THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: SilentJ on 27 Feb 2007, 19:44
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So, a while back Rolling Stone magazine came out with their list of the "Top 100 Guitarists of All Time."
Jimi Hendrix came out on top.
http://www.hotguitarist.com/guitar_artists/guitar_players.htm (http://www.hotguitarist.com/guitar_artists/guitar_players.htm)
because that's what it was made for:
discuss.
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Rolling Stone? Who? What? Guitars?
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I read a really good interview with David Duchovny in Rolling Stone once. He seems to be quite a funny guy.
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The link, people. The link.
They have Eddie Van Halen as #70, while Jack White of the White Stripes is like #18 or something.
Call me crazy, but this just seems wrong.
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There was this really good bit where David Duchovny was talking about how he orders his underwear in shipments, and the guy who was interviewing him thought that by shipments he meant hundreds of pairs or something, and David Duchovny ran with it and talked about how he insisted that everyone on the set of the X-files wear his brand of underwear.
It was pretty funny.
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Man, I can feel the lock coming already.
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Hm? Oh I'm sorry. I thought we were talking about things that were in Rolling Stone a really long time ago.
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THIS JUST IN
ROLLING STONES LIST OF THE BEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME WAS FUCKING RIDICULOUS
ABANDON YOUR HOMES, THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY
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the worst guitarist of all time came 12th?
*EDIT* and i may be wrong but there dosn't seem to be a single player from G3 on there
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Jimmy Page was a decent guitarist but quite sloppy. He does not deserve #9.
And Cobain deserved a much, much, much lower number.
Where are Satriani, Petrucci, Vai and Malmsteen?
Kirk Hammet is no longer awesome. He should be lower. Hell, just about any decent guitarist should be insulted that Kurt got on the list, I'd say most bedroom guitarists are better than he is.
Jimi Hendrix has been surpassed.
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I'm kind of bothered that Kirk Hammet scored higher than James Hetfield. It just doesn't make any sense. I can only assume Papa Het got so mad when they wrote this article that he went right out and wrote St Anger.
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The best guitarist I've ever seen is Jackie Leven.
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Malmsteen?
Playing fast is not the same as playing well. I'm pretty sure you could train a chimpanzee to shred if you really wanted to.
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Malmsteen is capable of laying down some pretty awesome riffs, other than simply being fast, though. I think anyone dedicated enough to their instrument to dislocate their own pinky finger in order to reach some of the notes said player wants to be able to hit is a good guitarist.
But yes, this list is quite bad.
There's no Satriani. Now, I don't know about you guys, but last I remember hearing, Kirk Hammet learned all he knows how to do from Satriani and doesn't have an ouce of the same talent. Yet he's #11 on this list.
It seems like they just put this list together based off commercial appeal.
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No Tiptree/Downing.
List is irrelevant.
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Why is George Harrison lower on the list than Jack White? That makes no sense to me. He was in the freaking Beatles for God's sake!
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the worst guitarist of all time came 12th?
Indeed. Most people start from not being able to play guitar and gradually get better, but it's like Cobain unlearned the guitar. Quite impressive.
Also no Satriani what the hell.
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I realize that Rolling Stone has a different definition of Top Guitarists than I do, but they left off Andres Segovia. This is a major omission.
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Why is George Harrison lower on the list than Jack White? That makes no sense to me. He was in the freaking Beatles for God's sake!
So was Ringo, but I do see your point.
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George Harrison should be higher. I'm sorry. He should be in the top 10. Being in the Beatles has not as much to do with it other than how amazing he was and how he influenced other bands, such as the Byrds. Seriously. List, you fail.
And it doesn't matter if Jimmy Page got sloppy, he's Jimmy Page.
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Heh, the Edge at #24
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Not a single jazz guitarist? Not even Charlie Christian? That's a pretty grave oversight.
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I just can't figure this list out.
