I think that the title says it all

30's: Robert Johnson
40's: Bing Crosby
50's: Elvis Presley
60's: Bob Dylan
70's: David Bowie
80's: Prince
90's: Beck
00's: hummm ...? I'm not sure, I think i will wait 'til 2010 to give an answer

I'm only going from the 50s because that's when rock music started. I'm a big fan of all rock music, so my knowledge doesn't go far beyond that to the music of the 40s and earlier.

50s: Elvis Presley
60s: Elvis Presley
70s: Stevie Wonder
80s: Prince
90s: Michael Jackson
00s: Justin Timberlake

That was hard because in the 60s, I mostly liked bands, so I choose Elvis again because he still had alot of great hits in the 60s. In the 80s, I couldn't decide between MJ and Prince, but since they both continued into the 90s, I put Prince for the 80s and MJ for the 90s (because I think MJ's 90s material is better than Prince's 90s material). I never thought much about how some decades are dominated more by solo artists, and some by bands, until I tried to this. The 60s were dominated by bands, but the 80s were more domianted by solo artists.

50s: Elvis
60s: I have NO idea
70s: Stevie Wonder
80s: Michael Jackson
90s: I have NO idea
00s: Prince

That's really hard.

50s: Elvis
60s: Bob Dylan
70s: Al Green
80s: Prince
90s: Lucinda Williams
00s: Bob Dylan

I'll start in the '60s.

60s: Bob Dylan (but my favorite is Marvin Gaye and then James Brown)
70s: Stevie Wonder (probably a two-horse race with David Bowie, but JB is also a contender)
80s: Michael Jackson/Prince (don't want to pick)
90s: [Easily the hardest to call] Amazingly, I'm picking Madonna, but Prince, MJ, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, and even R. Kelly are all possibilities.

Don't know about 30s and 40s...

50s: hmmm...Miles Davis?
60s: James Brown
70s: David Bowie (sorry, Stevie)
80s: Prince
90s: Beck/Meshell Ndegeocello
00s: ?

30s-Duke Ellington
40s-Billie Holiday
50s-Miles/Dizzy/Bird
60s-James Brown/Aretha Franklin(although more likely late 60's)
70s-Stevie without a ?uestion
80s-Prince Vs MJ,,,,these are who REALLY dominated the scene
90s-Mariah Carey
00s-Beyonce?

40's: Billie Holiday
50's: Elvis Presley
60's: Nina Simone
70's: Bob Marley
80's: Tracy Chapman
90's: Mariah Carey
00's: nobody

hmmm let me see, this is just my opinion though

60's: Elvis Presley
70's: Stevie Wonder
80's: Michael Jackson
90's: Janet Jackson
00's: Beyonce
[Edited 2/4/07 11:23am]
[Edited 2/4/07 11:24am]

Harlepolis said:

Other than the omission/inclusion of Elvis in the 60s, I actually agree with that list, including Beyonce even though she's the only one on the list I can't stand.

I take greatness from an artistic standpoint, with commercial success being a secondary factor, and of course, cribbing from Harl's list.

Harlepolis said:

I'm rooting for Norah,,,for the simple fact that she's different. She's the only young thing I can't be mad at.

Lauryn Hill could dominate the scene if she wants too like that *snaps finger*,,,but then again, her record label's on her throat since they shelved her new album "Kalumba Phase".

50s - Elvish
60s - Beatles
70s - Stevie Wonder
80s - Michael Jackson/Madonna
90s - Mooriah
00s - Somebody undeserving

RipHer2Shreds said:

Ineligible (not solo)

The more I think about it, I'd vote for Ella as my pick for the '50s. Miles is also a great choice.

I don't know about this decade, but I can't imagine Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, or Beyonce ending on top. That's depressing.

AlexdeParis said:

I missed the big bold capitalized solo part.

RipHer2Shreds said:

I can't play by the rules edit

Very tough questions as there's a lot of different possible criteria and it's all very subjective but here are my thoughts

20s-Louis Armstrong. Jazz was on the verge of becoming america's main popular music and Louis did more to mold swing and jazz as a whole than anybody else by changing the foremat from collective improvisation to alternating soloists.

30s-Duke Ellington. Very difficult choice, but I gotta go with Duke. To me, he was one of the quintessential, and most enduring big band leaders and jazz composers, and while I'd argue that his prime was actually the early 40s, the dominance of his influence was most evident throughout the 30s and into the early 40s.

40s-Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie-I'd have trouble separating these two from each other, as I'm sure many would. Although be-bop was never as commercially successful as swing, and was arguably even responsible for the commercial decline of jazz, Bird and Diz did more to elevate the jazz musician to the status of uncompromising artist and intellectual and artist, rather than just entertainer, and set a precedent for all popular music to be accepted as high art and to willingly be cerebral and complex at the expense of it's accessibility.

50s-Chuck Berry-There are so many important pioneers of rock n roll, but Chuck Berry is the real king if you ask me. Louis jordan had invented Jump blues, Chicago electric blues players had increased the prominence of the electric guitar, Little Richard added the speed and intensity, but Chuck Berry brought all that together with a great sense of both catchiness and cleverness in songwriting that did more than anything to define rock n roll both for the 50s and in just about every ensuing decade.

