My Top 50 (mostly) Musical Artists
An update of my Top 40 album list from 7 years ago!
Note: My Top 40 Albums column first appeared on my Wordpress Blog “The Clarion Call” in 2017, long before I started a YouTube (or a Rumble) reaction channel or a Substack column. The original is here: https://theclarioncall.wordpress.com/my-top-40/
In this column I am going to update my list, change the rankings a little, add 10 additional artists and provide links to some of the songs that I have done reactions to so far. Most recent update is now December, 2024, in which I have added links to some of my new reactions and tried to update all the youTube view numbers.
Although I have not reacted to all the artists on my list, I am linking to over 50 of the over 250 videos on the YouTube channel. I will try to keep this updated as I do more reactions, which should make this column the best available introduction to my music reaction channel: Old Men in Chairs! Be forewarned, however, this post is already over 8,000 words! Note: As of December 2024, the name of the YouTube and Rumble channels have been changed to The Clarion Call as explained in a recent Substack, but the link still works!
BTW I now have two Rumble channels. The political stuff (and stuff that got banned on YouTube) is here, while the straight music reactions without any political commentary is here.
After seeing Brian Wilson’s “Pet Sounds” concert at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, NY in September of 2017, it got me to thinking about the best albums ever. Many consider the Beach Boys Pet Sounds to be the Greatest Album ever and as the Eurythmics said, “Who am I to disagree?”
When I decided to make my own list, however, it quickly became apparent that it would be easier to just name the Greatest Recording artists and not try to rank all their individual albums. For example, there are probably at least 10 Dylan albums that could arguably make my Top 50, but figuring all that out would be too much work! So my list is more a hybrid, the Best Albums of the Best Recording artists ranked against each other.
I don’t claim to be intimately familiar with all the albums issued by all my Top 50 artists, so I just went with the album that had the most meaning to me. In many cases, for sentimental reasons, I went with the first album that I heard from that artist or group, although in some other cases, it took a while for the artists to reach their recording peak and sadly some careers were interrupted prematurely by death, mental illness or substance abuse and we will never know what they might have achieved.
As befits a Baby Boomer, the vast majority of my picks on my original list came from the 1960s and 70s. I also picked 5 from the 40s & 50s and one (Fats Waller) from the 1930s. My interest dwindled as the decades passed with only 3 albums each from the 80s, two from the 90s and just one in the new Millennium. In recent years, however, I have rekindled my interest in current music so I am adding here some new artists from recent years mainly in the Freedom Hip Hop movement, and a few older artists that I discovered later in life.
As for formats, my Rock n’ Roll category is down to 40%, while Blues, R/B, Soul & Rap are catching up. I have about 10% Country (mostly of the Outlaw variety), a few jazz and one calypso (The inimitable Van Dyke Parks!) I even have one listing for non-musicians who I have reacted to on my channel, including Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Peter McCullough and even Tucker Carlson!
Some artists are hard to categorize because formats are not strictly racial. For example, I put Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix in Rock n Roll and Eminem in Rap. Captain Beefheart who straddles at least three known categories (Rock, Blues & Jazz) and a few more that have not yet been identified, truly belongs in a category of his own! Likewise, I made room for the great new Welch artist Ren, but it is hard to put his music into any one category!
Of course, such a venture is doomed to be totally subjective. Your mileage may vary, but if the idiots at Rolling Stone Magazine can do it, why can’t I? So, for what it’s worth, here are my Top 50 artists and my favorite album (or single) for each ranked by the strength of that album:
1. Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds (1966) For those who still think the Beach Boys were just about surfing music, please check out the documentary The Wrecking Crew and see what those legendary session musicians had to say about the genius of Brian Wilson! You can also find audio recordings of the Pet Sounds sessions on YouTube if you search for Behind the Sound and hear that Brian Wilson was very much in charge of creating these remarkable sounds. In terms of pure musical beauty, Brian is the closest thing to Bach that we have seen in our lifetime. Other great Beach Boy albums include Wild Honey and Smile, but I also enjoy a lot of Brian’s later (post-mental illness work) especially his collaboration with Van Dyke Parks on Orange Crate Art. (1995)
I have only done one reaction to a Brian Wilson song and that is to the song that Paul McCartney called the greatest pop song ever written, “God only knows” off the Pet Sounds album. Unfortunately, YouTube viewers have not show it much love with only 80 views in two years!
2. Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On (1971). When you talk about theme albums this is the best. Each song blends seamlessly into the next to create a hymn to the beauty of life in our troubled world.Too bad that Marvin was taken from us so soon! His follow-up albums Trouble Man and Let’s get it on were also great, but don’t forget his early Motown work including his beautiful duets with Mary Wells, Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross.
Howard and I did a reaction to the first two songs on this classic album which run together as most of the songs in this concept album do. Unfortunately YouTube viewers have not much cared for this reaction to “What’s going on / What’s Happening Brother,” either. As of today it only has 72 views.
