Rolling Stone and their idiotic editors - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

dylanmarsh · 09-08-2003, 04:22 PM

Has anyone seen the latest issue of Rolling Stone? They, in their infinite wisdom and creativity, decided to compile a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time. Here are some of the highlights or lowlights depending on your view of the world:

Jerry "F-ing" Garcia (#13)ranked ahead of such guitarists as Angus Young (#96) and Eddie Van Halen (#77).

Jack White of White Stripes (#17), who I think are amazing in their own right, but certainly should not be ranked ahead of Dick Dale(#33).

The only thing they could not f-up was putting Hendrix at number one; although, how the hell does Duane Allman (#2)rank ahead of Stevie Ray Vaughn (#7).

I would assume that they, the editors, were either too drunk to show up to work to sort out the list or they had an inexperienced pimple faced 19 year old intern do it. What ashame that what is supposed to be one of the strongest and most influential voices in music dropped the ball big time on this one.

Here is the complete list:
1 Jimi Hendrix
2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8 Ry 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
16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones
17 Jack White of the White Stripes
18 John 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
26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
28 Stephen Stills
29 Ron Asheton of the Stooges
30 Buddy Guy
31 Dick Dale
32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service
33 & 34 Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
35 John Fahey
36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's
37 Bo Diddley
38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac
39 Brian May of Queen
40 John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
41 Clarence White of the Byrds
42 Robert Fripp of King Crimson
43 Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
44 Scotty Moore
45 Frank Zappa
46 Les Paul
47 T-Bone Walker
48 Joe Perry of Aerosmith
49 John McLaughlin
50 Pete Townshend
51 Paul Kossoff of Free
52 Lou Reed
53 Mickey Baker
54 Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane
55 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple
56 Tom Verlaine of Television
57 Roy Buchanan
58 Dickey Betts
59 & 60 Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead
61 Ike Turner
62 Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band
63 Danny Gatton
64 Mick Ronson
65 Hubert Sumlin
66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour
67 Link Wray
68 Jerry Miller of Moby Grape
69 Steve Howe of Yes
70 Eddie Van Halen
71 Lightnin' Hopkins
72 Joni Mitchell
73 Trey Anastasio of Phish
74 Johnny Winter
75 Adam Jones of Tool
76 Ali Farka Toure
77 Henry Vestine of Canned Heat
78 Robbie Robertson of the Band
79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997)
80 Robert Quine of the Voidoids
81 Derek Trucks
82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
83 Neil Young
84 Eddie Cochran
85 Randy Rhoads
86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
87 Joan Jett
88 Dave Davies of the Kinks
89 D. Boon of the Minutemen
90 Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper
91 Robby Krieger of the Doors
92 & 93 Fred "Sonic" Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5
94 Bert Jansch
95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
96 Angus Young of AC/DC
97 Robert Randolph
98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer
99 Greg Ginn of Black Flag
100 Kim Thayil of Soundgarden

SecretMethod70 · 09-08-2003, 04:34 PM

Actually, IMO, BB King should be #1 with Hendrix as #2 - especially considering BB King TAUGHT Hendrix

Van Halen definitely should have been higher too, as well as some of the other things you pointed out.

I could go on naming each problem, but it'd take more time than I think is worth it.

Jeff · 09-08-2003, 05:17 PM

There's bound to be controversy with a list like this. Don't think too much of it. No matter how it's done, it's impossible to please everybody.

K-Wise · 09-08-2003, 05:55 PM

No Steve Vai or Satriani? No Peter Frampton? No Slash? They put fuckin Kurt Kobain and not Slash??? Bullshit. Kurt was a great front man. Not a great guitar player. Anyone who plays guitar e'll tell ya most of Nirvana's songs are easy and rather boring to play. Trey Anastacio is better than him. I mean if they wanted to put an influencial grunge band down to satisfy these stupid fuckin little kids Mike McCready of Pearl Jam is a far better guitar player than Kurt Kobain. I love Nirvana and all but they're givin em a little too much credit right there.

Asta!!

quadro2000 · 09-08-2003, 06:08 PM

Check out the table of contents page in the issue:

"It's the list that launched a thousand arguments: David Gilmour's too low! Kirk Hammett's too high! Who's Hubert Sumlin? (You really owe it to yourself to find out.) Here they are, the hundred guitarists that the rock world couldn't live without, complete with each one's essential work. Complainers, take your best shots."

After I read that...all the fun of complaining was taken away from me.

Every list is bound to have tons of hits and misses. Whaddya gonna do.

