They place them according to what sells, to the youth that buy the mag.

Why else would Eddie Van Halen be down at 70?
Because he's let his fame fade away.

Mag polls always come down to the bottom line.
And what kids are willing to pound the polls. (phone or online)

How you gonna say it's a "who's hot & who's not"

#5 Robert Johnson: How many people out there know who he is. He's been dead since 1938. I've had his boxed set for two years now... He's badass.

You've provided ONE example of how it's NOT a "whos hot and whos not"

There's tons of example of how it IS a "who's hot and who's not" just in this thread:

IE jimmy hendrix at #1
malmsteen not even on the list
vanhalen at 70
kurt cobain at 12

etc
etc

One exception does not change the fact that it was a list made up primarily of mainstream players and not the best players.

You ask the others playing music, not the 13 yo girl in the music store. You know, the person who is informed enough to make an opinion. Just because I drive a car doesn't mean I am a fair and informed judge on the top 100 cars of all time.

derwood, wat choo talkin' bout?
jimmy page was a child prodigy and played on all the early kinks records. before he was famous he made a name for himself as an excellent session musician.

white stripes guy is a different type of guitar player and i beleive the inclusion so high on the list is because of that originality. i love the white stripes.

Yeah I too find that list pathetic. I'll agree that many of the people high on the list are there for their influential abilities over technical abilities but its still pretty pathetic. The guy who influenced an entire decade of guitar playing is ranked down at #70. And why is Gilmour way at the bottom, its disgusting.

i´m pleased that BB King, Ry Cooder and Clapton are so high on the list...

but Knopfler at 27... i don´t think so.

at first i was upset over this list, but then, a few days later, i came to terms with it. i realized that this is not the first greatest guitar players list assembled. i realized that before i played guitar, i thought a lot of players were good. i realized that the people who compiled this list were probably not guitarist, and have probably read other list and that is what made up their minds. or they hear from other people that so and so is great player and then they say, yeh so and so can wail. lets put him at number 5. which is my theory on why so many people love hendrix and cite him as the best guitarist ever. i believe they were told that and they tell other people.