The lamest "top 100" list ever? Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Guitarists.

[JohnT]

First, the link: http://www.rollingstone.com/features...n.asp?pid=1917

They are ranking the greatest guitarists (not just rock, but all forms of music), and to give you an idea as to how craptacular this list is, let me give you some entries:

1. Hendrix. The obvious choice, so obvious that Sophie could've chosen Jimi.
2. Duane Allman
3. BB King
4. Eric Clapton
5. Robert Johnson

Not so bad, you say? Just wait...

12. Kurt Cobain. The 12th greatest guitarist? Ever??
13. Jerry Garcia. Oh, gimme a friggin' break!
16. Johnny Ramone. Because bar chord songs that drunk 16 year olds can play just ROCK!!!
21. George Harrison. Huh? Are you serious? Is he really 49 spots better than
70. Eddie Van Halen? 70th!?!?!? Every friggin' kid who learned to play guitar during the entire decade of the 80's wanted to be Eddie Van Halen! Who the hell wanted to grow up to be George Harrison: Guitar God???
72. Joni Mitchell. As to why the hell she is on this list, I can't even begin to fathom.
82. David Gilmour. Eighty-freaking-two. After Joni Mitchell. After the guitarist for Fleetwood Mac. After the guitarist for Phish. Jesus wept. Bitterly.
85. Randy Rhodes. Sorry, Randy, you're just not as good as Joni.
86. Tommy Iommi. Well, if you're going to dis Randy, might as well throw in Tommy as well.
87. Joan Jett. *JohnT drops dead in horror, revives, and then drops dead again*

And while CCR is a quality band, there is no way that Fogerty can be considered a better guitarist than EVH or Randy Rhodes.

Who did they leave out? A bunch of nobodies, including:

Joe Satriani
Andres Segovia
Al Demolia
Slash
The guitarist(s) for Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Chet Atkins
Django Reinhardt
Charlie Christian
Pat Methany
Joe Pass
Steve Vai

To be quite honest, a lot of the newer guitarists I've never heard of (I pretty much fell out of the music scene around 1992). But to think that they are better than Iommi, Segovia, Reinhardt, or Van Halen is pretty damned ignorant.

[mrmitchell]

Top 100 lists, by definition, are lame anyways.

[JohnT]

Of course. But they are so fun to beyatch about, you know?

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
Top 100 lists, by definition, are lame anyways.

Yep

Take Clapton out of the top 50 please

[Drake Tungsten]

Pretty lame. And Clapton should be number one.

[Bosh]

And where's Steve Jones

[Combat Ingrid]

Re: The lamest "top 100" list ever? Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Guitarists.

Originally posted by JohnT

12. Kurt Cobain.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Of course. But they are so fun to beyatch about, you know?

That's the point.

And the list does suck. Everyone knows that Jimmy Page is by far and away the #1 Guitarist of all time .

Kurt Cobain should have been in the Top 20, IMO. Johnny Ramone is ranked correctly, as is Harrison. HOWEVER, Eddie Van Halen should have been top 10.

[Drake Tungsten]

Kurt Cobain should have been in the Top 20, IMO.

Why? He wasn't a very good guitar player (and this is coming from a fan).

[Imran Siddiqui]

I thought he was pretty damned good. There were definetly some very good guitar work on 'Nevermind'.

[Drake Tungsten]

I thought he was pretty damned good. There were definetly some very good guitar work on 'Nevermind'.

I guess if you consider basic power chords to be good guitar work...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Basic power cords are the lifeblood of rock .

[Dis]

Eddie Van Halen and Randhi Rhodes are too far down for my tastes. They are my favourite guitarists of all time. Throw in Kirk Hammett in there as well. And Jimmy Page. Can't forget Hendrix to round out the top 5

Curt Kobain played some good tunes, but he wasn't that great of a guitarist. Listen to his live stuff for verification

[Drake Tungsten]

Basic power cords are the lifeblood of rock .

True, but they aren't a defining characteristic of great guitar work.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Why not? If you can really do power cords well, you are doing good rock, if basic power cords are the lifeblood of rock.