Rolling Stone Top 200 Singers of All Time

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Upside

Well-known member
I'm not familiar with several artists on the list but there are some that puzzle me by their absence. Ronnie Dunn? I'm not a big country fan but Ronnie Dunn has made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Darryl Hall? Steve Marriott? Darlene Love? Annie Lennox? David Coverdale? Jon Anderson? Jerry Butler?
 
Yappi

Yappi

Go Buckeyes
Seems like a list where there is alot of personal bias. What are they looking for? Great voices? Popular songs? How they would sing a random sing?

Fun to make a list like this but probably never will be a consensus.
 
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irish_buffalo

Well-known member
If based on being a great singer they did a fairly good job with the top 25 minus Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra. Bob Dylan s$cks as a singer and is nowhere even close to being in the same class as the likes of Freddie Mercury or Aretha Franklin. Frank Sinatra, who could sing, and is not as bad as Dylan, is not in the same class as well. TBH I think Dean Martin and Tony Bennett had better voices.

And for the record I am a Sinatra fan. Not a big Adele fan but she deserves to be on the list as her voice is incredible.
 
clarkgriswold

clarkgriswold

Well-known member
irish_buffalo said:
If based on being a great singer they did a fairly good job with the top 25 minus Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra. Bob Dylan s$cks as a singer and is nowhere even close to being in the same class as the likes of Freddie Mercury or Aretha Franklin. Frank Sinatra, who could sing, and is not as bad as Dylan, is not in the same class as well. TBH I think Dean Martin and Tony Bennett had better voices.

And for the record I am a Sinatra fan. Not a big Adele fan but she deserves to be on the list as her voice is incredible.
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I was pleased by the inclusion of Luther Vandross. I also thought Otis Redding should have been higher.
 
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CatAlum

Well-known member
irish_buffalo said:
If based on being a great singer they did a fairly good job with the top 25 minus Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra. Bob Dylan s$cks as a singer and is nowhere even close to being in the same class as the likes of Freddie Mercury or Aretha Franklin. Frank Sinatra, who could sing, and is not as bad as Dylan, is not in the same class as well. TBH I think Dean Martin and Tony Bennett had better voices.

And for the record I am a Sinatra fan. Not a big Adele fan but she deserves to be on the list as her voice is incredible.
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It’s all so subjective as is pointed out by others…Bowie? Dylan? John Lennon so high? All great MUSICIANS, but exceptional singers?

And I’m scratching my head with Irish’s dogging of old blue eyes…I thought his status as a great singer was unassailable. Well, I guess he’s been assailed…

Some of the 70’s women rockers, I’d have higher…Ronstadt, Raitt , Jonie Mitchell

And I don’t know that Chrissie Hynde is great, but her style is so unique that maybe she is.
 
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EagleGuy

EagleGuy

Well-known member
I can go with the top ten with the exception of Al Green at #10. Everything I ever heard him sing sounded like the same song.

I'm not sure about Beyonce at # 8 as I haven't heard much of her work. Was Rihanna on the list?
 
Yappi

Yappi

Go Buckeyes
Clearly, someone at Rolling Stone likes Aretha Franklin as they gave her the title of greatest singer and greatest song.
 
Auggie

Auggie

Well-known member
Typical Rolling Stone list as they went with hip and woke choices, only POC in the top 10, including a couple more recent acts that have the PR teams pushing hard for inclusions on a list like this. Mariah Carey at #5?!? Yes she has some range but her tone uses these vocal acrobatics that just sounds grating to my ears and she has so many live misses that gives me a feel that much of her "chops" is due to studio gimmicks. Also when it comes to female singers altos seem to be missing, in particular I didn't see Karen Carpenter in the top 100. Part of the knock against Karen Carpenter is she really performed some non-cool tunes but that shouldn't be held against her like Rolling Stone tends to do when it comes to their lists. I have seen some classically trained singers discuss her tone and how perfect it is which makes her singing convey the various emotions of the lyrics.
 
