Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists Issue

Kirk Hammett is evidently quite the shizzle.

Man did Eddie Van Halen lose his cool. I'm kinda shocked Sonic Youth got higher than him. STEPHEN STILLS got higher than Eddie Van Halen. Did the terrorists win or something? I'm gonna play "Eruption" outside of RS headquarters screaming "ASSHOLES" with my middle fingers outstretched. I'd like to think someone is already doing this. As "Fargo Rock City" notes, Eddie usually no. 2 on these things.

Ok, I'll admit his shredding on the new Mac album is really annoying but GODDAMN WHERE IS LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM? That mofo doesn't use a pick! And he's got way cooler hair than Mark Knopfler.

this list does not include Vini Reilly = it is worthless

This photo leads to the obvious question...who are the 100 greatest KEYTAR players of all time????
http://www.janhammer.com/Img025.jpg

Can somebody, anybody, explain to me why Eddie Van Halen is #70 when Jack White is #17, Jerry Garcia is #13, Kurt Cobain is #12, and Kirk Hammett is #11?

How many kids have sat in their bedroom playing guitar and said, "One day I want to play like Jerry Garcia."

NONE!!! It's never fucking happened in the history of the world!!!

When was the last time you saw Jerry Garcia on the cover of Guitar World, Guitar, or any other guitar magazine? And he's number 13 of ALL TIME? When you see guitar players talk about their influences, how many say Jerry Fucking Garcia? Not any that I've ever known!! Nobody picks up a guitar to play like Jerry Garcia!! They play guitar to be like Eddie, or play Black Sabbath or Kiss riffs, or shit like that. Nobody's sitting around learning Grateful Dead songs! I think somebody was doing more drugs that Jerry ever did if they think that's the case.

And who got the blowjob that made Jack White of the White Stripes #17. Yeah, he plays guitar, but #17 of ALL TIME?? Fuck, isn't it a little early in his career to already be #17? If Rolling Stone wanted to be funny, why not just include Kristy "Krash" Majors from Pretty Boy Floyd? That would make just as much sense.

Kirk Hammett is #11, yet Slash is nowhere on the list to be found? And James Hetfield comes up with most of Metallica's riffs anyway. And Kirk is #11 and Tony Iommi is #86. Makes sense.......if you're a fucking idiot.

Now about Kurt Cobain, sure, he wrote some good songs, yak yak yak, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is one of the biggest songs of ever, blah blah blah, but half the time he wasn't even in tune, he's not exactly a virtuoso, and he certainly shouldn't be above Eddie Van Halen or even Tony Iommi. When people think about great guitar players, Kurt doesn't pop into mind. Maybe as a songwriter, but not as a guitar player.

How did Joan Jett get ranked above Agnus Young? She's on the list at #87 and Agnus is 96. He barely made the list. I'm beginning to wonder if Rolling Stone even listens to music? Who knew Joan was better than Steve Vai, Neil Schon, Tom Schultz, Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton or even Slash and Zakk Wylde, all of whom aren't even on the list. And I'd say Lita Ford can play better guitar than Joan anyway!

Blender's Top 100 Worst Bands was also pretty gay, just because they don't pay attention to things they already wrote, and they also didn't include Bang Gang or Wild Boyz anywhere on that list, so how accurate can it be? For example, Insane Clown Posse was the #1 Worst Band, and they said their worst record was "The Wraith." However, when "The Wraith" came out, Blender gave it 3 stars out of 5, which is "good for it's genre." So if ICP is the worst band, and "The Wraith" is their worst CD, then why did it get 3 out of 5 stars? If that's a 3, what's the rest of their catalog? I'm not defending ICP, I'm just saying if you're gonna do something like that, pay attention to what the fuck you are doing. You can't say something is horrible if you gave it good marks in the past. It just goes to show that all these lists are done with an agenda in mind. They're bullshit.

