Acclaimed Music Net is one of my biggest resources for lists. I refer to it quite a bit and they have added a new feature. Top artist from the 1950's until today and it’s great.

Top 3 Artists of the 1960s:

1. Beatles
2. Bob Dylan
3. Rolling Stones

Top 3 Artists of the 1970s:

1. David Bowie
2. Stevie Wonder
3. Rolling Stones

The Top 100 Artists of the 80s:

1 Prince
2 The Smiths
3 U2
4 R.E.M.
5 Bruce Springsteen
6 Public Enemy
7 New Order
8 Pixies
9 Talking Heads
10 Michael Jackson
11 Elvis Costello
12 Hüsker Dü
13 Madonna
14 Sonic Youth
15 Joy Division
16 The Cure
17 The Jesus and Mary Chain
18 Run-D.M.C.
19 Beastie Boys
20 Tom Waits
21 The Police
22 Guns 'n' Roses
23 Pretenders
24 The Stone Roses
25 Grandmaster Flash
26 Peter Gabriel
27 The Replacements
28 Echo and the Bunnymen
29 Metallica
30 Eric B. & Rakim
31 Dexy's Midnight Runners
32 Nick Cave
33 De La Soul
34 The Jam
35 The Human League
36 X
37 N.W.A.
38 The Clash
39 AC/DC
40 Kate Bush
41 The Pogues
42 Pet Shop Boys
43 Paul Simon
44 Motörhead
45 XTC
46 David Bowie
47 Lou Reed
48 Eurythmics
49 The Fall
50 The Specials
51 Depeche Mode
52 ABC
53 Violent Femmes
54 Def Leppard
55 Tracy Chapman
56 Soul II Soul
57 Van Morrison
58 Cyndi Lauper
59 John Cougar Mellencamp
60 Frankie Goes to Hollywood
61 Boogie Down Productions
62 The Dead Kennedys
63 Prefab Sprout
64 Billy Bragg
65 Dinosaur Jr.
66 The Waterboys
67 Simple Minds
68 The Go-Betweens
69 LL Cool J
70 Janet Jackson
71 Marvin Gaye
72 Culture Club
73 Neil Young
74 The The
75 Tina Turner
76 Van Halen
77 The Beat
78 Laurie Anderson
79 Talk Talk
80 Soft Cell
81 Squeeze
82 The Go-Go's
83 Dire Straits
84 Jane's Addiction
85 Afrika Baambaata & The Soul Sonic Force
86 Bad Brains
87 The Cult
88 George Michael
89 Los Lobos
90 Leonard Cohen
91 Richard and Linda Thompson
92 Bon Jovi
93 The Gun Club
94 Lloyd Cole and The Commotions
95 Brian Eno
96 Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
97 The Feelies
98 Japan
99 Donald Fagen
100 Duran Duran



The Top 100 Artists of the 90s:

1 Nirvana
2 R.E.M.
3 Beck
4 Radiohead
5 Oasis
6 Massive Attack
7 Blur
8 Pavement
9 P J Harvey
10 Beastie Boys
11 Pulp
12 Primal Scream
13 Pearl Jam
14 Björk
15 The Smashing Pumpkins
16 The Chemical Brothers
17 U2
18 The Verve
19 Public Enemy
20 Manic Street Preachers
21 Nick Cave
22 Tricky
23 Suede
24 Portishead
25 The Prodigy
26 A Tribe Called Quest
27 Dr. Dre
28 Neil Young
29 Underworld
30 Red Hot Chili Peppers
31 TLC
32 Soundgarden
33 My Bloody Valentine
34 Sonic Youth
35 Aphex Twin
36 Pet Shop Boys
37 Jeff Buckley
38 Madonna
39 Lauryn Hill
40 Happy Mondays
41 Weezer
42 Notorious B.I.G.
43 Teenage Fanclub
44 Rage Against the Machine
45 Sinéad O'Connor
46 Fugees
47 Fatboy Slim
48 Bob Dylan
49 Orbital
50 Supergrass
51 Wilco
52 Belle and Sebastian
53 Metallica
54 Hole
55 Moby
56 Wu-Tang Clan
57 Stereolab
58 The Breeders
59 Cypress Hill
60 Yo La Tengo
61 Nine Inch Nails
62 Liz Phair
63 Daft Punk
64 Green Day
65 Tom Waits
66 Ice Cube
67 Arrested Development
68 Foo Fighters
69 Air
70 Spiritualized
71 The Flaming Lips
72 Alanis Morrisette
73 DJ Shadow
74 Built to Spill
75 The Orb
76 The KLF
77 Elliott Smith
78 Garbage
79 The LA's
80 Snoop Doggy Dogg
81 Basement Jaxx
82 Tortoise
83 Mercury Rev
84 Pixies
85 LL Cool J
86 Prince
87 Tindersticks
88 Jane's Addiction
89 Tori Amos
90 Cornershop
91 Guns 'n' Roses
92 Johnny Cash
93 Leftfield
94 Sugar
95 Deee-Lite
96 Eminem
97 Lucinda Williams
98 Goldie
99 Depeche Mode
100 Elastica

