Rolling Stones List Of 200 Best Singers Causes Uproar
Rolling Stone has released it 2023 list of the 200 greatest singers of the past 100 years.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/
It is apparently causing a twitter uproar of criticism.
Because of a glitch in the way the pages displayed on my computer I wasnt able to see the entire list but I saw at least 80 percent of it.
I didnt even recognize about a quarter of the names on the list.
Rolling Stone did this list before, about 15 years ago , and it didnt make much sense then either.
RS says quite clearly that they considered all forms of popular music of the past 100 years, and there are representatives on the list from rock, blues, country, folk, standards, and even rap. But in my opinion the list goes way overboard giving props to quirky, "indie" singers but especially over emphasizing r&b. Almost without exception the top 15 names on the list are all blacks.
Fans of Celine Dion are outraged that she did not make the 200 list. I dont blame them. Bob Dylan is #15 and Billie Eylish made the cut, although she is near the bottom. Who in their right mind thinks Bob Dylan is a better singer that Celine Dion ?
That is the rub. Rolling Stone places more value on attitude and the singers "presence" than it does on the voice. Bob Dylan cant sing in any objective analysis, but he is way cooler than Celine Dion, and more important .
Although Frank Sinatra made the list at # 19, I couldnt find a single other representative of the form of pop music that dominated the first half of the 20th century. No Bing Crosby, no Rosemary Clooney, no Nat King Cole, or Sammy Davis Jr. , but most egregiously, no Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughn.
Seriously, this voice was not good enough to make a top 200 list that has Bob Dylan and Carrie Underwood on it?
Before You - Sarah Vaughn and Joe Williams
Joe Williams probably belongs on the list too.
Where is Scott Walker on this list? Nowhere
The Sun Aint Gonna Shine Anymore - Walker brothers
Connie Francis, one of the best female singers of the 50s and 60's ? Forget it.
Al Di La - Connie Francis
Rolling Stone can make any kind of list they like, but if you say your "all time" list encompasses 100 years and then populate it with obscure people from the past couple decades at the expense of big talents from 50 or 60 years ago we have made a list that is incomplete at best.
And leaving Shirley bassey off this list is criminal.
For The Love Of Him - Shirley Bassey
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www.usatoday.com /story/entertainment/music/2023/01/02/rolling-stone-200-greatest-singers-list-snubs-celine-dion-jennifer-hudson-justin-bieber-pink/10979617002/
Rolling Stone 200 greatest singers list snubs Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Justin Bieber, more
4-5 minutes
Rolling Stone has ruffled feathers with its updated 200 Greatest Singers of All Time list.
The publication started the New Year with an update to its rankings, which began in 2008, honoring the best vocalists in pop music.
This time around, the list excludes powerhouses like Celine Dion , Pink , Justin Bieber , Jennifer Hudson , Janet Jackson , Tony Bennett , Madonna , Nat King Cole , Dionne Warwick and more.
"This new list was compiled our staff and key contributors, and it encompasses 100 years of pop music as an ongoing global conversation," Rolling Stone writes, adding criteria was based on "originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy."
Many music fans argued on Twitter about the snubbed artists and the ranking order.
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"They got THE @MichaelJackson way down at EIGHTY-SIX?! and no @CelineDion at ALL?!" actress Yvette Nicole Brown tweeted . "Shoot, the way MJ sang #WithAChildsHeart when he was a CHILD makes him top three at the least and if Celine Dion isn’t in the Top Ten at the LEAST what are we really doing?! Damn @RollingStone."
One Twitter user wrote : "What do you mean celine dion is not on the rolling stone list???"
"I’m sorry, but Jennifer Hudson is a better singer than 95% of the people on that #RollingStone list," another person said . "Her impact is immense. The EGOT winner’s contributions to film, theatre, music and television are undeniable."
In addition to Hudson, fellow EGOT recipients John Legend and Rita Moreno did not make the cut.
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Jazmine Sullivan, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson made the list, but they didn't break the Top 100.
"Rolling Stone Magazine proved to be not credible. 1. Placing Christina Aguilera this low. 2. Placing Taylor Swift higher than Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jazmine Sullivan & Alicia Keys. 3. Not having Celine Dion on the last who is part of the vocal trinity," a Twitter user critiqued .
Another similarly tweeted , "Rolling Stone but Taylor Swift in the top 200 vocalists but didn’t even mention Celine Dion or Janet Jackson. And they put Rihanna ABOVE Kelly Clarkson ?????"
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Among other snubs were lead vocalists whose singing bandmates were excluded. Stevie Nicks made it without Fleetwood Mac, Jungkook was plucked from BTS, Beyoncé sans other members of Destiny's Child, Diana Ross without the Supremes, Ozzy Osbourne ranked without Black Sabbath and Mick Jagger was included without the Rolling Stones.
Soul and R&B dominated the Top 10 of Rolling Stone's list, with Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Sam Cooke taking the top spots.
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The Top 20 are listed below, with the full list of 200 available on Rolling Stone's website .
20. Marvin Gaye
19. Frank Sinatra
18. Celia Cruz
17. Elvis Presley
16. Prince
15. Bob Dylan
14. Freddie Mercury
13. Patsy Cline
12. John Lennon
11. Little Richard
10. Al Green
9. Otis Redding
8. Beyoncé
7. Stevie Wonder
6. Ray Charles
5. Mariah Carey
4. Billie Holiday
3. Sam Cooke
2. Whitney Houston
1. Aretha Franklin
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I have to take back one thing, Ella Fitzgerald is on the list.