I did a little better when I compared Marvin’s 1983 rendition of the “National Anthem” at the NBA All-Star game with Chris Stapleton’s 2023 version at the Super Bowl. That has been our second most popular videos ever with almost 12,000 views!
3. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica (1969) What can I say about the Captain that has not already been said? Either you love him (like me!) or you hate him. I actually would have put this double album at #1 but then everybody would think I was crazy and stop reading. Half of you probably just did! Other great work from the Captain includes the first (almost normal) album Safe as Milk, and the later Lick my decals off, and The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot.
I have had more success with reactions to Captain Beefheart songs of which I have done 6 so far. The most popular was my reaction to “Dachau Blues” which has had 1,790 views since I released it last fall after the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel and the subsequent outbreak of Anti-Semitism around the world.
To really understand Beefheart, however, I suggest you start with my reaction to “Frownland,” also off the Trout Mask Replica album which I modestly titled “Beefheart 101.” That is my 2nd most popular Beefheart which now has 850 views.
4. Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks (1975) I consider Bob Dylan the Greatest Writer of the English language since Shakespeare and believe that, in the fullness of time, he will have almost as great an influence. I could have picked from at least a half dozen albums as his best, but Blood is perhaps the most deeply personal in his famously confessional style, having been written during the break-up of his marriage. Other greats include The Freewheelin’ Dylan, Bringing it all back home, Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, etc. I have also enjoyed most of his later albums (before he veered into his recent Sinatra fetish) especially Time out of Mind, Love & Theft, Modern Times and Together through life.
Bob Dylan reactions, of which I have done 18, have been among the most consistently popular on the YouTube channel. Surprisingly, the most popular reaction was to a little known, very long song from the 1986 Knocked out loaded album called “Brownsville Girl.” My 28-minute opus now has almost 6,000 views!
I have now done two reactions songs off the Blood on the Tracks album: My all-time favorite Dylan song “Tangled up in blues,” and a reaction to a live version of “Idiot Wind.”
Bob surprised us with a great album of all new music in 2020 called Rough and Rowdy Ways. I have done two reactions to songs off that album including the wrenching saga of the JFK assassination, “Murder most foul.” YouTube age-restricted that reaction which greatly reduced the viewership, but I am linking here to the Rumble version which has no restrictions.
If you are a Dylan fan, the best way to find my reactions is to go to my Dylan playlist accessible from my home page here. I also have dozens of other playlists sorted by artist, genre or subject matter.
5. The Beatles, Revolver (1966) I know, I know. . . Sgt. Pepper’s is traditionally considered the Beatles Masterpiece, but I prefer the tight sounds of Revolver when the band was really cooking together to the somewhat overproduced Sgt. Peppers. Again, any top-40 album list would have multiple entries from the Beatles including Yesterday & Today and Rubber Soul but I also treasure John Lennon’s post-Beatles solo work including Imagine, Walls & Bridges and his final Double Fantasy.
I haven’t done a lot of Beatle’s reactions due to Copyright restrictions, but I did react to the recent “Last Beatle song,” “Now and then.” I found the song to be not really a true Beatles song, but thought the video was fantastic! So far I have had 2,500 views on that one, definitely better than the only other Beatles song I tried “Revolution,” which only has 55 views!
John Lennon’s solo ventures have fared a little better. John’s 1971 political rant “Gimme some truth” seems to have hit a nerve with modern listeners. So far it has almost 950 views and his “Working Class Hero” has over 600
6. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (1965) You could shuffle any of the Top 6 albums and justify the result. These are all world-shaking revolutionary albums and none more so than A Love Supreme. The man was considered one of the greats of Modern Jazz, but he sure had soul! Another, even more esoteric album, worth checking out is Om.
So far I haven’t dared to try a reaction to Modern Jazz or any instrumental music for that matter. This means that Ornette Coleman a little lower on the list does not have a reaction yet either.
7. Howling Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959) When you think about the Chicago Electric Blues sound, AKA the”Real Folk Blues,” a lot of names pop up including Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Memphis Slim, along with sidemen Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, but for my money, the King of them all was the Wolf! Chester A. Burnette AKA Howling Wolf recorded in an era where singles were not routinely put on albums. It wasn’t until later in his career that those singles were compiled into albums. I choose this album because it contains the song “Evil” my favorite Wolf song that features a classic growling vocal!
I really need to do a Howling Wolf reaction. A short clip of one of his songs was included in one of the longest videos Howard and I ever did called, “Was there any good music after 1968?”
8. Joni Mitchell, Hejira (1976) Sorry that it took to #9 to get to the first woman artist , but Joni Mitchell certainly deserves to be in anybody’s Top Ten! She had many great albums before Heijira, including Blue and Court and Spark, however in that album she made a shift toward jazz and added the dreamy fretless bass sound of Jaco Pastorius, a collaboration that would continue with two more great albums Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and Mingus. My Top 50 albums would have to include many from this great singer-songwriter!
I have done two reactions from the Hejira album, both of which feature incredible bass lines from Jaco: “Refuge from the road” and “Coyote.” I recently also reacted to Joni’s orchestral masterpiece “Paprika Plains.”
