Rolling Stone’s bullshit 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list ranks Johnny Winter at 166

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By Steve Newton

Last week Rolling Stone published an article titled “The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time“.

And now that I’ve had some time to analyze that list, I can safely say that it stinks.

For one thing, can you believe that the braindead editors and writers at Rolling Stone actually ranked blues-rock guitar legend J0hnny Winter at #166? That is totally absurd! Winter was an absolutely amazing guitar player. Haven’t they heard his version of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” off the Live Johnny Winter And album of 1971?

Placing Johnny Winter way down the list at 166 is almost as bizarre as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s steadfast refusal to induct–or even nominate–the albino fretmaster.

And while we’re slagging the Rock Hall, let’s mention how another stunning player that they’ve repeatedly snubbed is Irish guitar hero Rory Gallagher. I mean, come on! Rory freakin’ Gallagher! The weird thing is, last week Rolling Stone mirrored the Rock Hall’s stunning ignorance by placing Gallagher even lower than Johnny Winter, at the 175 spot.  How can anyone with half a brain think that there’s ever been 174 guitarists better than Rory Gallagher?

Rolling Stone further proved that they were lock-step with the tone-deaf twits in Cleveland when they ranked Telecaster king Roy Buchanan–another guitar genius preposterously barred from the Rock Hall–even further down, at 183.

I would argue that Winter, Gallagher, and Buchanan all deserve to be in the Top 20–if not the Top 10–in the list of Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Were the critics at Rolling Stone serious when they placed Joni Mitchell at #9 and Nile Rodgers at #7, or just trying to be controversial? I also find it shocking that artists like Lou Reed, Willie Nelson, PJ Harvey, St. Vincent, and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine–talented as they may be–were deemed better guitar players than Johnny, Rory, and Roy.

Other examples of Rolling Stone‘s failure with its Top 250 list could be seen in the array of fine pickers that didn’t even make it into the Top 100, including Mick Ronson (109), Albert Collins (117), Dick Dale (121), Steve Howe (123), Steve Vai (127), and Dickey Betts (145).

And don’t get me started on the overlooked virtuosos that didn’t make the cut at all, especially Danny Gatton, Allan Holdsworth, and Gary Moore. It’s just messed up not to acknowledge their major contributions to the world of guitar, if you ask me.

Or even if you don’t.

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