Well when I saw this edition I instantly thought of a few things. First I flashed back to the Rolling Stone top 500 songs and the tongue wagging that went on over that. It is a bit hard to take a list seriously when the name of the magazine is Rolling Stone and the numbers 1 and 2 songs are Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan and Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. Sure you can make an argument for those songs, but it is pretty easy to see why they were 1 and 2.
Any such list is all about subjectivity, but you can also expect some risky picks because they want people to talk about it.
As for singing, there is singing and singing and singing. Greatest singers is another story.
Coming from a rock magazine, I hardly expected any classical singers. I am impressed enough that they tossed in some crossover artists from blues and country.
Pretty much you are left with rock and pop singers.
I'm not sure that those styles of music are conducive to great singers, so I take greatest with a grain of salt right off the bat. There are exceptions of course, but great singing and rock don't always go hand in hand, so....
I listen to music now a lot differently than I did when I was younger. Back in the day, I never thought people like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Neil Young could really sing. But they can. They all sing in tune and hit notes I couldn't even dream of. The sound of their voices may not be appealing to some, but they can sing.
I don't know if I would call any of them great singers though. Janis may have the best shot of the three. She had a powerful voice and seems to have some pretty decent range. But really I can't call any of them great singers.
Probably about half of that list is made up of great acts, great writers, great performers, great personalities, media darlings and whatever else. I would be hard pressed to call half of them great singers. Most of them are missing elements from their repetoire.
I think they all have some great aspect to them though or more precisely to their singing. Be uniqueness or style or range or whatever all of them have something in their corner. It is just that most of them don't have the whole package. And I think that is true of many rock singers.
Where by the way is Pat Benatar? We are talking about someone who could really rock and sing ballards. Someone who has a huge octave range and a really powerful voice. What caused them to leave her off the list?
That is one of the reasons why I don't put a lot of stock in this list or any other. Bob Dylan is on there because he is Bob Dylan. Same for Janis and Neil Young.