9. The Kinks, Arthur (1969) Arthur, subtitled, “Or The Rise & Fall of the British Empire” is one of the many theme albums that the Kinks produced in the late 60s and early 70s. Other greats in that vein include the Village Green Preservation Society and Lola vs. the Powerman, From the moment they broke onto the music scene in 1964 with the 3-chord masterpiece “You really got me,” through their many manifestations, The Kinks have never recorded a bad song! They never got their full due as leaders of the British Invasion of America possibly because they were banned from touring here for 3 years in the 1960s for violating music union rules. Our loss! I’ve always regretted that for some reason I didn’t attend the concert when they played at the college in Geneseo in the mid-1970s! God save the Kinks!
So far, I have reacted to 5 Kinks songs. The surprise hit of the group was “Father Christmas,” a 1977 song which I put out last December and it got almost 800 views mainly during the Holiday Season. Now that another Christmas is upon us that number will probably soar! I also briefly experimented with using the title song of their 1986 “Think Visual” album as my theme song for the channel, however, copyright restrictions made that impossible.
10. Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) Ornette probably deserves a spot in the Top 10, maybe towards the top of it, but I am torn on who to displace! Dizzy Dean said,”It ain’t bragging if you can do it,” and with Ornette’s boastful title of this precocious record he blazed the path for what he called free jazz, a sound that would come to dominate the genre for the the next 50 years! Another great album from the same year is Tomorrow is the Question!
11. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (1967) I don’t think there is any argument that Jimi was the greatest electric guitarist of them all! Some may of played with more technical proficiency, but nobody could coax the other-worldly sounds out of an amplifier like Jimi! (See “Third Stone from the Sun” on this, his first album.)
So to you I will put an end and you will never hear surf music again!
Other great albums in his tragically short career include Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland. I did see Jimi live at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia in 1968 and I swear to God he did play the guitar with his teeth!
Jimi has appeared in 4 reaction videos, 3 of which are in my series of “Who did it better?” I have compared his versions of “All along the Watchtower” to Bob Dylan’s original, as well as his version of Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone,” to 4 other artists, but the most popular comparison is his original of “Little Wing” versus Stevie Ray Vaughn’s cover. That video has stimulated quite a debate in the comments and has over 2,250 views to date.
12. Speaking of Stevie Ray Vaughan, I am going to drop him in here right behind his idol Jimi. Stevie didn’t make the original list because I was mostly unaware of his amazing talent. He only had a short recording career in the 1980s (a busy time in my life) before his life was tragically cut short in a helicopter crash in 1990. In recent years I have picked up a couple of his albums browsing the discount bins at the local Flea Market and have been absolutely stupified by what I heard.
Stevie has has many Greatest Hits albums released since his untimely death and any of them will do to introduce you to this great talent. As for reactions, I have only done 3 so far, but more are definitely on the way. The most recent is a great duet with legendary bluesman Albert King of “Born under a bad sign.”
13. The Grateful Dead, American Beauty (1970) I saw the Grateful Dead live probably more than any other group. No, I was not a Deadhead, following the group around the country! I saw them frequently when I lived in San Francisco in the Summer of ’69, before they blew up into a stadium-filling touring act. The weeknight shows at the Family Dog at the Beach would be sparsely filled with a couple hundred people and the Dead jammed the night away. For that reason, I probably still like their first self-titled album issued in 1967 the best, but it is hard to deny that they reached their peak as recording artists in the two albums released in 1970, first Workingman’s Dead and then American Beauty. Keep on Truckin’!
With the recent death of bassist Phil Lesh, I did a reaction to one of the groups most-beloved jam songs, “Dark Star.” In that video I reminisce about my Summer of Love in San Francisco with my first girlfriend in 1969, when we frequently saw the Dead live at the small venue Family Dog on the Great Highway.
Howard and I Las discussed the Dead and their early role in promoting country and bluegrass music in our “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
In that regard, we used the song “Old and in the way,” by a bluegrass Supergroup that included Jerry Garcia on banjo as our theme song for the first two years of the channel. Unfortunately, we had to stop using it because of copyright claims when the channel became monetized.
14. Merle Haggard, Okie from Muskogee (1969) With this selection, we have the first appearance of a country artist, a true outlaw who went to prison in his youth and wrote about it in his classic “Mama Tried” and other songs. He came to mainstream attention with the title song of this live album, an ode to his conservative Midwest cultural values. He held up Muskogee as a place “Where the kids don’t smoke marijuana and …. and don’t wear their hair all long and shaggy like the hippies out in San Francisco do!” Ironically, Merle later became a hero of the counterculture and near the end of his career recorded a celebration of marijuana with Willie Nelson called, “It’s all going to pot!”
He also wrote some deeply patriotic songs decrying the loss of the America he once knew, such as “Are the good times really over?” which I have reacted to. I also did a comparison of Merle’s 1968 “Workingman Blues” with Bob Dylan’s later “Workingman Blues #2.
