Greatest Rock Artists Of All Time (Revision Version)

[Tim]

Guess I can see Neil over Kendrick with Neil's Dylanesque acclaim at his peak and large amount of generally acclaimed music. Drake is super popular and somewhat acclaimed and influential which to me puts him in Elton/Whitney range minus Elton's piano and Whitney's vocal skills (Elton ain't too shabby a vocalist either) so I guess I am not opposed to moving him a couple of spots down, below Everlys even. For what it worth, I had him below AC/DC but I have a tendency of underrating the more contemporary artists as Man can attest to.

[ManPerson]

Kendrick above Young (yes, I'm still on that part of the list) kinda looks weird. Influence and popularity cancel themselves out I guess, which leaves us with acclaim where Young is one of the strongest ever. I can see it being a tie, and I'd give the win to the most influential (Young). Don't want to derail the list over one spot, just throwing some thoughts.

I don't think Drake, however, has anything on Elton and Whitney, and the Everlys have a big lead in influence and imo acclaim.

Drake was essential for the popularization of melodic rap, alternative r&b, trap, I could go on. He's clearly more influential than Elton, imo, and has similar popularity, while probably losing acclaim. I think he's more popular than Whitney, and I think his songs are clearly more acclaimed overall than hers, even if she makes up some ground in terms of her vocal acclaim, I'll give you that Whitney is a bit more influential though, but I wouldn't overstate that difference either.

[ManPerson]

Guess I can see Neil over Kendrick with Neil's Dylanesque acclaim at his peak and large amount of generally acclaimed music.

Kendrick has had Dylanesque acclaim as well, perhaps even more than Young (e.g. winning a Pulitzer prize). I wouldn't be too mad about moving Young over Kendrick though.

[ManPerson]

This is pretty negligible either way, but do we want to count Blind Faith under the Eric Clapton umbrella?

[Tim]

I don't think he dominated that group any more than Steve Winwood did though.

[ManPerson]

Ok, that makes sense.

[ManPerson]

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. Chuck Berry
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Fats Domino
16. Prince
17. Marvin Gaye
18. Kanye West
19. Little Richard
20. Jay-Z
21. The Who
22. Sam Cooke
23. Pink Floyd
24. David Bowie
25. Eminem
26. U2
27. Run-D.M.C.
28. Beyonce
29. Nirvana
30. 2pac
31. The Supremes
32. Bruce Springsteen
33. Queen
34. Bob Marley & the Wailers
35. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
36. The Temptations
37. Kendrick Lamar
38. Neil Young
39. R.E.M.
40. Taylor Swift
41. Drake
42. Elton John
43. Whitney Houston
44. The Everly Brothers
45. Janet Jackson
46. Mariah Carey
47. Black Sabbath
48. Public Enemy
49. The Byrds
50. Otis Redding
51. Metallica
52. Sly & the Family Stone
53. Bill Haley & the Comets
54. Bee Gees
55. Donna Summer
56. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
57. The Kinks
58. ABBA
59. The Beastie Boys
60. Bo Diddley
61. Roy Orbison
62. The Clash
63. AC/DC
64. Fleetwood Mac
65. Rihanna
66. The Doors
67. Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions
68. Dr. Dre
69. The Notorious B.I.G.
70. Joni Mitchell
71. Outkast
72. Britney Spears
73. Simon & Garfunkel
74. Creedence Clearwater Revival
75. Parliament/Funkadelic/George-Clinton
76. Radiohead
77. N.W.A.
78. Lady Gaga
79. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
80. LL Cool J
81. Aerosmith
82. Eagles
83. Guns n Roses
84. The Police
85. Van Halen
86. Coldplay
87. Al Green
88. The Ramones
89. Green Day
90. The Drifters
91. Adele
92. The Weeknd
93. Eric Clapton
94. Rod Stewart
95. Paul McCartney/Wings
96. Pearl Jam
97. The Grateful Dead
98. Mary J. Blige
99. Missy Elliott
100. The Four Tops
101. The Shirelles
102. Van Morrison
103. Cream
104. Fugees/Lauryn Hill
105. Red Hot Chili Peppers
106. The Isley Brothers
107. The Dominoes
108. The Orioles
109. The Band
110. Bad Bunny
111. Billy Joel
112. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
113. Justin Timberlake
114. Oasis
115. TLC
116. The Platters
117. Jerry Lee Lewis
118. Etta James
119. Deep Purple
120. Jackie Wilson
121. Lana Del Rey
122. Daft Punk
123. Frank Zappa
124. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
125. Big Joe Turner
126. Johnny Otis
127. Janis Joplin/Big Brother & Holding Company
128. Wilson Pickett
129. Ruth Brown
130. Dion (& The Belmonts)
131. The Coasters
132. The Allman Brothers Band
133. Elvis Costello
134. The Clovers
135. The White Stripes

