I recently decided that this site needs a lists page, so over 2019, 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 of favourites.
All lists in alphabetical order.
Ten Favourite Vocalists | Ten Favourite Multi-Talented Musicians | Ten Favourite Bass Players | Ten Best Songs Ever (according to me) | The Ten Sexiest Men in Music | Ten Favourite Guitarists | Ten Sophisticated Songwriters | Ten Favourite Keyboard Players | The Ten Best Singer-Songwriters Ever and The Ten Next Best Singer-Songwriters Ever | Ten Favourite Drummers | Ten Favourite Producers | Talent Factories: Ten Bands That Spawned Multiple Successful Artists | Ten Best Lyricists
Bootsy Collins (James Brown, Parliament) Larry Graham (Sly and the Family Stone) James Jamerson Carol Kaye Geddy Lee (Rush) Graham Maby (Joe Jackson) Paul McCartney (The Beatles) Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report) Chris Squire (Yes) Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello)
Be My Baby – The Ronettes Close to the Edge – Yes Dealer – John Martyn Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow – Joni Mitchell Easter Theater – XTC The French Inhaler – Warren Zevon I Wanna Be Your Lover – Prince Only Shallow – My Bloody Valentine Peaches en Regalia – Frank Zappa What Have I Done to Deserve This? – Pet Shop Boys
Keith Emerson Garth Hudson (The Band) Elton John David Paich and Steve Porcaro Eddie Rayner (Split Enz) Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) Rick Wakeman (Yes) Stevie Wonder Bernie Worrell
The Ten Best Singer-Songwriters Ever and The Ten Next Best Singer-Songwriters Ever
Hal Blaine John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson) Jimmy Chamberlin (The Smashing Pumpkins) Stewart Copeland (The Police) Jim Eno (Spoon) Jaki Liebezeit (Can) Jeff Porcaro (Toto) Bernard Purdie Stevie Wonder
A shout out for Norman Watt-Roy (The Blockheads), Robbie Shakespeare, Aston Barrett (The Wailers), Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads) and Donald “Duck” Dunn (Booker T. & The MGs) on the bass players list. Good call of yours for Larry Graham.
For drummers – Larry Mullen (U2), Max Weinberg (E St Band), Martin Chambers (The Pretenders), Tony Allen, Ginger Baker and, surely, the great Paul Thompson (Roxy Music).
Guitarists – Duane Allman, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Mick Ronson, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Pianists – Roy Bittan (The E Steet Band), Bruce Hornsby, Billy Joel
That’s the fun of lists, though, isn’t it?
I have been meaning to amend the guitar list to include Duane Allman (and Jimi Hendrix). He keeps popping up all over the place with people like Laura Nyro and Aretha Franklin.
I’ve tried with Laura Nyro, just can’t seem to get there.
My wife can’t stand her voice, but I like how she just expresses herself.
I woke up this morning and thought of Bruce Foxton of The Jam (bass) and Topper Headon of The Clash (drums), both of whom had their moments. Headon was particularly versatile, as he proved on the Sandinista! album.
David Bowie used an excellent drummer called Dennis Davis during the mid seventies and well into the eighties and then, of course, there is Charlie Watts and Ringo too. Starr has a style all of his own that has been imitated by many.
Glad you put The Ronettes in best ever songs. I would have used Baby I Love You.
In the seventies every best vocalist list was won by Paul Rodgers, followed by Robert Plant.
Yup, that Bowie 1970s band is really cool, and isn’t often recognised on lists. Rodgers seems like he’s been forgotten nowadays.
The only sexiest men on your list I would agree with are Jeff Buckley and Chris Cornell. My sexiest of all time is of course Jim Morrison. And he’s probably the only one whose music matches up equally. And when they were young I thought Jon Bon Jovi and David Lee Roth were the sexiest ones who are still alive. I kind of liked Noel Gallagher too.
I like how you put “of course” in front of Jim Morrison. I actually totally agree with Jon Bon Jovi – I only included musicians whose work I enjoy, but music aside he’s very attractive. I asked my wife when I wrote it, and Childish Gambino was the one she agreed with me on.
