VH1's Terrible List

So VH1 has comprised a list of the top 100 artists of all-time, and they've polled a bunch of current musicians and music columnists and experts to create this list. And I knew right off the bat, once I saw Hall & Oates and Depeche Mode at 99 and 98, that I was in for a bad time. I've watched these shows and anxiously await how bad VH1 and today's dim-wit musical geniuses rape this list. VH1 is keeping the top 5's placement a secret until they air the last hour. So gaze upon the awfulness.


100. Alicia Keys
99. Hall & Oates
98. Depeche Mode
97. Pretenders
96. Journey
95. OutKast
94. Mariah Carey
93. Pearl Jam
92. LL Cool J
91. Green Day
90. Elvis Costello
89. Beastie Boys
88. Bee Gees
87. George Michael
86. N.W.A.
85. The Band
84. Curtis Mayfield
83. Earth Wind and Fire
82. Steely Dan
81. ABBA
80. Mary J. Blige
79. Eminem
78. Judas Priest
77. Lynyrd Skynyrd
76. Run-DMC
75. Rush
74. The Cure
73. Van Morrison
72. Janis Joplin
71. R.E.M.
70. Def Leppard
69. Tupac Shakur
68. Otis Redding
67. Coldplay
66. Justin Timberlake
65. The Doors
64. Talking Heads
63. Notorious B.I.G.
62. Genesis
61. Cream
60. Whitney Houston
59. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
58. Cheap Trick
57. Iggy & the Stooges
56. KISS
55. Peter Gabriel
54. Public Enemy
53. Little Richard
52. Beyonce
51. Billy Joel
50. Sade
49. Parliament-Funkadelic
48. Rage Against the Machine
47. Jay-Z
46. Ramones
45. Al Green
44. Joni Mitchell
43. Ray Charles
42. Metallica
41. Van Halen
40. The Police
39. The Kinks
38. Sly & The Family Stone
37. Fleetwood Mac
36. Paul McCartney
35. Johnny Cash
34. Tina Turner
33. Guns N’ Roses
32. Black Sabbath
31. John Lennon
30. Aerosmith
29. Radiohead
28. Elton John
27. Aretha Franklin
26. Neil Young
25. Chuck Berry
24. The Velvet Underground
23. AC/DC
22. The Clash
21. Bruce Springsteen
20. Marvin Gaye
19. U2
18. Pink Floyd
17. Queen
16. Madonna
15. The Beach Boys
14. Nirvana
13. The Who
12. David Bowie
11. Bob Marley
10. Stevie Wonder
9. James Brown
8. Elvis Presley
7. Prince
6. Jimi Hendrix

5-1 The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones (who will ranked on the airing of the program).


Ok so what can I say but, holy sh*t this is terrible.

Just on the heavy front, where are:

Pantera
Iron Maiden
Nine Inch Nails
Tool
Marylin Manson
Smashing Pumpkins
Slayer
Alice In Chains


Where are The Supremes and The Temptations? When The Beatles hit America and took over music, it was only these two groups from Mo-Town who survived to make it to the 70’s.

Where is Alice F'N Cooper? His vaudeville style helped to inspire Black Sabbath to take the darker avenue of rock that gave birth to heavy metal.

Where is Frank Zappa, one of the most well rounded and accomplished musicians of the previous century.

No Frank Sinatra?
No Sarah McLaughlin?
No Celine Deon?
No Smiths?
No Eric Clapton (yeah they mentioned him in Cream...but hello, "Layla")
No Dr Dre (mentioned in NWA, but The Chronic is the greatest hip-hop album)
No Joan Baez….and countless “non English” speaking artists?


Pearl Jam is ranked 93, while Nirvana is 14? That makes me want to spit in someone's face that we still worship Cobain, Pearl Jam is ignored and Alice In Chains is forgotten completely. Foo Fighters should be on the list then, since they've had a longer and far more talented run then Nirvana ever did. Beyonce and Justin Timberlake are ranked higher then Mary J Blige, REM and The Cure, who voted for this list, front-runners and high-school kids? The Doors just out ranked Justin Timberlake, word, the Doors just ranked higher then the "Bringing Sexy Back Guy".


Somebody else complain with me, please.

Are they saying these artists are terrible or what 'cause something's not clicking in my head.

Ginger_Snaps wrote:

Are they saying these artists are terrible or what 'cause something's not clicking in my head.

No this is their list of the Top-100 Artists of All-Time.

Where's Tori Amos?! Also agreed as to where Tool is. Or A Perfect Circle or Nightwish...
I also agree as to where the rest of the heavy metalers are. Geeze....these lists are just aggravating

I agree with you, Spooky, Nsane and WIR, and I'm here to add to the rantfest.

As much as I love some of those bands, classic rock being as big a part of my life as my own heartbeat (thanks for the radio against your tummy, Mom, lol), that sort of list has been done to death. How about a list of underrated but brilliant bands? They can call them "Cult Favorites" or something else cheesy, I don't care, as long as they get recognition. But VH1 hasn't got the ***** to touch a project like that, and MTV is too busy with Jersey Shore. Maybe Fuse.

Looked at the list again... all the choices are so frustratingly "safe".

I'm not going to say I don't like some of the people on the list, but there are a ton of bands that could replace all the band I hate on there. It's sad because we all know there are bands that deseve to be on there but didn't get on most likely because they were too against the norm and pop culture today.

