Rolling Stone has a cover story listing the 100 Greatest Guitarists Ever. Jimi is Number One. Hard to argue with that, but where is the skinny muthafukka with the high voice? Have the editors of RS lost their minds? (Answer: yes. Just look at the Mary Kate and Ashley cover story).

Am I missing something here? Do my eyes deceive me? Maybe they meant to make a list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists Who Never Married Mayte?

http://www.rollingstone.c...p?pid=1917

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

What a shitty list!!

Kurt Cobain OUTRANKS Frank Zappa! Jimi Hendrix is Number 1. HAHA!

This list might have been a little bit more accurate if it was changed to

TOP 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE BEST KNOWN FOR PLAYING THE GUITAR

Rolling Stone was "over" by the early '80s...

Pick up BLENDER magazine for the pop scoop.

This is a digrace to Every Prince fan out their. I mean com'on. Have those idiots at the mag (Rolling stones) ever heard "Lets go crazy" or "N.E.W.S". I thought of the mag (never buying an issue as a good mag knowing what a good sense of music is), Now I know they don't know what is good anymore or have they ever known what good music is or in this matter guitaring!

Isn't Rolling Stone ownded by Warner Bros. in some capacity?

It would be nice for Prince to get the recognition that he deserves. But sooner or later, you have to believe that Prince's record speaks for itself.

Besides, even if Prince was on the list, that still doesn't mean the average reader who may not know how good Prince is on guitar is going to go out and buy some of Prince's music just find out if Rolling Stone's rating of him is accurate.

The thing about Prince is that the true measure of just how good Prince really is on guitar is often only displayed in concert which makes it even more difficult for the average music listener to be able to relate to his great skills because they only know of him based on what they hear on "pop" radio.

It's a shame Prince isn't recognized more often. But in the final analysis, Prince really doesn't need a Rolling Stone indorsement to claim his place in music history.

I'm not defending RS magazine, but Prince's guitar skillz come into their own in concert. On record there's not many examples that give you the same chillz.

But he still should be in the top 100.

It's just that most of the names on this list are people who INFLUENCED other guitar players.

I don't think Prince inspired a lot of guitar players since he's more a sum of influences (playing like Jimi here, like Santana there, like B.B. and so on...) than a guy who came with something new style-wise.

People rather copy an original than another copy.

& even my grand'Ma can kick his ass with a guitar !!

NME said:

But is the list restriced to on record performance or just guitat skills? That is not an excuse for the omission. Rolling Stone is part of the corporate machine and has been relevant since hip hop and bad pop music took over the scene so they dont matter. They are not even hip to maserpeices like The Rainbow Children or good internet releases like NEWS.

savoirfaire said:

Cobain has the advantage od the martyr effect just as Tupac and Biggie have in rap: they all were never as great as people make them out to be. Hendrix is supposed to be no. 1. YOu show me any human that is or was better. Chuck Berry - yeah, Chuck Berry who invented rock guitar - shold be number 2.

Let's be honest: We all know Prince is a great shredder, but is he a great guitar player? He has never really brought any innovation to the instrument like Eddie Van Halen or Frank Zappa. True, Kurt Cobain only knew 3 chords, but he used them in interesting ways. Prince borrows way too much from Santana, and doesn't seem to have his own voice. Habibi even rips off Hendrix. If he would have his own guitar sound, then he might make it. He would be high on my list, but I am biased. And also, his best guitar playing is on bootlegs, and RS cannot use bootlegs for criteria.

that has got 2 b the Biggest Load Of Crap i've ever heard or seen??? people r still sleeping on my man Xtra P's skills...

This is f*cked up. Why isnt Prince on there? Why is it so hard to recognize the man's skills?

2freaky4church1 said:

That's definitely one way of looking at Prince's playing, but there is another. He is one of the most versatile guitar players. I disagree that he doesn't have his own sound, but there's no denying he also often sounds like a bunch of other people. Let me just say that if you organized one concert illustrating the different guitar styles with just one guitarist, you could do worse than invite Prince to be that guitarist. In fact, I can't think of anyone that could do justice to the most styles.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 30 10:21:38 PDT 2003 by Aerogram]

Prince is too good to just have one sound. That doesn't mean he hasn't come up with new stuff too.

Habibi isn't a Hendrix rip off, it's a Hendrix tribute. Remember, at the time, he was talking about doing a whole album "produced by Hendrix" as a tribute.

This is why Prince belongs on the list - not just on the list, but somewhere in the top 10 - he can play anything on the guitar everyone on the list can play, but who on the list can play everything guitar wise Prince can play.

LaMont said:

True, but if an artist wants his music to be heard buy influential / popular media outlets (MTV, Rolling Stone, BBC, Q, etc) they should employ publicists and do promotion to makes them take notice. It's a 2 way street.

savoirfaire said:

- Agree completely. Frank Zappa and Prince are usually underrated because they are more known as ´songwriters who play the guitar´. It really sucks. IMO, Zappa and Prince are better than most names on the list

These lists are funny because they are always changing. Sometimes I open a Guitar Player and there are a ´most influential players poll´ and I see Prince together with the great Randy Rhoads. In the same Guitar PLayer, sometimes Prince doesnt enter another list. Same thing with Zappa.
I never trust polls. I dont even know the method they use to make it. Is it innovation? So, why is Eddie Van Halen after Ike Turner? Is it about technical skills? So why are Randy Rhoads and Zappa after Keith Richards?
In other words...there is no ´who is better´ between the greats. It´s a matter of style. I think Zappa is as good as Rhoads, as good as Van Halen as good as Morello as good as Joe Pass...etc etc
And there are some guitar players I will always find overrated: The Edge, Kirk Hammet and Keith Richards are some examples...

