Inside the Actor's Studio

My dream line-up (30, just in case):

Cat. 1 (Have denied repeated advances of James Lipton)

Jack Nicholson
Bill Murray
Daniel Day-Lewis
Sean Connery

Cat. 2 (Going to die soon)

Sidney Poitier
Elizabeth Taylor
Woody Allen
Shirley Temple
Mel Brooks
Sophia Loren
Lily Tomlin
Helen Mirren
Monty Python Ensemble
Judi Dench
Angela Lansbury

Cat. 3 (Probably okay for now)

Patrick Stewart
Gary Oldman
Bruce Willis
Diane Keaton
Rob Reiner
Sandra Bullock
Alan Rickman
Liam Neeson
Quentin Tarantino
Albert Brooks
George Clooney

Cat. 4 (no one is watching 'cause everyone's old/we need popular young stars)

Penelope Cruz
Neil Patrick Harris
Scarlett Johansson
Nicole Kidman

How much you wanna bet the bottom four get on the show before the top four?

15-1

I'm done with this. Feel free to investigate these artists at your pleasure.

15. Frank Sinatra
14. James Brown
13. Fats Domino
12. Hank Williams
11. Miles Davis
10. Rogers and Hammerstein
9. Bessie Smith
8. Woody Guthrie
7. Robert Johnson
6. Louis Armstrong
5. Ray Charles
4. George Gershwin
3. Bob Dylan
2. Elvis Presley
1. Aaron Copland

20-16

20. Irving Berlin

Berlin took the volume approach to fame: he wrote 1,500 songs. Some of them had to be hits.

But more than 'some' became hits. He became the most important American songwriter of the 20th century. Popular music would be a vastly different place without him. He's the only artist on the list not born in the U.S. He is so quintessential there's no getting around his inclusion.

He started with ragtime, and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' became a world-wide smash. This was a major national development. Gershwin states, "by introducing and perfecting ragtime he had actually given us the first germ of an American musical idiom." He was nominated for numerous Academy Awards, the tail end of a show tune legacy begun in the age of the Follies. His scores range from 'Annie Get Your Gun' to the Marx Brothers. He gave us 'Blue Skies,' 'White Christmas' and put on the Ritz. It would be tremendously exciting if there is ever again such a songwriter in the next century. Exciting, but perhaps unlikely.

Key tracks: Alexander's Ragtime Band (1911), There's No Business Like Show Business (1946), God Bless America (1938), which show the astounding range of a man who kept up with every trend.

Alexander's Ragtime Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwVZEP8W0r0

There's No Business Like Show Business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icr71H1nb3Q

God Bless America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m2UkDsgha8


19. Chuck Berry

I tend to think that three people invented rock: Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry. But for longevity and on-going relevance there's only Berry.

The electric guitar came out of jazz (Charlie Christian, for example). Bo Diddley let his guitar show off, and Berry established it as the rock instrument it is now. He gave the guitar solos and brought rock and roll out as distinct from rhythm and blues. And invented how to be a rock star.

His type of songs dominated rock until the Beatles: songs of teen romance and consumerism. Berry will forever be tied to fast cars, high school, and jukeboxes. It was a formula, but it worked very well for nearly 30 top hits (about equal to Elvis). No matter. Berry is still performing and duck-walking to his classics, forever secure with the knowledge that he made rock and roll move. They're all indebted to him, and know it.

Key tracks: Maybellene (1955), Roll Over Beethoven (1956), Johnny B. Goode (1958), which celebrate car chases, the new teen sound, and the democratic potential of Rock and Roll.

Maybellene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogUWrSWzcc8

Roll Over Beethoven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knwEmbPDa8c

Johnny B. Goode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Bd5-APPBw


18. Muddy Waters

T Bone Walker created electric blues and took it to L.A. Muddy Waters amplified it and took it to Chicago.

Too bad for T Bone. In American music there are certain places that are the hubs of musical development: New York, San Francisco, Nashville, Detroit - they all have their legacies. For Chicago it's blues, and for Chicago it's Muddy Waters. Muddy is probably the most influential bluesman of the second half of the century.