Perhaps Rolling Stone doesn't like Eddie Van Halen, or he blew them off at one time, whatever, so BANG, he's #70. Critics love Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Ramones, and the White Stripes, so they're automatically in the Top 20. You're SUPPOSED to like and respect them because of their musical integrity, so that's why they're there. Jerry Garcia is dead, literally, and had a cult of drugged-up hippies following him around, so because he's dead, he needs to be remembered as a great guitarist, right, so he's #13. And it's hip to like Sonic Youth, so we'll put them way above Joe Perry and Les Paul, who basically started the whole thing.

It's bullshit, I tell ya! If you're gonna have a list, at least be in the ballpark. Maybe you think Eddie Van Halen should be #5 and your friend thinks he should be #10, and that's fine. But at least have him towards the top! At least be somewhat human with your thought process and understand what the fuck you're rating! This just goes to show you how out of touch Rolling Stone, and most of the music media is. They have no clue.

On that note, Metal Sludge has decided to do our own stupid list, and we'll be the first to tell you that's it's stupid and subjective and you shouldn't give two shits about it, but we're doing it anyway. We're doing Metal Sludge's "50 Worst Rock CDs OF ALL TIME!!!" We need to throw in "OF ALL TIME" because that's how you're supposed to do it. But we're gonna try to make this as good as we can. We're not even gonna include Warrant, or L.A. Guns, or Slaughter, or bands we generally diss. We want to really come up with shitty CDs, and there are shittier bands thatn Warrant, L.A. Guns and Slaughter, so they won't be in our Top 50. It would be easy to put them there, but we're actually trying to be fair, believe it or not. We came up with 60 some CDs and now we're at the point, "how the hell do you rank these?" We haven't figured that out yet, but we will, and it'll be a lot more realistic than anything Rolling Stone or Blender can do.

I'm out like Steve Vai on the Top 100 Guitarists,

Just one thing... why do so many metalheads always think metal guitarists are better than everyone else and metal is the only true guitar style to play etc. Dont like Grateful Dead but cant complain about Garcias influence. Yeah hes no way no17 best ever but they should stick toc omplaining that SLASH ISNT IN THERE!

I'd assume the exclusion was because he hasn't done shit in ages, but there's some wackadoodle from Free on here, and unless just not on the zeitgeist anymore, I'm under the impression more people remember G'N'R than Free.

Gah, Marr!!!! This list is going to seem as bad as Mein Kampf by the time this thread peters out.

http://www.metal-sludge.com/RollingStoneFeedback.htm
some funny shit there

I don't think Tom Morello is a great guitarist, but, without even thinking, I could tell you he's been in both RATM and Audioslave.

my favorite weedle-wee'rs AND janglists...DENIED!

Tom Morello deserves his place. His guitar solos are very memorable and full of Brian May worthy effects. And like Queen he makes a point of mentioning that NO SYNTHESIZERS are on his albums.

Ira Kaplan
Sonny Sharrock

my favorite noise spurtelers...DENIED!

TONY IOMMI!

I'm with you on this whole list being a pile crap. It's astounding to see that Sonic Youth, Radiohead, and The MC5 all had guitarists that ranked back to back. Yeah. 50,000 guitarists out there, and 3 bands' guitarists all rank back to back. Maybe because they stand back to back
on stage. That explains it! How come Brad Whitford didn't follow Joe Perry? Where was Malcolm Young following Angus? Where's Ron Wood? Certainly you would think he would be right behind Keith Richards! I may not be the foremost expert on the subject, but there's many people on this list I've never heard of!

I'm out like the brain stem of whomever wrote this list.

Barry

the dude from Gang Of Four should be on this
Andy Gill will have his revenge!

steve and mick jones are also notable no-shows.

Back to back with Craig Scanlon & Marc Riley, of course.

This is perhaps the most rediculous list I've seen in some time, though I am enjoying the Metal Sludge posts...

I wouldn't walk across the street to take a long, relieving piss on the dolts who compiled that joke.

(hey dave!)