Emancipation88 said:

- Hmm...I disagree...I think that ´When doves cry´ and ´Joy in repetition´ (ONA Aftershow It aint over) are much better samples

2freaky4church1 said:

- Well, you have a good point. In terms of innovation, of having an unique ´sound´, Prince is not that strong. And it´s true...he did some amazing work on bootlegs that will never be heard by non fans. A good example is the solo of ´Strollin´´ on Zurich ONA aftershow. It´s technically perfect and great jazzy atmosphere. There is an outtake called ´My summertime thang´ that has amazing jazzy guitar too. But this one is very hard to find. If somebody wants it, send me an org note and I will see what I can do...

alandail said:

- Sorry, it´s no excuse. And Prince himself was pretty close of having his sound in the mid-80s.


- Disagree again. Although Prince is the most versatile player I know, he is not as good as these guys are in their category. He is not as great as Stevie Ray Vaughan on blues guitar, not as fast as Van Halen and Randy Rhoads too.
Some comments to finish:
1) I had lots of prejudice against the 90s artists/bands. But I got to admit that Tom Morello of Rage Against/Audioslave is really a light in the end of the tunnel. This guy is amazing and very unique.
2) Is it my impression or was Wes Montgomery out of this list? As you can see...all those lists forget somebody...

I was thinking about Prince's moves after Grafitti Bridge last night.

I think instead of putting out a "rap" like, glossy album, he should of made most of the 90's a GUITAR, FUNK ROCK driven decade.

I think if he would of put out a live album and a rocking studio album, much like The Undertaker, but longer with some awesome guitar stuff, he would of gained more recognition as the fabulous guitar player he is.

But like the man says, why argue or contemplate, or "retrospect" on his creative, musical moves.

Rolling Stone was over by the early 90's, period, that's my opinion. I hardly, hardly ever pick up the rag. Only when I see real MUSIC artists on there. I do like their design though...very distinguishable amongst others and classic, but that's another topic.

Blender's like a Maxim for pop music, but still, they suck as well. I would love to know the stats on the people who come up with this stupid lists. I wonder if they speak to people above 30 or what ethnic and economic backgrounds these "experts" come from? I wonder...

GustavoRibas said:

There are other glaring omissions. Going back to one of your previous posts, I don't think there's any point in saying Stevie Ray Vaugh is a better blues guitarist. Prince can be just as bluesy, it's just that he has not made a career out of playing this kind of music. He doesn't play like Stevie Ray, and he doesn't have to.The fact he can play so many styles so convincingly gives the real measure of Prince's technical proficiency. There are few people that can make a guitar sound so many different ways and hold their own. For this fact alone, I think Prince should be somewhere in the top forty, penalized by perhaps not having one clear style, but a bunch of them.

I never have understood that - why is it that in music having versatility is considered a bad thing, while in everything else, versatility is considered a good thing. Speilberg doesn't have a single movie style either, yet he'd never be left off a list of best directors.

Jimi is so sloppy in his playing! Prince kills him.. it is not even a contest!

If they had a "Crossroads" PPV of all time guitarist.

Prince
Santana
John Frusciante
Randy Rhoads

would mop up anyone..

I think these guys would have a battle to the death



pssst.. by the way I think thats the order they would be in.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 30 19:49:37 PDT 2003 by locoarts]

Aerogram said:

- What I tried to say is that Prince is not a specialist in a musical genre as those guitar players I quoted. He can play the blues (The Ride is an example), rock and even jazzy guitar, but he is not so fluent as the masters of it. I like his jazz phrasing on some studio tracks, but I never saw him improvising on a pure jazz jam session like Benson and Wes Montgomery did. It seems to me that he doesn´t have the same vocabulary.
You may say: ´Ah, but Benson doesnt play rock and funk and Stevie Ray Vaughan didn´t play jazz´. Yes, it´s true. I admire Prince´s versatility. But unfortunately we live in a world where specialists are much more admired.
But I agree with you: the main reason that Prince isn´t there is because he didn´t have one clear style. He borrowed too much from Santana and Hendrix.

locoarts said:

- I used to think that Jimi was overrated too, because lots of guitar players are much more technically skilled than him.
But listening to some of his stuff now, I realize the innovator he was. His mind was really inspired. He influenced directly and indirectly 90% of the guitar players including Prince. Not to mention he was an unique songwriter too. I think it´s fair to put him as number 1

85 Randy Rhoads
70 Eddie Van Halen

(61 Ike Turner is better then both of them)

locoarts said:

- Probably better on beating women... Eddie is one of the greatest innovators of the guitar (like him or not) and Randy Rhoads sense of melody and unique style make him as one of the greatest guitar players of last century

Hey Cloud9
I downloaded your ´Make funk not war´ song...it´s real nice. You are very talented.