It didn't put them in order of, well, anything. Not by commercial success (because then you'd have George Harrison on top or smth, he's a fucking beatle), and not by actual technical talent or virtuosity (as shown by Jack White and Kurt Cobain being up on the top), and not by their influence in modern music (because all the guys that really had an impact on how other people play the guitar are really low on the list or not mentioned at all, save a few.)
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I hate Kurt Cobain, personally, because when ever he is mentioned, among my friends, he is regarded as a god and that his wife should burn in hell. Whenever this situation happens, I hum Sunshine of Your Love.
I mean sure, maybe Kurt kicked off grunge, or maybe not, but come on. He's not dead. They release a new album every once and awhile.
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I'm kind of bothered that Kirk Hammet scored higher than James Hetfield. It just doesn't make any sense. I can only assume Papa Het got so mad when they wrote this article that he went right out and wrote St Anger.
Hetfield is indeed a much better guitarist then Hammett. Most of Hammett's solos consist of the "OMG how fast can I tap??" variety, though I will say his stuff on Load and Reload were both very good.
yes, I like Load and Reload.
This article is at least 3 years old now though.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Kevin Shields there though, even if he is #95.
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Malmsteen?
Playing fast is not the same as playing well. I'm pretty sure you could train a chimpanzee to shred if you really wanted to.
He might be an emotionless wanker when it comes to music, but he's a killer player all things said, and should definately be on the list.
And it doesn't matter if Jimmy Page got sloppy, he's Jimmy Page.
Just about all guitarists who take their instrument seriously will at least get as good as Jimmy Page at some point. His main talent was songwriting, not actually playing the instrument. Riffs are 90% compostion, 10% communication.
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Everyone should know by now how stupid these lists are, but let me point out some ridiculous things about this list.
Guitarists Rolling Stone Apparently Thinks Are Better Than Pete Townsend
Kirk Hammett
Kurt Cobain
Johnny Ramone
Jack White
John Frusciante
The Edge
Joe Perry
Note that these are only the most ridiculous examples. I don't even recognize many of the names ahead of Pete.
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Guys, I had just had a fucking great idea. Lets start this thread fresh, but the one thing that will be different is that we will pretend that Rolling Stone is qualified to critique the greatest guitarists of all time
FUN TIMES.
I'm serious.
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wow i love the ingenious way they've put together it seems to be completly random until it comes under close scrutiny and then the genius of it's true nature become clear
nope sorry hat i can't keep this up
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Man, I am totally in agreement with everything on that Rolling Stone list. White and Cobain deserve their spots because they made albums that were pretty popular one time.
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Not a single jazz guitarist? Not even Charlie Christian? That's a pretty grave oversight.
Everyone knows all the good guitarists play eith rock or grunge. All else is shit.
That is one seriously weird list. Kurt Cobain at 12th? Adam Jones of Tool higher than David-fucking-Gilmour?
Why on earth is ADam Jones in the list? At least Cobain did something (fairly) original. Jones has nothing.
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Guys, I had just had a fucking great idea. Lets start this thread fresh, but the one thing that will be different is that we will pretend that Rolling Stone is qualified to critique the greatest guitarists of all time
FUN TIMES.
I'm serious.
I'm pretty sure this article was the result of Rolling Stone's favorite drinking game.
A drinking game called "drunken journalism."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time!"
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They didnt' mention John Squire or Noel Gallagher. Kurt is far too near the top, he could hardly play in time.
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What!?
You mean Rolling Stone is neither current nor relevent anymore?
Surely not!
Surely not the same Rolling Stone Magazine which wrote this list of the 500 greatest albums of all time (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time).
A list which includes one album in its top ten which isn't from the sixties or seventies (London Calling, 1980).
(To be fair, part of the reason it is so sixties/seventies heavy is because six of those ten are by either The Beatles or Bob Dylan)
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Not a single jazz guitarist? Not even Charlie Christian? That's a pretty grave oversight.
LEs Paul is on there. Somewhere.
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i was kind of surpirsed that the guy from My Bloody Valentine made it on there.
