Top 5 Musicians Of All Time

[FileyBulldog]

My top 5 musicians of all time

 

1- Driftless Pony Club

2- The Offspring

3- Nirvana

4- Queens Of The Stone Age

5- Queenadreena

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1. Bruce Springsteen

2. Blondie

3. Duran Duran

4. Daft Punk

5. Red Hot Chili Peppers

[Irish Saint]

1.  Bob Marley

2. Woody Guthrie

3. Neil Young

4. Bob Dylan

5. Chris Rea

[HawkMan]

1. The Church

2. The Waterboys 

3. The Fall 

4. Sparks

5. Neil Finn and Tim Finn and associated groups  Crowded House and Split Enz and solo work.

[FileyBulldog]

31 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

1. The Church

2. The Waterboys 

3. The Fall 

4. Sparks

5. Neil Finn and Tim Finn and associated groups  Crowded House and Split Enz and solo work.

Love The Church

[HawkMan]

19 minutes ago, FileyBulldog said:

Love The Church

Yes great,  Steve Kilbey is a genius. So prolific too, 20 or so solo albums too. Just discovered a new solo one that I've just purchased from Amazon,  "Hall of Counterfeits "

[Stirlin]

Joy Division

Chicago

Bowie

Tubes

Fashion

Devo

[ivans82]

Frank Zappa 

Family

Fairport Convention

Genesis  (Peter Gabriel years)

Led Zeppelin

[FileyBulldog]

42 minutes ago, ivans82 said:

Frank Zappa 

Family

Fairport Convention

Genesis  (Peter Gabriel years)

Led Zeppelin

Love Zappa

[graveyard johnny]

9 hours ago, HawkMan said:

1. The Church

2. The Waterboys 

3. The Fall 

4. Sparks

5. Neil Finn and Tim Finn and associated groups  Crowded House and Split Enz and solo work.

love - in an unguarded moment

[graveyard johnny]

morrissey

hmhb

bowie

demented are go

the toy dolls

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Many thanks, Filey Bulldog, for starting this set of 'top 5...of all time' threads.  Good fun, especially in the RL off-season.

My initial thoughts go back somewhat further than the suggestions made so far.  How about, for example, Guido of Arezzo (c991-c1035) who is credited with introducing musical notation to the western world in a widely accepted format, as well as the sight-singing format based on ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la ('ut' was later replaced by 'do', of course)  All modern music is based on, and benefits from, both of those.

Much more recently (comparatively speaking!), I think of those Tudor 'greats', Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, and a little after them, Henry Purcell.

What I particularly like about Purcell was his ability to write in so many different styles and be exceptionally good at each he tried.  He could dash you off a nice bit of incidental music which you would have heard on your visit to the theatre.  Or maybe a catch or two to be sung with the lads down at the tavern while the beer flowed.  I would happily quote you a text or two of those, but the prudish, censorious bit of technology which lurks behind this forum would stop me; apparently on here you cannot use words like c**t and f**t, as Purcell did!

And then there is his contribution to sacred music.  Last year, as I sung his anthem Remember, Lord, not our offences, it occurred to me that you don't need to be Christian to appreciate and value pieces like this.  They are are a stunning, musical examination of the human spirit and soul; Christianity happens to be the medium they use.

Purcell's music, very modern for its time, has stood the test of time well.  Look how his music for the funeral of Queen Mary resurfaced, in striking electronic form, as the title music for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

For musicians over the last half century, I would go for John Tavener.  If you don't know his music, try listening to, for example, The Sixteen singing his settings of two William Blake poems, The Lamb and The Tyger.  For best effect, listen to them in that order.

And, finally, I would include Brian Wilson.  My initial appreciation of harmony arguably stems from the Beach Boys at their best.  

[EagleEyePie]

I've had to go with a list of top 5 solo and top 5 bands as narrowing it down to just 5 is nearly impossible. I must listen to too much music.

 

Solo

Bon Iver (technically now a band, but began as a solo project)

City & Colour

Elliott Smith

Paul Simon

Taylor Swift

 

Bands

Alkaline Trio

Idlewild

Jimmy Eat World

Killswitch Engage

Spiritbox

Edited November 14, 2023 by EagleEyePie

[FileyBulldog]

26 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

I've had to go with a list of top 5 solo and top 5 bands as narrowing it down to just 5 is nearly impossible. I must listen to too much music.

 

Solo

Bon Iver (technically now a band, but began as a solo project)

City & Colour

Elliott Smith

Paul Simon

Taylor Swift

 

Bands

Alkaline Trio

Idlewild

Jimmy Eat World

Killswitch Engage

Spiritbox

High fives for Elliott Smith and Jimmy Eat World

[Josef K]

1. Half Man Half Biscuit 

2. The Wedding Present 

3. British Sea Power

4. Yo La Tengo

5. Grandaddy 

Chastity Belt, The Just Joans, The Lovely Eggs, Sonic Youth, Crass, The Breeders, Sultans Of Ping F.C. Ivor Cutler, The Membranes, The Sundays, Darren Hayman-Hefner, all came close. 

I would have had The Smiths in my top five but morrissey put me off. 

[graveyard johnny]

19 hours ago, Josef K said:

 

I would have had The Smiths in my top five but morrissey put me off. 

mate don't believe what they say - although its trendy to join in with the morrissey bashing - if you follow him like  I  do you wont know the real side of things - ok - he foolishly wore the for britain badge but that was about their stance against halal meat which no other party cared about at the time 

[ivans82]

Didn`t have the Smiths in my top 5 , but still listen to there albums a lot .

[Lowdesert]

1. Lindsay Buckingham.  Very underestimated musician.

2. Mick Ronson.  Influenced and worked with Dylan and Lou Reed.

3. Townshend, 4. Knopfler and 5. Stevie Wonder 

[R L Winger]

SOLO MUSICIANS

1...John Lennon

2...Paul McCartney

3...Eric Clapton

4...Jimi Hendrix

5...Bob Dylan

Bands

1...The Beatles

2...The Rolling Stones

3...Pink Floyd

4...The Doors

5...Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs

[ivans82]

On 20/11/2023 at 14:42, Lowdesert said:

1. Lindsay Buckingham.  Very underestimated musician.

2. Mick Ronson.  Influenced and worked with Dylan and Lou Reed.

3. Townshend, 4. Knopfler and 5. Stevie Wonder 

Spot on with Lindsay Buckingham , style all of His own .

[Wolford6]

Top 5 Guitars:

Stephen Stills & Billy Duffy ... Gretsch G6136 & Gretsch  Falcon (similar)

Johnny Winter ... Gibson Firebird

Lemmy ...  Rickenbacker 4000 bass

Wilko Johnson ... Fender Stratocaster

Paul Kossoff ... Gibson Les Paul (probably fourth-hand; certainly battered)