100 Greatest Artist of All Time

Watched VH1's Greatest Artist of All time so here is the list from 100-1

100 Alicia Keys
99 Hall & Oates
98 Depeche Mode
97 Pretenders
96 Journey
95 OutKast
94 Mariah Carey
93 Pearl Jam
92 LL Cool J
91 Green Day
90 Elvis Costello
89 Beastie Boys
88 Bee Gees
87 George Michael
86 N.W.A.
85 The Band
84 Curtis Mayfield
83 Earth, Wind and Fire
82 Steely Dan
81 ABBA
80 Mary J. Blige
79 Eminem
78 Judas Priest
77 Lynyrd Skynyrd
76 Run-D.M.C.
75 Rush
74 The Cure
73 Van Morrison
72 Janis Joplin
71 R.E.M.
70 Def Leppard
69 Tupac Shakur
68 Otis Redding
67 Coldplay
66 Justin Timberlake
65 The Doors
64 Talking Heads
63 Notorious B.I.G.
62 Genesis
61 Cream
60 Whitney Houston
59 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
58 Cheap Trick
57 Iggy & The Stooges
56 KISS
55 Peter Gabriel
54 Public Enemy
53 Little Richard
52 Beyoncé
51 Billy Joel
50 Sade
49 Parliament-Funkadelic
48 Rage Against The Machine
47 Jay-Z
46 Ramones
45 Al Green
44 Joni Mitchell
43 Ray Charles
42 Metallica
41 Van Halen
40 The Police
39 The Kinks
38 Sly & The Family Stone
37 Fleetwood Mac
36 Paul McCartney
35 Johnny Cash
34 Tina Turner
33 Guns N’ Roses
32 Black Sabbath
31 John Lennon
30 Aerosmith
29 Radiohead
28 Elton John
27 Aretha Franklin
26 Neil Young
25 Chuck Berry
24 The Velvet Underground
23 AC/DC
22 The Clash
21 Bruce Springsteen
20 Marvin Gaye
19 U2
18 Pink Floyd
17 Queen
16 Madonna
15 The Beach Boys
14 Nirvana
13 The Who
12 David Bowie
11 Bob Marley
10 Stevie Wonder
09 James Brown
08 Elvis Presley
07 Prince
06 Jimi Hendrix
05 Rolling Stones
04 Led Zeppelin
03 Bob Dylan
02 Michael Jackson
01 The Beatles

I am a huge Beatles fan and glad that they got the #1 spot. So who is your favorate artist and did they make the list?

I'm a tad disappointed that The Who wasn't in the top 10, but 13 isn't that bad. All in all, most of those artists deserve to be up there and I can't think of any better band in history than The Beatles.

As a final statement. Anyone that doesn't like at least one Beatles song, has no soul.

Forgot Bad Religion, Senses Fail and Loli Five Killers.

I'm wondering how LL Cool J beat Mariah and Alicia. I know he's a good performer but he isn't a better performer than those two IMHO.

Fuck yes! I love the Beatles! I'm glad to see they got the number one spot.

I'm not so sure, but I think this should be in the Music section.

CTRL + F "Iron Maiden"

"Phrase not found"

WOW! That list fails hard.

I'm ok with this.

Stevie Ray Vaughan!

it should be in there but it's not T_T

"Green Day". I just fucking stopped there. What a pathetic list.

I much rather prefer Rolling Stones top 100 greatest artists.