K-Wise · 09-08-2003, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Whaddya gonna do.

Kill em?

Asta!!

student · 09-09-2003, 06:20 PM

ok...i can see putting jack white and kurt cobain on the list because they are relevant and created a different sound from what everyone else was/is doing at the time. but then how can hendrix be first??? he is not revelant now. and if hendrix is first then how is eddie at 70. they both are probably the most influential guitarists of this century. nobody played guitar like eddie before eddie. but hes not relevant now so he is at 70. so how can the 2 most influential guitarist have such a disparity in ranking? the whole list is a contradiction. and kurt cobain gets 12 for playing like every 13 y/o whos been playing for 3 months. you could have went to any kids garage and heard nirvana's sound.

Exodus · 09-09-2003, 07:34 PM

Yeah... i would have to agree. Kurt Cobain had absolutly no talent at all when it came to guitar. At all.

GuttersnipeXL · 09-09-2003, 08:17 PM

This is by no means THE DEFINITIVE LIST of Greatest guitar players...I'ts not meant to be read like, whoever is list first is better than everyone else on the list. No way is that what they were trying to say...it is simply a list of good guitar players. It's not just Rolling Stone who puts out these list either, check out any guitar magazine. At least once a year there is a list just like it. It' only a list...not the final word.

K-Wise · 09-09-2003, 10:31 PM

The reason why they always put Hendrix 1st on any of these lists is because he's a "safe" choice. He's the choice everyone can agree on. Lord forbid anyone make a list and NOT put him first cause then they'll really get some complaints. Is he the best guitarist ever? I dunno I haven't heard every guitarist and I know he's pretty damn excellent. I was kind of a little more pissed at MTV's top 20 bands of the last 2 decades as decided by "the fans" yes the fans who voted No Doubt the 8th highest band above Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Van Halen, The Cure, etc.

Asta!!

archer2371 · 09-10-2003, 12:32 PM

Rolling Stone should burn for this.

JohnnyRock · 09-11-2003, 09:53 AM

I didn't notice slash missing when this was posted elsewhere. I haven't read RS in a long, long time and now I know why!

K-Wise · 09-11-2003, 02:48 PM

Word yo word

Asta!!

Johnny Rotten · 09-11-2003, 11:04 PM

This is typical headline tripe at its worst. The list is far more of a compilation of "most influential" than "most talented," if you ask me. But it's "Best Guitarists EVAR" that grabs people at the newsstand and gets them all enraged so other people go and buy a copy. Despicable.

perripken · 09-12-2003, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyRock
I didn't notice slash missing when this was posted elsewhere. I haven't read RS in a long, long time and now I know why!

Yes, this is a double post- the other one had created alot of chat!
And man..... I agree......Holy Shit....... I completely forgot about Slash! Think I'll put him on my Under rated guitar player thread!

DiffEng · 09-12-2003, 10:54 AM

The one that confused me was Jerry Garcia. Jerry fawking Garcia? When people think of guitar, no one ever thinks of Jerry Garcia.

Baffles me completely.

RAMONES!!! · 09-12-2003, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dylanmarsh
Johnny Ramone of the Ramones

what the hell? Johhny Ramone actually considered in the top 100?

I love the Ramones but i know that Johhny was far from great, catchy but not great by any means

awful list

K-Wise · 09-12-2003, 01:51 PM

I'm the one who mentioned the Slash man

Asta!!

K-Wise · 09-12-2003, 09:58 PM

Another Guitarist who's underrated and deserved a spot ahead of some of the others.

Asta!!

bundy · 09-13-2003, 05:38 AM

well, who said a little bit of controversy doesn´t sell a magazine.

its certainly spurned about 10 threads in this forum recently.

and its managed to get its name back into conversations.

and after all, all publicity is good publicity.

as for the list... well, its complete bullshit as far as i´m concerned.... but wasn´t that the idea?

scoobydugan · 09-13-2003, 05:30 PM

Carlos Santana needs to be top 10!!! The man is damn near 1000 and hangs with the best of 'em

