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As you would expect, this list is all kinds of fucked up: Rolling Stone’s 200 best singers of all time


tbone_

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Well, I agree with #1.  I scrolled through a few stupid takes in the #200-#181 range, said "fuck it", looked at the top 20, and was mostly "eh".

So were there any classical singers in between?  Because if you want to tell me that Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Beverly Sills etc. don't belong in the top 200 then you're smoking crack, but I don't have it in me to check.

Oh yeah, Frank Sinatra is top 3, not fucking #19.

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Well, I agree with #1.  I scrolled through a few stupid takes in the #200-#181 range, said "fuck it", looked at the top 20, and was mostly "eh".
So were there any classical singers in between?  Because if you want to tell me that Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Beverly Sills etc. don't belong in the top 200 then you're smoking crack, but I don't have it in me to check.
Oh yeah, Frank Sinatra is top 3, not fucking #19.

They made a note in the intro that they stuck with pop singers because they’re Rolling Stone. That actually made sense.

There aren’t 46 better singers than Linda Rondstat.
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2 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

They made a note in the intro that they stuck with pop singers because they’re Rolling Stone. That actually made sense.

Then title the list accordingly.  I mean, yes, it makes sense to exclude the trained virtuosos, because very few pop, rock or country singers could ever match that level of proficiency, but it's still stupid to list "Top 200 Singers of All Time" when you ignore the best singers of all time.

 

Quote

There aren’t 46 better singers than Linda Rondstat.

Not in pop, rock or country, there sure aren't.

I still say it's Aretha #1, Old Blue Eyes #2.

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5 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Well, I agree with #1.  I scrolled through a few stupid takes in the #200-#181 range, said "fuck it", looked at the top 20, and was mostly "eh".

So were there any classical singers in between?  Because if you want to tell me that Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Beverly Sills etc. don't belong in the top 200 then you're smoking crack, but I don't have it in me to check.

Oh yeah, Frank Sinatra is top 3, not fucking #19.

I like how Beato will often say "The top 5 could be in any order, really" on his Top 20 videos.

They're clickbait and by far the worst things he releases, but they get eyeballs...

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3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

There aren’t 46 better singers than Linda Rondstat.

This list is no good, no good, no good... baby it's no good. No good, no good, no good, baby it's no good.

 

I made this chart that's stupid, it's true
I made this chart for some fools like you
I'll beg your forgiveness on bended knee
I wouldn't blame y'all if you said to me

It's no good, no good, no good, baby it's no gooooood

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From the Article:

Quote

In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy.

 

That gives them some pretty wide wiggle-room. 

But still, this is a crap list.  Taylor Swift at 102?   She may be short-term popular with stupid teenage girls, but most of her catalog will not be played in 20 years and her voice itself isn't in the same league as some.

 

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3 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy.

I guess that makes more sense. Considering none of those things have to do with signing ability. 

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11 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

But still, this is a crap list.  Taylor Swift at 102?   She may be short-term popular with stupid teenage girls, but most of her catalog will not be played in 20 years and her voice itself isn't in the same league as some.

True.  I don't think Billie Eiish is any more important than Taylor, but as a singer, Billie helped usher in a (highly annoying affected) vocal style.  Top 200?  Well, no, but I get it.

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5 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Not clicking on obvious clickbait article.

Yeah, I'm interested in such a list, but this is where I'm at with Rolling Stone.  

It seems they've done the math and they're accountants say that they make more money with stupid disingenuous bullshit.  That seems like a bad long-term strategy.  

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7 minutes ago, Paul Wesley said:

Yeah, I'm interested in such a list, but this is where I'm at with Rolling Stone.  

It seems they've done the math and they're accountants say that they make more money with stupid disingenuous bullshit.  That seems like a bad long-term strategy.  

To be fair, there is no long term play an accountant, or anyone else, could give a print magazine.  They are on the same long downward slide that Mad Magazine and Playboy were on.  That ends with stopping the print version. 

Their best hope is to diversify and find something that the 'Rolling Stone' name enhances.  

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I'm sure you're right.  Hell, I was a subscriber to the print magazine off and on, even up until a few years ago.  I used to get it at the studio just for the conversation-starter value.  

But it's been a loooooong time since Rolling Stone published a list without nudging each other and going, "This will piss them off!"  

I'm not playing along anymore.  

