As I sit on my couch today reading the latest issue of Terrorizer and leaving the TV on in the background, I am confronted by something that has confounded me for a long time; the existence of “greatest lists.” In the magazine there is the “40 Riffs of Sickness,” a list of the greatest riffs of all time and on TV there is the list of 100 greatest artists of all time. Pretty much any weekend on VH1 there are 2 shows that will always be on, reality “stars” on dating shows and lists of the greatest something of all time. Now, I am not dumb, I know that these are not some mathematically calculated lists by panels of experts that determine what actually makes someone or something better than another, rather it is just based on a poll of whoever they can get a hold of. When VH1 creates the greatest artists of hard rock, they consult everyone from James Hetfield to Kerry King to a random comic they pull from the local night club. Most of these people have no real insight into what makes a great artist, it is simply which one they believe is most popular. Therein lies the real problem with these lists, the basic premise of “greatest.” If these lists are truthful they would all be titled “The Most Popular” or “Artists That We Think Will Make Us The Most Money.” That is why just about every list contains the same people over and over again. It gets pretty tedious to watch or read these lists because they become so monotonous that you can predict the order of them almost every time.
However, that may be the beauty of creating these lists. Creating a debate is what these people want as a result because any conversation that leads to intelligent thoughts on differing ideas can only bring about more ideas. Whenever someone says something like, “Megadeth creates the greatest music of all time,” someone else is bound to say, “That is ridiculous because they don’t hold a candle to Angelus Apatrida!” And the main reason for their argument is that Angelus is less known of and therefore superior, however they won’t say that outright. Even though that is an absurd argument it does one thing that is great, it brings more bands to the forefront and allows a greater number of people to discover new and exciting bands. Angelus Apatrida is a great band and by mentioning them in the same statement as Megadeth will only gain them more fans.
What I am getting at in this little editorial is that while these lists have no factual basis, because they are all subjective to the creator, they are mildly entertaining and can have the ability to create some good conversation and debate. In addition, best of lists or greatest list should be solely designated for year-end lists or suggestions for someone new to the genre. If they are created at any other time of the year, they are completely useless because they are not bringing in any new information. Year-end lists allow people to remember all the great albums of the past year, to be introduced to albums/bands they missed, and to create the debate that I mentioned as being beneficial to the existence of the genre. The more debate created equals more interest in the music and discovering new bands. If they are done right, these lists can be very valuable to metal.