I'm glad to see The Cure is on there at all, but putting Michael Jackson up there with the Beatles and The Stones? WTF, his music didn't suddenly get better because he's dead.

No surprise though, these lists always suck.

What a list - it's the bland leading the bland and how safe!!

No Sex Pistols, no Nick Cave yet f**king Mariah "wails like a harpy on heat" gets in there

And........... the Clash should have been a hell of a lot higher than they were. No Clash = no U2, no Manics, no Green Day. Nuff said

GhostRed wrote:

I'm glad to see The Cure is on there at all, but putting Michael Jackson up there with the Beatles and The Stones? WTF, his music didn't suddenly get better because he's dead.

No surprise though, these lists always suck.

This I disagree with, Micheal Jackson being called "The King Of Pop" wasn't a joke, there's only three musical entities which legitimately saw people lose their minds when they preformed, causing fans to weep, go into convulsions and near riot out of joy: The Beatles, Elvis and Micheal Jackson. He took James Brown's dance moves and improved them when he was 8 years old, and made hit music from the 60's to the 90's. You can't throw a stone at any one of these pop-dance videos, reality shows or movies without hitting someone who is directly inspired by his moves. Plus he made Thriller....Thriller, period.


Right off the top of my head though, just to the Top 20, I would remove U2 and replace them with Neil Young, and I'd remove Nirvana and replace them with Elton John. Because Elton John and Neil Young are so vastly superior to both overrated acts Nirvana and U2.

I'd also take Bob Dylan right out of the top 5 and replace him with Elvis and move David Bowie up another spot, because Elvis and David Bowie are far more influential on the last 30 years of music then Bob Dylan. I see more of David Bowie in 75% of mega groups and artists then Dylan. Anybody who wants to tell me that major musical acts like Lady Gaga, Marylin Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Madonna, Queen, The Cure, AFI, Tori Amos or Prince were more inspired by Bob Dylan rather then David Bowie is off their meds. Dylan wrote songs from the heart, sure, but Bowie made revolutionary music visually and audibly that changed pop culture or adapted to it, inspiring three generations of artists. Bowie's look, style and sound would help in some part to give birth to glam rock, goth, new wave, shock rock and music videos... while Dylan helped "deep" college kids with a guitar playing open mic nights to score some chicks after a few cappuccinos. David Bowie is way more important to western music then Dylan, and I'm a big Bob Dylan fan, but I'd put Bob Dylan lower then Bowie and Elvis on my list of Greatest Ever.



Plus having people like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake on this list is in poor taste because they aren't even in the middle of their careers yet. They've done so much, but to put them that high now is silly, they're huge now but their bodies of work do not compare at all yet to the 20-30 year careers of performers from the 50's through the 70's who paved the way for them. How is Beyonce on a list where Diana Ross isn't mentioned, when there would be no Beyonce breaking out from Destiny's Child if Diana Ross didn't break out from the Supremes. Today's super stars need to be judged later in their career, but sadly those voting have flavor-of-the-month-itis which pop culture seems to breed.

^^ Very good point re: Diana Ross.

As regards Beyonce and Timberlake: I agree they ought not be on the list, and frankly I don't think they'll ever legitimately have a place on any "artists of all time" list. The artists who have real staying power have 1) evolved as artists throughout their career rather than just churning out identical sounds record after record, and 2) influenced recording artists that followed them. I don't think Beyonce or Timberlake will grow artistically. At all. And the thought of anyone being influenced by them? God, the only thing I can think of that sounds worse than their music would be music that is derivative of theirs.

these lists are always completely safe and they change every year, I'd pay attention to it and put my opinion in but then the new list would be out...

I think I saw a vh1 list of the worst musical artists and I have to agree with the #1 slot...ICP

I only watch this stuff when it is on because I have nothing else better to do or I want a good laugh.

I've never seen VH1. And I can not believe for the sake of all bands
that BLUE OYSTER CULT!!!!!! is not on their list. And raking high on it.
Even my grave is rolling

There's my complaint contribution.

I would add in there'a ? as to Ozzy, but there's that lil'bat thing going around.
Is it true? Was it real? Was it alive?

Woohoo Def Leppard is on the list

Cyn, I'm with ya on B.O.C.! These lists are always such a disappointment. :/

Spooky wrote:

GhostRed wrote:

I'm glad to see The Cure is on there at all, but putting Michael Jackson up there with the Beatles and The Stones? WTF, his music didn't suddenly get better because he's dead.

No surprise though, these lists always suck.

This I disagree with, Micheal Jackson being called "The King Of Pop" wasn't a joke, there's only three musical entities which legitimately saw people lose their minds when they preformed, causing fans to weep, go into convulsions and near riot out of joy: The Beatles, Elvis and Micheal Jackson. He took James Brown's dance moves and improved them when he was 8 years old, and made hit music from the 60's to the 90's. You can't throw a stone at any one of these pop-dance videos, reality shows or movies without hitting someone who is directly inspired by his moves. Plus he made Thriller....Thriller, period.

I guess I didn't realize the gravity Mr. Jackson caused! Don't get me wrong, I like his music, but I suppose I would think Bowie should be up there with them. Then again, I guess he was more of a god-type outside the US.