UNfriendly debate: "greatest" musicians (ever)

[Cold Gin]

Top 3 who easily come into mind

vocals:
Doug Lee
Rob Halford
Michael Kiske

bass:
Steve Harris
Phil Lynott
Cliff Williams

guitar:
Kai Hansen
Glen Tipton
Rob Philips

Drums:
Cozy Powell
Ian Paice
Phil Rudd

Keyboard:
Jim Crichton
Geddy Lee
Jon Lord

 

[meep17]

Oooooooh my first post on here. Cool.

Anyway, my picks.

Vocals:
Geoff Tate
Rob Halford
Bruce Dickinson
Russell Allen
Ian Gillan

Guitar:
Marty Friedman
Chris Poland
Dave Murray/Adrian Smith
Alex Skolnick
Tony Iommi
Stevie Ray Vaughan

Bass:
Steve Harris
Jason Newstead (At least his time in Flotsam and Jetsam)
Roger Waters (More so for his songwriting than for his actual bass playing)
Cliff Burton
John Entwistle

Drums:
Nick Menza
Charlie Benante (I dunno. I just like him.)
John Bonham
Neil Peart
Gene Hoglan

 

[Wyvern]

yes alice does still sounds great and halford doesn't now but that doesn't change the fact alice has limited vocal skill. i own every alice cooper album and only own about 6 judas priest albums and i'm for sure a bigger alice fan, as someone who is a singer i'm being honest

I have all JP albums and most of Alice material (except the crappy early 80's albums). And you can't compare first on the fact that Alice was there before Halford started and that he hasn't changed drastically his voice over ~40 years. On the other hand Halford is (was) the Metal God an astounding singer with high capabilities that surely helped the Priest to be where it is now. Still I won't ever dare to call Alice vocal skills limited, maybe different, never limited.


NP: Impaler - 'Monster Maker'

 

[SouthernTrendkill]

Well, the easy answer is Satan. He is credited for the music of...

Robert Johnson
Elvis
The Beatles
The Doors
Nirvana
Every metal band ever.

 

[Platinum Maze]

Lots of my favs have been mentioned, but I don't think I saw anyone mention Tony MacAlpine, master of keys and frets.

 

[mdmatt4ever]

Lots of my favs have been mentioned, but I don't think I saw anyone mention Tony MacAlpine, master of keys and frets.

look at the 5th post down

 

[tsorl]

Keyboard:
Jim Crichton

You mean Jim Gilmour? Saga is a killer band anyway!

Man, these lists are so pointless but I'll still name one extraordinarily great person from each category:

Vox: Geoff Tate (blueprint for every current prog/power singer)
Guitar: Buck Dharma (incredible sense for melody, great voice too)
Bass: Steve Harris (he plays lead bass guitar)
Drums: Uli Kusch (especially on the 90s Helloween albums, power!)
Keys: André Andersen (great sound, maybe it's wankery to some but it's very mesmerizing)

 

[Cold Gin]

You mean Jim Gilmour? Saga is a killer band anyway!

You got it .

 

[Death Animal]

Ritchie Blackmoore
Toni Iomi
Wolf Hoffman
Zachary Hietala
Jeff Waters

 

[Bryant]

Drums:

Phil Rudd

I can't believe I pulled Cliff out of the hat (mostly for tone) but forgot about adding Phil. I should tell a story (which I have done in the past on UMOS
When I was in my early 20's I was in a cover band and we had a scheduled practice that our drummer had to cancel at the last minute due to getting the flu. Since we were a two guitar band, I decided to fill in on drums. We played mostly metal and some hard rock. We even went as far as doing two Metallica covers, so for a guitar player I am not too shabby on drums. I was able to handle the drums (with a few mistakes, but not bad ones) until we did "You Shook Me All Night Long." Phil Rudd was/is such a minimalist that there is such a long pause in between a beat that I was not able to keep my timing up. We absolutely could not play that song with me on drums. Sometimes simple can be complicated.

Bryant

 

[Thrust]

Good to see Pete Perez, Uli Roth and James Rivera mentioned I don't think I saw Ron Jarzombek or Jason Becker mentioned though

 

[Death Animal]

How could I forgot one of my fave guitarist Criss Oliva.

 

[Crossblade]

Most of the greats have already been listed, but eh. :d These are my personal favorites:

Guitarists: Michael Angelo Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, Ritchie Blackmore, Adrian Smith/Dave Murray, Tom Scholz, Vivian Campbell, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Angus Young, Alex Lifeson, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, David Gilmour, Slash.

Bassists: Steve Harris, Geddy Lee, Rick Savage, Cliff Burton.

Drummerss: Neil Peart, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Rick Allen.

Vocalists: Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Steve Perry, Brad Delp, Joe Elliot (so sue me ), Ian Gillan, Axl Rose, Steven Tyler, Sebastian Bach, Bon Scott, Brian Johnson.

 

[Lady__Stardust]

Guitarists: Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Angus Young, John Lennon, Mark Tremonti, Joe Perry

Bassists: Geezer Butler

Vocalists: Ozzy, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Bon Scott, Axl Rose, Paul Stanley, Freddie Mercury, Myles Kennedy, Steve Tyler,Siouxsie Sioux, Rob Smith, Sting, Meatloaf

 

[Wyvern]

Lots of my favs have been mentioned, but I don't think I saw anyone mention Tony MacAlpine, master of keys and frets.

Also look the # 10 post

 

[Thrust]

Joey Tafolla

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

THE BEST MUSICIAN EVAR IZ!!!!

Steve Vai​

Nearly everything he does is very good. Behind him we have...

Guthrie Govan
Allan Holdsworth
John Coltrane
John Petrucci / Mike Portnoy
Marty Friedman
Muhammed Suicmez
Michael Romeo
Yngwie Malmsteen
Greg Howe
Dave Mustaine
Varg Vikernes
Andy LaRocque / King Diamond
Trey Azagthoth
Paul Oakenfold

I tried to go for the guys who write good songs & have skills in that department rather than the guys who have insane ammounts of technique, although almost all of them have great technique.

I will edit with more later. I can't think of anymore good ones & I have to go...

 

[No-Mercy]

these are those i think of right away without hesitation. sure there are others i could think of eventually...or those i dont think of due to not listening to them. but- here.

METAL
bass
steve harris
araya

vocals
bruce dickinson
dio
halford
rusell allen
hansi
james hetfield

guitar
jon schaffer
kerry king
dimebag
gus g
micheal romeo
downing

key
tuomas

drums
neil pert
thomen

Celtic
David Arkenstone
Ron Hardiman
Micheal Flatley
Mairead Nesbitt
Marc Gunn
Anril

Film/Orchestral
John Williams
Hans Zimmer
James Horner
Yanni

OTHER
Nobuo Uematsu lol

 

[Bone Daddy]

When I was in my early 20's I was in a cover band and we had a scheduled practice that our drummer had to cancel at the last minute due to getting the flu. Since we were a two guitar band, I decided to fill in on drums. We played mostly metal and some hard rock. We even went as far as doing two Metallica covers, so for a guitar player I am not too shabby on drums. I was able to handle the drums (with a few mistakes, but not bad ones) until we did "You Shook Me All Night Long." Phil Rudd was/is such a minimalist that there is such a long pause in between a beat that I was not able to keep my timing up. We absolutely could not play that song with me on drums. Sometimes simple can be complicated.

Great story, and a very good point.