Using Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time as a Predictor for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

August 29, 2015 09:02 AM Filed in: Prognostications | Future Hall of Famers?
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In 2011, Rolling Stone released their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time, created by musicians and other experts*. (Rolling Stone originally released a list in 2003 that was just David Fricke’s picks, which is less instructive for this exercise.)

As with the other Rolling Stone lists, there are a large number of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers represented here. Just 29 of the guitarists are not in the Hall of Fame. Since this list was created four years ago, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King, Freddy King, John Frusciante, Slash, Alex Lifeson, Mike Bloomfield, and Kurt Cobain have been inducted, and Link Wray, Deep Purple and the Smiths have been nominated. That’s a pretty good run. We’ll see if it continues this year.

The full list (linked artists are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame):

  1. Jimi Hendrix
  2. Eric Clapton
  3. Jimmy Page
  4. Keith Richards
  5. Jeff Beck
  6. B.B. King
  7. Chuck Berry
  8. Eddie Van Halen
  9. Duane Allman
  10. Pete Townshend
  11. George Harrison
  12. Stevie Ray Vaughan
  13. Albert King
  14. David Gilmour
  15. Freddy King
  16. Derek Trucks
  17. Neil Young
  18. Les Paul
  19. James Burton
  20. Carlos Santana
  21. Chet Atkins
  22. Frank Zappa
  23. Buddy Guy
  24. Angus Young
  25. Tony Iommi
  26. Brian May
  27. Bo Diddley
  28. Johnny Ramone
  29. Scotty Moore
  30. Elmore James
  31. Ry Cooder
  32. Billy Gibbons
  33. Prince
  34. Curtis Mayfield
  35. John Lee Hooker
  36. Randy Rhoads
  37. Mick Taylor
  38. The Edge
  39. Steve Cropper
  40. Tom Morello
  41. Mick Ronson
  42. Mike Bloomfield
  43. Hubert Sumlin
  44. Mark Knopfler
  45. Link Wray
  46. Jerry Garcia
  47. Stephen Stills
  48. Jonny Greenwood
  49. Muddy Waters
  50. Ritchie Blackmore
  51. Johnny Marr
  52. Clarence White
  53. Otis Rush
  54. Joe Walsh
  55. John Lennon
  56. Albert Collins
  57. Rory Gallagher
  58. Peter Green
  59. Robbie Robertson
  60. Ron Asheton
  61. Dickie Betts
  62. Robert Fripp
  63. Johnny Winter
  64. Duane Eddy 
  65. Slash
  66. Leslie West
  67. T-Bone Walker
  68. John Mclaughlin
  69. Richard Thompson
  70. Jack White
  71. Robert Johnson
  72. John Frusciante
  73. Kurt Cobain
  74. Dick Dale
  75. Joni Mitchell
  76. Robby Krieger
  77. Willie Nelson
  78. John Fahey
  79. Mike Campbell
  80. Buddy Holly
  81. Lou Reed
  82. Nels Cline
  83. Eddie Hazel
  84. Joe Perry
  85. Andy Summers
  86. J Mascis
  87. James Hetfield
  88. Carl Perkins
  89. Bonnie Raitt
  90. Tom Verlaine
  91. Dave Davies
  92. Dimebag Darrell
  93. Paul Simon
  94. Peter Buck
  95. Roger McGuinn
  96. Bruce Springsteen
  97. Steve Jones
  98. Alex Lifeson
  99. Thurston Moore
  100. Lindsey Buckingham

* - Here are the voters who created the list, which includes quite a few members of the Rock Hall’s Nominating Committee (highlighted with links): Trey Anastasio, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Brian Bell (Weezer), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), James Burton, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Gary Clark Jr., Billy Corgan, Steve Cropper, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing editor, Rolling Stone), Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Rick Derringer, Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Melissa Etheridge, Don Felder (The Eagles), David Fricke (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), Peter Guralnick (Author), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band), Brian Hiatt (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Lenny Kravitz, Robby Krieger (The Doors), Jon Landau (Manager), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Nils Lofgren (The E Street Band), Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe), Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Brian May, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds), Scotty Moore, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Tom Morello, Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Brendan O’Brien (Producer), Joe Perry, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Robbie Robertson, Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Carlos Santana, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marnie Stern, Stephen Stills, Andy Summers, Mick Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Vieux Farka Touré, Derek Trucks, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Nancy Wilson (Heart)

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