Who's top tier in the pop canon do you think?

[Nowhere Man]

Bowie's passing has made me think about just how huge his impact was. Both artistically and in terms of popularity. Besides someone like McCartney, we might not see the loss of such an important artist on that level again.

He was definitely top of the range stuff. What artists do you think could hypothetically be placed at that mount everest of popular music of the last century? Remember to think in terms of their impact as well as critically and artistically.

Here are some of my picks:

The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Miles Davis
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
James Brown
David Bowie
Hank Williams
Elvis Presley
Frank Sinatra
The Rolling Stones
The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson
Stevie Wonder

maybe the likes of
Kraftwerk
John Coltrane
Sam Cooke
Kate Bush
The Kinks
Prince
ABBA
too.

fuckitpost

[alan nagsworth]

Justin Timberlake? I'm talking about in recent years of course, he's the best thing that springs to mind. Brilliant music, great public image, charming, handsome, fantastic live performer, never been afraid to poke fun at himself... Aside from The 20/20 Experience which was a bit hit and miss, his other two albums were flawless pop gold. I love that guy.

[newbridge]

Bob Dylan, Elvis, and the Beatles are in their own tier at the very top.

[Gulftastic]

Madonna should be in there too.

[Noodle Lizard]

lol nobody said Michael Jackson but someone suggested Kraftwerk.

Cook'd and Bomb'd indeed.

[Utter Shit]

lol nobody said Michael Jackson but someone suggested Kraftwerk.

Cook'd and Bomb'd indeed.

Ahahaha yep.

[Jockice]

Bob Dylan shouldn't be in there. He's crap.

[jake thunder]

Bowie's passing has made me think about just how huge his impact was. Both artistically and in terms of popularity. Besides someone like McCartney, we might not see the loss of such an important artist on that level again.

He was definitely top of the range stuff. What artists do you think could hypothetically be placed at that mount everest of popular music of the last century? Remember to think in terms of their impact as well as critically and artistically.

Here are some of my picks:

The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Miles Davis
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
James Brown
David Bowie
Hank Williams
Elvis Presley
Frank Sinatra
The Rolling Stones
The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson
Stevie Wonder

maybe the likes of
Kraftwerk
John Coltrane
Sam Cooke
Kate Bush
The Kinks
Prince
ABBA
too.

fuckitpost

No need to put "/Brian Wilson".

All of his good music was released under the name of "The Beach Boys", who were more than just Brian Wilson.

His solo stuff is not good in comparison.

[newbridge]

Bob Dylan shouldn't be in there. He's crap.

What are you, a Cardiacs fan??

[Jockice]

What are you, a Cardiacs fan??

Believe it or not, no. I don't like Ween either. (Runs for cover).

[NoSleep]

Bob Dylan, Elvis, and the Beatles are in their own tier at the very top.

Just below Chuck Berry?

[newbridge]

Just below Chuck Berry?

Maybe you could argue that Chuck Berry was an equally important innovator, but he certainly didn't have the cultural and wide-reaching musical impact that those three did.

[NoSleep]

maybe
Kraftwerk

Maybe? There's several genres that issued from their work.

[NoSleep]

Maybe you could argue that Chuck Berry was an equally important innovator, but he certainly didn't have the cultural and wide-reaching musical impact that those three did.

He had sufficient impact on all three. What was that quote of John Lennon's? Something about Chuck Berry being all you needed to know about rock'n'roll.

[newbridge]

He had sufficient impact on all three. What was quote of John Lennon's?

Elvis Presley was releasing singles before Chuck Berry...

[NoSleep]

Weren't they countrified stuff?

[Brundle-Fly]

Serge Gainsbourg
Bob Marley

[newbridge]

Weren't they countrified stuff?

Nah, even the early ones are pretty good.

I mean, obviously everyone knows about Elvis's influences and that in a way he was ripping off a genre invented by black musicians, but the fact remains that nobody had a broader impact on pop music. Chuck Berry in particular didn't even have a proper #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the prime of his career.

Same with someone like Bob Dylan. His earliest stuff was basically him just doing a Woody Guthrie impression, but whether it was due to his originality or not there's no denying that Bob Dylan blew up the entire system when he came on the scene.

[Brundle-Fly]

Bob Marley

In fact, I had a friend who has travelled the four corners of the Earth for twenty years and said Bob seemed to be the common denominator from Tibetan monks to Arab sheiks to rainforest natives but conversely when he stayed in Kingston, Jamaica in the 1990s, all he ever heard blaring out of ghetto blasters was Dire Straits and Phil Collins.

[NoSleep]

Nah, even the early ones are pretty good.

What's wrong with country music?

[newbridge]

What's wrong with country music?

Nothing, I love country music. But Elvis was at his best as a rock & roll artist. Plus the more "countrified" stuff coming out of Sun was somewhat ruined by the heavy-handed production (like Johnny Cash's earliest stuff), in my opinion.

I'm not sure what all this has to do with the original point though.

[NoSleep]

So you'd put Elvis above Chuck Berry, but the other two definitely owe a debt to him: the Cole Porter of Rock'n'Roll (Elvis never wrote shit).

[Brundle-Fly]

Ravel
John Barry
Burt Bacharach
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter

[NoSleep]

Just as long as the Duke is in the top list (he is). Everyone else is breathing the air he created.

[Urinal Cake]

Leaving out dead people: Madonna, Eminem/Dr Dre, Elton John, Morrissey, Burt Bacarach, Nile Rodgers, Aretha Franklin

Depending on future work: Pharell, Daft Punk, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Kanye

[thraxx]

Dollar
Joe Dolce
Taylor Dayne

[Nowhere Man]

Forgot the legendary Curtis Mayfield. A lot of his guitar work was a big inspiration on Bob Marley and The Wailers and reggae in general. Plus he made some fantastic work on his own and with the Impressions. And fuckin' Superfly man! Best soundtrack ever.

[wosl]

Buddy Holly.

[Brundle-Fly]

Don't understand the brief of this thread.

Where are all the Live Aid behemoths on this list?

U2? Queen?  Can't stand most of their music but even so. 

No Beyonce or any Hip Hop royalty?

[The Masked Unit]

Stevie Wonder.