Greatest Americans - Part 7 - Musicians & Singers
May 26, 2005
Posted by at May 26, 2005 09:15 PM
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You all voted General George S. Patton as the greatest American Hero or Icon. The General will join John Wayne, Mark Twain, Jim Thorpe, Henry Ford and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the finals.
Our next category is musicians and singers. Now, before you all protest at my choices, I have to point out that these are not necessarily my favorites. I tried to limit the list to those artists that are widely respected for their singing and/or musicianship. If this was a list of my favorites, believe me, it'd look far, far different and James would complain that no one had heard of any of them ;-).
So, without further ado, go ahead and pick the next Greatest American:
The polls are closed and Elvis Presley was our winner.
Here's the schedule for the rest of the categories:
1. Actors & Directors: May 9-11
2. Artists & Writers: May 12-14 (This will replace "Political Figures")
3. Athletes: May 15-17
4. Business Leaders: May 18-20
5. Champions of Causes: May 21-23
6. Heroes & Icons: May 24-26
7. Musicians: May 27-29
8. Politicians: May 30-June 1
9. Scientists, Inventors & Explorers: June 2-4
Posted by at May 26, 2005 09:15 PM
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Comments
| # May 26th, 2005 10:04 PM BVBigBro |
| Where do I vote for Richard Rodgers? |
| # May 26th, 2005 10:09 PM KVBigSis |
| No Aaron Copeland?
No freakin' STEVIE WONDER? Who ARE you????? |
| # May 27th, 2005 7:54 AM kris |
| I have no idea who Richard Rodgers is. Also, if you're going to freak out about who is on the list, it might be helpful to state who you think your choices should replace. |
| # May 27th, 2005 8:57 AM jagorham |
| Alas, that's the problem of the limited number of folks on these polls (not your problem, I know, Kris).
Richard Rodgers - as in Rodgers and Hamerstein ("Sound of Music," among others) and Rodgers and Hart before that. As with all of these lists, greatness is like beauty and is in the eye of the beholder. I could make convincing arguments about American musical pioneers like Stephen Foster and W.C. Handy, or even 19th-century musicians like Louis Morreau Gottschalk and Scott Joplin. That being said - I voted for Gershwin. |
| # May 27th, 2005 9:02 AM kris |
| Geez, or Sousa even. |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:15 AM BVBigBro |
| How can someone who purports to have been raised on Victory at Sea not know who Richard Rodgers is? He should replace Hank Williams or Michael Jackson. |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:19 AM kris |
| why should i pick him over Hammerstein? What's wrong with Hammerstein? |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:21 AM BVBigBro |
| Rodgers gets in for his work without Hammerstein. |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:22 AM james |
| replace hank williams? give me a break. hank williams did more for rock and country music, "american" music, than any other artist in the history of the republic. there shouldnt be anyone else even on this poll. |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:24 AM kris |
| heh, i should have just picked exactly who *I* wanted:
Paul Westerberg Bob Mould George Gershwin John Phillip Sousa Jimi Hendrix Chuck D Rhett Miller Johnny Cash Aretha Franklin imagine all the bitching then! |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:26 AM james |
| i think you forgot skeelo |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:26 AM kris |
| all the mocking in the world can't stop me |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:28 AM BVBigBro |
| bill Monroe or Earl Scruggs instead of Hank Williams. |
| # May 27th, 2005 10:33 AM kris |
| I would consider Monroe, as you know how I feel about bluegrass |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:01 AM james |
| there are some fun lists here, though i dont know much about their methodologies.
one of their lists reminded me of conway twitty. definitely deserving of an honorable mention. |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:08 AM james |
| hey, kris, |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:09 AM kris |
| actually, i heard him on Letterman the other night and he sounded quite a bit more country than he used to. plus, the band he used to be in (i'm blanking on the name) was alt-country. is it whiskeytown? |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:11 AM james |
| no idea. my knowlege of him starts and stops with my telling you that he was at border's on L St. last year. |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:12 AM kris |
| really? i think you might like him but for the fact that he's such a yoooge ass |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:12 AM james |
| personally, i might have given jody evans an honorable mention. ;-) maybe in a few years. |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:18 AM kris |
| i need to hear more from Jody. to me, he just sounds like he's stuck in a particular era. he might be a one-trick pony. |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:21 AM james |
| still, one trick is one more trick than ryan adams has.
based on the best selling list, perhaps billy joel also deserves an honorable mention. i forgot all about him. |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:23 AM kris |
| i actually thought about including him, but figured people would be all over me about it.
how can you rip on ryan adams when you haven't heard anything by him? don't you realize by now that when i recommend something you usually end up liking it (blue rodeo, kelly clarkson, ec.)? |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:35 AM james |
im having a real hard time understanding why garth brooks is at #10 but hank williams, jr is way down at #47. hank, jr was the original garth brooks - garth attained huge crossver success b/c his album came out right after the industry installed point-of-sale scanners that tracked popularity based on actual purchases. after the implementation of the system, hollywood and nashville were both stunned to find out that country music sales were actually bigger than hollywood sales. up until then, everyone had just assumed that only hicks listened to country and that nashville couldn't possibly compete with hollywood. seeing garth's huge popularity, top-40 stations began playing him. hank, jr had the same crossover appeal, but for a long time it was unacknowledged by nashville b/c they were still snubbing the "outlaw" country.
... his biggest hit in the late '70s was a cover of Bobby Fuller's "I Fought the Law," which reached number 15 -- but in the final six months of 1979, he had two Top Ten singles, "Family Tradition" and "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound," which began a virtually uninterrupted streak of 29 Top Ten hits that ran into 1988. source |
| # May 27th, 2005 11:35 AM james |
| i dont like either of those, sorry. not to sound too contrary, i think i told you that i liked kelly doing "things like that there" - i thought she sounded good. that's hardly saying that i like the girl as an artist. and blue rodeo, i think all i know is diamond mine. which is ok. not a great tune. but ok. in any event, it's all i know by them |
| # May 27th, 2005 12:31 PM KVBigSis |
| I would eliminate Jimi Hendrix. He definitely wasn't the best singer, and he couldn't read music, so I just can't vote for him as best musician.
Bob Dylan - terrible singer. His greatness is more in his political commentary than it is in his musicianship. And Richard Rodgers is a GREAT choice! (Kris, Hammerstein doesn't make it because he was the lyricist.) |
| # May 27th, 2005 12:36 PM kris |
| you WOULD think Dylan is great because of his politics. He's on the list because of his song writing
and Hendrix is non-negotiable to me. he's a fantastic, sexy singer AND he's only the best guitar player ever. |
| # May 27th, 2005 12:57 PM kris |
| James,
You have a good point on HW Jr. Now that I've heard some of his songs, I'd have to say that Garth Brooks basically just copied him. As for Kelly & Blue Rodeo--you've only heard one song by them and you liked it. Why assume you'd hate everything else? Contrarian ;-) |