09-08-2003, 04:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
dylanmarsh Sleepy Head	Rolling Stone and their idiotic editors Has anyone seen the latest issue of Rolling Stone? They, in their infinite wisdom and creativity, decided to compile a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time. Here are some of the highlights or lowlights depending on your view of the world: Jerry "F-ing" Garcia (#13)ranked ahead of such guitarists as Angus Young (#96) and Eddie Van Halen (#77). Jack White of White Stripes (#17), who I think are amazing in their own right, but certainly should not be ranked ahead of Dick Dale(#33). The only thing they could not f-up was putting Hendrix at number one; although, how the hell does Duane Allman (#2)rank ahead of Stevie Ray Vaughn (#7). I would assume that they, the editors, were either too drunk to show up to work to sort out the list or they had an inexperienced pimple faced 19 year old intern do it. What ashame that what is supposed to be one of the strongest and most influential voices in music dropped the ball big time on this one. Here is the complete list: 1 Jimi Hendrix 2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band 3 B.B. King 4 Eric Clapton 5 Robert Johnson 6 Chuck Berry 7 Stevie Ray Vaughan 8 Ry 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 16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones 17 Jack White of the White Stripes 18 John 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 26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave 27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits 28 Stephen Stills 29 Ron Asheton of the Stooges 30 Buddy Guy 31 Dick Dale 32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service 33 & 34 Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth 35 John Fahey 36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's 37 Bo Diddley 38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac 39 Brian May of Queen 40 John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival 41 Clarence White of the Byrds 42 Robert Fripp of King Crimson 43 Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic 44 Scotty Moore 45 Frank Zappa 46 Les Paul 47 T-Bone Walker 48 Joe Perry of Aerosmith 49 John McLaughlin 50 Pete Townshend 51 Paul Kossoff of Free 52 Lou Reed 53 Mickey Baker 54 Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane 55 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple 56 Tom Verlaine of Television 57 Roy Buchanan 58 Dickey Betts 59 & 60 Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead 61 Ike Turner 62 Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band 63 Danny Gatton 64 Mick Ronson 65 Hubert Sumlin 66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour 67 Link Wray 68 Jerry Miller of Moby Grape 69 Steve Howe of Yes 70 Eddie Van Halen 71 Lightnin' Hopkins 72 Joni Mitchell 73 Trey Anastasio of Phish 74 Johnny Winter 75 Adam Jones of Tool 76 Ali Farka Toure 77 Henry Vestine of Canned Heat 78 Robbie Robertson of the Band 79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997) 80 Robert Quine of the Voidoids 81 Derek Trucks 82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd 83 Neil Young 84 Eddie Cochran 85 Randy Rhoads 86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath 87 Joan Jett 88 Dave Davies of the Kinks 89 D. Boon of the Minutemen 90 Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper 91 Robby Krieger of the Doors 92 & 93 Fred "Sonic" Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5 94 Bert Jansch 95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine 96 Angus Young of AC/DC 97 Robert Randolph 98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer 99 Greg Ginn of Black Flag 100 Kim Thayil of Soundgarden

09-08-2003, 04:34 PM	#2 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	Actually, IMO, BB King should be #1 with Hendrix as #2 - especially considering BB King TAUGHT Hendrix Van Halen definitely should have been higher too, as well as some of the other things you pointed out. I could go on naming each problem, but it'd take more time than I think is worth it. __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

09-08-2003, 05:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
Jeff And we'll all float on ok... Location: Iowa City	There's bound to be controversy with a list like this. Don't think too much of it. No matter how it's done, it's impossible to please everybody. __________________ For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. --Charles Bukowski

09-08-2003, 05:55 PM	#4 (permalink)
K-Wise It's All About The Ass!! Location: In a pool of mayonnaise!!	No Steve Vai or Satriani? No Peter Frampton? No Slash? They put fuckin Kurt Kobain and not Slash??? Bullshit. Kurt was a great front man. Not a great guitar player. Anyone who plays guitar e'll tell ya most of Nirvana's songs are easy and rather boring to play. Trey Anastacio is better than him. I mean if they wanted to put an influencial grunge band down to satisfy these stupid fuckin little kids Mike McCready of Pearl Jam is a far better guitar player than Kurt Kobain. I love Nirvana and all but they're givin em a little too much credit right there. Asta!! __________________ "I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project *It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys!* - Asta!!

09-08-2003, 06:08 PM	#5 (permalink)
quadro2000 All Possibility, Made Of Custard Location: New York, NY	Check out the table of contents page in the issue: "It's the list that launched a thousand arguments: David Gilmour's too low! Kirk Hammett's too high! Who's Hubert Sumlin? (You really owe it to yourself to find out.) Here they are, the hundred guitarists that the rock world couldn't live without, complete with each one's essential work. Complainers, take your best shots." After I read that...all the fun of complaining was taken away from me. Every list is bound to have tons of hits and misses. Whaddya gonna do. __________________ You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers

09-09-2003, 06:20 PM	#7 (permalink)
student Crazy	ok...i can see putting jack white and kurt cobain on the list because they are relevant and created a different sound from what everyone else was/is doing at the time. but then how can hendrix be first??? he is not revelant now. and if hendrix is first then how is eddie at 70. they both are probably the most influential guitarists of this century. nobody played guitar like eddie before eddie. but hes not relevant now so he is at 70. so how can the 2 most influential guitarist have such a disparity in ranking? the whole list is a contradiction. and kurt cobain gets 12 for playing like every 13 y/o whos been playing for 3 months. you could have went to any kids garage and heard nirvana's sound.

