Sunday, November 27, 2011

A matter of opinion and taste

I subscribe to Robbie Robertson’s Facebook feed and was intrigued last week when he posted about being pleased to be included in the new Rolling Stone list of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time.

I clicked the link and was shocked to see Robbie, who played with The Band, Bob Dylan and has had several excellent solo albums over the past 20 years, was ranked 59th. Fifty-ninth? WTF?

So I explored the list further and was shocked to find Pete Townshend, who I would rank #1, in tenth place.

And Sonny Landreth, who Eric Clapton opined is the most under-appreciated guitarist in the world, didn’t even make the list. That, my friends, is utter and complete bullshit.

The list is a revised version of the one created in 2003 by Rolling Stone senior writer David Fricke. He ranked Townshend as 50th in that one.

This kind of thing, of course, is highly subjective but I’m damned if I can understand the logic behind most of the choices.

Here’s the RS list:

 

Top 100 Guitarists of All Time (2011 version):
1.Jimi Hendrix
2.Eric Clapton
3.Jimmy Page
4.Keith Richards
5.Jeff Beck
6.B.B. King
7.Chuck Berry
8.Eddie Van Halen
9.Duane Allman
10.Pete Townshend
11.George Harrison
12.Stevie Ray Vaughan
13.Albert King
14.David Gilmour
15.Freddy King
16.Derek Trucks
17.Neil Young
18.Les Paul
19.James Burton
20.Carlos Santana
21.Chet Atkins
22.Frank Zappa
23.Buddy Guy
24.Angus Young
25.Tony Iommi
26.Brian May
27.Bo Diddley
28.Johnny Ramone
29.Scotty Moore
30.Elmore James
31.Ry Cooder
32.Billy Gibbons
33.Prince
34.Curtis Mayfield
35.John Lee Hooker
36.Randy Rhoads
37.Mick Taylor
38.The Edge
39.Steve Cropper
40.Tom Morello
41.Mick Ronson
42.Mike Bloomfield
43.Hubert Sumlin
44.Mark Knopfler
45.Link Wray
46.Jerry Garcia
47.Stephen Stills
48.Jonny Greenwood
49.Muddy Waters
50.Ritchie Blackmore
51.Johnny Marr
52.Clarence White
53.Otis Rush
54.Joe Walsh
55.John Lennon
56.Albert Collins
57.Rory Gallagher
58.Peter Green
59.Robbie Robertson
60.Ron Asheton
61.Dickey Betts
62.Robert Fripp
63.Johnny Winter
64.Duane Eddy
65.Slash
66.Leslie West
67.T-Bone Walker
68.John McLoughlin
69.Richard Thompson
70.Jack White
71.Robert Johnson
72.John Frusciante
73.Kurt Cobain
74.Dick Dale
75.Joni Mitchell
76.Robby Krieger
77.Willie Nelson
78.John Fahey
79.Mike Campbell
80.Buddy Holly
81.Lou Reed
82.Nels Cline
83.Eddie Hazel
84.Joe Perry
85.Andy Summers
86.J Mascis
87.James Hetfield
88.Carl Perkins
89.Bonnie Raitt
90.Tom Verlaine
91.Dave Davies
92.Dimebag Darrell
93.Paul Simon
94.Peter Buck
95.Roger McGuinn
96.Bruce Springsteen
97.Steve Jones
98.Alex Lifeson
99.Thurston Moore
100. Lindsey Buckingham

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