Muddy Waters more than anyone else was an inspiration for the British Blues explosion. Chicago blues, for many, is redundant: there simply is no other kind. Most of the best come from Chicago, and owe something to Waters either directly for their careers or for paving the way. His classic songs are simple pieces of struttin'. Waters' music will be around so long as bravado and blues go together: always.

Key tracks: Hoochie Coochie Man (1954), I Can't Be Satisfied (1948), Rock Me (1956), which let him brag and simmer.

Hoochie Coochie Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFxrLOVwsEE

I Can't Be Satisfied

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSF-T5gwdxU

Rock Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTBb9shYps0


17. Ella Fitzgerald

Ella's songbook interpretations are the starting point for many. She is the foremost vocalist of her type.

"With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a 'horn-like' improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing." Her voice is incomparable. Music critics worldwide cite her accuracy as the best ever. Period.

Ella recorded all the best with most of the best. She found a musical soul mate in Louis Armstrong, matching her voice to his. Their rendition of 'Porgy and Bess' shows off Fitzgerald's incredible abilities. To call her a jazz singer is a little limiting: she could take on anything that came her way.

Key tracks: Oh Lady Be Good, How High the Moon (1947), Someone to Watch Over Me (1950), which give a slight glimpse of her prodigious talent.

Oh Lady Be Good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3kt-hWStp0

How High the Moon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cHYXaMCCIo

Someone to Watch Over Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYEeAOTIQ2c

16. Jimi Hendrix

Hendrix was America's best guitarist. He was also one of the best rock stars.

"Jimi Hendrix is one of those extraordinary hubs of music where everybody lands at some point." Hendrix has as much cred in blues as psychedelic rock. He had the technical prowess and the crazy sound effects. His songs are all over the map: but all purely Hendrix. Few can pull that off.

He was the most talented of the American psychedelic singers. Electric Ladyland lets him jam out in ways that no one else had ever tried, or thought of. Much can be made of his eccentricities (upside-down and backwards playing, flaming guitar, fashion) but that would lose sight of his masterful abilities. As a man who could write blues as effectively as pop, rock out and do stuff so out there it was inimitable, Hendrix will remain a musical cornerstone.

Key tracks: Purple Haze (1967), All Along the Watchtower (1968), Star-Spangled Banner (1969), which are amongst his best shorter works.
Purple Haze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFSaqFzSO8
All Along the Watchtower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIhtafqZvy8
Star-Spangled Banner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3JbKimTdMg

25-21

25. Patsy Cline

Even those who don't like country surrender to Patsy Cline. It's a fitting legacy for a performer who herself surrendered to a genre she didn't care for: pop.


Cline's early recordings sound like Judy Garland is trying to be a cowgirl. She provides show tune-style finishes to sweet little ballads. Eventually she figured out the pattern of her hits: more tuned to cocktail dresses than spurs. For better or worse Cline brought country further away from Hank Williams and closer towards the mainstream.


She had been a regular on the Grand Old Opry, but she also brought country women to places they'd not been before: Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl and a show in Vegas. For the latter she was willing to undergo another costume change: sequins. But that's why Cline endures; she would adapt to anything so she could get her voice out there. Her tragically premature death at her fame's height leaves the obvious question as to what boundaries she would have crossed next.


Key tracks: Walkin' After Midnight (1957), I Fall to Pieces, and Crazy (1961), which are her best known ballads.
Walkin' After Midnight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoFAZSrbu3Y
I Fall to Pieces

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuZTk1hdpMs
Crazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OVtpnpCOKM

24. Billie Holiday

She insisted people call her 'Lady'. She changed how jazz is sung.

Billie Holiday is well recognized these days for her voice. It wasn't a particularly strong voice. She used that great voice, however, to change vocal phrasing and tempo. Not only that, but she gives herself away with the amount of emotion she imbues in her songs.

