I think Billy Gibbons, Rory Gallagher and ALvin Lee need to be in the top 10, IMHO.
The girl from the Bangles make the list?
"Punker Mike" Lurkin!
Jeez--who compiled this thing? Duane Allman a better player than Buddy Guy, Knopfler, Dick Dale, Stevie Ray and Carlos Santana? Albert King and Django Reinhardt not even on the list? Cripers.
Chet Atkins.
No Joabim, Leo Kotke or Slash?
Bad list.
Definitely. What a BS list. Where's Nugent? Jack White? Kurt Cobain? Gimme a break. I love the Ramones, but Johnny Ramone? Where is Brian Setzer, Joe Satriani, or Steve Vai?
Kurt Cobain is # 12 ? Perhaps 12,012. This list is caca.
Yngwie Malmstein ROCKS
Les Paul
If Johnny Winter ain't there it BS!!
Who ever compiled this list does not have clue. Probably a bunch of Rap tapping, Acid Brain, Sewer mouthed, lip sinking, computer Generated...Noise lovers from the current Generation.
And Randy Rhodes at #85...Give me a break!
Warren Haynes
Billy Jones-Outlaws, Leo Kottke, Nils Lofgren, Rory Gallagher, Ottmar Liebert, to name a few.
They go 1 and 2 right - that's about it.
Kurt Cobain, #12 and Eddie Van Halen, #70.
I was never a fan of Van Halen, and the songs I did like were more keyboard based. But Van Halen's finger-tapping technique pretty much had every teen-aged boy in America for the next 15 years trying to emulate him. Michael Jackson was launched from pop star to the most famous person alive in 1983, with the best-selling album in history, largely due to the synthesis of r'n'b and metal in "Beat it;" Van Halen's role may have been small in minutes (only on one track), but for a brief while, Van Halen made Michael Jackson cool.
Kurt Cobain, OTOH, is known mostly for his unique *vocal* and performance style, and his lyrics which demonstrated his advanced stages of his mortal bipolar disorder.
And while I wouldn't put David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd) on top, the man's guitar style is the most instantly- recognizable instrument in recorded music history. Where's he?
I think that Rolling Stone was considering which guitarists had the most iconic looks, period.
I distinctly notice none of the ubiquitous 80s studio-session guitarists. Calling this collection of poster boys the best guitarists is like calling Che Guevera the world's greatest statesman.
Obviously rock slanted...no Doc Watson, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Tommy Emmanuel, Django...lotta others.
A new guy who I think is incredible is Bryan Sutton, though he's done very little on his own as of yet.
Ooh...and Chet Atkins. And plenty of others who I'll remember as soon as I hit post...