I can’t even think of anyone besides Jim Morrison whose music was as overwhelming as his looks. It hardly ever happens. But then he worked in a time where most musicians were just average looking people for the most part, and maybe he wouldn’t look all that special today. Not like now when all of them look like either models or movie stars. And I always figured theres got to be some inverse relationship between their good looks and the bad quality of today’s music. Nowadays musicians look greater than ever but sound worse than ever. It can’t be no coincidence. LMAO
Surely that can be traced back to the start of MTV, right?
Yeah I’ve heard people say that. That after MTV came along there was too much focus on the way people looked rather than on the music. And I would have to agree that the early 80s was definitely the beginning of the decline. But it could also be that every kind of music just runs its course and burns itself out after a certain amount of time. But I really can’t understand how it declined so far and so.fast. And I can’t even be sure if it’s not just me that changed. Maybe music is as good as it ever was and it’s just me that doesn’t think so. idk.
How about a list of ‘anti-hero” un-good looking (unconventional) artists? Ones who showed that looks didn’t matter a damn. Most are from the punk era, of course.
John Rotten Lydon
Elvis Costello
Joe Jackson
Graham Parker
Ian Dury
Howard Devoto (Magazine)
Iggy Pop
Joey Ramone
Feargal Sharkey
Freddie Mercury
Elton John
Patti Smith
Poly Styrene
Tom Petty
Buster Bloodvessel
King Stitt (a reggae artist who called himself ‘the ugly one’)
Actually I find some of these guys sexy. Especially Iggy Pop. And oddly enough Joe Jackson and Ian Dury. I’m sure this says something weird about me. LMAO !!
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
Introduction Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig met in a karate competition in Dublin in 1979. They formed punk rock band the Complex with Liam Ó Maonlaí, but Maonlaí left to form Hothouse Flowers. Their classic lineup took a while to take shape – My Bloody Valentine’s early recordings […]
It’s difficult to discuss this enduring 1970s acoustic soul singer without referencing one of my favourite jokes, so let’s get it out of the way first, shall we? How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?Put it in the microwave until its bill withers. Bill Withers was born in […]
Little Simz is a London-based rapper, singer, and actor with Nigerian heritage. She became a public figure in her mid-teens; in 2010 she appeared in the TV series Spirit Warriors and released her first mixtape Stratosphere. Her first full-length albums, released in her early twenties, received little attention. 2019’s Grey Area […]
Yet another great musical act to come out of the state of Minnesota (see also Bob Dylan, Prince, Hüsker Dü, and The Hold Steady). The Impediments changed their name to The Replacements after they were banned from most of Minneapolis’s bars. The group was led by guitarist and songwriter Paul […]
Miranda Lambert was born in Longview, Texas. Her parents were private detectives and then ran a shelter for abused women – both of these experiences feed into Lambert’s songwriting. Lambert’s father played in a country-rock band and taught Lambert how to play the guitar so that she could write her […]
Buffalo Springfield were a short-lived, but fascinating band. It’s easy to draw parallels with The Byrds – both were 1960s Californian folk rock bands, with volatile lineups, who spawned many notable acts. Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay of Poco, and Jim Messina of Loggins and Messina all launched their […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
After Hüsker Dü broke up, singer-guitarist Bob Mould dabbled with a solo career. In the wake of Nirvana’s success, he formed a new power trio with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis. Needing to come up with a band name for an impending gig, he was inspired by a […]
Rage Against the Machine’s debut album was a slow-burn success. Their debut single ‘Killing in the Name’ was initially released in 1992, and became the Christmas #1 single in the UK in 2009. Parent album Rage Against the Machine didn’t crack the US top 40 but eventually went triple platinum. […]
The Jam were huge in the UK during the punk era, scoring four top ten albums and four number-one singles. Emerging from Woking, on the outskirts of London, the three-piece band were fast and aggressive enough to initially be considered as punk. Subsequent albums showed a heavy influence from mid-1960s […]
Sir Elton John is one of pop’s biggest hit machines, churning out top forty singles through the 1970s, 1980s, and much of the 1990s. He set Bernie Taupin’s lyrics to music, using his piano skills and agile voice to transcend eras and set sales records. While John was successful for […]
It’s local election season here in New Zealand. In my home city of Lower Hutt, we have the now standard blend of people running for mayor. Some pleasant community-minded citizens, interspersed with a few conspiracy theorists – a bush-faced gentleman who opposes fluoridation and a guy who is still angry […]
Hüsker Dü are among the embarrassment of riches to emerge from Minnesota in the 1980s – their contemporaries included Prince, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum. The three-piece band played energetic and emotive music – they started playing hardcore punk but blew the genre’s boundaries open with their 1984 masterpiece Zen […]
A shout out for Norman Watt-Roy (The Blockheads), Robbie Shakespeare, Aston Barrett (The Wailers), Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads) and Donald “Duck” Dunn (Booker T. & The MGs) on the bass players list. Good call of yours for Larry Graham.
