Robert Randolph listed among "100 greatest..."

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 29 Aug 2003 7:54 pm

Robert Randolph has been listed in Rolling Stones's "100 greatest guitarists of all time" poll. He is #97.

[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 29 August 2003 at 08:54 PM.]

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 30 Aug 2003 1:00 am

Considering Robert is a new player and young at that, it's quite significant and encouraging to see him appear w: others who have been playin'for so long
more about it here: http://robertrandolph.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?2=tpc&s=224607717&f=654607717&m=8766008904
Click on "RR message board"
then click on "Discussions"
open thread: "Rolling Stones's 100 Greatests Guitarists"

"How the H*** is Johnny Winter #74 and Kurt Cobain at #12 ?

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Steel what?

[This message was edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 30 August 2003 at 02:03 AM.]

Bill Fulbright · Post by **Bill Fulbright** » 30 Aug 2003 4:07 am

Crowbear,

consider the source. Rolling Stone isn't what it used to be.

Curt Kobain wished he could play like Johnny Winter. I am from Johnny's hometown, and used to see him play for .50 at "The Box". Johnny Winter is one of the most unrecognized and mistreated guitarists. He was a trailblazer in the 60's and 70's. His watermark is high. Ask BB King or Albert Collins or Billy Gibbons.

Kobain was simply not a guitarist and does not deserve the recognition in the same group. Ahead of Jeff Beck? I don't think so.

Apparently the editor lacks some depth in his blues/rock-ology. Or COULD be too young to know the difference. Or is probably not even a guitarist.

This one really got my goat! I am gonna have to see how stirred up things are on the FDP (Fender Discussion Page). This is a very active forum with 35K members.

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Bill Fulbright
Mullen D-10 8x7; Gibson ES-165; Peavey Vegas 400;
ICQ# 2251620 My Music Site

[This message was edited by Bill Fulbright on 30 August 2003 at 05:16 AM.][This message was edited by Bill Fulbright on 30 August 2003 at 05:18 AM.]

Bill Fulbright · Post by **Bill Fulbright** » 30 Aug 2003 4:45 am

it wasn't stirred up at all.

So..... being the kind of guy I am ... I posted !!!
http://fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=361900&lastpost=2003-08-3006:48:46

I am known as Moe_Humble on that forum.

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Bill Fulbright
Mullen D-10 8x7; Gibson ES-165; Peavey Vegas 400;
ICQ# 2251620 My Music Site

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 30 Aug 2003 4:59 am

Bill F, i know a bit about Johnny W
i was one of his roadies for about 8 months
back in 1969
round the time Edgar came on and played Keyboard and sax w: Johnny
back in the days of Steve Paul's "the Scene"

Bill Fulbright · Post by **Bill Fulbright** » 30 Aug 2003 5:25 am

Crowbear,

What a hit! I watched him as I was growing up in Beaumont. He was about 5 or 6 years older than me and was recording with Albert King on 11th Street in the Gulf Coast Recording Studio there. Ken Ritter, who I am sure you know of, recently has been producing Tracy Byrd, and put Mark Chestnutt on the map has been in Johhny's world along with J.P. Richardson...Tex Ritter, etc.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 30 Aug 2003 9:30 am

The Rolling Stone listing is a joke and is for political consumption only.

Roger Davis · Post by **Roger Davis** » 30 Aug 2003 11:05 am

Hey Crowbear snd Bill,
I'm a new member and just got my first PSG...what a delight to see my #1 guitar hero, Johnny Winter being talked about. He is the reason I started playing...I remember struggling for hours figuring out the licks for "Memory Pain" "Leland Missippi" "Good Morning Little School Girl". Living in Seattle I only had the chance to see him 4 or 5 times. Haven't heard much about him lately...hope he's still alive and well...

Roger

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 30 Aug 2003 6:26 pm

Through the years Rolling Stone has published many "100 best" lists, of albums, songs, singers, players, etc. Every one is different, and is usually heavily weighted to its own time and the personal preferences of the few "rock critic" writers who make up the lists. They're meaningless. Make up your own. It'll be better.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 30 Aug 2003 6:58 pm

RR is fine for what he does..and is talented..
but in the 100 greatest Guitar players of all time coming in at #97..we're talking..of all time here..

thats a long time...

makes no sense..

but remember this is a readers poll..

These must be the same people who didn't put Ray Price on the top 100 list as well..

tp[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 30 August 2003 at 07:59 PM.]

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 1 Sep 2003 8:17 am

Since this is more about the article than about Robert, I'm moving it to the 'Music' area.

