Category Lists

10 Best Female Vocalists

Rolling Stone magazine recently published its list of The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. To my mind, they did a good job – covering a lot of bases, and highlighting some excellent vocalists. But it’s received a lot of negative…

10 Best Male Vocalists

Jeff Buckley Grace

Rolling Stone magazine recently published its list of The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. To my mind, they did a good job – covering a lot of bases, and highlighting some excellent vocalists. But it’s received a lot of…

10 Additional Excellent Lyricists

In my opinion, rock music has four literary giants (Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Nick Cave, and Leonard Cohen) and then a whole bunch of other excellent writer. I’m covering ten more of them on this list, and but essentially it’s…

10 More Excellent Lyricists

springsteen-bruce-1973-wild-the-innocent-and-the-e-street-shuffle

Last month’s post on best lyricists provoked lots of interesting discussion.The dialogue helped to crystalise my thinking that there’s a Mount Rushmore of rock lyricists (Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, and Leonard Cohen) and then a bunch of worthy…

10 Best Lyricists of All Time

In popular music, lyrics are less important than the music. Often the words of popular songs float past innocuously. Stringing together meaningless words that sound good together can be an effective strategy – ask Jon Anderson or A.C. Newman. Bad…

Ten Favourite Music Producers

The role of a music producer can be difficult to define as it can vary widely. Some are limited to the technical aspects of production – recording. mixing, and mastering. Other producers take on broader roles, including writing material, arranging…

10 Favourite Drummers

Along with the lead singer and the flashy lead guitarist, the drummer’s often a focal point in a band. I’ve picked ten of my favourite drummers. My list is a little different than the standard, for a couple of reasons.…

The Ten Next Best Singer-Songwriters Ever

Welcome back for a listen to ten more talented singer-songwriters – you can read part one here. As before, Google’s dictionary defines singer-songwriter as “a person who sings and writes popular songs, especially professionally.” The term’s come to have a…

The Ten Best Singer-Songwriters Ever

Joni Mitchell Blue

Google’s dictionary defines a singer-songwriter as “a person who sings and writes popular songs, especially professionally.” The term’s come to have a more specific meaning – I understand it to mean artists who record as solo acts, who write their…

10 Sophisticated Pop Songwriters

The chords underpinning a song are like the tune’s bones. Some genres, like country or punk, routinely have very simple chord changes, using two or three simple chords. The Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ uses the three power chords B5, E5, and…

10 Favourite Guitarists

The guitar was the dominant instrument in popular music from the 1960s to the new millennium. Many acts even had multiple guitarists, so there are a lot of great players to choose from. The spectrum of genres from blues rock…

The Ten Sexiest Men in Music

Music’s ultimately about the recorded product, but being handsome certainly doesn’t hurt when you’re trying to launch a career in entertainment. While a woman’s attractiveness might keep her from being taken seriously, a man’s handsomeness is nothing but an asset.…

10 Favourite Bass Players

With its dual functions of rhythm and melody, the electric bass guitar is a staple in most genres of popular music. Its role varies between different acts – sometimes the bass is buried deep in the mix, the glue holding…

Ten Favourite Multi-Talented Musicians

Todd Rundgren Hermit of Mink Hollow

Some musical careers revolve around doing one thing expertly – Billie Holiday sang, Burt Bacharach wrote songs. Other musical careers showcase a smorgasbord of talents – here are ten musicians with impressively wide skill-sets: Beck Mr Postmodern music is a…

10 Favourite Vocalists

I recently decided that this site needs a lists page, so over the next few months, I’m planning to publish lists one at a time. I’m not trying to be objective with these – I regard them as a list…