885 all-time greatest artists!

[desh]

XPN's at it again, with a huge countdown. I still think their first one, the 885 all-time greatest songs, was the best idea. Albums came next, and this year it's artists. What do you think will win? What's your top 10?

Here are my lists. Since I think there's a real distinction, I'll give you three lists: The artists I think are best, the artists I think will be on XPN's aggregate top list, and my favorites.

My 10 best:
1. Pink Floyd
2. Bob Dylan
3. The Beatles
4. Bruce Springsteen
5. The Who
6. U2
7. Led Zeppelin
8. R.E.M.
9. Nirvana
10. Elvis Presley (Really, I'm reaching here. The top 9 weren't that hard, but none of the other obvious choices was anyone I ever listen to.)

My 10 predicted:
1. The Beatles
2. Bob Dylan
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. The Who
5. Grateful Dead
6. The Rolling Stones
7. Bob Marley
8. Leonard Cohen
9. U2
10. Jimi Hendrix

My 10 favorite:
1. They Might Be Giants
2. Pink Floyd
3. Pearl Jam
4. Live
5. Queen
6. Billy Joel
7. The Decemberists
8. Reel Big Fish
9. Eileen Ivers
10. Bruce Springsteen


What do you think?

And now, a ton of links:

Artists: Vote for your top 10! | Top 10 of some famous people

Albums: All-time greatest | My non-predictions | My post-game

Songs: All-time greatest | My predictions | My post-game

Comments

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

I deliberately omitted the Beatles from my list. The reason was that they were so influential as to be overwhelming. I mean, you might as well date pop BB and AB like BC and AD. So I just assumed that they were the boundary of the epoch. I probably had three alternate lists. It was tough

[desh]

I bet the final countdown will have a handful of artists BB. My over/under guess is about 75. But well over half of them will be Beatles-influenced, you're right.