60s-In terms of solo artists, I gotta say James Brown, even though he started in the 50s and his prime material was arguably released in the late 60s into the early 70s. I can't think of any other 60s artist who changed the overall course of popular music as much as he did. Jimi perhaps comes close simply because of how much the electric guitar has dominated popular music (and how much Jimi did to for the electric guitar), but James catalyzed just about every development in rock and soul that DIDN'T pertain to the guitar (and even a few that did vis a vis the early use of percussive, muted rhythm guitar) or to genre-hybridizing. All groove-driven, rhythmically oriented music that's had any degree of mainstream visibility, all the way up through hip-hop and techno, is indebted to him in some way.

70s-Stevie Wonder. I can't think of any other artist who was as prolific and as simultaneously commercially and artistically successful as Stevie in the 70s. Sure he didn't necessarily define every aspect of the 70s (of course the most defining band of the 70s, at least in terms of influence, was probably Led Zeppelin, but that's a whole other issue) but Stevie is one of the few people in music history who's had supreme success at every aspect of music making (except of course dancing and choreography).

80s-Prince. Yeah, predictable, but everything that can be said for Stevie in the 70s rings true equally for Prince in the 80s, and in actuality Prince probably helped create the overall "sound" of the 80s more so than Stevie contributed to the sound of the 70s.

90s-....Damn, this is tough...Um..I really have no idea. Perhaps Kurt Cobain, but he wasn't really a solo artist and I've never been a big fan of Nirvana or its influence

00s-Again, I couldn't begin to guess on this one. Solo artists or bands that have had the same measure of both commercial and artistic success as the examples in previous decades seem to be in short supply.
[Edited 2/4/07 19:34pm]

Alright let me take this from the 50's and go from there with some reasoning.

50's- Elvis Presley though im not a real Elvis fan, you cannot deny what he did, much like what the Beatles would do later on in terms of a "mania". But credit has to be given to Chuck Berry for being the real rocker of the decade.

60's- Well im leaning towards James Brown, on this one, just for the influence he would give to generations to come

70's- theres alot going on with this decade, but Stevie Wonder would be the most prolific, but A strong case for Elton John also, there output in that decade is still staggering to look at now, double albums here and there, sometimes 2-3 albums a year.

80's-Another tough decade, a case can be made for Michael, as an Artist it would go to PRince for just being everywhere with his music. Though Madonna is hard to ignore for this decade, as is Springsteen.

90's- Really this one belongs to Mariah, i think the only other person solo to survive this decade would be Lenny.

00's- Well its almost over and its going to Norah Jones for me. In terms of being an artist she wins it, the growth she is showing in all her records and side projects, the ability to still be herself despite some insane success. Beyonce would be as a performer, similar to a Michael Jackson, but artistically Beyonce isnt there yet maybe one day.

80's MJ/Madonna/Prince
90's Nippy/MiMi

many others "broke-through"
like Janet, Usher... etc

Harlepolis said:

It's been shelved? Is she starting work on a new album?

40's: Sinatra

50's: Johnnie Ray

60's: Sam Cooke

70's: Elton John

80's: Madonna + Prince

90's: UK: A.Lennox + G.Michael + Robbie Williams US: Mariah + MJ

00's: Thicke + John Mayer

PricelessHo said:

Good pick!

SoulAlive said:

A WHOLE album is sitting in the vaults of SONY right now.

She recorded a double-CD suite that includes a variety of collaborations with The Wailers, Mos Def, Kelis, Herbie Hencock, Billy Preston, A duet with Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana(again) this time with his whole band and a tribute to Nina Simone and Celia Cruz. The album's main recording engineer said in an interview that ALL of the album is samples-free and alot of the songs were recorded in one take.

There's only one song that got leaked from that session, I think its called "The Passion". It flooded the mixtapes when it got out.

Point is, the album went to another direction(more reggae and rock/funk and soul than hip-hop) from the "Miseducation" mold, not to mention, its MORE political and thats what the label been trying to avoid too. They wanted her to repeat the same formula she created when she made 'Mis-Education', and that what offended her the most,,,she got over that statement, why would they/she want to repeat herself all over again?.

So, MOST of the blame folks been laying on L-Boogie should be directed @ dumb ass Columbia.
[Edited 2/5/07 6:42am]

Harlepolis said:

DAMN!! I would have really liked to hear that CD!!

Najee said:

I'm really asking . . . How does this jibe with your comments on the Usher thread, which indicated to me that you didn't consider MJ to be a "black contemporary act" for most of the 80's?

40s: Charlie Parker (The teacher..)
50s: Miles Davis (..his student, but better.. SOS is my alltime fav jazz album)
60s: Bob Dylan (very influential, especially for my alltime fav group, the Beatles)
70s: Stevie Wonder (Innervisions)
80s: Prince (tied with MJ but more prolific and artistic)
90s: Michael Jackson (actually Radiohead but that's a group.. and I happen to like MJ's 90s work very much and I can't think of anybody else.
00s: ?

60's-Jimi Hendrix
70's-Elton John, David Bowie, and Stevie WOnder (can't choose one!)
80'-Prince & MJ (Madonna to a lesser extent, but that's another story)
90's-Madonna (her artistry is questionable, but I like her 90's output alot)
00-?

damn it I like bands & not repeat hmmm ok

40's Frank Sinatra
50's Elvis
60's Jimi Hendrix
70's Elton John
80's Prince
90's Alanis Morissette
00's John Frusciante

Harlepolis said:

She does have a song coming out with Joss Stone called "Music" on Joss's new CD that is out on the 20th of March, the CD also features Raphael and Common. Joss was having similar issues with EMI and this third album almost didnt happen, but they gave in to her demands and who she wanted to work with. I havent heard the track yet but im dieing to get this new Joss cd.
[Edited 2/5/07 15:52pm]