Favourite Musicans/songwriters.

[Maldoror]

Shane
Joe Strummer and Mick Jones
Manu Chao
Eugene Hutz (Gogol Bordello)
Tuomas Holoppainen (Nightwish)
Alec Empire (Atari Teenage Riot, not his solo work though)
Willem Vermandere (Flemish folk singer/songwriter)

[irish hillbilly]

Shane MacGowan
Ryan Adams
Chris Martin
Dolores O'Riordan
Bob Marley

[Sportin' Life]

Hmm....
These are considered mostly for their poetic and lyrical prowess. That seemed to be the main consideration. The music itself is all good, too.

Shaneo of course.
Chris Kristofferson.
Johnny Cash.
Tom Waits.
Nick Cave.
John Lennon.
Joe Strummer.
Woody Guthrie.
Hank Williams.
Marty Robbins.
Ira Gershwin.
Bob Dylan.

Considered more for their pure musical or instrumental ablilities:

Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Igor Stravinsky.
The Pogues.
Muse.
Gogol Bordello.
Gustav Mahler.
George Gershwin.
Louis Armstrong.
Ella Fitzgerald.
The Beatles.
Led Zeppelin.
Bela Bartok.
The Tennessee Three.
The Arcade Fire.
Karl Orff.
David Helfgott.
Aaron Copeland.

Thats what I rattled off right now. Subject to big changes at any moment.

[philofbelloni]

no order...
Shane/Spider/Philip/Terry/Jem
Mark Sandman of Morphine
Jeff Buckley
Stevie Wonder
Strummer/Mick J
Johnny Cash
Dylan
Jagger/Richards (for "Sway" and "Dead Flowers", if nothing else)
James Brown/Maceo Parker
Alicia Keyes (listen to her last 2 albums before mocking)

Though I wouldn't put them on the list as greatest, Mike Ness/Arcade Fire/Radiohead are certainly worthy of mention.

[IrishRover]

SHANEO, SHANEO, SHANEO !!!

[O'Blivion]

There are so many musicians I admire...
all of the Pogues included, of course...

One musician I've grown to love through
my 78 collection is Riley Puckett.


I saw this picture of Riley in a Hit
Parader magazine when I was a kid,
and I laughed and laughed. I thought
he looked like the exact opposite of
everything I thought was cool. I cut
the picture out and put it in one of
my wall-size collages beside a picture
of Keith Richards.

Decades later I've fallen under the spell
of old-timey music, suffering from Harry
Smith Syndrome, and Riley's version of
"Old Joe Clark" has become one of my
all-time favorite songs. It's one of those
scratchy old 1920's 78s that sound like a
long distance call from somewhere faaaaar
away. If you close your eyes you're transported.

The lyrics are surreal:

Old Joe Clark he had a mule
His name was Morgan Brown
And every tooth in his old head
was a mile and a quarter round

The flipside is "Jesse James".



Riley, known as "The Hillbilly Caruso" for his unique voice, was born in Georgia and blinded in early childhood.

He was also lead guitarist for the hillbilly supergroup of the 1920s and 30s, Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers.




It's always struck me as amazing that so many of the
musicians I love,from Gid and Riley to Robert Johnson,
played on street corners for nickles and often played to
crowds of a dozen or less - yet their music still lives, still
moves, still resonates.

[DownInTheGround]

Shane (I think here it would be rude not to)
Thom Yorke
Tom Waits
Billy Bragg
Pete Townshend

[trashcity]

SHANEO, SHANEO, SHANEO !!!

I agree. That guy just doesnt get enough props round here.

[Irishbookish]

Maura O'Connell, Frances Black, Kevin Moore (Luka Bloom), Dolores Keane, Shane McGowan, Sharon Shannon, Eleanor McEvoy, Mary Black, Christy Moore, Siobhan MacGowan, Stevie Nicks, Sinead O'Connor, James Taylor, Bruce Springstein, Furies, Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon, Lynn Hilary, Lisa Kelly, Alex Sharpe.

[The Duke of Ingmar]

Shane MacGowan
Steve Earle
Michael "Olga" Algar (Toy Dolls)
Gary Miller (The Whisky Priests)
Johnny Cash
Nick Cave
Tom Waits
Kirsty MacColl
Paul McCartney / John Lennon / George Harrison (all Beatles era only)
Kris Kristofferson
Bruce Springsteen
Shel Silverstein (he wrote quite a few very funny songs for Dr Hook & The Medicine Show)

and, of course, the incredible Townes van Zandt (of whom Steve Earle once said "TvZ is the best songwriter in the world, and I will stand on Bob Dylan´s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that";
when Townes heard of that he stated "Well, I have met Bob Dylan´s bodyguards, and if Steve thinks he can stand on Bob´s coffee table he is sadly mistaken"... )

[Doktor Avalanche]

Matt Johnson (the The)

[Doktor Avalanche]

Joe Jackson

[body-of-an-american]

My Top 5

Shane MacGowan (tied with mick)
Mick Jones
Joe Strummer
Johnny Rotten
And well... i cant decide on number five. But Topper Headon makes me laugh, So i guess he can go there.

[ConnDevi]

Shane
Jello Biafra
Gene Ween
Frank Zappa
Danny Elfman
John Linell & John Flansburg
Ben Folds
and Much More

[meowhouse]

No real order but I'll put Shane on top out of respect. Oh OKAY he'd prolly be at the top anyway!

Top Five:

Shane
Kirsty
Sinéad
Jeff Mangum
L. van Beethoven

Damn Close:

Kurt Cobain
Jeff Mangum
J. S. Bach
Billie Joe Armstrong/Mike Dirnt/Tré Cool
Lori Carson
Nick Drake
Jem, Philip, Terry, et al.