Greatest. Recording. Artists. Ever.

[phil]

Strictly going with the "Recording" part ...

- Miles Davis
- The Beatles
- Frank Zappa
- Pink Floyd
- Stevie Wonder

I'll add more if I think of someone ...

[rockysigman]

kenholzman said:

OK, I'm gonna express how I see this list: top performers/artists, regardless of genre. For myself, I don't think I'm gonna include classical composers (unless it's someone who has recorded their own pieces, like Glass or Copeland, though I doubt if either will make my list), but I can see where someone could. So this would be an off-the-cuff list for me:

1. Bob Dylan.
2. Miles Davis.
3. The Clash.
4. The Beatles.
5. John Coltrane. (I really like 'Trane, which is why he's up here for me rather than Armstrong or Ellington, both of whom were more significant).
6. The Who.
7. Yo-Yo Ma.
8. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
9. Rocky and the Fragtones.
10. Animal.

See how that works -- you've got jazz, classical, and rock alongside a Muppet and an internet hoax! ;D

I always knew that Yo-Yo Ma was just a hoax.

[frag]

I'm re-doing my list, damn it.

And Holzman's definitely cut off from everything Rocky von Rocksalot and the Fragtones, not even allowed to mention our name.

He will, however, be the subject of the next RvR&theFts tune, "Blizzard of Pain (and how Ken Holzman came to be public enemy #1)."

Unless...oh yeah, YoYoMa was definitely a hoax.

[upinkzeppelin2]

I know my top 10 right now at least. Will havta work on the next 15 soon. Here's 10 though:

1. U2
2. Pink Floyd
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Radiohead
5. Bob Dylan
6. Blind Melon
7. Smashing Pumpkins
8. Pearl Jam
9. The Beatles
10. Dinosaur Jr.

[kool]

1. David Bowie
2. Prince
3. REM
4. Finn Brothers (by saying this, I really mean everything Crowded House, Split Enz & solo)
5. U2
6. Led Zeppelin
7. The Rolling Stones
8. The Beatles
9. The Smiths
10. Depeche Mode
11. The Cure
12. Black Sabbath
13. Talking Heads
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers
15. Stevie Wonder
16. Radiohead
17. Smashing Pumpkins
18. Roxy Music
19. Blondie
20. T-Rex
21. Tori Amos
22. Metallica
23. Tom Petty
24. Pixies
25. New Order

I also took into account consistency, which is why Zeppelin placed lower on the list to the Finn Brothers (and everything Finn). Everything after Houses of The Holy was sorta... crap. Whereas I've yet to find anything Finn-related that I've heard, 'below average'. It's been good to excellent all the way.

Prince and Bowie have both released some crap (Prince in the late 90s, Bowie during the late 80s) but they more than make up for these missteps with their great albums during their creative peaks.

REM have only one turd in their discography.

[riley]

Fuck Holzman. I don't know. Here goes.

1. David Bowie
2. The Smiths
3. Radiohead
4. Pavement
5. Tool
6. PJ Harvey
7. Talking Heads
8. Cheap Trick
9. Public Enemy
10. Rush
11. Pixies
12. The Beatles
13. The Cure
14. Broken Social Scene
15. The Verve
16. Joy Division
17. R.E.M.
18. Roxy Music
19. Sunny Day Real Estate
20. Miles Davis
21. XTC
22. Big Star
23. Grant Lee Buffalo
24. Waylon Jennings
25. Black Sabbath

[Adam]

1. The Beatles
2. Bob Dylan
3. Elvis Presley
4. U2
5. Johnny Cash
6. Stevie Wonder
7. Miles Davis
8. Joni Mitchell
9. The Rolling Stones
10. Led Zeppelin
11. James Brown
12. David Bowie
13. Smashing Pumpkins
14. PJ Harvey
15. Michael Jackson
16. Willie Nelson
17. John Coltrane
18. The Beach Boys
19. Bruce Springsteen
20. Jimi Hendrix
21. Black Sabbath
22. Neil Young
23. Chuck Berry
24. Pearl Jam
25. Opeth

[Paul]

The Beatles.

[Thorngrub]

1. Rocky von Rocksalot
2. Brian Eno
3. Pink Floyd
4. The Beatles
5. Django Rheinhardt
6. Miles Davis
7. Frank Zappa
8. Alan Parsons
9. Les Paul
10. Rush

[maarts]

...and the recorded output of Rocky & The Fragtones is...

[Mary]

I don't like making these lists that cover all possible genres, and here's why, and I'm only speaking for myself:

I have heard tons of rock music. So when I make lists specifically about rock (and some folks on the boundaries of rock - like johnny cash) I feel reasonably comfortable about it, because I have a broad frame of reference and basis for comparison, so when I say that (for example) Wire is one of the best of all time, I'm not just talking out of my ass.

However, when it comes to genres like jazz (let alone classical) my knowledge is superficial. I've picked up a few of the acknowledged classics - miles davis, john coltrane, ornette coleman, charles mingus, etc. However I have barely even heard anything else - so when I arbitrarily throw miles davis on the list just because i know everyone thinks he's great, I'm completely full of shit. It's not that I don't think he's great, it's that I have no frame of comparison whatsoever and I'm only putting him on there because I know that excluding jazz would be wrong. But that's a tokenizing gesture, and it ends up being boring and predictable - oh look, there's miles davis again. For someone who has listened extensively to jazz, putting miles davis on a list is completely different, because it's based on wide exploration of the genre and thus a legitimate basis for comparison and recognition of superior talents. With no such basis for comparison, I'm left in the absurd position of knowing that miles davis is great because everyone says he's great (and what does that really mean?), and then sandwiching him ludicrously between, say, the Cure and Thin Lizzy just because He Should Be On This List.

So, I have decided when I make my list, there will be NO jazz, NO country (except people who are kind of crossover), NO blues, NO classical. This is not because I think these genres are inferior, but because I have too much respect for them to pretend to know anything about them.

Phew. That was a really long-winded and pretentious way of saying that I'm leaving jazz off my list not because I don't think it deserves to be there, but because I'm a fucking ignoramus

Cheers,
M

[rockysigman]

I don't know, Mary. Recognizing the limits of your knowledge and limiting yourself to things that you actually know about seems just plain un-American.

[Thorngrub]

NO Freedom Fries for you !

[upinkzeppelin2]

1. U2
2. Pink Floyd
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Radiohead
5. Bob Dylan
6. Blind Melon
7. Smashing Pumpkins
8. Pearl Jam
9. The Beatles
10. Dinosaur Jr.
11. Sonic Youth
12. Beastie Boys
13. Johnny Cash
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers
15. Muse
16. Jimi Hendrix
17. Neil Young
18. The Rolling Stones
19. The Police
20. Rush
21. The Pixies
22. Fleetwood Mac
23. Bob Marley & the Wailers
24. The Shins
25. Elliott Smith

[upinkzeppelin2]

So, right now it looks like 8 lists, if Ken's, Phil's and Frag's count.