For drummers – Larry Mullen (U2), Max Weinberg (E St Band), Martin Chambers (The Pretenders), Tony Allen, Ginger Baker and, surely, the great Paul Thompson (Roxy Music).
Guitarists – Duane Allman, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Mick Ronson, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Pianists – Roy Bittan (The E Steet Band), Bruce Hornsby, Billy Joel
That’s the fun of lists, though, isn’t it?
I have been meaning to amend the guitar list to include Duane Allman (and Jimi Hendrix). He keeps popping up all over the place with people like Laura Nyro and Aretha Franklin.
I’ve tried with Laura Nyro, just can’t seem to get there.
My wife can’t stand her voice, but I like how she just expresses herself.
I woke up this morning and thought of Bruce Foxton of The Jam (bass) and Topper Headon of The Clash (drums), both of whom had their moments. Headon was particularly versatile, as he proved on the Sandinista! album.
David Bowie used an excellent drummer called Dennis Davis during the mid seventies and well into the eighties and then, of course, there is Charlie Watts and Ringo too. Starr has a style all of his own that has been imitated by many.
Glad you put The Ronettes in best ever songs. I would have used Baby I Love You.
In the seventies every best vocalist list was won by Paul Rodgers, followed by Robert Plant.
Yup, that Bowie 1970s band is really cool, and isn’t often recognised on lists. Rodgers seems like he’s been forgotten nowadays.
The only sexiest men on your list I would agree with are Jeff Buckley and Chris Cornell. My sexiest of all time is of course Jim Morrison. And he’s probably the only one whose music matches up equally. And when they were young I thought Jon Bon Jovi and David Lee Roth were the sexiest ones who are still alive. I kind of liked Noel Gallagher too.
I like how you put “of course” in front of Jim Morrison. I actually totally agree with Jon Bon Jovi – I only included musicians whose work I enjoy, but music aside he’s very attractive. I asked my wife when I wrote it, and Childish Gambino was the one she agreed with me on.
I can’t even think of anyone besides Jim Morrison whose music was as overwhelming as his looks. It hardly ever happens. But then he worked in a time where most musicians were just average looking people for the most part, and maybe he wouldn’t look all that special today. Not like now when all of them look like either models or movie stars. And I always figured theres got to be some inverse relationship between their good looks and the bad quality of today’s music. Nowadays musicians look greater than ever but sound worse than ever. It can’t be no coincidence. LMAO
Surely that can be traced back to the start of MTV, right?
Yeah I’ve heard people say that. That after MTV came along there was too much focus on the way people looked rather than on the music. And I would have to agree that the early 80s was definitely the beginning of the decline. But it could also be that every kind of music just runs its course and burns itself out after a certain amount of time. But I really can’t understand how it declined so far and so.fast. And I can’t even be sure if it’s not just me that changed. Maybe music is as good as it ever was and it’s just me that doesn’t think so. idk.
How about a list of ‘anti-hero” un-good looking (unconventional) artists? Ones who showed that looks didn’t matter a damn. Most are from the punk era, of course.
John Rotten Lydon
Elvis Costello
Joe Jackson
Graham Parker
Ian Dury
Howard Devoto (Magazine)
Iggy Pop
Joey Ramone
Feargal Sharkey
Freddie Mercury
Elton John
Patti Smith
Poly Styrene
Tom Petty
Buster Bloodvessel
King Stitt (a reggae artist who called himself ‘the ugly one’)
Actually I find some of these guys sexy. Especially Iggy Pop. And oddly enough Joe Jackson and Ian Dury. I’m sure this says something weird about me. LMAO !!
Surely Mark E Smith belongs here?