15. Waylon Jennings, Just to satisfy you (1969) Since we’ve gone country, we can’t go much further without mentioning Waylon who pretty much invented the Outlaw Country format. I love all his later music, but I was first introduced to his deep baritone voice listening to his early cover versions of classic country songs like on this album. Once you heard Waylon’s version, the originals always seem to pale in comparison!
The comedian Dave Berry once made the case that Jimmy Webb’s MacArthur Park was the worst song ever written. He had obviously never heard Waylon’s soulful version that could make a grown man cry! So far thats the only Waylon I have reacted to, although he is discussed at length in the “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
16. Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin (1958) This is probably the saddest record you will ever hear, except for possibly the Lonely World of Curl Putman.(According to the album notes for that country album, “If you ain’t crying, you ain’t listening!”) And it would be hard not to cry at the plaintive world-weary voice of Billie on this album, the last released during her lifetime. (She died in July of 1959).
Some think the album is exploitative, taking advantage of a worn-out Superstar near the end of a brilliant career, who’s voice had lost much of its power due to years of drug and alcohol abuse. And yet, with the lush orchestral arrangements behind her, there is something hauntingly beautiful about her voice and her steely determination to sing those old love songs one more time!
I have not done any reactions to Billie yet. I don’t want my audience to start crying!
17. Tina Turner, Break Every Rule (1986) Turning from the Queen of the Blues to the Queen of Rock n’ Roll, I have moved Tina up a few paces after her death last year. What a career! Anna Mae Bullock started as part of future husband Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm singing and dancing as Little Ann one of three Ikettes. Later as the Ike & Tina Review, they had a string of R & B hits, including “River Deep/ Mountain High” and “Proud Mary.” The marriage and musical association dissolved in the 1970s amid charges of drug abuse and physical violence. By the mid 80s, however, Tina’s post-Ike solo career had clearly elevated herself into the Rock Diva Pantheon.
Some would probably pick Private Dancer as her best Rock album, however, I prefer this one for the rollicking and deliciously ironic track “Overnight Sensation,” which I reacted to after her death. A little-known performance on the Tonight Show from New Years Eve 1982 of “Steel Claw” was an even more popular reaction garnering over 650 views so far.
18. Nat King Cole, Compilation. I am going to add another new artist to my list who I only lately have learned to appreciate, again through a Flea Market CD purchase. Nat was an extraordinary jazz pianist, band leader and singer who’s career was cut way too short by his death from cancer at age 45 in 1965. Again, a lot of compilations and greatest hits records were released after his death and I recently picked up one and had my mind blown!
My CD had Nat’s version of “Sweet Lorraine,” a song I had never heard before. I did a tongue in cheek “Who did it better?” comparison with Country Joe & the Fish’s version of “Not so sweet Lorraine,” although obviously they are two completely different songs. Nat excelled at crooning the love songs of the Great American Songbook. I don’t know anybody that did it better!
19. The Band, Music from Big Pink (1968) The Band may have had better albums. (The second album simply titled The Band, Stagefright and Northern Lights-Southern Cross come to mind) but nothing had the impact of this first album in which the previously little-known back-up group for Bob Dylan exploded as a major force in the music world. For having great harmony and variety of vocalists, you would have to put them up there with the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Rare company indeed!
Band leader Robbie Robinson passed away in 2023, so in his honor I did a reaction to his 1975 classic “Acadian Driftwood”
20. Aretha Franklin, Aretha’s Gold (1969) Speaking of voices, nobody ever belted out a song quite as grandly as the Queen of Soul! This early compilation of her Greatest Hits is a vocal tour-de-force. Watch the documentary about the recording studio at Muscle Shoals, Alabama to find how Aretha found her groove!
Few people remember that Aretha’s signature song “Respect” was originally written and recorded by Otis Redding. Aretha promptly “stole” the song and made it her own. I did a “Who did it best?” comparison of the two versions, but almost nobody thinks the original is better than the cover!
21. Fats Waller, Anything by (1920s- 1943) Again, Fats recorded in an era before albums so all we have now are compilations of great hits, but boy did he knock out the hits! “Ain’t misbehaving'” and “Honeysuckle Rose” are a couple of his most famous but dive deep into his songbook and you won’t find a bad one! Some of my personal favorites include “Louisiana Fairy Tale”, “Who’s Honey are you?” and his rendition of “I ain’t got nobody!”
I have not done any individual reaction to any of Fat’s songs, but he is covered in the “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
22. The Who, The Who Sells Out (1967) I would pick this album for the cover art alone! The images of singer Roger Daltry soaking in a tub of Heinz Baked Beans and guitarist Phil Townsend with a giant stick of Odorone deodorant under his arm are instant classics! Getting down to the music, the group’s 3rd studio album also contains two of their all time great songs, “I can see for miles” and “Mary Anne with the shaky hands.” What she does to a man with those shaky hands! Of course, the band had many great songs and albums in a long career, but it is hard to beat their very first album My Generation with the stuttering vocal of the high energy title song.