For those accomplishments alone she would be a classic. Those developments allow for the careers of plenty of artists as varied as Sinatra (phrasing and tempo) and Joplin (a weak voice getting by on emotion). Further, still, her songs have become part of the American standards collection. Most jazz singers have to cover a Holiday song practically as a right of passage. They can try all they want: they'll never match the Lady's performances.

Key tracks: God Bless the Child (1941), Strange Fruit (1939), and You Go to My Head (1952), which provide a range of interesting takes.

God Bless the Child
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_1LfT1MvzI
Strange Fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5KMWnNbYXc

You Go to My Head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGNc1yLGPug

23. John Williams

Williams is the best American film composer. His soundtracks, instantly recognizable, have become the model that most composers try and follow.

It helps that Williams has worked with two of the most successful directors: Lucas and Spielberg. But it's honestly questionable how successful some of those classics would have been without their music. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park - each is immediately identifiable by its music. The music, indeed, is as iconic as the visuals.

Williams has plenty of accolades and achievements to back up his credentials: Kennedy Center Honors, millions of dollars, twenty-one Grammys, and the second-most Academy Award nominations ever. He is the best in his field.

Key tracks: The Raiders March (Indiana Jones Theme) (1981), The Imperial March (1980), and The Theme from Schindler's List (1993), which are instantly recognized the world over.
The Raiders March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cryQE1YS3Vo
The Imperial March

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8
The Theme from Schindler's List
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMx2SKIRkw4


22. Aretha Franklin

Franklin has become more than an artist. She has been elevated into an American icon.

For most of American history Aretha Franklin would have been the absolute antithesis of success. She achieved that success singing and accompanying herself on piano: not exactly an original combination. She achieved that success during the 1960s when talent was abounding and competition particularly fierce. She did it by honestly emphasizing who she was: a talented young black woman.

Franklin blended her gospel roots and impeccable sense of arrangement into an R&B revolution. There had been talented black gospel singers and jazz singers. But she broke through into soul and R&B in a way women previously hadn't. She has become a living national treasure: for many a civil rights figure as elementary as Rosa Parks, for artists an inspiration and high water mark.

Key tracks: Respect (1967), Chain of Fools, and A Natural Woman (1968), which emphasize everything that is associated with Franklin's career.
Respect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0XAI-PFQcA
Chain of Fools

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-uNb_Nihuk
A Natural Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6dqhi8Ptw


21. Sam Cooke

Cooke provided the songs. As soul singers go he was the best.

That's why everyone copied his songs: Redding, Franklin and all the rest. Cooke's songs were some of the best written in the century. His love songs are a cut above. Besides these, 'A Change is Gonna Come' became the civil rights anthem. Cooke was great in that he could be put in a studio with oodles of strings or whip up a crowd on the chitlin circuit.

Two very different documents give a full picture of Cooke's abilities. Portrait of a Legend shows off Cooke in the studio with all of his popular hits. Live at the Harlem Square Club puts him in front of a live crowd with the polish removed and sounding more like James Brown. Cooke's career was cut short far too soon. But his songs will keep bringing joy for ages to come.

Key tracks: Somebody Have Mercy (1963), Cupid (1961), and A Change Is Gonna Come (1964), which allows Cooke to shine in studio and live.
Somebody Have Mercy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ4pkfoWruQ
Cupid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48yOkcQWe0
A Change Is Gonna Come
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48K5Y0421Ig

29-26

29. Henry Mancini

We can't forget that the 20th century was also the century of film. But where would those films be without music?

He started with monster movies in the 1950s, generating the now well-accepted standards of what to do when the creature is approaching, or an ominous development occurs. Working with Blake Edwards he was able to show off his versatility for scores from pop to jazz. Looking back Mancini did a fair bit, better or worse, to bridge the gap between those two.

"Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys." And 18 Academy Awards. The soundscape of the 1960s would have been very different without him. He helped to ensure that 'incidental' music became 'indispensable'.

Key tracks: Moon River (1962) and The Pink Panther Theme (1963), which were instant classics.

Moon River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcXiJibBloU
The Pink Panther Theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OPc7MRm4Y8

28. Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder was the best. The classic years of Wonder's career are to be held up as one of the more impressive musical achievements of the century.