Knowing that it's a Rolling Stone readers' poll puts it in perspective. A lot of fans think of Kobain as a guitarist. I doubt that many Johnny Winter fans read Rolling Stone anymore. It ain't what it used to be.

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<img align=left src="http://b0b.com/Officeb0b.gif" border="0"> Bobby Lee
-b0b- quasar@b0b.com 

System Administrator

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 1 Sep 2003 8:44 am

Just a thought. Whle I'm thrilled to see Robert getting so much recognigion, how seriously can one take a list of "The world's greatest guitarists" that lists Kurt Cobain, but doesn't include Segovia, Wes, Sabicas, Kenny Burrell, Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, Charlie Christian, Jim Hall, George Van Epes, The Romeros, Reverend Gary Davis, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, etc.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 1 Sep 2003 10:13 am

I'm going to post what I wrote on the Clarence White Forum in regards to the same topic:
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(in regards to Nirvana, and their 1991 hit album 'Nevermind')
Probably taking into effect that a hit popular rock album in 1991 was Dire Straits, then Nirvana and Pearl Jam both became top selling albums by the start of '92.
Nirvana was the band that cracked it for the alterna-rock crowd, and man did the world need something besides Clapton and the hair bands at that point.
A simple catchy riff is something not to be taken so lightly, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was a much needed shot in the arm, before that the rock mage were all full of the guys from Pantera, Warrant, etc.

Personally I'm a big fan of James Williamson, Leigh Stephens, maybe they made the list, maybe they didn't.
I don't read Rolling Stone and I help distribute the thing.. a free readable copy sits about six feet from where I sit every day, but I really can't be bothered.

I'm a massive Clarence fan, but any list is gonna be reflective of it's time and the trends of the past 15 years always play a big part in those lists.
In the old days, say the early 1980s, Rolling Stone would have probably been full of guitarists from from the 1960s and everyone would have bitched about the New-Wave and post-punk guitar slingers who would have made the same list.
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Let's not forget that Johnny Winter and Eric Clapton actually never had a 'great' album, taking into account that my opinion is just as valid as the next cats.
Nah man, Kurt Cobain probably didn't want to sound like Johnny Winter, Tony Iommi maybe.
I think you'll find that most of the guys from the 'Grunge' era had little time or respect for tired old baby boomer idols like Winter and Clapton where in their heyday they cranked out fifteen or twenty minute versions of songs that weren't really strong enough to be three minute songs.

I love a good guitar solo, but more often than not, most of the guitar slingers of note tended to rely on extended solos in rather weak settings.
Winter would have to be a prime example of this trend.

Any best-of type list is going to be far from complete, and generally I think part of it's job is to piss off people and redefine what a best of list really is.
How do you judge what a great player is, Clapton and Winter have over 30 years of mediocre records, Jeff Beck hasn't dome anything of note since 1975.

Others have passed on and left us with a short legacy that tends to place them above the usual critique that harbours those who actually had the luck to survive; thus the Cobains, Hendrix and Duane Allmans of the world tend to exist in an idealsed little vaccum.

Sure, lets fill the list with jazz guys, hot country jazz pickers, oh yeah.. didn't the straight jazz guys hate to compare themselves with the guys who played country.
Did Danny Gatton make the list, did rockabilly great Gary Lambert make the list, did Bob Warford?
Where's all the bluegrass greats, the avant garde noise guitarists?

Rolling Stone isn't what it used to be?, oh yeah it is. A piece of popularist crap for the latest bunch who think they invented everything. Just like it was in 1967. Definately the same... actually David Doggett made a less dramatic post on the whole list concept.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 1 Sep 2003 10:17 am

Reverand Gary Davis. Very good Mike. I saw him in 1971 at a small library venue. It went right to my soul. He played a Bozo 12 string. Absolutely historic man in terms of music. I didn't know he was blind at first and thought he was staring at me.[This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 01 September 2003 at 11:18 AM.]

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 3 Sep 2003 9:08 am

Though I'm of an age where I should have dug Cobain's stuff (everyone I was in school with had the first Nirvana record, and other stuff in that vein), I didn't personally have much of a response to it.

That being said, it's important to consider someone's role in changing the playing field, musically... pop music was not the same after that record came out, and there is still a big wake trailing behind those guys... in that sense, perhaps "Significant Musician" would be a better moniker than "great guitarist"...

The same goes (sort of) for Robert Randolph. For most folks, steel is unkown, or known as a curiosity in country bands... love him or not, he's redefining the instrument in the minds of the general public (who are really unlikely to know who Willie Eason is, or Junior Brown, or Sonny Treadway), which I think is good for everyone who plays it. It's certainly a very different sound and approach.