New VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list

[HolidayGuy]

content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/08/exclusive-vh1-names-the-100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-see-the-top-20/1#Close

On the last list- in 1998, compiled before Ray of Light's release, Madonna came in at No. 86 (and came in behind Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner and Carole King among solo females) . So, quite an improvement (women don't fare nearly as well as men in critical features, by the way. As a reference, here's that last list:
www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1998/vh1artists.htm

A preview of the new list- the show airs early next month.

http://content.usato...-top-20/1#Close

20. Marvin Gaye
19. U2
18. Pink Floyd
17. Queen
16. Madonna
15. The Beach Boys
14. Nirvana
13. The Who
12. David Bowie
11. Bob Marley
10. Stevie Wonder
9. James Brown
8. Elvis Presley
7. Prince
6. Jimi Hendrix

The top five (in alphabetical order):

The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Michael Jackson
Led Zeppelin
Rolling Stones

[HolidayGuy]

BTW-in the preview press release from last week, it said Beyonce and Jay-Z were some of the names being considered for the list. if hey made it, obviously they didn't make the top 20.
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vh1-classic-brings-the-heat-this-september-100977894.html

[Bojangles]

Whitney made the list!

[Deleted]

Aug 24, 2010 12:34:53 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

BTW-in the preview press release from last week, it said Beyonce and Jay-Z were some of the names being considered for the list. if hey made it, obviously they didn't make the top 20.
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vh1-classic-brings-the-heat-this-september-100977894.html

Can't wait to see where(and if)they land :)

[colson]

So we are only watching the show counted down from 100 to 21?lol What's the point of watching the rest when we basically know what the top 20 will end up being? And there's no debating who's going to end up at #1. #2-#5 might be questionable, but not the #1 position.

[dbt88]

I don't see any work of Beyonce that would garner her a place in the 100 greatest ARTISTS of ALL TIME. Performer? No doubt. Artist? It's artist like that ruins such list imo when commercial success outweigh artistic output.

[colson]

^This is not the time to be downgrading other artists especially when the complete list isn't out. Shame on you.lol

[dbt88]

Aug 24, 2010 13:15:12 GMT -5 colson said:

^This is not the time to be downgrading other artists especially when the complete list isn't out. Shame on you.lol

Hey, I feel the same if Britney were there as well. Just my opinion. I'll just wait till the list comes out. But seriously, VH1 needs to stop putting out lists almost every year.

[d.t.m]

Who exactly made this list?? I remember vh1 got a lot of flack for the top 100 women in Rock. TLC ranked amongst some of the puzzling exclusions, but Salt N Pepa gets included??

[neverduplicated]

Aug 24, 2010 13:57:49 GMT -5 d.t.m said:

Who exactly made this list?? I remember vh1 got a lot of flack for the top 100 women in Rock. TLC ranked amongst some of the puzzling exclusions, but Salt N Pepa gets included??

Yeah, they also excluded Mariah from that list but included Christina I believe who had only been out a year or so. Hate all you want, but not to include in the top 100 women of music? Shame shame.

[when the pawn...]

I'm still waiting on the 100 Greatest Songs of the 00s list.

For this, my personal ranking of that top 5 would be

1 Beatles
2 Michael Jackson
3 Rolling Stones
4 Led Zeppelin
5 Bob Dylan

I think it'll be
1 The Beatles
2 Bob Dylan
3 The Rolling Stones
4 Michael Jackson
5 Bob Dylan

I wonder what (if any) current artists will make it? Radiohead, Eminem & Kanye would be most likely, IMO with Jay-Z and OutKast next.

[HolidayGuy]

As noted, the last list for this was one in early 1998.

Christina Aguilera was NOT in the top 100 women that aired in 1999. "Genie in a Bottle" was still on the charts at that time. ;)

www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1999/vh1women.htm
Mimi Carey's exclusion from that list wasn't all that surprising, considering she's not a critical favorite.

dtm- I really like TLC, but there's no denying Salt-N-Pepa's influence and impact.

Bojangles, where did you red that Whitney made the list? From that article, I got that she's one of those that were interviewed. I'd be surprised (albeit pleasantly) if she made the list. On the women list, she ranked 61. Granted, different industry people contributed to the list, but, still.

Eminem should definitely appear- but, will Lady Gaga, after just two albums?

Based on past shows, I'd be surprised if the full list didn't leak before the show.

[HolidayGuy]

While this list likely has some different contributors, some notable moves from the 12-year-old list:

Michael Jackson (40 on the last list, top 5 on the new one)
Prince (18 on the last list, No. 7 on the new one)
Bob Marley (24 on the last list, 11 on the new one)
Nirvana (42 on the last list, 14 n the new one)
Madonna (86 on the last list, 16 on the new one)
Queen (33 on the last list, 17 on the new one)
U2 (29 on the last list, 19 n the new one)

[ListenToItTwice]

Regina Spektor's getting interviewed as well, which makes me quite happy indeed.

[Bob]

the artists have to be around for a long time, i mean i agree there's no point in denigrating people like beyoncé, she may actually end up deserving a spot on there, but she's only been solo for 7 years. these artists basically need multiple decades of success, or influence that lasts long after they're gone.

[neverduplicated]

Aug 24, 2010 19:00:59 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

As noted, the last list for this was one in early 1998.

Christina Aguilera was NOT in the top 100 women that aired in 1999. "Genie in a Bottle" was still on the charts at that time. ;)

www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1999/vh1women.htm
Mimi Carey's exclusion from that list wasn't all that surprising, considering she's not a critical favorite.

Hmmm... I must have been thinking of some other list. Either way, it still seems a bit rich not to include Mimi in the 100 women of music, though maybe now that it's been a few years the results would be different.

Either way, it's ridiculous to me that there's only 1 woman in the entire top 20. Really? Are men just better musicians? Doubt it. Also seems to be a clear genre prejudice as well as classic rock bands/solo artists seem to be mostly represented in the top 20. I suppose I should always expect these things from a supposed "greatest artists" list. Probably the most surprising inclusions are Prince being so high and the always overrated Nirvana appearing the top 20.

[Verisimilitude]

i completely echo the words mentioned in this thread. this is an uber-straight male chauvinist top 20 list so far. :(

the words dull, and predictable also spring to mind.

[worldwide]

Huh, no Mariah Carey? Oh, phlease.

[WotUNeed]

I think that top 20 looks reasonable. They're all artists who made a lasting impact on the musical landscape of the rock era (which is VH1's focus), are well-known enough to be part of a list of this nature intended for general audiences, and have a musical catalogue that can back up the selection. Would I, personally, list all of these in my own top 20? No; but, it's not hard to understand the cases for their inclusion.

[colson]

I suspect Aretha Franklin just missed the top 20. I expect her to be somewhere in the 20s range.

[HolidayGuy]

Yes- well put, Wot.

Tthe full list is out. Surprisingly, Mimi Carey did make the cut- albeit, at No. 94.

For the Pulse community:

Female Acts
16. Madonna
27. Aretha Franklin
34. Tina Turner
37. Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks/Christine McVie)
44. Joni Mitchell
50. Sade
52. Beyonce
60. Whitney Houston (yay Bojangles hehe)
72. Janis Joplin
80. Mary J. Blige
94. Mariah Carey
100. Alicia Keys

The full list:
VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" List:
TOP 5, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
1. The Beatles
2. Bob Dylan
3. Michael Jackson
4. Led Zeppelin
5. Rolling Stones
NUMBER 6 – 11, RANKED
6. Jimi Hendrix
7. Prince
8. Elvis Presley
9. James Brown
10. Stevie Wonder
11. Bob Marley
12. David Bowie
13. The Who
14. Nirvana
15. The Beach Boys
16. Madonna
17. Queen
18. Pink Floyd
19. U2
20. Marvin Gaye
21. Bruce Springsteen
22. The Clash
23. AC/DC
24. The Velvet Underground
25. Chuck Berry
26. Neil Young
27. Aretha Franklin
28. Elton John
29. Radiohead
30. Aerosmith
31. John Lennon
32. Black Sabbath
33. Guns N' Roses
34. Tina Turner
35. Johnny Cash
36. Paul McCartney
37. Fleetwood Mac
38. Sly & The Family Stone
39. The Kinks
40. The Police
41. Van Halen
42. Metallica
43. Ray Charles
44. Joni Mitchell
45. Al Green
46. Ramones
47. Jay-Z
48. Rage Against The Machine
49. Parliament-Funkadelic
50. Sade
51. Billy Joel
52. Beyonce
53. Little Richard
54. Public Enemy
55. Peter Gabriel
56. KISS
57. Iggy & The Stooges
58. Cheap Trick
59. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
60. Whitney Houston
61. Cream
62. Genesis
63. Notorious B.I.G.
64. Talking Heads
65. The Doors
66. Justin Timberlake
67. Coldplay
68. Otis Redding
69. Tupac Shakur
70. Def Leppard
71. R.E.M.
72. Janis Joplin
73. Van Morrison
74. The Cure
75. Rush
76. Run-D.M.C.
77. Lynyrd Skynyrd
78. Judas Priest
79. Eminem
80. Mary J. Blige
81. ABBA
82. Steely Dan
83. Earth, Wind and Fire
84. Curtis Mayfield
85. The Band
86. N.W.A.
87. George Michael
88. Bee Gees
89. Beastie Boys
90. Elvis Costello
91. Green Day
92. LL Cool J
93. Pearl Jam
94. Mariah Carey
95. OutKast
96. Journey
97. Pretenders
98. Depeche Mode
99. Hall & Oates
100. Alicia Keys

Tidbit: Contemporary artists like Beyonce, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Eminem, Coldplay and Green Day are in the Top 100. However, current headliners Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Lil' Wayne and The White Stripes failed to make the cut.

[colson]

I wonder what this list was 'really' based on.

Beyonce@ 52? :o

[weaver]

I hate these kinds of lists. Who decides? Is there a vote? And how in the hell is Mariah lower than, of all people, George Michael? At least she made the list though....and thanks HolidayGuy, for your usual not-that-subtle shade throwing at Mariah. Oh, right, I forgot, you are a fan of her debut album.

I generally agree with the top of the list, though I think Bob Dylan is too high. I think Stevie Wonder should be in the top 5 instead of him. Bob Marley should perhaps be a bit higher too, IMO.

[colson]

Stevie definitely should be in the top 5 and Aretha Franklin in the top 20, higher than Madonna.

[Deleted]

At first glance the list is pretty standard. I agree with it less as it goes on. The top 10 is fairly difficult to argue with, it's lower down with Cheap Trick and Justin Timberlake putting in appearances when it gets odder.

...And yeah lists like these are a dime a dozen and more or less pointless. It's not like anyone would even know this one existed if HolidayGuy didn't take every opportunity to start threads to talk to himself about how Mariah Carey isn't a critical favorite.

[colson]

I don't know how I missed Justin Timberlake. I didn't expect to see him on this list.

[Sure Thing]

This list is so flawed. How Usher did NOT make this list is insane. Look at the man's resume. It's way pass due for him to get some damn credit. How R. Kelly didn't make this list is crazy also. Guess these people don't listen to black male r&b singers.

[lugus15]

Justin Timberlake?????.... please, bitch

If it came to that, I'd put either Backstreet Boys, or NSYNC, or Spice Girls, before that Michael Jackson wannabe.

Or Usher.... who did it before and better

[worldwide]

I really don't see why usher should be listened. It's ARTIST'S list and he has nothing to do with that.

[worldwide]

LOL at Beyonce being in front of Whitney, Mariah, Mary, Alicia, Janis... Are they kidding?!
The role, impact and artistic impact of Janis is far more bigger than Beyonce's. Jay Z, lol.
The list is so stupid. I wonder how they made it and if poppa Knowles had anything to do with it.