Given that this incredible output was in the middle of one of music's more incredible decades adds to the remarkable nature of the undertaking. Wonder won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1973, 74, and 76 (releasing no album in 1975). Before his 'classic' period he already had a series of great hits under his belt. ('Uptight', 'My Cherie Amour', 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours' et al.)

Those classic albums, though, are legendary for good reason. Wonder's songwriting and lyricism are superb. His arrangements are inspired. He can jam on a groove for ten minutes, or he can quickly tour through fifteen genres in fifteen tracks. Innervisions, I think, is the best of this lot: and considering that Wonder's songs are personal such an endorsement isn't out of place. If you prefer Talking Book or Songs in the Key of Life that's okay - they're all brilliant.

Key tracks: Superstition (1972) and Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (1973), which are inescapably groovy.

Superstition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OJsYwLs7yE
Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBUx6Zn6mo

27. John Coltrane

Coltrane was at the eye of the storm. He was there when it all went down: and since he was one of the best he got to direct which way it would go.


Three albums give a good picture of Coltrane. Starting with Blue Train you get a picture of an artist who has mastered hard bop. Giant Steps show off his signature 'sheets of sound' and some harmonic dexterity now named after him, 'Coltrane changes'. If that weren't enough (helping to reconcieve one of music's oldest concepts) he then recorded A Love Supreme.

Supreme puts 'Trane in the land of modal jazz (a realm in which there are but two masters). It is also one of the most moving and finest albums to come from the jazz world. Afterwards he continued into the world of free jazz, and thrived there as well.

Key tracks: Blue Train (1957) and Acknowledgement (1965), which display one of the catchiest hooks ever and a supremely beautiful composition.

Blue Train

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1GrP6thz-k

Acknowledgement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=558bTG0D-xg

26. Duke Ellington

Ellington was one of the finest composers of the 20th century, period. Jazz would have been entirely different without his contributions.

Jazz had been dancing music before Ellington. And that's okay. But Ellington approached jazz like a classical composer and elevated it to a new prominence. He wrote voluminously and is the most recorded of all jazz figures. Of all the jazz composers and performers none reflects the special time of the Harlem Renaissance like Ellington.

The Duke made a point of saying that his was 'American Music' - his music wasn't just for a small group of people in New York City. Like Basie he lead his band for fifty years, leaving a collection of studio and live performances that evolve and keep experimenting. He was one of the first to explicitly blend in Spanish and African elements. Picking up on the sounds he encountered travelling he would release an album such as Far East Suite and further expand and broaden his band's musical horizons.

Key tracks: Mood Indigo (1930) and Take the 'A' Train (1941), which shows off an intimate and big band take on two of his most recognized hits.
Mood Indigo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BINtiLBHCI
Take the 'A' Train
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY

34-30

34. The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers did two things: they helped meld country and rock into 'skiffle' and they established how harmonies are supposed to sound.

Paul Simon easily acknowledges the debt Simon and Garfunkel had to the Brothers, as have the Beatles and Beach Boys. Considering that is probably the harmonizing line-up that's saying something. As duos go they are amongst the most successful.

The Everly Brothers haven't, it doesn't seem, shared the same long-term popularity as some of the others from the late '50s. That's a shame because, based solely on talent, the Everlys were around the top of the pack. They didn't stay at the top of the charts back then for nothing.

Key tracks: Bye Bye Love (1957) and All I Have to Do Is Dream (1958), which showcase their harmonies.

Bye Bye Love


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOYQB36Wqi0

All I Have to Do Is Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m24uUzJgfwQ


33. Count Basie

Scott McCloud pointed out that Basie understood the importance of negative space. Albeit, it in sonic, rather than visual, terms.

Considering Basie lead band for 50 years this may seem like an odd assessment. But the assessment isn't of the band, but the man. The band works their tails off, Basie solos for a few simple bars, and the crowd goes nuts. Basie balanced his band with small flourishes and solos.

