i have been on this website for quite some time now and i have noticed that a lot of my fellow orgers have a similar taste in other great artists. david bowie seems to be a particular favourite of prince fans and rightly so, he had a fabulous run of albums from 71 to 80 in much the same way prince had from 80 to 88. both went through various musicial styles with great success.
...of course ,the beatles recorded for just seven years but the growth musically was incredible and never to be repeated so as far as i am concerned, these three wonderful acts are the best in popular music in the last 50 years, with honorable mentions to the genius of brian wilson and stevie wonder.
...
...so does anybody agree or disagree?
...
...here is the music critics top 20 rock and pop acts of all time:
...
1 The Beatles

2 The Rolling Stones (overrated)

3 Bob Dylan

4 David Bowie

5 Prince (underrated, of course!)

6 Jimi Hendrix

7 Bruce Springsteen

8 The Beach Boys

9 The Who (overrated)

10 Marvin Gaye

11 Elvis Presley

12 The Clash

13 R.E.M.

14 Stevie Wonder (underrated)

15 Led Zeppelin

16 Nirvana

17 Radiohead

18 Neil Young

19 U2

20 The Velvet Underground

http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/

blackboab said:

I disagree...
Where are James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Bob Marley ?????

This List sucks...
[Edited 2/21/05 15:35pm]

I wrote a long reply to this, but it got ate when the org asked for my password. Just wonderful.

sly should be on there too. Personally I don't think prince should be in the top ten, and certainly not above my man stevie

blackboab said:

This is a really bad list. "Critics" are a dime a dozen anyway.

Velvet Underground , overrated (they sounded really off key man , even on record , like them , tho')
U2 ,overrated
The Clash , overrated
Nirvana , overrated

Radiohead definitely should be on !
[Edited 2/21/05 16:40pm]

Why am I unable to see Michael Jackson,Madonna,Elton John,orBilly Joel on this list?

I agree with Michael Jackson ,
haven't heard much from Elton John and Billy Joel , so i
don't know , and as for Madonna definitely not !!
She doesn't deserve to be on the same list as The Beatles !!
Was her music innovating ?
I didn't think so
[Edited 2/21/05 16:54pm]

This thread is a bag of cock.

One: The list is complete mainstream bullshit, dictated by an unspecified criteria.

Two: The original poster needs to sort his head - The Who 'overated' - yeah ok! Only one of the most influential groups in history penning enough tunes to fill a double greatest hits LP - how many groups can do that?

Three: Not one female artist on the list. Say no more.

Four: Like Krayzee said: Bob Marley - the greatest exponent of African roots music ever (not up for debate) and arguably the most influential black musician ever (discuss - maybe Jimmy Brown). This and the point above leads me to believe the list was compiled by wank-encrusted white executives who now and then reach for Brothers in Arms for inspiration.

Five: Dewrede - you're talking complete shit; A) The Velvets are immense and virtually invented psychedelia (forget the Beatles - John Cale was whacked out when they were doing blueys in Hamburg). How on earth do you figure Nirvana are overated too - they basically tipped both sides of the Atlantic upside in the space of a couple of years, popularising/inventing a musical genre and indeed whole fashion/subculture. Sure their influence is not as great as the Beatles - but they're certainly one of the biggest bands since.

Six: RazzBeret - I suggest you stick to making your 'Survivor' lists - Billy Joel! Are you serious!!! The man was a better boxer than he is a songwriter! We Didn't Start the Fire - I'd set him on fire!

Seven: Just to reiterate this thread is a bag of cock.

Well , in the end it's all just a matter of taste

Acclaimedmusic.net gathers all of the reviews for an album, year end-lists, etc.. and calculates the "most acclaimed rock albums and singles of all time
compiled from critics' best-of lists all around the world". Therefore, all of the artists in the Top 20 have done very well album review wise. It's not just the work of one music critic, or one website.


By the way, the Stones are far, far from overrated.

Axchi696 said:

So that doesn't mean they're the universal incontrovertible authority. Personally I DO NOT think Prince should be as high as he is, certainly not above jimi hendrix and stevie wonder.

jacktheimprovident said:

Not saying that it does; obviously there will never be a "universal incontrovertible authority" on what the best artists ever are. It's completely and totally subjective. I just wanted to make the point that it wasn't some biased critic, or some website that subconsciously favored certain artists.

The reason Prince is above Hendrix is quantity; Prince released more albums than Hendrix did. More highly reviewed albums = higher chart placing. It has nothing to do with him being considered a "better" artist.

Axchi696 said:

I understand, I'm just saying that even committees, no matter how extensive, can be full of shit ala voting Some like it hot the greatest american comedy (thank you very much AFI, though it is a good movie).