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tom 48

Well-known member
The writer is probably late 20's and knows nothing of any singer before 2000, except on reputation. The list is an insult to anyone who knows anything about music. If the list is of the top singers of all-time and does not include Ella Fitzgerald at the highest level and includes Beyonce and Mariah Carey, it's bogus.
 
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CatAlum

Well-known member
Auggie said:
Typical Rolling Stone list as they went with hip and woke choices, only POC in the top 10, including a couple more recent acts that have the PR teams pushing hard for inclusions on a list like this. Mariah Carey at #5?!? Yes she has some range but her tone uses these vocal acrobatics that just sounds grating to my ears and she has so many live misses that gives me a feel that much of her "chops" is due to studio gimmicks. Also when it comes to female singers altos seem to be missing, in particular I didn't see Karen Carpenter in the top 100. Part of the knock against Karen Carpenter is she really performed some non-cool tunes but that shouldn't be held against her like Rolling Stone tends to do when it comes to their lists. I have seen some classically trained singers discuss her tone and how perfect it is which makes her singing convey the various emotions of the lyrics.
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The Carpenters were the ultimate NERDO outfit as I was growing up. But, as one ages...the lady had a phenomenal voice and the songs are beautifully arranged.

And Dionne Warwick not even on the list...at all?
 
clarkgriswold

clarkgriswold

Well-known member
Tesoro said:
Is Ronnie James Dio and Karen Carpenter on this list?
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Ronnie is 165. Carpenter is 123.

Some other head scratchers- Courtney Love is 130! Lady Gaga 58! Ariana Grande is 43! LMAO.

All the while, Streisand is way down at 147. Can I get some love for Don Henley?
 
OldSoulon

OldSoulon

Well-known member
Upside said:
I'm not familiar with several artists on the list but there are some that puzzle me by their absence. Ronnie Dunn? I'm not a big country fan but Ronnie Dunn has made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Darryl Hall? Steve Marriott? Darlene Love? Annie Lennox? David Coverdale? Jon Anderson? Jerry Butler?
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Steve Marriott was a great rock singer.

The rumor was when Brian Jones died, he was one of the choices to replace him, but Jagger nixed it due to Steve's prowess on vocals.
 
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tom 48

Well-known member
Steel Valley FB said:
Yeah, I forgot to point out the wokeness of this list. Rolling Stone absolutely had to have an all-black top 10.
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Okay, but the singers they chose are inferior to the black singers they could have chosen. Darlene Love and Johnny Mathis could out-sing all of those the put there. Maybe they should have discarded all of the singers who rely on studio enhancement or autotune, as most of the contemporary ones do. But then ,since the selectors are probably 25 yrs old, they don't know a world in which a person can actually sing without those crutches.
 
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BlueJayFan

Well-known member
tom 48 said:
The writer is probably late 20's and knows nothing of any singer before 2000, except on reputation. The list is an insult to anyone who knows anything about music. If the list is of the top singers of all-time and does not include Ella Fitzgerald at the highest level and includes Beyonce and Mariah Carey, it's bogus.
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Mariah Carey, at her vocal peak, is absolutely one of the best vocalists of all time. Beyoncé definitely deserves to be on the list as well

Some of this list is fine, but most of it is bananas. Kelly Clarkson basically sings the phone book daily on her talk show with those clips that are always going viral and she's in the 190s? Celine Dion not even on the list?
 
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tom 48

Well-known member
BlueJayFan said:
Mariah Carey, at her vocal peak, is absolutely one of the best vocalists of all time. Beyoncé definitely deserves to be on the list as well

Some of this list is fine, but most of it is bananas. Kelly Clarkson basically sings the phone book daily on her talk show with those clips that are always going viral and she's in the 190s? Celine Dion not even on the list?
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Mariah Carey is not #5. Period. Look at what RS said was its criteria:

"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."

So, to disregard Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole is insanity. But, what it does is create controversy and brings the magazine back to everybody's mind. It also demonstrates the youth and ignorance of the staff that put the list together. "Global conversation"? Laughable.
 
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