Rolling Stone's 200 Best Singers of All-Time has some huge misses and omissions

Do you like to read articles of lists? Yeah, me too, sometimes. Most of the time I end up shaking my head and screaming, “What the Hell were they thinking?” Okay, the screaming part may be a huge exaggeration, but I came close to doing that after reading Rolling Stone magazine’s “The 200 Best Singers of All-Time.”

I admit that I do like what they did at the top of their list. My first thought before reading the piece was Aretha Franklin has to be at the top. SCORE! Both of us had that one right. The Queen of Soul is deservedly in the number one spot. I won’t even quibble with their top five. Whitney Houston, Sam Cooke, Bille Holliday and Mariah Carey round out those spots. Mine would have looked different but I’m more than okay with this.

But, let’s dig deeper. I was stunned by where some other great singers were ranked. I was even more stunned by those who didn’t even make the top two hundred.

My first complaint is Bob Dylan as number 15. C’MON! If this is a list of songwriters, that would be fine. I’d argue it was much too low. But Bob as a singer, NO WAY!

Next up is Frank Sinatra at number 19. This dude is known as The Voice and he doesn’t crack the top ten? Plus, Dylan is rated ahead of him? PLEASE!

Let’s move down into the forties…Linda Ronstadt is at 47 and one place ahead of her is Ella Fitzgerald. SIGH!!!! Linda can sing rock, country, standards, Mexican tunes, and has been on Broadway. Should I keep going? As for Ella, did anyone scat any better? Remember those is it Ella or is it Memorex ads back in the olden days? If you had Fitzgerald and Ronstadt in the top two spots, in either order, no one would have complained. Where they’re ranked is much too low.

Now for some omissions…where are David Crosby and Graham Nash? If you have Neil Young on the list, how can you not have two of the guys in CSN&Y who were better singers than Neil. Crosby and Nash are two of the best harmony singers in rock history. You have to find a spot for them.

Here are some more artists who were snubbed: Celine Dion, Nat King Cole, Steve Winwood, Mel Torme (how do you blow off a guy nicknamed “The Velvet Fog?), and Tony Bennett. Serious question…if a list of the two hundred greatest singers doesn’t include Tony Bennett, how can we take it seriously? I’ll answer my own question…YOU CAN’T!!

I know Rolling Stone said that there’s a difference between great singers and great voices. That’s how they justify having Dylan rated so high. But all those that I mentioned were also great singers in addition to having great voices. They have to be on this list...have to be!!

Oh well, it’s only a list. Maybe I should save my outrage for something more important. I'm not going to Rolling Stone’s headquarters and protest like fans of Celine did, but c’mon…you blew off TONY BENNETT?!!!