Rick is rightly losing it ...

[uwe]

Love him for it. And he's so right. No Allan Holdsworth? Wot?!!! No Yngwie Malmsteen? Not even among the first 250? Andy Summers last at 250? The mind boggles.

The list is here:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitarists-1234814010/aaron-dessner-and-bryce-dessner-1234815287/

Notable absences off the top of my head: Steve Morse (!, the guy who won the "best overall guitarist" slot with Guitar Player five years in a row until they ended his eligibility to have someone new take the top spot), Al Di Meola, Leo Kottke, Tommy Bolin (no Jeff Beck turned fusion without his work on Billy Cobham's Spectrum), Gary Moore, Ted Nugent (we're not judging political or sociological acumen) ... the list of the blatantly ignored is endless ... And if you say this isn't just for technically astute lead guitarists - which is fine in my book (I don't mind Joan Jett being listed, she became a role model for many female players) -, then where the hell is Bob Marley?

[Ken]

Yeah, totally agreeing with Rick here.  What a stupid list.  But then again all these lists are popularity contests.

[uwe]

This list doesn't make any sense any which way you try to read it.

And I haven't even said anything about #3 yet, who shall not be named here.

[Ken]

David Gilmour behind St. Vincent.  Richard Thompson at #63.  No.  Just no.

[Chris P.]

I love St. Vincent, but she is no Gilmour.

Having said that: Internet is going crazy over the list, so I guess the guys of RS are leaning back, watching the clicks, etc.

[Basvarken]

All lists ranking musicians are stupid. Music is not a competition.

[Ken]

All lists ranking musicians are stupid. Music is not a competition.

And by definition subjective.

[uwe]

I understand that the list is not per se about who is technically best on six strings, it's not a Guitar Player poll. It's about cultural relevance (Chuck Berry), being an inventor/progenitor (Jimi Hendrix, EvH), an impressive body of work based on guitar (Neil Young, Prince, St. Vincent), an iconic image (Keith Richards, Johnny Thunders, Joan Jett, Joe Perry), being a renowned stylist (David Gilmour, Carlos Santana, Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, Nile Rodgers) or, yes, even how good you simply are playing that darn thing (Jeff Beck, Randy Rhoads, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai). In many cases it's a mix of all or some these criteria.

That is fine with me, it's not who's on that list, but the often gaping/incredulous omissions that follow no apparent logic. Neither Michael Schenker nor Uli Jon Roth meeting any of the above criteria? Not a single one? That is kinda difficult to justify unless you deem all hard and heavy rock/heavy metal irrelevant in the first place (which is obviously not the case with the list, there are plenty of entries from those genres, Dimebag Darrell, the guitar teams from Metallica, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden etc).

Ah, now I get it ... all German entries were streng verboten! 

[Basvarken]

Looks to me somebody was on mission to drag as many female guitarists into the list by their hair, as they could possibly think of.

[Dave W]

I don't even look at those lists any more.

[uwe]

Looks to me somebody was on mission to drag as many female guitarists into the list by their hair, as they could possibly think of.

Affirmative action. I'm ok with that if it gets more girls to pick up a guitar and not just strum folk songs.

[eb2]

Good lord.

[uwe]

Nope. Whatever his abilities and his fame, he didn't qualify either.



Even though he probably had the most guitar-like distorted organ sound ever - playing over Marshalls as he did.