…ranked?
Over at deadspin.com Lauren Theisen has provided a list. A list of Classic Rock, ranked. A list that is likely to inflame passion. Anger…
What do you think?
All right, I’m going to spoil the whole damn thing and give you their entire list in the order they rank each musician/band…
1. David Bowie
2. Fleetwood Mac
3. The Beatles
4. Steely Dan
5. Jimi Hendrix
6. Black Sabbath
7. Heart
8. The Beach Boys
9. Elton John
10. The Rolling Stones
11. Bruce Springsteen
12. Tom Petty
13. Queen
14. Simon & Garfunkel
15. Led Zeppelin
16. The Cars
17. Neil Young
18. Pink Floyd
19. King Crimson
20. Creedence Clearwater Revival
21. The Police
22. The Band
23. The Allman Brothers Band
24. The Who
25. Lynyrd Skynyrd
26. Billy Joel
27. Yes
28. Van Halen
29. Cheap Trick
30. Wings
31. AC/DC
32. Rush
33. Electric Light Orchestra
34. Steve Miller Band
35. The Doors
36. Cream
37. Kiss
38. ZZ Top
39. Journey
40. Styx
41. Eagles
42. Kansas
43. Bad Company
44. Foreigner
45. Aerosmith
46. Boston
47. Getting hit by REO Speedwagon
48. Jethro Tull
Those on the floor, pick yourselves up, its over, man.
My feelings?
Well, its a list and any list consists of people’s opinions so yadda yadda yadda everyone’s entitled to their opinions yadda yadda.
As those who frequent these parts know, I consider David Bowie one of my all time favorite musicians. Even so, if I were making this list, I’d still put The Beatles at #1.
The fact of the matter is that without The Beatles and without their revolutionary sounds, there would likely be no modern rock music. And this is without noting that almost their entire catalogue of music rocks.
Fleetwood Mac #2?
Eh…
Look, I love Nicks/Buckingham Fleetwood Mac. I love Rumours. I love Tusk. I think the songs Stevie Nicks created during her initial years there are absolute, stone cold classics… not that the others, including Buckingham and Christine McVie were anything to sneeze at, either!
But… #2? Ahead of The Beatles, who this list puts at #3? Nah.
So if for me The Beatles are #1, who would I put at #2? Probably… Led Zeppelin. They are listed at #15, behind Heart at #7 which is really strange. Heart was heavily inspired by Led Zeppelin and some have even derisively stated the band is like a Led Zeppelin tribute act!
So for me, The Beatles #1, Led Zeppelin #2, then, probably, The Rolling Stones (on the above list, #10).
Then I’d probably put David Bowie at #4, even if I personally find his music better than some of the acts I’ve put above him.
We are talking about Classic Rock, Ranked, and if I think back to classic rock radio, these are the acts I tend to hear over and over and over again on that format.
But I’m sure others will disagree.
It’s the nature of the beast!