Dewrede said:

Are u kidding? Have you ever heard War, Achtung Baby, London Calling, Nevermind, or In Utero? Clean out those ears please. All bands you listed SO belong on this list. Their influence in undenying in the world of rock.
[Edited 2/21/05 18:46pm]

radiohead? pppfff!! LOL

well i think the list is a good guide to excellence in recorded music in the last 50 years..i dont agree with everything on it, of course, but i respect all the acts who are there...bob marley..well he is at number 25 and you could have a good case for him being in the top twenty...aretha franklin is at 27 but i would personally make a better case for kate bush being up there with her as a great female music maker. james brown sits at 32 and i think that is about right.

..
..as far as jimi hendrix is concerned, i think he was a genius guitarist of course and made some great songs but as an all round music act, ...he does not compare with prince and i could list numerous reasons why...i think if anything, hendrix is overrated at number 6 on the list. i dont agree with the the view that stevie wonder deserves to be higher than prince...as much as i love stevie and his genuis during the 70s, i think prince again is a greater all round musicial force than stevie was. prince has covered more styles of music than stevie who tended to stick to r&b during his career.
...
... thats my two cents worth

oh, by the way, this list has nothing to do with how many records an artist released, its about how many excellent records they released. the velvet underground are there but i think they released only 3 albums but they where all influencial.

RazzBeret posted:



Why am I unable to see Michael Jackson,Madonna,Elton John,or Billy Joel on this list?

...
...
...because they are not good enough? how many great albums did michael jackson release? ...i say..off the wall and thriller...not really enough to get you in the top 20, is it. the same for madonna, i love billy joel but he wrote as many bad songs as great songs. as for elton john

RazzBeret said:

Isn't that ob-bi-bi-vious?

But where in the hell is IMMINENT STARVATION?!?

blackboab said:

I'm sorry but it's not even a matter of opinion that jimi hendrix and stevie wonder were each AT LEAST as great overall artists as prince and certainly were far more influential. Hendrix wasn't just a genius guitar player, he was the most important guitar player of the twentieth century, and one of rock's greatest and most underappreciated composers and lyricists too, and he was a capable bass keyboard and drum player too (he also played miscellaneous percussion, glockenspiel and flute over the course of his albums). Stevie only did R&B? give me a break. Stevie was if anything, much MORE eclectic than prince. Prince never incorporated jazz or tin pan alley style pop as well as stevie, and he never tried his hand at various types of world music and orchestral music like stevie (well he did, but kamasutra sucked). The Whole Secret life of plants album foreshadowed (and in my mind surpassed) the whole genre of new age, and I could make an analogous statement about electric ladyland and prog-rock. What comparable achievement has prince made? In terms of prolificness, each of them is also at least prince's equal if not superior, which is all the more amazing in hendrix's case because he was only recording music for four years. You wanna talk about impact? Hendrix is practically the foundation of hard rock, modern rock guitar technique, and studio experimentation who introduced the idea of the studio as an instrument unto itself. Stevie's singing, drumming, harmonica playing, producing and songwriting are all more ersatzly immitated than anybody else's, he introduced the notion of the one man band and the self-producing, autonomous artist; plus 75% the frickin songs that the american idol competitors have been singing were written by him. Prince is not the superior or even the equal of those two and he would be the first to agree.

At least Madonna isn't on the list.

jacktheimprovident said:

I agree...

MetroArea said:

well, sorry but i dont agree that stevie or hendrix deserve to be higher than prince and it seems that most people in the music biz agree with me...that is why prince is regarded as the fifth greatest music act ever on the list and before he dies he will go even higher on that list.

blackboab said:

I respect your opinion....

But you overrate Prince ...

Prince is the best artist of the last 20 years (no doubt) but Stevie is more than that...
He definitly introduces the blackmusic into an other level...
Every soul/rnb artists of today are influenced by Stevie ....

He's like Bob Dylan, or John lennon, he's an icon like Bob Marley...


I love Prince as hell, but Stevie is more than that....
[Edited 2/22/05 10:10am]

blackboab said:

well prince himself wouldn't rank himself above those two that's for sure and I think that list is a very misleading representation of what the musical and critical community would really say because I've seen plenty of other lists and prince is nowhere near the top of them. Rolling Stone for example rates stevie wonder as the fifteenth greatest rock artist of all time, prince the twenty-eighth and Hendrix is in the top ten.

blackboab said:

Well, if you're going to go by statistics, the fact is that Jimi Hendrix only had one hit.

You really just can't make a top 20 list of pop icons from the last 50
years with out including Micheal Jackson
The man may be weird
and you may not LOVE him
but you can't deny his success.

Even his "failed" albums still went platinum, and do I even need
to metion Thriller?