09-09-2003, 07:34 PM	#8 (permalink)
Exodus Psycho	Yeah... i would have to agree. Kurt Cobain had absolutly no talent at all when it came to guitar. At all.

09-09-2003, 08:17 PM	#9 (permalink)
GuttersnipeXL Giggity Giggity!! Location: N'York	This is by no means THE DEFINITIVE LIST of Greatest guitar players...I'ts not meant to be read like, whoever is list first is better than everyone else on the list. No way is that what they were trying to say...it is simply a list of good guitar players. It's not just Rolling Stone who puts out these list either, check out any guitar magazine. At least once a year there is a list just like it. It' only a list...not the final word. __________________ When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST

09-09-2003, 10:31 PM	#10 (permalink)
K-Wise It's All About The Ass!! Location: In a pool of mayonnaise!!	The reason why they always put Hendrix 1st on any of these lists is because he's a "safe" choice. He's the choice everyone can agree on. Lord forbid anyone make a list and NOT put him first cause then they'll really get some complaints. Is he the best guitarist ever? I dunno I haven't heard every guitarist and I know he's pretty damn excellent. I was kind of a little more pissed at MTV's top 20 bands of the last 2 decades as decided by "the fans" yes the fans who voted No Doubt the 8th highest band above Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Van Halen, The Cure, etc. Asta!! __________________ "I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project *It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys!* - Asta!!

09-10-2003, 12:32 PM	#11 (permalink)
archer2371 Sarge of Blood Gulch Red Outpost Number One Location: On the front lines against our very enemy	Rolling Stone should burn for this. __________________ "This ain't no Ice Cream Social!" "Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it." "I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif."

09-11-2003, 09:53 AM	#12 (permalink)
JohnnyRock Addict Location: Taxachussetts	I didn't notice slash missing when this was posted elsewhere. I haven't read RS in a long, long time and now I know why! __________________ Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!

09-11-2003, 02:48 PM	#13 (permalink)
K-Wise It's All About The Ass!! Location: In a pool of mayonnaise!!	Word yo word Asta!! __________________ "I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project *It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys!* - Asta!!

09-11-2003, 11:04 PM	#14 (permalink)
Johnny Rotten lost and found Location: Berkeley	This is typical headline tripe at its worst. The list is far more of a compilation of "most influential" than "most talented," if you ask me. But it's "Best Guitarists EVAR" that grabs people at the newsstand and gets them all enraged so other people go and buy a copy. Despicable. __________________ "The idea that money doesn't buy you happiness is a lie put about by the rich, to stop the poor from killing them." -- Michael Caine

09-12-2003, 10:54 AM	#16 (permalink)
DiffEng Tilted Location: Canada Eh!	The one that confused me was Jerry Garcia. Jerry fawking Garcia? When people think of guitar, no one ever thinks of Jerry Garcia. Baffles me completely. __________________ Plan for today: 1. Contemplate end of world 2. Build fort out of sofa

09-12-2003, 01:51 PM	#18 (permalink)
K-Wise It's All About The Ass!! Location: In a pool of mayonnaise!!	I'm the one who mentioned the Slash man Asta!! __________________ "I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project *It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys!* - Asta!!

09-12-2003, 09:58 PM	#19 (permalink)
K-Wise It's All About The Ass!! Location: In a pool of mayonnaise!!	Another Guitarist who's underrated and deserved a spot ahead of some of the others. Asta!! __________________ "I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project *It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys!* - Asta!!

09-13-2003, 05:38 AM	#20 (permalink)
bundy . Location: Tokyo	well, who said a little bit of controversy doesn´t sell a magazine. its certainly spurned about 10 threads in this forum recently. and its managed to get its name back into conversations. and after all, all publicity is good publicity. as for the list... well, its complete bullshit as far as i´m concerned.... but wasn´t that the idea? __________________ Ohayo!!!

09-13-2003, 05:30 PM	#21 (permalink)
scoobydugan Crazy	Carlos Santana needs to be top 10!!! The man is damn near 1000 and hangs with the best of 'em