This year, I finally got around to reacting to a Who song, their classic “My Generation” recorded live at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
23. Van Dyke Parks, Clang of the Yankee Reaper (1976) After a long and varied career as a child actor, composer, producer and performer, Van Dyke Parks is still perhaps best known for his collaboration with Brian Wilson on some early Beach Boy classics, including writing the lyrics for “Surfs up,” “Heroes & Villains” and other songs on the troubled Smile album.
As Brian Wilson drifted away from reality, Parks left that project and launched a solo career with his first album Song Cycle in 1967. The album’s intricate weaving of classical music, bluegrass, ragtime and show tunes was too complex to be a Rock ‘n Roll hit (even in the anything-goes 60s) but has since become a cult classic. He next emerged 5 years later with Discover America, a collection of calypso music complete with a steel band! This exploration continued with Clang with some of the liveliest and infectiously fun music I have ever heard. Weirdly, Parks later disavowed those two albums as crap. He was a musician’s musician and at various times refused offers to join The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and even played briefly with Frank Zappa!
I have not yet done any Van Dyke songs, but I have always wanted to do one from his beautiful 1995 collaboration with Brian Wilson Orange Crate Art.
24. Stevie Wonder, Talking Book (1972) Little Stevie Wonder exploded on the pop music scene when his first hit “Fingertips,” released in 1963, became a Billboard and R & B #1 hit when he was just 13! When he grew up, he dropped the “Little” from his name and recorded some of the biggest hits ever. I think he really hit his stride with Talking Book, that featured the unbelievably infectious beat of “Superstition.” By this time, Stevie had taken full creative control of the production and was laying down multiple tracks playing most of the instruments himself including the Hohner Clavinet, Moog Bass, harmonica and drums as well as singing! Can you say genius?
Stevie had so many great songs I don’t even know where to start on doing a reaction!
25. The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet (1968) It would be impossible to leave out the group that had such a huge impact on my youth. The song “Satisfaction” dominated the Top 40 airwaves in the Summer of ’65 when I was 14. When my garage band, The Crimson Floogle, got underway a few years later we probably did at least a half dozen Stones songs! Beggar and the follow-up album Let it bleed finds the Stones at the top of their game, with songs like “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Street Fightin’ Man” and “Gimme Shelter.”
The Stones were one of the groups that covered Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” in my “Who did it best?” series, although Mick seemed to have trouble getting the words right! I also reacted to a cover of their hit “Paint it black, by Welch artist Ren and his busking band, The Big Push.
26. Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music (1962) It would be hard to overstate how much the modern sounds of not just country, but soul, blues, jazz and Rock n’ Roll were shaped by the unique genius of Ray Charles. He was a true innovator who brought the many different styles of music together to forge Modern American Music.
So far, I haven’t reacted to any of Ray’s songs, but he was covered in the “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
27. Chuck Berry, Golden Hits (1967) When you talk about the founders of Rock n’ Roll no one casts a larger shadow than Chuck Berry. It was his beat, re-processed by the Boys from the Mersey, that led the British Invasion of America. This album contains all the classic hits from “Memphis” to “Maybellene.” And you can’t really claim to be a rock n’ roll guitarist until you can play the lead from Johnny B. Goode with the guitar behind your head! He was also a major influence on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boy who clearly stole his driving beat in a number of songs.
Again, Chuck’s contribution to the birth of Rock n’ Roll is covered extensively in the “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
28. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Armed Forces (1979) Maybe it’s time to tip our hat to the original Elvis AKA The King. Elvis Presley did not make my list, not for lack of talent, but only because I was too young to catch Elvis fever in the original and by the time the 60s rolled around he was just a fat guy in a polyester jumpsuit playing a parody of himself in dumb musicals. A quick listen to songs like “Burning Love “or “Viva Las Vegas” proves, however, that the boy could rock n’ roll! His career is covered in our “Was there any good music after 1968” video,
As for his namesake from across the pond, Declan Patrick MacManus has shown an astounding ability to write the perfect pop song with odd melodies and amazing verbal dexterity. Some of my favorites, not all from this album, include “Every Day I write the book,” “What’s so funny about Peace, Love and Understanding?” and “Oliver’s Army.”
Love Elvis, but haven’t gotten around to doing a reaction to any of his yet. “What’s so funny about Peace, Love and Understanding” seems timely in today’s war-torn world!
29. Johnny Cash, Live from Folsom Prison (1968) By the time The Man in Black released this album he already had been pumping out country hits for over a decade, however, it was this album that crossed over into the pop charts and made him an International star. Within a few years he had his own network TV show and was singing duets with Bob Dylan! In the mid-1980s he cemented his position as an Outlaw anti-hero by joining with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson to form the Country Supergroup: The Highwaymen. A true American original!
