Rolling Stone Magazine released its “Greatest 250 Guitar Players of All time” list last week and it is complete garbage. As many of you that follow my blog know, I don’t criticize artists. If I don’t like an album, I simply don’t write about it. So, without criticizing individuals on the list, let me just say that there are people on the list that could only be there out of some sense of “equity”….we want so many men…so many women…so many Europeans….so many alt rockers….so many jazz guitarists..etc. And what does “equity” lead to? The exclusion of some simply fantastic guitar players for reasons unknown.
Who is not on the list of greatest guitar players of all time?
Joe Bonamassa – 27 consecutive #1 Billboard Blues albums including his latest…..but he isn’t good enough for the list.
Gary Moore – An incredible body of work and holder of numerous major guitar awards during his lifetime…but not good enough.
Robin Trower – An iconic tone that has stood the test of time…..not good enough.
Peter Frampton – Not a personal favorite as an artist, but one of the defining guitar players of his generation….not good enough.
Yngwie Malmsteen – He has created music on a guitar that defies the laws of nature (and I always assumed he had to be double jointed on all his fingers to do it!) ….not good enough.
There are people on the list who are great singers & songwriters and pluck one note. There are people on that list that are great performers but nothing in their body of work would suggest that they are guitar giants. And if you are gonna be among the 250 best EVER, you might think the artists would have slews of awards from Guitar music associations that they have garnered over their career or at least acknowledgement from your peers that you are among the best ever….not needed for the Rolling Stone magazine list apparently.
I do several annual lists of Contemporary Blues Artists. The most popular is my Roadhouse Blues 66 Best Songs of the Year. It takes an enormous amount of time to choose 66 songs from among the 9000 or so I receive and/or play during my BMFR shows during the year. It is difficult to make the final choices…particularly from 30 to 66. So I do understand how difficult the selection process may have been for the staff who compiled the list. But after reviewing the Rolling Stone magazine list several times, I don’t believe they applied even the modicum of a standard to their selection process. And if I am wrong, show me the selection process criteria that ended up excluding Joe Bonamassa, Gary Moore, Robin Trower, Peter Frampton, and Yngwie Malmsteen from the list!! How could that possibly happen when applying a standard that I would assume included the body of work, peer acknowledgement and specific guitar awards won?
Rolling Stone magazine over the years has “re-reviewed” albums after an outcry from the readers and followers. Hopefully, they will “re-review” their list soon cuz it is BAD.
Post Script added December 26, 2023…..segment of an article in the Wall Street Journal interview of Chrissie Hynde.
WSJ: You had an enviable 2023. You released a new Pretenders album, you got back out on the road, and you were named one of the Top 250 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone.
CHRISSIE HYNDE: Well, that’s nonsense. As the English would say, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I can’t see that I fit into that category at all. I find it hilarious.
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