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Why? Jackson Pollock did fascinating and noteworthy things with paint even if none of them were traditional images.
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I don't want to sounds predictabley like myself, but why in God's good name wasn't Nels Cline on that list?
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Even by Rolling Stone's standards that list doesn't make a lick of sense. It's very clear that the list is ranked reasonably randomly and that so many entries, and their placement, are obvious attempts to maintain relevance - like Kurt Cobain at #12, or how they group Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore together, as if they're saying "We wanted to put Sonic Youth in general on this list, but couldn't be bothered to actually have an opinion on which of their three guitar players is best" (the correct answer, by the way, is "Lee Ranaldo").
And the randomness of the rating is especially clear with someone like Mark Knopfler - I would say he is easily one of the top 3 guitar players of all time. As was pointed out, nearly everyone who plays guitar ends up playing as well as Keith Richards or Jimmy Page - they're riff players, they just happened to sometimes write really good riffs. Cobain rarely played solos and didn't even play many riffs; he just wrote good, simple songs with simple chord progressions, and lots of people do that and aren't on the list.
So, anyway, even people who read Rolling Stone for the music criticism are probably pretty confused about that list.
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"It seemed like a good idea at the time!"
like the time i walked home after a concert at 3 o clock in the morning through the red light district (home being 5 hours walk away)
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Exactly like that.
Or the time I walked through my neighbor's yard coated in steak sauce. Right past his Dobermans.
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Not a single jazz guitarist? Not even Charlie Christian? That's a pretty grave oversight.
Everyone knows all the good guitarists play eith rock or grunge. All else is shit.
That is one seriously weird list. Kurt Cobain at 12th? Adam Jones of Tool higher than David-fucking-Gilmour?
Why on earth is ADam Jones in the list? At least Cobain did something (fairly) original. Jones has nothing.
Because he's in a band with a good drummer/decent bassist by popular music standards, so whether or not he's good doesn't matter by association. Where's Santiago Dobles?
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I found a helpline number on my fresh Orange Juice so I called it just now and asked who they thought the best guitarists of all time were.
A guy answered and explained that it was a helpline relating to the company's products and thus, he could not answer my questions relating to other matters. I tried to coerce a response from him for about ten seconds and then tried some trick questions. At one point I said that I would just say names and he could answer yes or no. I said Jimi Hendrix and he didn't respond. Then I said Jimmy Page and he said "No". I asked why he didn't rate Jimmy Page and he responded that he meant "No, I will not comply with your demands". Then he told me that unless I had a question about Orange Juice he was going to have to wish me good day. I strategically asked him what he thought of Edwyn Collins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Juice) but he wished me good day and hung up.
I'll call back later and see if there is new staff on after lunch. Never know, there might be a shift-change.
I am just quoting from this post because it's genius and you all missed it.
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35?
how do these things get away with rating Jimi over brian? god dammit
fuck you rolling stone
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When perusing lists relating top guitarists of all time/the last 30 years/etc, there is one simple method to determine relevance.
1. Check if Manuel G?ttsching(Ash Ra Tempel, solo) is there.
Outcome: If no; list is irrelevant. If yes... wait... that will never happen.
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Does anybody remember when Rolling Stone had some sort of "Women In (Of??) Rock" issue and they had like Britney Spears and other fucksluts on the cover?? Yeah, that was awesome.
Rolling Stone doing a list of the top 100 guitarists is like National Geographic doing a list of the top 100 breasts of all time.
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There are some good guitarists who aren't here, surpirse surprise. I like Leo Kottke a bunch, it'd of been nice if they'd done guitar players in general, or at least changed the title to 'rock guitarists'. I think the list is nothing to be worried about, though.
About Duchovny, yes, he is actually a very funny man. I feel bad for him, being stuck in that x-files roles for so long, where he had this one serious character which was assumed to be all he could do. He's a good actor and a funny man, I want to see more of him.
About the orange juice, I had to physical restrain myself from giggling aloud since I am at work. I'm contemplating calling the number on my apple juice can.