Haven’t done any Johnny yet but he is also covered in the “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
30. Van Morrison, Moondance (1970) Sir George Ivan “Van” Morrison burst onto the music scene as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R & B group Them with their 1964 hit single, the classic garage band song “Gloria.” A few years later he was embarking on a solo career with his Top Ten hit “Brown eyed girl.” He veered into what became known as Celtic Soul with his second album Astral Weeks, a poor selling but critically praised mystical song cycle that appears in many Greatest Album lists, but it was the million-selling Moondance that brought him to the top of the music world. Blessed with one of the best soul voices in music, he continues to churn out beautiful tunes with his latest and 37th studio album Roll with the punches just released last week!
Since I wrote the line above in 2017, Sir Van has recorded 9 more albums and is still going strong at age 79! I will be forever grateful to him for standing up to all the Covid nonsense, and he is way overdue for a reaction!
31. Tom MacDonald, Deathreats (2019) Speaking of those who have fought the good fight against the Scamdemic and censorship, I am adding Tom to my Top 50. I didn’t even know he existed back when I did my Top 40 list 7 years ago, but he was a major inspiration for me starting my reaction channel. This pre-pandemic album is one of his earliest, but you can already see the talent that would drive his meteoric rise to the top of the Independent rapper pile.
I have done 33 reactions to songs by Tom, more than any other artist, including some of his collaborations with other Independent artists such as Dax, Adam Calhoun and his girlfriend and videographer Nova Rockafeller. Tom songs are always supported by his legion of fans in the Hang Over Gang, and thus the reactions do well. The most popular so far is our reaction to “The System” which I did with partner Howard Appell. It has 4,300 views so far. Check out the Tom McDonald playlist for more!
Tom really out did himself in 2024 recording an emotional reaction to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July titled, “You missed!” and then penning a pro-Trump campaign country anthem in late-October, “Goodbye Joe.” That latter song remains popular post-election and is fast approaching 3,000 views.
32. Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) Perhaps more than any other, The Burritos’ Gram Parsons goes down in Rock history as the man who merged country music with rock n’ roll. He joined The Byrds in 1968 and was instrumental in crafting the country rock sound of their next album Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
He took fellow Byrd Chris Hillman with him when they left to form the Flying Burrito Brothers later that year. Guilded Palace was the groups first album and they recorded one more with Gram, Burrito Deluxe, before his drug use and erratic behavior caused his dismissal from the group. Tragically, his heroin addiction killed him in 1973 at the age of 26. “Sneaky Pete” Kleinow, who was one of the first to bring the pedal steel guitar to Rock music, was a key part of the classic Burrito’s sound and later became a very much in demand session musician.
Early on, Howard and I did a reaction to “Christine’s Tune” aka “Devil in Disguise.” Although we are both huge Burrito fans, that feeling was not shared by YouTubers. We got 220 views in the first few days after Howard shared the song to a Burrito’s fan group, but in the last two years we have only added 5 additional views!
When Tom MacDonald recently release a very Pop love song titled “Wild Horses,” it reminded me of Gram’s classic cover of The Rolling Stones “Wild Horses,” a totally different song. It is generally agreed that Gram’s is the best-ever version of that much-covered song.
33. Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982) I loved Michael Jackson from his start as the 12 year old lead singer of the Jackson 5 in 1970 through his many odd metamorphoses. I even saw the Jacksons live with Michael at Rich Stadium in Buffalo in August of 1984 on their Victory Tour. Despite all his weirdness, Michael was one of the greatest singing and dancing entertainers in the history of show business. He also rode the wave of the early MTV video craze, spending an unheard of at the time $500,000 on his ghoulish 14 minute video of the title track, which is the most popular music video of all time, currently with almost a billion views on YouTube!
Haven’t done a Michael reaction yet, although “Gotta be startin’ somethin’” could be my theme song!
34. Ren (and the Big Push), Various Singles. The music business has changed and nowadays an artist doesn’t need to have an album to be a success. Welch rapper and musician Ren has proven himself to be one of the most talented artists on the current scene on the strength of some incredibly well-crafted videos.
His masterpiece, “Hi Ren” is not on any album but has commanded over 42 million views on YouTube, as well as hundreds of rave reactions, including mine. Some of Ren’s earlier work with the busking band The Big Push shows how he earned his chops. I have also reacted to their cover of the Rolling Stones hit “Paint it black,” where Ren plays a mean bass. His fans are among the most loyal out there and they pushed my channel over the top for monetization earlier this year.
35. Hank Williams, Anything by (1950s) Like Howling Wolf, Hank Williams performed in an era before albums were the thing. Most of his recorded legacy is from singles and live performances. After his untimely death at age 29 in 1953, many of his 35 Top Ten Country & Western Singles were compiled into various Greatest Hits Collections. Any of them will do to show the burning genius of the man.
In honor of Hank’s 100th birthday last year I did a reaction to “Mind your own business.” That’s very good advice today in our modern world of busy-body Karens!
36. Otis Redding, Dock of the Bay (1968) Otis was another of those stars that died just as he was reaching his artistic peak. The title single and this album were both released posthumously after he died in a plane crash at age 26 and became best sellers. Other great Otis tracks include the original version of “Respect,” “Mr. Pitiful” “Try a little tenderness” and many more. A huge talent!