He recorded with just about everyone (except Armstrong). He heaped on large helpings of blues into his jump style, and helped blur those distinctions. He stayed pertinent past the jump and jitterbug, through swing, and well into bop. Basie retained, and grew, his popularity as years went on. No Goodman or Miller could make such claims for their careers.

Key tracks: One O' Clock Jump (1937) and April in Paris (1955), which show off Basie and his band.

One O' Clock Jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_eKX0rZfLg

April in Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQCA9dnxS5Y


32. Johnny Cash

Cash defies categorization. Rock n rollers and country types both want to claim him as their own.

But Cash's roots are of Sun Records stuff: pure rockabilly, like Perkins et al. Cash started to be more of a pure country act, perhaps, when he began touring prisons. To his credit At Folsom Prison remains one of the best live albums ever laid down in any genre.

Cash tried many sounds while cyclically returning to roots and rockabilly. Finally, in the 1990s Cash, like Dylan, benefited from a resurgence in popularity and proved that nothing was taboo for recording: a later cover of Trent Reznor's 'Hurt' sounds like a bizarre joke, but is a beautiful execution.

Key tracks: I Walk the Line (1956) and Folsom Prison Blues (1968 ver.), which are typically Cash.

I Walk the Line
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmHNfWRw-qg

Folsom Prison Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T7sU3A2m18

31. Nat King Cole


Before Cole was a crooner, and one the best, he was a jazz pianist. And one of the best.

Jazz can be pictured a number of ways: big bands in full swing, divas in cocktail lounges, and all degrees in between. Cole created what first comes to my mind: the jazz trio: guitar, bass and piano. With some tweaking you have the basis of most small jazz groups that have flourished ever since. This development was when big bands were still popular: Cole stuck it out and insisted a small set would sell big.

Then, of course, you have the man's baritone. As a singer Cole is head and shoulders above most of the competition. He recorded voluminously when he learned he was dying: and people ate it up. He is still considered one of the most popular entertainers of the last hundred years, and that honor shows no sign of disappearing.

Key tracks: Just You, Just Me (1957) and Unforgettable (1951), which represent both the trio and the voice.

Just You, Just Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX5WcP2xt4Y

Unforgettable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN5rG3wLa4


30. Michael Jackson

It's funny: the two most obvious pop icons both came out the 1980s. But, unlike Madonna, Michael Jackson was straightforward from the start.

With the Jackson Five people fell for his pleading vocals in songs like 'I Want You Back'. By the time he was an adult he made the one musically ambitious piece of disco recording: Off the Wall. And, of course, his follow-up is the most popular album ever made.

Thriller changed everything, and I've spoken about it previously on the site. Part of what is so impressive is how much is now taken for granted. To me, at least, it is more timeless than much of that decade. Jackson may be the king of pop, but what is so important is how much R&B he tried to infuse into it, and how successful he was at it.


Key tracks: Rock With You (1979) and Billie Jean (1982), which show off his peaks stylistically and as a performer.

Rock With You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nleyNwzWwk

Billie Jean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75sx7U6dAB4

39-35

39. Bing Crosby


"Bing Crosby was the first hip white person in America." He definitely helped close the gap.


It's a little difficult to think of someone so white as being hip so early. I mean, 'White Christmas' and 'Pennies From Heaven'? But Crosby was the best-selling artist until rock was well underway. Let's not overlook, too, that back in the 1930s he became one of the first cross-over acts. Nowadays it seems every singer wants to be an actor. But Crosby was the biggest star of the 1940s, and the biggest radio personality of all time.


Crosby can be seen as directly responsible for Sinatra, Como and company. He could sing any genre he liked: jazzy, pop, country, show tunes, whatever. The American musical story would be very different without Bing. He brought swinging sensibilities into fashion. Miles Davis claimed to be responsible for The Birth of Cool, but really, Crosby was way ahead of the game. At his peak he was declared "the most admired man alive".


Key tracks: White Christmas (1940?) and Pennies From Heaven (1936), which cannot be avoided, really.
White Christmas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbU5hD0rrM
Pennies From Heaven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uROuR3Jm6M


38. Dr. Dre


If it weren't for Dre hiphop would've stayed in the territory of Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest. Dre brought it to the forefront of American music.


