Where’s Bette, Mr. Wenner?

Fox News
Rolling Stone Snubs Dozens
Thursday, November 13, 2008
By Roger Friedman

Magazine lists are made for one reason: to get people talking about the magazine. So Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Best Singers of All Time, released yesterday, snubs dozens of actual singers, includes many people who are tone deaf, and mostly makes for a way for Jann Wenner’s newly shrunken moribund periodical to get some attention.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/24161972/the_100_greatest_singers_of_all_time/print

Jump in wherever you like. Their #1 is Aretha Franklin, and that’s right. But once you get past the top 20, there’s trouble everywhere. Missing in no particular order: Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Carla Thomas, Sting, Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Diana Ross, Phoebe Snow, Alicia Keys, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

And then there’s the issue of what constitutes a singer. Since the list isn’t confined to “Rock” or “Pop” or “Of the Rock Era,” there are ridiculous and intentionally missing names: Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Bette Midler, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, or Natalie Cole–not to mention contemporary artists who consider themselves singers like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. There is also, thank goodness, no mention of mewling Madonna.

How is it possible that any of these names was knocked out of the way by the likes of Axl Rose, Bjork, Morrissey, or even, god love him, B. B. King, whose voice is not his calling card.

There’s also the added weirdness of the 179 voters. That group included many singers who didn’t make the list even though they were part of the “inside” process. On that list: Carole King, Daryl Hall, Cat Stevens, Rikki Lee Jones, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Carrie Underwood.

But at least this time, unlike with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there’s no favoritism. Wenner is often accused of putting his buddies in the Hall, but with this list some people may never speak to him again including Paul Simon, John Mellencamp, Sting, Bette Midler, Boz Scaggs, J Geil’s Peter Wolf, and Wenner’s best buddy, Yoko Ono, who really was Bjork before there was Bjork if you think about it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,451205,00.html