[Tim]

Weren't we considering Young-Kendrick switch as a gesture of goodwill to Fido? A quick middle-ground attempt:

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. Chuck Berry
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Fats Domino
16. Prince
17. Marvin Gaye
18. Kanye West
19. Little Richard
20. Jay-Z
21. The Who
22. Sam Cooke
23. Pink Floyd
24. David Bowie
25. Eminem
26. U2
27. Run-D.M.C.
28. Beyonce
29. Nirvana
30. 2pac
31. The Supremes
32. Bruce Springsteen
33. Queen
34. Bob Marley & the Wailers
35. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
36. The Temptations
37. Neil Young
38. Kendrick Lamar
39. R.E.M.
40. Taylor Swift
41. Drake
42. Elton John
43. Whitney Houston
44. The Everly Brothers
45. Janet Jackson
46. Mariah Carey
47. Black Sabbath
48. Public Enemy
49. The Byrds
50. Otis Redding
51. Metallica
52. Sly & the Family Stone
53. Bill Haley & His Comets
54. Bee Gees
55. Donna Summer
56. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
57. The Kinks
58. ABBA
59. The Beastie Boys
60. Bo Diddley
61. Roy Orbison
62. The Clash
63. AC/DC
64. Fleetwood Mac
65. Rihanna
66. The Doors
67. Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions
68. Dr. Dre
69. The Notorious B.I.G.
70. Joni Mitchell
71. Outkast
72. Britney Spears
73. Simon & Garfunkel
74. Creedence Clearwater Revival
75. Parliament/Funkadelic/George Clinton
76. Radiohead
77. N.W.A.
78. Lady Gaga
79. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
80. LL Cool J
81. Aerosmith
82. Eagles
83. Guns n Roses
84. The Police
85. Van Halen
86. Coldplay
87. Al Green
88. The Ramones
89. Green Day
90. The Drifters
91. Adele
92. The Weeknd
93. Rod Stewart
94. Paul McCartney/Wings
95. Pearl Jam
96. The Grateful Dead
97. Mary J. Blige
98. Eric Clapton
99. Missy Elliott
100. The Shirelles
101. Van Morrison
102. Cream
103. Fugees/Lauryn Hill
104. Red Hot Chili Peppers
105. The Isley Brothers
106. The Dominoes
107. The Orioles
108. The Band
109. Bad Bunny
110. Billy Joel
111. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
112. Justin Timberlake
113. Oasis
114. TLC
115. The Platters
116. Jerry Lee Lewis
117. Deep Purple
118. Jackie Wilson
119. The Four Tops
120. Lana Del Rey
121. Daft Punk
122. Etta James
123. Frank Zappa
124. Wilson Pickett
125. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
126. Big Joe Turner
127. Johnny Otis
128. Janis Joplin/Big Brother & Holding Company
129. Ruth Brown
130. Dion (& The Belmonts)
131. The Coasters
132. The Allman Brothers Band
133. Elvis Costello
134. The Clovers
135. The White Stripes

[ManPerson]

That seems a bit low for the Four Tops, I'd give them acclaim and popularity over The Platters, for example, while influence seems fairly close.

