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Rolling Stone top 100 Guitarists - Howe/Van Halen

OK, I just listened to The Yes Album for about the millionth time and I have one question; how on earth did the dudes at Rolling Stone put Steve Howe at number 69 on their list? I realize they tend to be a holier than thou (or smarter-than-thou) bunch, but come on. Didn't this guy win like every guitar award from musician magazines in the 70's? I was shocked as I read through the list and saw the names ahead of him. I just assumed he would be in the top 10 for unbelievable technical skill alone. The guy is simply amazing. I don't want to start a debate on some of the extremely questionable picks, especially in the top 10, but this guy is one of the all time greats.

To me it's like forgetting about Stan Musial because he played in St Louis instead of NY, LA or Chicago. Still one of the all time greats.

That brings me to the most amazing slight on that list: Eddie Van Halen at 70??? Didn't he basically invent speed metal? His tapping technic along with the rest of his unbelievable arsenal should put him in the top 10 if not the top 5, I mean come on. Because they didn't like Van Halen's pop/Rock they shun him down to 70?? I'm not a huge Van Halen fan but I think they had 2 great albums (Van Halen, 1984) and his playing on those alone should get him in the top 10.

I kept thinking that with the exceptions, IMO, of Jimmy Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Kirk Hammett no one else could play all the music of all the other guitarists as well as VH could. George Harrison, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton or The Edge getting through 'Eruption', 'Ain't Talkin' Bout Love' or 'Hot for Teacher'? I don't think so. I can't think of anything Van Halen couldn't play extremely well, both artistically and technically.

Most the "Greatest" lists are BS, but this instance seemed really egregious to me.
macdadtexas
rwwear
2,847 posts
 
Rolling Stone is mostly a left wing political rag these days and should go away, I Believe. But isn't it Top "Rock" Guitarists?

Segovia, Gordon Giltrap, Pepe Romero, John Williams(also in the band Sky)are all amazing.
dsper
657 posts
 
Macdadtexas,

Saw this old post.

I agree that the Yes album is wonderful... also agree that Eric Clapton is not that great - the Yardbirds were much better with Beck.

Interesting that no one mentioned Les Paul in the posts.
donjr
1,335 posts
 
Steve Howe is still amazing but Eddie van Halen is awesome but no bog deal. Jimmy Page makes him look like a child.
macdadtexas OP
1,794 posts
 
I'm a huge Zeppelin fan, and not a very big Van Halen fan, but I don't agree Jimmy Page makes Eddie VH look like a child. I like Zeppelin much better, but I still think EVH is every bit as good as the GREAT Jimmy Page.

My top 5 would be:

1) Jimmy Hendrix
2) Steve Howe
3) Jimmy Page
4) Eddie Van Halen
5) Carlos Santana

My take on the best ever
qdrone
1,039 posts
 
I bet half the people who contributed to this article were not even around when The yardbirds were around. I haven't read a Rolling Stone in ages not since they started to cover all media evenly. Remember no list will satisfy anyone unless they wrote it.
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