1 - The Beatles
2 - Bob Dylan
3 - Elvis Presley
4 - Rolling Stones
5 - Chuck Berry
6 - Jimi Hendrix
7 - James Brown
8 - Little Richard
9 - Aretha Franklin
10 - Ray Charles
11 - Bob Marley
12 - Beach Boys
13 - Buddy Holly
14 - Led Zeppelin
15 - Stevie Wonder
16 - Sam Cooke
17 - Muddy Waters
18 - Marvin Gaye
19 - Velvet Underground
20 - Bo Diddley
21 - Otis Redding
22 - U2
23 - Bruce Springsteen
24 - Jerry Lee Lewis
25 - Fats Domino
26 - Ramones
27 - Nirvana
28 - Prince
29 - The Who
30 - The Clash
31 - Johnny Cash
32 - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
33 - Everly Brothers
34 - Neil Young
35 - Michael Jackson
36 - Madonna
37 - Roy Orbison
38 - John Lennon
39 - David Bowie
40 - Simon & Garfunkel
41 - The Doors
42 - Van Morrison
43 - Sly & The Family Stone
44 - Public Enemy
45 - The Byrds
46 - Janis Joplin
47 - Patti Smith
48 - Run-D.M.C.
49 - Elton John
50 - The Band
51 - Howlin' Wolf
52 - Allman Brothers Band
53 - Eric Clapton
54 - Dr. Dre
55 - Grateful Dead
56 - Parliament / Funkadelic
57 - Aerosmith
58 - Sex Pistols
59 - Louis Jordan
60 - Joni Mitchell
61 - Tina Turner
62 - Etta James
63 - Phil Spector
64 - The Kinks
65 - Al Green
66 - Cream
67 - The Temptations
68 - Jackie Wilson
69 - Carl Perkins
70 - The Police
71 - Frank Zappa
72 - AC/DC
73 - Radiohead
74 - Hank Williams
75 - The Eagles
76 - The Shirelles
77 - Beastie Boys
78 - The Stooges
79 - The Four Tops
80 - Elvis Costello
81 - The Drifters
82 - Eminem
83 - N.W.A.
84 - James Taylor
85 - Black Sabbath
86 - 2Pac
87 - Gram Parsons
88 - Miles Davis
89 - The Yardbirds
90 - Carlos Santana
91 - Ricky Nelson
92 - Guns N' Roses
93 - Booker T & The MG's
94 - Nine Inch Nails
95 - Lynyrd Skynrd
96 - Martha & The Vandellas
97 - Diana Ross & The Supremes
98 - Roxy Music
99 - Curtis Mayfield
100 - Lee "Scratch" Perry

woot no Misfits on either of the lists, crappy lists...

This one has less shit, but it also has less Queen.

To be fair, most of the artists on both, even Green Day, can be labelled under some 'greatest' criterion - biggest impact, most original music, biggest contribution etc, but Journey, Van Halen, OutKast? Come off it VH1.

This kind of thing tends to be an exercise in futility. Of course, people like it because it gives us something to rant about. But that aside, how do you compare the Bee Gees to OutKast to the Dylan? They all had very different musical goals and created very different music. I suppose one could measure something empirical like album sales, but that tends to be unsatisfying as well. We want some justification that our ideas and tastes are "correct." I say we just get over it.

Having said that, this list is an outrage! Queen and Lennon are ranked way to high and Yes is nowhere to be found. I am appalled.

How the fuck did radio head get in the top 30 but buckethead is no where to be found, I'm a big radio head fan but come on buckethead is Jesus why do you think he wears a mask

In order to understand the list you have to have had watched the show. Like I did it talks about how certain artists paved the way for them and how they were just great. Also this was voted by other artists not random people.

Then why isn't La Monte Young on the list? He was a huge influence on music, both popular and classical. Brian Eno and John Cale of The Velvet Underground(on the list) are quoted in Young's Wikipedia article as saying he was an important influence on them directly. Not to mention minimalism was an important development which was incorporated into electronic music, rap, pop music, and other styles. My guess is that half the voters don't even know who he is.

It comes back to which artists you decide to give votes to, those being the types of artists likely to be one such a list if it was compiled by the public or rock critics for Rolling Stone magazine. These groups have created a musical canon, and by selecting voters who are either part of musical canon or voters who helped shape and defend the canon, you are likely to perpetuate it.

If you want to see an interesting list that has significantly different ideas from the usual VH1/Rolling Stone/MTV ones, you would need to include some different types of people in the decision process. Perhaps something that also included music philosophers, musicologists, music theorists, classical composers, writers, and poets(all experts on music and/or words/lyrics in some way) in additional to popular artists, popular music critics, record producers, Rolling Stone editors, and the like. I certainly think it would be interesting to see how that turned out.

They had 300 artist vote for 5 people and then just averaged it out. It was all up to the artists and how they felt.

I guess my point is that this doesn't necessarily make the list any more valid unless you believe that the voters should come from within the canon, which makes them likely to perpetuate the canon with only minor changes. Also, you can go back to the question: how were the voters chosen and who chose the voters? The methodology and people involved in choosing the voters is also very influential.

Anyways, really the list is just for fun. I just think it would be fascinating to see one constructed in a wildly different way.

THIS.