manic mon #3: rolling stone mag's 100 greatest artists of all time

Have you ever looked at Rolling Stones' "Greatest" lists? I was recently looking at their ultimate artists list, which started as 50 and was updated to 100, and I thought, Man, having to rank these must have been a pain.

Of course you can't really rank these sort of things fairly, and the source is a little biased anyway, but I like to use it for leads on expanding my musical vocabulary. I didn't grow up with a lot of classic pop names, so I use these things as a sort of reader.

The intro for RS 100 Greatest Artists:

In 2004 — 50 years after Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studios and cut "That's All Right" — Rolling Stone celebrated rock & roll's first half-century in grand style, assembling a panel of 55 top musicians, writers and industry executives (everyone from Keith Richards to ?uestlove of the Roots) and asking them to pick the most influential artists of the rock & roll era. The resulting list of 100 artists, published in two issues of Rolling Stone in 2004 and 2005, and updated in 2011, is a broad survey of rock history, spanning Sixties heroes (the Beatles) and modern insurgents (Eminem), and touching on early pioneers (Chuck Berry) and the bluesmen who made it all possible (Howlin' Wolf). 

The essays on these top 100 artists are by their peers: singers, producers and musicians. In these fan testimonials, indie rockers pay tribute to world-beating rappers (Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig on Jay-Z), young pop stars honor stylistic godmothers (Britney Spears on Madonna) and Billy Joel admits that Elton John "kicks my ass on piano." Rock & roll is now a music with a rich past. But at its best, it is still the sound of forward motion. As you read this book, remember: This is what we have to live up to.

Rate Your Music has the complete list, from 100 to 1, all in one page and in one scrollable view, making for a much easier time to see who landed where.

Also, Rolling Stone, just on the 5th of this month, created an updated section titled The New Immortals. It's a list of 14 younger modern artists whom they believe have the skills or splash to take on the mantle and last as names to be remembered in future decades.

Not sure I agree with everything, but it was fun looking up some bands in that list as well.

Plus reading all the arguments going on in the comments is always entertaining too. XD;;