Earlier this week, Rolling Stone released an updated version of their “200 Greatest Singers” list. The article first appeared in 2008, and as with most “best-of” lists, it proved controversial.
While various rock and metal vocalists made the list, there were many notable omissions including AC/DC vocalists Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, Metallica’s James Hetfield, Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, KISS vocalists Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Anthrax singers Joey Belladonna and John Bush, Ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Pantera’s Phillip Anselmo and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate.
Gene Simmons was asked his opinion of the list by a TMZ reporter, who noted that KISS was excluded. “Well, that’s okay. I was thinking of buying Rolling Stone.”
Simmons added: “Well, it’s skewed. You have to consider who’s popular and who’s not. But if you really think about it, how good somebody sings may be part and parcel of what they do. For instance, if Jimi Hendrix, who had a long — well, actually a short career, but he was very famous, would he make it on ‘American Idol’? How about Bob Dylan… And I wrote songs with Bob Dylan; I know the guy. Would he make it on ‘American Idol’?
“How well you sing is not the most important thing. It’s, do you have style? Do you have a fingerprint that says, ‘I know that voice immediately’?”
The reporter than mentioned Ozzy ranking in at No. 112. Simmons responded: “That’s a crime. Look, somebody sits in a backroom — Jann Wenner [Rolling Stone co-founder] and those guys — they sit in a backroom and they decide things. Nobody asked me. Did they ask you? Apparently not.”
Simmons was also asked where he should rank on the list. “Oh, I don’t give a f*ck. Really,” he said.
Should artists care about best-of lists? Simmons said: “No, they shouldn’t. If you’ve got success, that’s enough. Accolades and all that, you get that when you do a concert or when fans come up. That’s the best thing. To be on a poll by a magazine by people in the backroom, I don’t know how much that means.”
The rock/metal vocalists recognized included John Lennon (12), Freddie Mercury (14), Paul McCartney (26), David Bowie (32), Mick Jagger (52), Robert Plant (63), Chris Cornell (80), Steve Perry (82), Eddie Vedder (105), Roger Daltrey (109), Ozzy Osbourne (112), Rob Halford (129), Axl Rose (134), Ronnie James Dio (165), Iggy Pop (176), Bob Seger (181) and Glenn Danzig (199).
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