Not having Ella Fitzgerald on the list would have been unthinkable, and, as much as I love Aretha, Ella should probably be #1. Not having Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney, and not including them in the top 10, is totally unthinkable. Whoever compiled the list for Rolling Stone doesn't know what they are doing.
Of course. Most of the greatest singers are black.
My top 15 list for popular music singers (as opposed to classical/opera) would be:
1. Ella Fitzgerald
2. Aretha Franklin
3. Whitney Houston
4. Nat King Cole
5. San Cooke
6. Rosemary Clooney
7. Dionne Warwick
8. Stevie Wonder
9. Billie Holiday
10. Louis Armstrong
11. Michael Jackson
12. Frank Sinatra
13. Marvin Gaye
14. Dolly Parton
15. Steve Winwood, Darlene Love, Karen Carpenter...
If I remember correctly, Ella is somewhere around 60th on the list.
all of the people you name are on the list with the exception of Steve Winwood, Rosemary Clooney, Dionne Warwick and Nat King Cole.
That's nuts. If you ask any knowledgeable musician, they will rate Ella as number 1. Hands down.
Ella was great. I also really like Rosemary Clooney. One could argue she was the female equivalent , in musical style, to Sinatra.
I dont get Beyonce in the top 10. I dont even get her in the top 200.
I didn't look at the whole Rolling Stone article. Is Petula Clark on their list? Are Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliot, Laura Nyro, Mary Travers? If not, why not?!?!!
Of those five, Joni Mitchell is the only one I saw, and I looked at almost the whole list.
Although Frank Sinatra made the list at # 19, I couldnt find a single other representative of the form of pop music that dominated the first half of the 20th century. No Bing Crosby, no Rosemary Clooney, no Nat King Cole, or Sammy Davis Jr. , but most egregiously, no Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughn.
And the funny part is they are the ones who really fit the category of "singers." In modern pop music, the singer if you can call them that are actually in the background.
Almost without exception the top 15 names on the list are all blacks.
That's more than ok. The question is if they are the right people. One of the things I've noticed, for what it's worth, is that the all time greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole sang for a white audience. People like Prince sang for someone else.
Rolling Stone writes, adding criteria was based on "originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy."
They are simply wrong on influence and legacy. Those things add up to what is memorable. Most on that list are not.
Tony Bennett didnt make it either
"It is apparently causing a twitter uproar of criticism."
The fact that there is a twitter uproar because Rolling Stones opinions don't coincide with their own shows that some people just seem to live to be outraged. And then they get more outraged because they are not taken seriously by the vast majority of people. Reminds me of when my kids were 8.
Some peoples opinions remind me of drunks who dont know what they are talking about but wont stop talking.
Rolling Stone can make any kind of list they want, but when you announce that these are the best singers of the past 100 years and then use very narrow criteria you are asking for criticism.
Any ‘best of’ list is purely subjective. My list of favorite singers, songs, movies, literature, artists, etc may differ greatly from my sons, my friends, or from a total stranger.
The only thing we should all agree upon is our thankfulness for those sharing their gifts with the rest of the world. Just appreciate what brings you pleasure and forget trying to rank them, for that just diminishes the beauty and the importance of the arts.
No doubt. Many of my favorite singers are barely known to the overall audience for music. For singers, I tend to favor jazz singers from the 20th century.
The only thing that keeps a Susannah McCorkle off a list like this is because she wasnt appreciated by the "right" people.
another one
Agree 100%, Music is deeply personal to most people, There are people who actually like and listen to polka, and it's not my place to tell them this is wrong. : )
Poor humor aside, these best lists are nothing but opinion.
It's doubtful it included Agnetha or Frida from ABBA, or Karen Carpenter.
It's even less likely to have it include Sissel Kyrkjeboe, who provided the voiceless backup to Celine in "My Heart Will Go On".
Karen Carpenter is on there , lower on the list.
I dont think the ABBA people made it.
I watched a documentary on Karen carpenter once. I thought it made a pretty good argument that she was one of the greatest female singers ever. Because she was in a genre considered "sappy" by the hipsters she never got the credit she deserved for her voice.
Screw them. No Billy Joel? Give me a break.
Whitney Houston could yell and wail, but she couldn't really sing.
You're kidding, right ?
The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time
When Rolling Stone first published its list of the 100 Greatest Singers in 2008, we used an elaborate voting process that included input from well-known musicians. The results skewed toward classic rock and singers from the Sixties and Seventies. This new list was compiled our staff and key contributors, and it encompasses 100 years of pop music as an ongoing global conversation, where iconic Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar lands between Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash, and salsa queen Celia Cruz is up there in the rankings with Prince and Marvin Gaye. You might notice that, say, there isn’t any opera on our list — that’s because our purview is pop music writ large, meaning that almost all the artists on this list had significant careers as crossover stars making popular music for the masses.
Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Sure, many of the people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch, and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments. As our write-up for the man who ended up at Number 112 notes, “Ozzy Osbourne doesn’t have what most people would call a good voice, but boy does he have a great one.” That could apply to more than a few people here.
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. A voice can be gorgeous like Mariah Carey’s, rugged like Toots Hibbert’s, understated like Willie Nelson’s, slippery and sumptuous like D’Angelo’s, or bracing like Bob Dylan’s. But in the end, the singers behind it are here for one reason: They can remake the world just by opening their mouths.