The other greatest singers of all time
Image: Aretha Franklin tops the Rolling Stone top 200 singers list at number 1. Image: Getty
Rolling Stone magazine has lit up the internet with its compilation of “The 200 Greatest Singers of all Time.” The list has caused outrage and argument regarding the people who have been included, the order of entries, and in particular, the singers who did not make the cut.
In its introduction to the list, Rolling Stone goes to pains to emphasise that the criteria for inclusion was not necessarily based on technical virtuosity. It’s a list of the greatest singers, not the greatest voices. They also explain why the list doesn’t include any opera or musical theatre singers.
“[Our] purview is pop music writ large, meaning that almost all the artists on this list had significant careers as crossover stars making popular music for the masses. […]
“In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy […] These are the vocalists that have shaped history and defined our lives — from smooth operators to raw shouters, from gospel to punk, from Sinatra to Selena to SZA.”
Aretha Franklin tops the list and Whitney Houston comes in at number 2. Neither of those two choices should cause much offense, but it is a subjective ranking so, sure, there’ll always be naysayers. It’s other areas of the list, however, that are more provocative.
Given Rolling Stone’s intention stated above, how do they justify the 25-year-old singer, Jungkook from the Korean band, BTS, coming in at 191? Or his current girlfriend, Korean singer UI, aged 29, being ranked 135?
Can they at such young ages and with arguably a fairly limited demographic appeal, be considered to have already created a musical legacy, shaped history and defined our lives?
Meanwhile, a wild storm is raging on social media regarding those who were left under the cut-off line, including: Celine Dion, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Bob Marley and Lionel Richie, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb among an endless field of more.
Neither did any of some of our most beloved and talented Aussie singers get a look in. No joy for: Olivia Newton-John, Tina Arena, Brian Johnson, Michael Hutchence, Kylie Minogue, or John Farnham.
A compilation like this was always going to cause controversy, and maybe that was the plan all along.
See the full list here:www.rollingstone.com
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