Prince ranks in at #50 of Life magazine's top 100 Rock n Rollers of all time. Whoo hoo!! #1 Elvis, #2 Beatles #3 Bob Dylan, Madonna I believe was in the top 10 and MJ as well.

Really now, Prince should have been on the top ten list. But as always things like these are based on POPULARITY rather than talent and real musical contributions. Madonna...

The small blurb below the photo mentions the squigly name change of the 90's. I think the mistake was in NOT letting the public now clearly that that was a contractual based move.

By coincidence, I read in the ROCK Rough Guide (an amazing book btw) that Elvis has never written a single song in his whole life! And he is at number one???!!!

Madonna = Rock 'n Roll??

The title is not "The Top Songwriters Of All Time". Since when do you have to write songs to be a Rock and Roll Star"?
Bob Dylan is a lousy singer. Does that mean he should not be where he is? I agree that prince should be a lot higher though. I think the list is made up of the most popular and influential.

I do believe some people just have their wires crossed. How the hell can Elvis and (yes Im going to say it regardless of those who appreciate out of tune square voiced apple heads who still hold fame from those over 50) the beatles be the cream of any talent. These critics obviously haven't been to a concert in over 40 years.

These lists are always worthless.

I think Kurt Cobain was in the top 10 for fucks sake. What a load of crap. Marvin Gaye was at 60 or 70. Tell me that is not stinky crap!

it's just a popularity contest

Where are you now Barry Manilow!!?

History will correct this oversight. Eventually Prince will be appreciated for who he is. Mozart was thought to be terrible in his day. It happens when small minds can't grasp genius.

this is a fucking joke, madonna is a fucking joke, fuck her and her glitsy extrvaganza shows, prince is the highest music force of his generation, peep the history books, peep the praise from other artists, peep the the level of talent thats so high that its ridiculous, fuck life magazine, fuck mtv, fuck the grammy's and all the other glitsy pop, less than 5% music machine, entertainment commercial cocksucken low life talentless pigs, wow i think that says it

i saw this last weekend. it was cool but, they had a Little Negative comment made about how his name changed 2 put a "damper" so 2 speak on his Career, not!

Dear lord, this is the most ridiculous list I have ever seen.

Flava-Flav said it best..."Don't Believe The Hype!"

Jadespade said:

Yeah amongst the "white rock'n roll pionner" I think that Gene Vincent & Eddie Cochran were far more talented than Elvis, but it's true The Beatles were the best on record (not live)

I think it's about right. It's all about the impact made. Sorry, but in his short time, Kurt Cobain had far more impact on the music scene than Prince. Prince, over the past 12 years, has only continued to knock himself further down toward the bottom of lists like this. He should have died after Sign o' the Times in a fiery plane crash. That way, he'd have been remembered and revered...and someone with enough sense would have released what was in the vaults before rap & Tony M. got anywhere near his music.
[This message was edited Mon Mar 18 4:26:08 PST 2002 by kellyannemcclure]

FlyingCloudPassenger said:

No,I think the mistake was changing his name to that silly symbol in the first place.It pretty much guaranteed that Prince would get ridiculed throughout most of the 90s,and it took the focus off his music.
[This message was edited Mon Mar 18 5:54:36 PST 2002 by DavidEye]

radici27 said:

I think Life Magazine was concentrating on artists that had the greatest *IMPACT* on pop music in general.Like it or not,you cannot make a list like this without mentioning Madonna.

kellyannemcclure said:

That's a horrible thing to say about anyone! I understand the point that you're trying to make, and though I don't agree with it, I think there are other ways you could have made it. To feel that Prince should have died such an awful death so he could rank higher on a list that's so insignificant to begin with? In my opinion, I feel you should be more cautious with what you put out, KARMA is a MONSTER.

Peace,
P-Dogz

is it just me, or does it seem like p is always listed smack-dab in the middle of these types of lists all the time? strange.

prince should have been in at least the top 5. he does write his own music, do his own dance moves, and he has several other talents as a true musician.

comon everybody knows that Prince together with Elvis Presley is the greatest music talent ever.
Anyway who was the jury?

Prince is right where he should be on the list. To be considered great by the general public, or in that case a publication that caters to the general public, the public has to actually enjoy your music. that is not the case with Prince, as the majority of people haven't heard any of his latest work, thus they haven't had the opportunity to judge whether they like it or not. the reason for this is simple.