As mentioned above, I did a “Who did it best?” comparison of Otis’s song “Respect”. That comparison with Aretha wasn’t really fair to Otis, so I guess I owe him another!
37. Bill Monroe, I’ll meet you in church Sunday morning (1964) I’ve always loved Bluegrass and Bill Monroe is generally considered to have invented the format! He had a recording career of over 50 years so it’s hard to know where to start. I picked this album because it is one I happen to own, but any other would probably be as good.
Haven’t reacted to any Bill Monroe songs yet.
38. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Anthology (1974) If you are going to invest in an LP, you might as well get this 2-record compilation of 45 of the biggest hits from the first Motown Supergroup, including “Got a job,” “Shop around,” “Tracks of my tears,” “I second that emotion,” “Tears of a clown” and many more! In addition to his duties with the Miracles, Smokey also wrote many great hits for other Motown groups, including “My Girl” for The Temptations, “My Guy” for Mary Wells and “I’ll be doggone” and “Ain’t that peculiar” for Marvin Gaye.
He was a one-man hit machine! Bob Dylan said that Smokey was the best songwriter ever, and thats pretty high praise! Haven’t reacted yet.
39. Randy Newman, Born Again (1979). Randy Newman deserves to be on this list, if only for one hilarious song, “Short People!” Of course he wrote many more great songs and his dark sense of humor was probably misunderstood by many. I always loved this lyric from a song called “The Girls in my life (Part 1)” on this album:
Met a girl at the bakery
She wanted to borrow my car from me
I said, “Take it Baby”
She took it down’To Mexico
Ran over a man named Juan
Since the 1980s, Newman has concentrated mainly on his very successful career as a writer of film scores for which he has received 20 Academy Award nominations. Haven’t reacted to any of his songs yet.
40. Howard Tate, Get it while you can (1966) Howard Tate has rightly been called the greatest Soul, R & B and Blues singer that you never heard of. I only have this one album of his but it is a doozy! His song “Get it while you can” was famously covered by Janis Joplin. Other favorites included here are “Ain’t nobody home”,” “Stop” and “How come my bulldog don’t bark? (When Big Jim comes around)”
I never realized that Howard had a second career after he dropped out of sight in the 1980s, a dark period in his life that was marked by drug addiction and homelessness. He got it back together, became a preacher and eventually went back on tour in the early 2000s before passing away in 2011. I recently did a reaction to a later rendition of “Get it while you can,” but unfortunately his talent is still mainly unappreciated, as the reaction has only received 71 views as of December 2024!
41. Al Green, I’m still in love with you (1972) When it comes to soul singers, The Reverend Al Green was one of the best. Steeped in Gospel music, he had a number of monster hits in the early 70s including the title track to this album and his signature song “Let’s stay together.” Other great songs include “Love and Happiness’ and a beautiful rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s “For the good times.” After a girlfriend committed suicide in his home in 1974, Green left popular music and became an ordained minister. In the 1980s he recorded a series of Grammy winning Gospel records. Haven’t reacted to any of his songs yet, but his story is told in our “Was there any good music after 1968?” video.
42. James Taylor, October Road (2002). His 1970 second album Sweet Baby James brought James Taylor to national attention with his most famous songs, “Fire & Rain,” an ode to the suicide of a childhood friend. He then achieved great popularity doing cover versions of Carole King’s “You’ve got a friend,” and Marvin Gaye’s, “How sweet it is to be loved by you.” I chose the later album, October Road, because it showcases his mature songwriting abilities. The song “On the 4th of July” about how he met his 3rd and current wife is one of the sweetest songs ever. Keep singing Sweet Baby James!
I did do a reaction to “On the 4th of July,” but the viewers didn’t love it as much as I did, with only 57 views so far.
43. Eminem, Slim Shady (1997) There are certain moments when you first hear a new musical talent when you are struck dumb by the originality of the sound. I had such an experience when I first heard Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” wafting through the air on the 77 WABC radio signal in the Summer of ’65 and I had the same reaction when I first heard Slim Shady on the car radio while driving my kids to school in 1997. “Who is that guy?” As the world now knows, Marshall Mathers was, at that time at least, that most unique of all talents, a white Hip Hop singer! What sets him apart from even the best of black rappers is his amazing speed and verbal dexterity and being able to seemingly spontaneously rhyme almost any word.
In 2024 I finally did a Eminem reaction to his new song “Houdini” which features a heavy sample of the Steve Miller band song, “Abracadabra and a wild video in which the original Slim Shady shows up in modern times.
44. Chris Webby, Wednesday before last (2022) Speaking of woke rappers, Chris Webby is definitely not one, but he is a great rapper! He caught my attention with the Anti-Vax anthem “Raw Thoughts V,” which Howard and I reacted to and I named Song of the Year for 2022. I still think it is th Greatest Song of the pandemic Era which thankfully is now behind us. That video received over 2,100 views.
Later I purchased the Wednesday before last CD and had it in constant rotation in my truck CD player. I eventually ended up reacting to 5 songs off that album, but ironically my favorite song “Running in circles,” a duet with Bria Lee, is the least popular with less than 100 views. Go figure!