This one I didn't think was terribly horrific - I mean sure, they left a lot of people out - but the list was reasonable considering it was Rolling Stone - with the exceptions of Jack White & Kurt Cobain - Jack White's blurb talks about how he was influenced by the greats .. (yeah - numbers 18-100!) .. and anyone can play like Cobain - every fuckin' kid who starts a band can play like Cobain.

I would love to know what the criteria for being a 'good guitarist' according to rolling stone is.

If I were to do a 'top 100' guitarists I'd have make some scorecards or something, kinda dungenons and dragons style, (virtuosity, creativity, hair etc). Thinking about it, it wouldn't be an easy task, but fucking hell, some of the choices on that list are awful.

I'm a guitarist, just about all of my guitar heros are missing;

TOMMY EMMANUEL! By far the finest guitarist I have ever seen play, ever. Download one of his beatles jams, or his lovely acoustic work; electric he's not as impressive, but he's a fingerpicker. I have much more respect for fingerpickers.

WHERE THE FUCK IS JOE SATRIANI! If we're talking technique, speed, inside out knowledge of every thing you can do on a guitar, noone can match satch. I hate his music/songwriting on the whole. However, seeing him give seminars about his style/technique is a life changing experience!

IAN WILLIAMS! Ok, he's just my favourite guitarist, and I wouldn't expect to see him on a RS list, but does anyone else agree that his work with Don Cab is just incredible, innovative, brain-crushing?

Blah I could go on, agree with Jimi at no1...BB King?! What the..? He has this one riff that kinda goes doo-de-duh-dada-da-dum, yeh its cool, but..ah..whatever...

In exactly the same way as Hendrix, NOISE!!!!

I would have mentioned him, but it seemed like this is a pretty rock-centric list. They didn't even bother to include Andres Segovia - the father of modern classical guitar. Or famous and influential jazz players like Django Reinhardt.

In terms of contemporary players, I would have liked to see Nels Cline, Dave Tronzo, and Fred Frith in there too.

still, yeah yeah, list is bullshit. Including Lightnin' Hopkins, but but Lonnie Johnson, feh. Including Cobain without Bob Mould or Frank Black or Steve Albini.

still, hardly any of those guys would have been on thelist without the quality of the SONGS they played. Virtuosity is all well & good, but means DICK without a proper song.

yeah, Randy Rhodes, indeed.

And whoever said Lita Ford was a better player than Joan Jett was RIGHT.

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. everyone else

[honorable mentions: Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson, Scotty Moore, Keith Richards, Mick Jones, Robert White (for "My Girl" alone), Bob Mould, Eddie Van Halen, George Harrison, Angus Young, Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabate (Bembeya Jazz), Dick Dale, Greg Ginn, John Crozier (Hang Ups, Legendary Jim Ruiz Group), Steve Cropper, D. Boon, The Edge, Adrian Belew, Leo Nocentelli (the Meters), Barthelemy Attiso (Orchestra Baobab), Link Wray, Lee Ranaldo/Thurston Moore (and anyone who disses 'em is basically saying "I haven't listened to new music for 20 years"), Ian MacKaye/Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), Steve Vai (and every metal guitarist who sounded like he was playing Mozart at 120 mph), Ernest Ranglin (and all those rocksteady guitarists), Bo Diddley (proto-indie rock), Roger McGuinn, Johnny Marr, and all the ones I forgot...]

List is not even pissworthy.

#31

1. Nile Rodgers

No-one else matters

Also Lindsey Buckingham, Phil Manzanara, Charlie Patton, Carl Perkins.

Ozzy,

I'm with you on this whole list being a pile crap. It's astounding to see that Sonic Youth, Radiohead, and The MC5 all had guitarists that ranked back to back. Yeah. 50,000 guitarists out there, and 3 bands' guitarists all rank back to back. Maybe because they stand back to back
on stage. That explains it! How come Brad Whitford didn't follow Joe Perry? Where was Malcolm Young following Angus? Where's Ron Wood? Certainly you would think he would be right behind Keith Richards! I may not be the foremost expert on the subject, but there's many people on this list I've never heard of!