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47 minutes ago, Paul Wesley said:

It seems they've done the math and they're accountants say that they make more money with stupid disingenuous bullshit.  That seems like a bad long-term strategy.  

I mean, you can do both. You can do the stuff that draws eyeballs and generate good content. This was what made Playboy great for so many years... Buy it for the centerfold, subscribe for the articles.

But Rolling Stone hasn't been relevant in decades. Even the name is outdated Boomer shit...

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yeah, I'm repeating myself. 


I'm a Prince fan.  Motherucker was a HUGE talent.   I love funk, and he was a funky mofo.  Maybe one of the funkiest ever.   Great songwriter, amazing musician.

Does ANYBODY consider him a "great" singer?  I sure as fuck do not.  He's a good singer.  He sings well enough to front a tight-ass motherfucking band, and bring great songs to life.  A great showman.   He's no singer in the real sense.  He's Tom Petty level as a singer. 

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27 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Does ANYBODY consider him a "great" singer? 

Oh, I do, for sure.  Those falsetto lines in "Kiss" are impossibly hard notes to hit.  Screaming in tune ("Baby I'm a Star") is hard to do.

I'll bet Tom Petty would tell you that Prince was an order of magnitude better as a singer.   

Edit:  "would have told you"

Edited by Paul Wesley
one dead fingernail
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Hard rockers who made the list:

Ronnie James Dio

Axl Rose

Rob Halford

Ozzy

Roger Daltry

Eddie Vedder

Chris Cornell

Robert Plant

Kurt Cobain

In other news it is absolutely absurd that Sia isn’t on this list. Every bit of the power and talent of Adele (if less mainstream) and buckets of hits for herself and other huge acts over the last ten years or so.

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3 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Hard rockers who made the list:

Ronnie James Dio

Axl Rose

Rob Halford

Ozzy

Roger Daltry

Eddie Vedder

Chris Cornell

Robert Plant

Kurt Cobain

In other news it is absolutely absurd that Sia isn’t on this list. Every bit of the power and talent of Adele (if less mainstream) and buckets of hits for herself and other huge acts over the last ten years or so.

If that's the standard, Carole King is the greatest singer ever. 

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I'm not even going to look at it. I assume it's a typical rolling stone list created to get people talking about some rolling stone shit, but actually has little relevance.

Totally.

However, I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad topic to discuss great singers. Which is why I posted the list.
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On 1/2/2023 at 9:40 PM, Gil Bang said:

yeah, I'm repeating myself. 


I'm a Prince fan.  Motherucker was a HUGE talent.   I love funk, and he was a funky mofo.  Maybe one of the funkiest ever.   Great songwriter, amazing musician.

Does ANYBODY consider him a "great" singer?  I sure as fuck do not.  He's a good singer.  He sings well enough to front a tight-ass motherfucking band, and bring great songs to life.  A great showman.   He's no singer in the real sense.  He's Tom Petty level as a singer. 

Prince could wail into a falsetto, but it's not really great singing.  Prince was an incredible musician, performer, and songwriter.  His being a singer took a major backseat to the rest of that.

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16 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Hard rockers who made the list:

Ronnie James Dio

Axl Rose

Rob Halford

Ozzy

Roger Daltry

Eddie Vedder

Chris Cornell

Robert Plant

Kurt Cobain

In other news it is absolutely absurd that Sia isn’t on this list. Every bit of the power and talent of Adele (if less mainstream) and buckets of hits for herself and other huge acts over the last ten years or so.

No Steven Tyler? 

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22 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Hard rockers who made the list:

Ronnie James Dio

Axl Rose

Rob Halford

Ozzy

Roger Daltry

Eddie Vedder

Chris Cornell

Robert Plant

Kurt Cobain

In other news it is absolutely absurd that Sia isn’t on this list. Every bit of the power and talent of Adele (if less mainstream) and buckets of hits for herself and other huge acts over the last ten years or so.

Dio and Cornell are a cut above. 

I've seen a ton of singers, many on this list, in person and no one I've seen outside of a few classically trained opera singers had a voice as powerful as Dio. His non mic'd voice carried over the freaking metal band to the first few rows. That tiny fucker could go. It was sort of shocking to see it up close in person. 

He also has a weird distinction of being the only person I can think of where I feel the last ever song they ever did was probably their best. Bible Black is a rocking ass song. 

Edited by Hermanator
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