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Dude, this couldn't be the top 100 rock guitarists of all time. For starters, people like Robert Johnson and Mickey Baker are on the list.
Besides, if they did the 100 top rock guitarists, they'd definitely be more focused, but I still think it'd piss everyone off.
Apparently that list was actually made as just like a conversation starter for parties and such. This is not to say Rolling Stone isn't fucking retarded sometimes, but there you are.
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Hey, I have an idea! Let's all remember what the target audience for Rolling Stone Magazine is, and then realize that, you know, they have to sell their magazine to this target audience. So do you really think they're going to list guitarists nobody's ever heard of, and nobody aside from a select "elite" (because that is essentially what you are making yourselves out to be - the "elite," because you know oh-so-much better) group of people cares about? Well absolutely!
I would have thought by now that we'd have learned to ignore mainstearm top-(whatever) lists, rather than each of us having to post the same thing one after another.
QC Music Forum: Weakboarding!
Oh yeah, I forgot: Postcount lawl!
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Why on earth is ADam Jones in the list? At least Cobain did something (fairly) original. Jones has nothing.
What?
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Hey, I have an idea! Let's all remember what the target audience for Rolling Stone Magazine is, and then realize that, you know, they have to sell their magazine to this target audience. So do you really think they're going to list guitarists nobody's ever heard of, and nobody aside from a select "elite" (because that is essentially what you are making yourselves out to be - the "elite," because you know oh-so-much better) group of people cares about? Well absolutely!
See, if they had posted an artist the readers of Rolling Stone had never heard of, then they (at least, the people I know that read RS) would go find out about these people and would probably give them a listen. Most readers are American and are therefore probably really lazy, but there you are.
I would have thought by now that we'd have learned to ignore mainstearm top-(whatever) lists, rather than each of us having to post the same thing one after another.
FIGHT YOU
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Hey, I have an idea! Let's all remember what the target audience for Rolling Stone Magazine is, and then realize that, you know, they have to sell their magazine to this target audience.
Well, actually, my point was that even as a list directed at their target audience this makes no sense. Rolling Stone's target audience, for the most part, wouldn't know Sonic Youth from Sonic Smith. In fact, they probably wouldn't know either of them.
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Let's think of some other threads that we could start and then post in to hear ourselves talk:
Top Works Of Literature of All Time (according to The TV Guide)
Top Internet Sites of All Time (according to my grandma)
Top Movie Scenes of All Time (according to Reader's Digest Braille Edition)
Top Theories of Quantum Physics of All Time (according to Paris Hilton)
Top Musicians of 2006 (according to the Grammys)
Top Wastes of Time of All Time (according to the QC Music Forum)
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You're right! We aren't qualified to waste time!
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What I mean is that we apparently do not recognise a waste of time if we see it.
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The list is way too messed up, ubt the thing that hit me the hardest is that Carlos Santana was not in the top 10, after all, most discussions about who was the best ever are between his avid fans, and those of Jimmy Hendrix
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The list basically discredits all metal guitarists. No Petrucci, Satriani, Vai, no Dave Murray. Where's Herman Li for god's sake? This certainly isn't a list of the BEST guitarists...possibly the most popular, maybe the most influential (Kurt Cobain inspired plenty of kids to pick up a guitar, even though he can't really play it himself), but not the best.
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Like people have said, most readers of RS wouldn't know a lot of the true best guitarists, since they aren't complete mainstream. So, I'm sure this list is probably a popularity list, with influence/reputation or something as a kicker to rank. Yes, Hendrix was amazing, but best of all time? I don't think BEST, but up there. He inspired, and he was influential to the face of music as we knew it. It's things like that, probably.
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The list is way too messed up, ubt the thing that hit me the hardest is that Carlos Santana was not in the top 10, after all, most discussions about who was the best ever are between his avid fans, and those of Jimmy Hendrix
...Whatnow?
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Rolling Stone is shit