45. Hi-Rez, Various singles and AI compositions. Speaking of anti-woke rappers, the man known as Hi-Rez is one of the best. Although I have never purchased his album, I have reacted to many of his songs including “2 + 2= 5,” which features a number of cameos from movement leaders including Dr. Robert Malone and the YouTube comedian JP Sears.
Hi-Rez has also mastered the AI technology to come out with some great fake raps videos featuring the voice of “Trump the Don” and others. The videos are so realistic sounding that many people have been fooled into thinking it really is the Donald rapping. A great example of that is “First day out,” which came out shortly after Trump was arraigned and had his mugshot taken in Atlanta.
46. The Doctors, Misc. speeches. No, the Doctors is not a New Wave Grunge band, but actual medical Doctors and Scientists who have been resisting the Pandemic Great Reset. They include Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Peter McCullough and others who I follow on Substack.
I have posted reactions to excerpts and edited versions of their presentations, but in many cases I have had to do so on Rumble to avoid YouTube censorship. This category also includes reactions to Tucker Carlson’s speeches and interviews, which also are not always YouTube worthy. Here are Rumble links to a few of them:
I did an edited version of Dr. Robert Malone’s presentation at Rochester’s Health & Wellness Conference on “5th Generation Psychological Warfare.”
I also posted Dr. Peter McCullough’s presentation from the year before.
I did an excerpt with commentary on Tucker’s great interview with Dr. Bret Weinstein.
I also had a few things to say about Tucker’s recent interview with Russian President Vladmir Putin.
47. Trump Latinos, Misc. Videos. One of the brightest young groups to emerge in the last year are these two fellows from Puerto Rico. They have issued a lot of pro-Trump and anti-Brandon songs that have done quite well on my channel.
Their “(Please) 4 more years of Trump” has over 2,000 views, while their plea for “Unity” that voters of all races should come together to Re-Elect Pres. Trump has received almost 9,000 views. I heartily endorsed that message and judging from the election results these fellow had a great impact, as Trump did extremely well among Latino voters!
Unfortunately their “FJB (F**K Joe Biden Rap Song)” song was removed from my YouTube channel for “violating community standards,” but I was able to move it to Rumble.
48. Smashmouth, Fush Yu Mang (1997) I know its an anomaly for a 70-something Boomer to like this California Ska band who named themselves after a football term. Only in America! I don’t even know what Ska is, but to me, Smashmouth has more of a 1960s retro sound that has the high energy of The Who mixed with the heavy fuzz tone of The Yardbirds. Their first big hit, “Walkin’ on the Sun,” is a savage attack on fads, drug use and consumer culture. Their second album Astro Lounge had a more polished sound, but I prefer the frenzied energy of the first album’s songs such as “Nervous in the Alley” and “Beer Goggles.” I once wrote a column in my Clarion newspaper claiming that Smashmouth was the Greatest Rock n’ Roll band in history. Maybe they didn’t quite live up to that hype, but they were really good!
Sadly lead singer Steve Harwell passed away in 2023, so I did a reaction to “Walkin’ on the sun,” as a tribute. Apparently the band does have a few fans left, as our video did almost 1,000 views.
49. Chris Stapleton, National Anthem. I had been a huge fan of Chris Stapleton before he shocked the world with his spectacular rendition of the “National Anthem” at the 2023 Super Bowl. My reaction to that in which I compared it to Marvin Gaye’s 1983 version has been our 2nd most popular video of all time with almost 12,000 views. I would do a reaction to his amazing version of “Tennessee Whiskey” as well, except that every reactor in the world has already done one!
50. Kid Rock, We the People (Single) I was never a big Kid Rock fan, but when he came out with the freedom anthem “We the People” in early 2022, I had to react to it. The reaction that Howard and I did to that song has been our #1 most viewed video in the history of the channel with 19,000 views and over 1,000 likes! I predicted at the time that it was just a fluke and we would probably never have another song get that many views. So far I have been right.
Even though I expanded this list to 50, there are many great talents that did not make the cut, mainly because of all the new talent that has come out in the last 7 years. Not included are many of the heroes of my youthful time in San Francisco including Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Santana and Big Brother and the Holding Co.
Women artists continue to have been shorted here with still only 4 making it on the list. That’s probably because I am a known MCP, but in my defense, if I ever expand to 100, I promise to include Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick , Whitney Houston and Diana Ross and the Supremes– And I won’t forget the great ladies of country, including Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Martina McBride.
BTW I did react to Martina’s song “Loves the only house,” but it didn’t do very well with only 96 views so far. Too bad. Great song!
I also feel that many early jazz and blues pioneers were unfairly left out, perhaps because a lot of their music was instrumental, but also because I was less likely to have their music in album form. Jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as Blues pioneers Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith and B.B. King are certainly Top 40 talents, but again this is more the “music of my life” than an objective list.
There are other omissions that may surprise you, but I guess you will just have to make your own list. I look forward to reading it. I might learn something!