Rolling Stone has put up images of 25 of the ballots from its Greatest Singers Of All Time But Really We Only Mean The Rock Era survey, so amateur graphologists can figure out just what Iggy Pop is trying to say when he writes in all-lowercase or the meaning behind the curly tail on Alice Cooper’s “M”s. My favorite ballot is, of course, Courtney Love’s, in part because her finished product brings the phrase “blotted my copybook” to new heights previously only seen by my Saturday New York Times crossword. Sure, she puts herself at the top of the list, but at least she actually snuck a few under-40s in. Subversive! (Other people who put themselves at No. 1: James Blunt, Sebastian Bach, and Maynard James Keenan, who at least had the guts to let himself stand alone.) [RS]
pointless listmaking
Courtney Love Probably Does Crosswords In Pen, Too
Categories:
pointless listmaking
pointless listmaking
i like keith richards’ the best because he ranked george jones the highest of anyone (bruce hornsby being the only other person to include him at all) and because he put himself last, which makes it seem like an honest joke (putting yourself #1 is kinda an ‘i’m just kidding - but not really entirely’ move and if you rank yourself somewhere in the middle you’re not even pretending it may be a joke, you’ve seriously considered where you should go on the list).
If I was talking to my friends while reading this, I would say something along the lines of, “On a scale of one to tool, James Blunt is a ten.” But he’s such a tool that I’m going to amend it.
On a scale of one to James Blunt, James Blunt is a James Blunt.
…Also, I like Chris Frantz, Springsteen, and Lenny Kaye’s lists the most, and Sebastian Bach (I know they wanted diversity, but why they even bothered asking that jackass, I’ll never understand) and James Hetfield’s (just goes to show that he’s probably never listened to an R&B, country, or non-metal rock song in his fucking life) the least. And you’ve gotta love Courtney putting Conor Oberst at #20.
I really love Solomon Burke’s handwriting.
Clem Burke and Sebastian Bach’s lists are totes the best of all.
@the rich girls are weeping: pretty much everything Clem Burke does is ‘best of all’!
[de]
@dippinkind: I just love that he writes “last name, first name”. He’s so proper!
@kicking222: for all is jackassitude, Sebastian Bach has a killer voice. Not sure if that means his opinion should matter, but just making that clear.
I thought Jim James’ list showed a surprising amount of knowledge and maturity. And yes, yes, James Hetfield’s list sucked. I mean, Chris Cornell at #7? Really, James? Really??
Liam Ghallagher? Really now, Courtney…
rolling stone just sucks.
@2ironic4u: ORLY? Couldda fooled me with that ballot, since the only country singer he’s got on there is Johnny Cash. In fact, of his twenty singers, only three are not of the hard rock/metal/punk variety (and Van Zant isn’t far off, while Freddie and Johnny could be on absolutely anyone’s list, even if they’d never heard ‘em sing). The ballot doesn’t so much tell me that he’s a big fan of country and blues music as it does reaffirm my belief that he’s an idiot.
@2ironic4u: @kicking222: I like that the only two people who listed Ozzy were Hetfield and Ozzy. (Maybe Hetfield does love country/blues, but doesn’t want to let the general public know that, so he lists mostly metal acts so he will (still?) be viewed as “metal.”)
@kicking222:
So the lead singer of a metal band idolizes other singers of a similar style. Shocking. Next thing you’ll tell me that B.B. King picked a lot of black singers and Bruce Springsteen’s choices were all pre-1980’s vintage. Doubleplusshocking. You’re a douche, and I don’t even like Metallica, although props to Mr. Hetfield for picking Jaz Coleman out of the pile.
@kicking222: Actually James Hetfield is a relatively big fan of country/blues music.