1. Prince hasn't put in the effort to have his music heard widely, thus his status in music history is of his own doing.

2. the music hasn't been as great as the material he released that created his mass popularity. granted, each album he's put out has had one or two tracks that rank up there with his best, but for the whole the albums have been lackluster in comparisson. there is a reason why he went from selling millions to selling a tremendous amount less, and while advertising and publicity plays a part in it, audiences not liking what they do hear plays just as much.

the moral of this story is, Prince is deserving of his number 50 ranking. that is why only the few thousand people that visit this site disagree and the millions of people who don't probably agree. so, the only logical way to formulate a opinion that would be accurate to the majority of opinions, who proably would list Prince right around fifty despite where most of us would rank him, is to consider how Prince is regared by most people, not just his loyal following.

this is just my opinion, as yours is yours, and the list is Life magazines. But is it just me, or did Life magazine go out of publication long ago, and just get incorporated into Time magazine?

why is it that when someone's not selling as many albums, they always seem to slip down the talent polls...

cervante said:

Prince's dance moves? If his ranking were averaged out by by considering those, he would have landed all the way at the bottom. getting fucked in the ass on the Arsenio Hall show anyone? I just loved when Prince asked, in regards to whether he was straight or gay, had anyone ever seen him dance with a guy. Yes, Prince, we have, and more than we would have liked.

freshy95 said:

probably because most of the time that slip in the polls runs hand in hand with a slip in talent. Sex me baby, Sex me not, sure ain't anywhere near Little Red Corvette. Prince still makes great songs, he just doesn't put out great albums, which is what fueled his popularity.

This point being, that Prince, if he were a new artist today and was releasing his newer music, would more than likely be a one hit wonder. Prince has to be judged by his entire career, not just the portion of it that relates to his most popular time, which strangely conicides with his creation of his greatest music. see the trend here?

PDogz said:

Ok, sissy...Prince should have died on a ride at Disney World because he's too small to be strapped in properly. Is that a more fitting end for your hero?

I know it is pointless to argue on opinion-based subjects, but "dumbass", you're just plain wrong on many counts. But again, if you think popularity or sales equals talent or greatness, or if you think Purple Rain constitutes Prince's greatest achievement, or if you don't think the Symbol album, Gold Experience, The Truth, Emancipation, or Rainbow Children don't qualify as "great" albums, then that's your perogative. If three million people agree with what you said, it still doesn't make it true.

jtgillia said:

You are an ignorant piece of shit. use some common sense. In the 80's Prince ranks in the top 10, no doubt. his latter output ranks him near the bottom 100, because it really isn't that great. average those out and you have a middle of the road ranking. judge his entire career, not just the parts that only cater to your opinion.

furthemore, we're not talking truth here, were talking about being judged by a majority of people. what makes your statement true, that only a few thousand people agree with it. your argument is facetious. you defend your point for the very same reasons that you criticize mine. use some fucking sense, and you would have realized not to challenge the awesone power of the dumbass. in the immortal words of Apu; thank you, come again.

If you're talking "impact" on popular music, no fucking way Prince deserves the #50 spot...and NO fucking way Kurt Cobain deserves to be listed almost 40 spots higher than Prince...hell, even if you read all those 10-year retrospectives about the guy, the almost always talk about the impact the album had, not the man and the artist...there's a reason it's phrased that way, folks...because it was basically one song and one video which had 80% of Nirvana's impact...true, it was one hell of an impact, but the credit for that can be spread to far more than just Cobain(as someone else said, what about his bandmates...hell, for that matter, what about the video director??..lol)...

Jimi Hendrix has had a fucking HUGE impact on rock, far, far, far more than Cobain has, and for far longer...so why is he BELOW Cobain and Madonna??...Not to mention this list seems to somewhat devalue R&B contributions...please put James Brown in the top 5, for he was the flashpoint for 4 decades of funk...unless, of course, the writers who came up with this idiotic poll don't value funk as a genre as much as, let's say, grunge or alternative or punk...

I don't know why any of you waste time responding/commenting on anything KellyAnne has to say. It is clear that she only wishes to shit disturb and see who she can get a rise out of. I'm sure when she sends her comments she waits with a big smile on her face to see what the rest of you have to say to her. This is just a game with her people. She should just be ignored. She doesn't give a rats' ass about Prince and his music and what it truly means to most of us.