From: bt979@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeff Preston)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Subject: Hang The World: Musician flirts with the flame game
Date: 11 Jan 1993 23:55:49 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: bt979@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeff Preston)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


  Yes, the February issue of Musician has found its way into my little
cubicle at the university post office (in addition to a certain philosophical
list member's "Stupid Guitar Tricks" tape, which is kinda ironic, as you
will no doubt see in a moment). The cover story (man, I love this one, too)
is "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century (You Wanna Fight About
It?)." And yes, that paranthetical part *is* actually a part of the title.
It seems that things turned ugly at the home office when they were putting
this one together... they mention thrown telephones and adolescent-type
ballot-fixing in the elimination process -- and these are grown men, these
editors!  I think we should extend a personal invitation for them to join
us here on Allmusic (sounds like a typical day, no?).  ;)
  So, to start the war machines rolling here, I thought I'd at least
report what the editors of Musician decided were "The 100 Greatest
Guitarists of the 20th Century"; they didn't try to rank these artists in
any kind of order, but then again, these people *do* have to work together
after this article is done. But they did write a brief paragraph about each
player, and why they deserved inclusion in the list... it's worth checking
out for the ones you haven't heard about, surely. Yes folks, there truly are
enough guitar players with which to hang the world, as Beer and Captain Kirk
would remind us, but only a few can hold the rope. The envelope, please:

  Under the catagory of "Prime Movers":

  Chuck Berry
  Charlie Christian
  Maybelle Carter
  Bo Diddley
  Django Reinherdt
  Chet Atkins
  Rev. Gary Davis
  Charley Patton
  Scotty Moore
  Freddie Green
  John Lee Hooker
  Merle Travis
  Duane Eddy
  Hank Garland
  Muddy Waters
  Elizabeth Cotton
  Wes Montgomery
  Andres Segovia
  Eldon Shamblin

  Under the catagory of "Prototypes":

  Jimmy Nolen
  Dr. Nico
  Tony Iommi
  Jim Hall
  Keith Richards
  Curtis Mayfield
  Gabby Pahinui
  Duane Allman
  Pete Townshend
  Steve Cropper
  James Burton
  Dick Dale

  Under the catagory of "Jazz":

  Pat Metheny
  Larry Coryell
  George Benson
  Pat Martino
  John Scofield
  Emily Remler
  Joe Pass
  Barney Kessel
  Sonny Sharrock
  Stanley Jordan
  Pete Cosey

  Under the heading of "Fingerprints":

  Carlos Santana
  Ry Cooder
  Neil Young
  Steve Morse
  Clarence White
  Albert Lee
  Randy Rhoads
  Yngwie Malmsteen
  Jerry Garcia
  Eric Johnson
  Al DiMeola
  Mark Knopfler
  Richard Thompson

  Under the heading of "Acoustic":

  John Fahey
  Leo Kottke
  Lonnie Johnson
  Paco De Lucia
  Jorma Kaukonen
  Martin Carthey
  Doc Watson

  Under the heading of "Team Players":

  The Beatles (yeah, all of 'em but Ringo)
  Robbie Robertson
  James Honeyman-Scott
  Ross Garnick
  Tommy Tedesco
  Nils Lofgren
  Mike Campbell
  Al Anderson
  Ricky Scaggs

  Under the heading of "Punk and Post-Punk":

  Johnny Ramone
  Cheetah Chrome
  Tom Verlaine
  Richard Lloyd
  The Edge

  Under the heading of "Blues":

  B.B. King
  Elmore James
  Eric Clapton
  Albert King
  Stevie Ray Vaughan
  Robben Ford
  Mississippi John Hurt
  T-Bone Walker
  Buddy Guy
  Otis Rush
  Albert Collins

  Under the heading of "Post-20th Century":

  Steve Vai
  Joe Satriani
  Bill Frisell
  Fred Frith
  Dave Tronzo
  Michael Hedges
  Vernon Reid

  Lastly, under no heading whatsoever (although they were listed first
in the article, I saved them for last as a dramatic effect, heh... at any
rate one would have to wonder why they didn't stick a label on these guys):

  Jeff Beck
  Jimi Hendrix
  Jimmy Page
  Edward Van Halen
  Frank Zappa
  John McLaughlin
  and...
  Allan Holdsworth

  Let the jihad begin!

  Jeff ("n.n.")

-- 
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