Otherwise, it looks good.

[Fido]

Drake was essential for the popularization of melodic rap, alternative r&b, trap, I could go on. He's clearly more influential than Elton, imo, and has similar popularity, while probably losing acclaim. I think he's more popular than Whitney, and I think his songs are clearly more acclaimed overall than hers, even if she makes up some ground in terms of her vocal acclaim, I'll give you that Whitney is a bit more influential though, but I wouldn't overstate that difference either.

Not really, he wasn't the progenitor of any of those styles, he only incorporated them when they were already established. Sure, that's influential, but Elton's seems more far-reaching even if he also isn't a big innovator.
And how is he more popular than Whitney? She has the best selling singles, the best selling albums, and overall is still a more recognizable figure even though she's been dead for 10+ years.

The Kendrick vs Young wasn't a big deal also, I'm much more concerned over these artists

[Fido]

Also, Clapton solo above Cream?? It was with them that he made his most important music by far.

[Tim]

Also, Clapton solo above Cream?? It was with them that he made his most important music by far.

I'd agree Cream is more influential but solo Clapton can be credited with some influence on blues rock and rock guitar in general wirh him being a featured artist on John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

And how is he more popular than Whitney? She has the best selling singles, the best selling albums, and overall is still a more recognizable figure even though she's been dead for 10+ years.

I would say Drake is more recognizable figure than Whitney these days but your mileage may vary. He also had more #1 singles and albums on Billboard Hot 100/200. As for sales, I don't think that's particularly telling of full extent of his popularity with us being firmly in a streaming era.

[ManPerson]

Drake was essential for the popularization of melodic rap, alternative r&b, trap, I could go on. He's clearly more influential than Elton, imo, and has similar popularity, while probably losing acclaim. I think he's more popular than Whitney, and I think his songs are clearly more acclaimed overall than hers, even if she makes up some ground in terms of her vocal acclaim, I'll give you that Whitney is a bit more influential though, but I wouldn't overstate that difference either.

Not really, he wasn't the progenitor of any of those styles, he only incorporated them when they were already established. Sure, that's influential, but Elton's seems more far-reaching even if he also isn't a big innovator.
And how is he more popular than Whitney? She has the best selling singles, the best selling albums, and overall is still a more recognizable figure even though she's been dead for 10+ years.

The Kendrick vs Young wasn't a big deal also, I'm much more concerned over these artists

Drake had a large hand in popularizing the biggest styles in r&b and rap for the past 15 years. Sure he's not a progenitor of those styles, but I don't see Elton's influence as being that widespread either way.

When compared with Whitney, Drake has much stronger chart success, though, admittedly, that does have something to do with billboard's changing chart rules, and, according to this, https://chartmasters.org/best-selling-a ... -all-time/, he's sold more than her as well (this includes streaming, btw). He's clearly the 2nd most popular artist of the past 20 years, i.e. 25% of rock history, I think it's more than fair to give him the win in popularity here, even if it isn't by a huge amount.

[ManPerson]

Also, Clapton solo above Cream?? It was with them that he made his most important music by far.

Clapton solo, is much more popular and, if we're including Blues Breakers and Derek and the Dominoes, fairly comparable in acclaim.

[Brian]

Also, Clapton solo above Cream?? It was with them that he made his most important music by far.

Clapton solo, is much more popular and, if we're including Blues Breakers and Derek and the Dominoes, fairly comparable in acclaim.

I agree with including Derek & the Dominoes under Clapton solo, but not Blues Breakers. Clapton was only with them for one album, and they had several, and on that album, John Mayall had most of the vocals, wrote 4 songs, and co-wrote a 5th. Clapton co-wrote one song.

[Tim]

Thought Man was referring to Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton the album not the band.