I'm out like the brain stem of whomever wrote this list.

Barry

Thanks for that post about Rolling Stone and their useless fucking list! I was just griping about that kind of shit last week to a friend of mine - how all these music magazines waste space with these stupid goddamn lists that no one cares about. God forbid they should actually write about an up-and-coming band that could use the exposure! It's either garbage like this, or yet another cover story on Jimi Hendrix and the upcoming release of some newly remastered version of a tape someone found of him learning to tune his guitar. It's a cheap, lazy excuse for journalism and I'm glad someone called these shitwits on it. And seriously, it's like they mix three different standards to compile one list like this - either you rank them on:

1. Technical ability, in which case Eddie, Yngwie, Vai, Satriani, etc. would always be at the top (and people who don't know anything about guitar playing or music theory aren't likely to give a bouncing fuck).

2. The amount of influence they've had on other guitarists, in which case you should be getting the opinions of... other guitarists, not a bunch of writers!

3. Sheer popularity, which obviously means nothing.

Shit like this is why I skim through their reeking-of-fruity-perfume magazine while standing at the rack in Barnes & Noble without buying it.

Maybe its just my obsession with hard rock music that makes me appreciate a Slash, or Steve Vai, or Zakk Wylde, or Randy Rhoads more than this hippie garbage that they decided to throw on the list, many of which, weren't included on the list, or were placed at an insulting position on the list. Edward Van Halen at # 70 is the biggest laughingstock in the history of all lists. Like him, hate him, Dave or Sammy, tonuge or no tongue, cancer or no cancer, the guy was amazing. He revolutionized the instrument, and rolling stone spits in his face and puts him at #70.... ridiculous.

Call me crazy, I think Buckethead is better than at least 30 of the guitarists listed.... maybe thats just my bias. I haven't even heard of many of the people they listed(hey, chalk that up to only being 21), and a lot of the people they did list, absolutely suck. I have owned a guitar for about a month, and I think i am already better than Jack White.

As for the bands, MTV has been up Nirvanas ass since the day Kurt blew his head off his shoulders.... Any time MTV has a list about bands, songs, videos, singers, guitarists, etc... expect Nirvana and/or Kurt to top the list. I don't take as much offense to the bands list as the guitarists list... but hey, MTV blows too.

I have been complaining up and down the internet to pretty much everyone about these lists, and its about damn time that someone(you), has made our opinion heard.

Great job....

I'm out like Rolling Stones credibility....

yeah i can't believe they put a couple of WOMEN on there, what kind of pansy-assed list IS this?

for "Far Beyond the Sun", at least

45 Frank Zappa

look who they rank ABOVE him:

11 Kirk Hammett of Metallica
12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
13 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones
17 Jack White of the White Stripes
18 John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
21 George Harrison
24 The Edge of U2
26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
28 Stephen Stills

there are NO reasonable arguments to be had to defend these rankings. it ends there. TO THE GUILLOTINE.

jack white at 17 should surely read jack white at 10000017

this from google. I've never heard of him.

This list sucks giraffes lollipops!!!!!!!!!

Where is he?

Kurt Cobain? I love Nirvana, and Cobain was a decent guitar player, but he doesn't belong on the list. He was a great songwriter, but he wasn't reinventing the wheel with his guitar playing.

Jack White? C'mon!

They did put greg Ginn so it's maybe not completely idiotic, but...

also, i no they were'nt huge, but ask many musicians and they'll mention new york dolls and johnny thunders as an influence. he was a great guitar player and influenced many and should get some recognition

joe perry should also be higher than 40 something

they may not have made it that big, gut the new york dolls were a huge influence on many musicians, with guitar player johnny thunders the most important of them. he should def. be on the list (top 20 IMO).

joe perry should have done bettter than 48.