The Top 50 Artists of the 00s:

1 OutKast
2 The White Stripes
3 Eminem
4 The Strokes
5 Radiohead
6 Missy Misdemeanor Elliott
7 The Streets
8 Franz Ferdinand
9 Queens of the Stone Age
10 Coldplay
11 Jay-Z
12 Wilco
13 The Libertines
14 Dizzee Rascal
15 U2
16 Modest Mouse
17 Ryan Adams
18 Interpol
19 Björk
20 Johnny Cash
21 The Flaming Lips
22 Kanye West
23 Brian Wilson
24 Basement Jaxx
25 LCD Soundsystem
26 P J Harvey
27 The Avalanches
28 Bob Dylan
29 Blur
30 The Shins
31 Nick Cave
32 Gorillaz
33 Bright Eyes
34 Beyonce
35 The Hives
36 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
37 Tom Waits
38 The Rapture
39 Morrissey
40 Madonna
41 Elliott Smith
42 The Arcade Fire
43 Spoon
44 Lambchop
45 Daft Punk
46 Doves
47 Super Furry Animals
48 Primal Scream
49 50 Cent
50 Beck

I also realize that the 60’s and 70’s were much more important for rock than the later days but only listed the top 3 for those years. Just felt that most of us are younger than the heyday and care more for the later lists. Also, if you really want to know you can go to the web site.

np: Seafood – As the Cry Flows

Oasis so high on the 90's list depresses me, but Pulp high up is good to see.

Jarvis says

to Oasis

Yeah, that seems odd to me too.

Talking Heads are a '70's band in my book. Their '80's output pales in comparison (I lump Remain in Light in the '70's bucket).

Nirvana is not the most relevant band of the 90's. End of story. Bob Dylan is not the 30th most relevant act of the 00's either.

They said Bon Jovi.

I respectfully disagree, but I know how you feel-----Outkast is more a 90's than 00's act in my book.

Pretty good lists though.

Oh, and who really thinks that Massive Attack is that important? Whoops. To each his own i suppose.

I’m unsure how these lists were compiled but I think a bands pervious decade or decades stuff weighs heavily. Thus the reason for Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson and so on showing up, as long as they keep putting out stuff that is relevant. I noticed this with Joy Division in the 80's. Also when there was no Super Furry Animals on the 90’s list but than they released their weakest two albums, IMO, this decade and now they are (so far) number 47. Rings Around the World and Phantom Power are great (put other modern bands to shame) but don’t match what they did in the 90’s.

np: Magnolia Electric Co. – What Comes After the Blues

I'd say the same about the Clash, particularly since LC did come out in '79 despite what RS says.

Steve

lol

These lists are based on critical acclaim for individual releases (a historical, international version of metacritic), so to answer the question "Who thinks X is that important?" the answer is "a LOT of writers." OutKast had more output in the 90s, but Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below got more critical attention. Same with R.E.M. in the 90s (Out Of Time, Automatic For The People).

Why is X there anyway?
Franz Ferdinand - Most acclaimed album of 2004
Streets - Most acclaimed album of 2002; #3 album of 2004
Nirvana - #3 acclaimed album of all time (behind Pet Sounds and Revolver); #4 single of all time

You may argue that artists weren't worthy of the praise, but it's still there.

Yeah, I like this site a little bit.

Have you even listened to Mezzanine?

First the Hair Metal comment, now this?

Where the HELL are Los Lobos in the 90's?!?!?!

Easily one of the Top bands of both the 80's (where they rated them at 89) and the 90's!!! In fact, their best albums were in the 1990s, IMO.

do you mean "X" as a variable or "X" as in john doe et al?

i guess i agree with all the #1s except the 00's, which i think it's too early to call yet.

I disagree

Both actually, though nobody called out Doe in the thread yet.