Greatest ARTIST of all time? absolutely not. Greatest MUSICIAN of all time? no. One of the greatest and most versatile musicians in the history of post 20th century popular music? Yes. Greatest musical artist of his generation? maybe.

namepeace said:

Pardon my ignorance but who is this a picture of? I agree with whodknee on the artists I'd probably name before prince (if only out of personal preference), adding Duke, Trane, Diz, Bird, Ray and Louis
[Edited 7/21/05 10:26am]

squirrelgrease said:

ay, what's this stuff i heard about you chasing after prince after he came outta...byerly's or what-not...something about a nekkid you on a horse with fake wings taped on its side and you were throwin sanddollars at 'im...?

jacktheimprovident said:

Sorry, jti, its a picture of the John Coltrane Quartet: Trane, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Garrison.

Prince and Stevie Wonder are the greatest artists of all time to me.

namepeace said:

AH, ok, I thought one of them looked like trane. I was second guessing myself when you called them a "rock" band though.

Just speaking of the list... VH1 had a list of 'The 100 most influencial artist of all time' and prince rated top 20 on it. i'm just pointing out that pretty much any poll with or with out merit is going to place him near the top.

Is he the greatest of all time? NO
Is he the greatest of his time? MAYBE
Is he the greatest in his own mind? HELL YEAH!!!

But he is also the greatest in my mind as well. I give props to other true greats who have accomplished at the same level or above... and just because I may not be a fan of thiers... I'm not presumptous enough to consider thier ackomplishments any less.

del
[Edited 7/21/05 12:54pm]

blackbob said:

bad list. how'd the beach boys get up there and why r the beatles #1

jacktheimprovident said:

I know it's confusing, but IMHO, they ROCKED.

krayzie said:

...Mozart...Beethoven...Tchaikovsky...Verdi...Wagner...Liszt...Bach...Händel...Haydn...

The greatest or best, in my opinion cannot be measured based on music. Hell, some love Prince, some don't. Now, if Prince squared off in a boxing ring against Bob Dylan, the man left standing would clearly be the winner, or the greatest. In terms of music, it is not a competition. If your measurables are record sales, then I think Michael Jackson would be considered the "Greatest". From a creative standpoint however, it is too subjective to classify one greater than another.

yes!

possibly.

I havnt been around for all time, so I can only say in my lifetime I cant think of any one person who compares to all the things he has done musically.

doctamario said:

...
...
what planet are you living on????...the beatles are without question the most influental group of the 20th century and the biggest sellers!!!.....and brian wilson and the beach boys deserve to be there because he wrote the greatest songs of the 20th century!!!

blackbob said:

i personally hate this list because it is only my personal opinion. i hate the rolling stones, and yeah the beatles are great, but i think they're WAY overrated. i love Springsteen, but only some of it, and marvin gaye is not really in my list at all, even though his music is great. i don't listen to Bowie or Dylan, and i think that Stairway to Heaven is a stupid song. (call me insensitve..haha) i think that Prince is a modern day mozart. he is a genius. he is my favorite artist, and will to ME always be the best, but we have a long way to go before the world ends, so we'll see if anyone can one-up him. i don't really think that anyone could overshadow his incrediable composing though. but anyways, i digress...

how can Stevie Wonder not be on that list?

soulyacolia said:

I totally agree with u!

Yep. He's The Man.

namepeace said:

well they certainly rocked in the sense, but not really in the sense

blackbob said:

Nice to see Marvin Gaye in there. Altho' being ahead of the likes of Stevie Wonder is a little questionable. The rest of the list delivers no real surprises.

i would have had stevie wonder ahead of marvin gaye but marvin was brilliant as well.

blackbob said:

Both among the true greats in my opinion.

I can't see how Prince, the Beatles etc. could even be compared to some of the greats like a Scott Joplin. Or those masters which were trully the inventors of Rock & Roll such as Muddy Waters. I saying come on, get real.
[Edited 7/22/05 6:00am]

Subliminal said:

Yeh most courageous, i think that I could agree with & its also why i dug him so much

Actually when i got into Prince where i lived it wasnt that cool to be into Prince, there were those of us around but we were bit more in the minority.

doctamario said:

The Beatles in post 20th Century popular music definitly as a group be rated in the top 5 and yes possibly even 1. Just about every record at least 85% good and up.


The Beachboys did some amazing song arrangements , and definitly had a lot of influence on many artists.

sisforscandalous said:

Sure its all subjective if we all go to some other forum, there would be folks saying the greatest artist is Bon Jovi or something. I dont necessarily like all artists in this list but it certainly contains few i would rate up their amongst the greats in modern times, I dont agree with you that the Beatles are way overrated, those guys deserve a lotta props for the quality of their output, few pop groups have been as consistent. I actually like the Rolling Stones, hell Prince knew "Miss You" was a Cool and Funky song. Dylan is one of the best lyricists and musical poets of the last 50 years, "Springsteen" and countless others were hugely influenced by him. Bowie is very original artist whom has put out several excellent and interesting albums although im not a huge fan. Hendrix was one of the most if not the most innovative and interesting guitar players of his time. Prince is manificent and certainly ranks amongst these other artists and others, to describe him as a modern day mozart is an unreasonable comparison,
first and foremost because Prince is not a classical composer.

Pondwater said:

Amen

jacktheimprovident said:

I see, but I respectfully disagree. They'd blow any rock band off the stage. No pun intended.