Dre's legacy is a mixed bag. Before he and his crew came through hiphop was on the sidelines and now it gets equal time, or more time in the mainstream than anything else. The difficulty comes in his message and values, which were instantly criticized. Dre produced 'Fuck tha Police' for N.W.A. at the start of his career: and he was just getting started.


Few artists have the dubious distinction that their music lead to actual bloodshed. Gangsta rap, with it's trio of guns, bling and bitches, definitely woke up the public to the power of hiphop and made itself relevant, albeit in a destructive capacity. That age is, thankfully, over. Pausing to reflect on all the rappers launched by Dre (Snoop, Eminem, 50 Cent and the Tupac-Biggie rivalry's relevance) it helps to balance the equation of careers with chaos. Whether that balance is equally weighted doesn't matter: Dre's legacy is omnipresent on tv and radio.


Key tracks: Express Yourself (1988) and Nuthin But a 'G' Thang (1993), which show Dre solo with NWA and behind the scenes with his protege.
Express Yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li9XW0Jz8WU
Nuthin But a 'G' Thang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhr5UBZh1rY


37. Willie Nelson


Nelson has become a distinctly American icon. He took the cowboy with heart, updated him, and made him an outlaw.


Outlaw country was the predominately Texan response to the Nashville scene of Gram Parsons. It wanted to bring country back to its roots (listen to Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes for an example of how stripped down that could be). Of the members of this roots movement Nelson has enjoyed the longevity.


As a songwriter many popular and country standards were from his pen. He pulled off a country concept album, Red Headed Stranger, and then kept the hits coming for two decades. Nelson's voice is immediately recognizable: for many it probably is the voice of country. Perhaps what made him so liked was that, through Farm Aid and a fondness for weed that endeared him to Ben and Jerry's types Nelson is indisputably a hippy, and a bit of a rugged softy. As he said, 'Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys'.


Key tracks: Time of the Preacher (1975) and On the Road Again (1980), which show off his songwriting, and popularity.
Time of the Preacher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RIvczrESrU
On the Road Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TD_pSeNelU


36. BB King


King did not invent the electric guitar solo, which has become so crucial to understanding American music. He just came up with the type of solo everyone else copied.


Many of the best are based in blues: Clapton, Page, Richards and company. Electric blues didn't originate with King either. His technique, however, was the inspiration for many. He is generally recognized as one of the all-time best guitarists whose ever played. Live at the Regal remains the definitive live electric blues performance.


King found success not only in the blues, but crossed into R&B and pop. With this type of crossover ability he helped show the importance and influence of blues in other genres. While his career peaked probably in the 1960s, he enjoyed three decades of success and, incredibly, as of this writing, is still playing.


Key tracks: The Thrill is Gone (1969) and Help the Poor (1965), which allow King to show off in studio and live.
The Thrill is Gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ifr4csoOY
Help the Poor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCoDgva6tQo


35. Madonna


Madonna is pop. If asked to name a pop star Madonna would certainly be the first name to come to my mind.


This isn't a bad thing. Pop is a valid genre alongside all the rest, with it's icons and failures, flash-in-the-pans and musicians of merit. Madonna is certainly in the latter category, and certainly an icon. She took pop and bent it to subjects it would never have dealt with before. There were those who were shocked, and many more who listened.


She was initially a sex icon, the first major musical one, I dare venture, since Marilyn Monroe. 'Like a Virgin' was her starting point, and she then upset everyone again with 'Like a Prayer'. She kept herself in the 'Vogue', and closed out the century with Ray of Light showing her actual personal and serious side. The fact that she had such a huge impact in such a short space of time speaks to her genius at making herself a key piece of American music.


Key tracks: Like a Prayer (1989) and Drowned World/Substitute for Love (1998), which shows her being irreverent and popular and atoning for her earlier career.
Like a Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMCbtyBdZZ4
Drowned World/Substitute for Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTIqCPNEOQ