Rolling Stone's Top 100 Artists from the last 50 years

Since the "Worst Musicans" made for some interesting(and angry) conversation, I thought you'd all feel happy to discuss the best artists of all time. Keep in mind, it's from the last 50 years, which explains why some people like Robert Johnson aren't on the list.

1. The Beatles( well, duh...)
2.Bob Dylan
3.Elvis Presley
4. The Rolling Stones
5.Chuck Berry
6. Jimi Hendrix
7. James Brown
8. Little Richard
9. Aretha Franklin
10. Ray Charles
11. Bob Marley
12. The Beach Boys
13. Buddy Holly
14. Led Zeppelin
15. Stevie Wonder
16.Sam Cooke
17. Muddy Waters
18.Marvin Gaye
19.The Velvet Underground
20.Bo Diddley
21.Otis Redding
22.U2
23.Bruce Springsteen
24. Jerry Lee Lewis
25. Fats Domino
26. The Ramones
27.Nirvana
28.Prince
29. The Who
30. The Clash
31.Johnny Cash
32. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
33. The Everly Brothers
34.Neil Young
35. Michael Jackson
36. Madonna
37.Roy Orbison
38. John Lennon
39.David Bowie
40.Simon and Garfunkel
41. The Doors
42.Van Morrison
43. Sly and the Family Stone
44.Public Enemy
45.The Birds
46. Janis Joplin
47.Patti Smith
48.Run DMC
49. Elton John
50. The Band
51.Howlin' Wolf
52.The Allman Brothers
53.Eric Clapton
54. Dr. Dre
55. The Greatful Dead
56. Parliment/Funkadelic
57. Aerosmith
58. The Sex Pistols
59. Louis Jordan
60.Joni Mitchell
61. Tina Turner
62. Etta james
63. Phil Spector
64.The Kinks
65.Al Green
66.Cream
67.The Temptations
68.Jackie Wilson
69.Carl Perkins
70.The Police
71.Frank Zappa
72.AC/DC
73.Radiohead
74.Hank Williams
75.The Eagles
76.The Shirelles
77.Beastie Boys
78.The Stooges
79.The Four Tops
80.Elvis Costello
81.The Drifters
82.Eminem
83.N.W.A
84.James Taylor
85.Black Sabbath
86.Tupac Shakur
87.Gram Parsons
88.Miles Davis
89.The Yardbirds
90.Carlos Santana
91.Ricky Nelson
92.Guns and Roses
93.Booker T and the MG's
94.Nine Inch Nails
95.Lynyrd Skynyrd
96.Martha and the Vandellas
97.Diana Ross and the Supremes
98.Roxy Music
99. Curtis Mayfield
100. Lee Perry


Well, that's all of them. With the exception of Madonna, I'm pretty much happy with the list. Although, I would have put Carlos Santana higher up on the list, and moved U2 down. Also, this is kinda my opinion, but I would have included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Ravi Shankar, Pink Floyd,Joan Baez, Ritchie Valens and Donovan.

 

am I just not seeing pink floyd???

and if they arent on the list, why the fuck not???

 

that is ridiculous, they have dr dre and tupac and radiohead, but no pink floyd???

are they just trying to generate controversy or what??

 

eminem and nwa too?? what the hell?

 

these lists are always completely ridiculous. i'm awfully upset about the placement of miles davis, p-funk, sly and the family stone, michael jackson, and the allman brothers. IMO, the almost all of those artists should have beat the stones/nirvana/u2/springsteen, at the very least. pink floyd is good too, but the first and foremost concern should be coltrane. where the fuck is HE?

 

I wouldn't consider Elvis or the Supremes as "artists." They're more like performers... in a lame Nsync sort of way.

 

why? both were incredibly influential in their respective genres, and while the supremes didn't write their own material, diane ross was a phenomenal vocalist. elvis also wrote his own material.

 

No Joy Division, no care.

 

I hate all of these fucking lists. Rolling Stone is an awful and outdated magazine.

 

No Stevie Ray Vaughan, huh? How about B. B. King? Pffft!

THE RAMONES???????

RICKY NELSON???!!! WTF??!!

And who the hell are The Stooges? Geez, who came up with this?



Edit: Oh, Rolling Stone magazine. Well, no wonder. Worthless POS.

 

No ELP/Floyd/Fromholz/Heep/Tull/Willie/Yes???

Now I remember why I dropped my rs sub...

 

Oddly the musical act that more people have seen perform, that there are more recordings of than anyone else in music history, doesn't make the top 50. The Grateful Dead.


There are the Beatles and the Grateful Dead - and then everybody else can take a place in line. This opinion of mine isn't about my appreciation of the Grateful Dead's or the Beatle's music. Its about influence. There's a far drop off between these two and whomever comes in third place after that. The iconic status and influence on culture and history that these two bands produced through their work is unrivaled by anyone else.

If I had to name a 3, 4 and 5. They would be Elvis, Micheal Jackson and Madonna in terms of influence and their historical value.

 

Guess some of us Live in a different Time/Place/Space...

 

pretty much. Id say that most of the artists listed deserve recognition, but its impossible to rank them without being biased. and because of this, people get in arguments over the rankings and generate lots of discussion about - Rolling Stone's - top 100 list...

now someones going to go out and buy a Rolling Stone magazine