In my 2024 book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, using the metrics of Popularity (i.e., records sold; concert draw; career longevity), Influence (on the music and culture, in both the short-term and long-term), and Major Awards/Honors Won, Bob Dylan was ranked #2. Coincidently, he was also ranked #2 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s celebrated list. Why? Quite simply, Bob Dylan profoundly changed popular songwriting, recording, singing, and the greater society and culture. With such masterworks as “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Like a Rolling Stone” and countless others, Dylan demonstrated that songs could be about Anything at all, and not simply love won and love lost. When “Like a Rolling Stone” was released in 1965, his record company and radio deejays didn’t know what to do with it— it was six minutes long; should it be edited down? Should the song be stopped mid-stream and then flipped over? Suffice to say, it became not only an enormous hit (#2 on Billboard), but it gave artists permission to record much longer songs (than the typical 2-3 minute singles) and helped give rise to album-oriented artists (Dylan being one of the first and most important) and new FM music radio stations. Likewise, his vocal style— soon there were a host of artists who fell outside the “pretty voice” mainstream— from Jagger to Donovan, Lou Reed to Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen to Tom Waits. As far as Dylan’s impact on the greater culture, it is hard to overestimate that, beginning with his early ‘60s influence on the Civil Rights and anti-war movements as he was an enormous force on college campuses, them morphing into, perhaps, The most important counter-cultural figure later in the decade and into the ‘70s, even if this was a mantle he never sought. Who are some of the many artists who have paid tribute to his influence on their own development? Start with the Beatles (certainly, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison), Johnny Cash, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Gerry Garcia, Bono, Cohen, Waits, John Prine, even Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, and Sly Stone (and there’s just not enough space to go on). Honors and Awards? The Grammys and Rock Hall induction do not set him apart, but what other songwriter has won a Nobel Prize in Literature, putting him alongside such greats as Faulkner, Hemingway, Eliot, and Morrison? He’s won national honors from France and Spain, Sweden and the U.S. he is taught in universities from Harvard to Cambridge to Oslo. But, best of all, listen to the music, as I’ve done all my life, and maybe read along with my newest book, DOIWN THE ROAD WITH DYLAN – LIVING WITH THE SONGS, available online at BookBaby Book Shop. Thanks for reading.
Tag: vocalists
-
With Bob Dylan, the elephant in the room has always been the Voice. A typical comment— sure, he’s a fine songwriter; he’s written some great songs, but he just can’t Sing. Well, what exactly is good singing? If it’s measured by a pure and pleasing tone, a smooth, sweet sounding, non-threatening style, then no Dylan is not that kind of vocalist. But I would argue that the most effective singers communicate a depth and a range of feeling, emotion, and ideas in a way that is highly affective; if that is the definition of a good singer, then I submit that Bob Dylan has frequently been a great singer throughout his career. Some examples (and I’m asking you to go come along for the ride and Listen to these recordings)— 1964’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” is a concise and expressive depiction of a single incident involving two people that makes crystal clear the sad state of racial injustice in the early ‘60s American south. Or Listen to his wonderfully evocative drug culture, streetwise take down “Subterranean Homesick Blues” from 1965 and his masterful staccato-like, rhythmic delivery that many have heard as a proto-rap style mixed with Chuck Berry. In 1966, “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” gives us yet another Dylan voice whereby he blends humor with genuine existential dread. Listen as he delivers the same closing line nine times, but with a different inflection each time, thus holding our attention. The mid-‘70s masterpiece, Blood on the Tracks, contains some of his most brilliant vocals— “Tangled Up in Blue” is a winding tale of loss and yearning and you can hear it in both the lyrics and Dylan’s inimitable delivery. My favorite example is the heartbreaking “If You See Her, Say Hello” as he “bends, elongates, and wrings every drop of feeling” out of the lyrics to communicate just how desolate and sorry he really feels. In 1991 he released “Blind Willie McTell” and with six minutes and two simple instruments, Dylan presents a stunning summary of over 360 years of African-American history, from the brutality of slavery and the post-Civil War injustice of Jim Crow, but also the artistic flowering of Black music, dance, and more. The singing is as rich as the subject matter. Even Dylan, the old master, can still deliver. Listen to his 2020 “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” and you’ll hear a 79-year-old man’s notes of sadness, weariness, loneliness, and resigned desperation mixed still with a measure of faith and hope.
I hope I’ve interested you in re-checking out Bob Dylan, the singer, and perhaps ,too, my new book, DOWN THE ROAD WITH DYLAN – LIVING WITH THE SONGS, which is available exclusively (in paperback or eBook) at BookBaby Book Shop. Thanks, Steve
-
My first book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, continues to surprise me. I’m in Mexico at the moment and I recently got a call from a gentleman down here who read it and asked if I would give a talk on the book next month to the largest and longest running ex-pat symposium in all of Mexico. Today I was told the book will be used for a kind of trivia game to raise money for a charity fundraiser. In Hawaii, Mana’o Radio (91.7 FM) DJ Paul Janes-Brown continues to read from my book and play featured musical selections twice a month (for a year and a half now).
Thanks to all my friends, and the many I’ve never met, who have read my book, and thanks for telling others or gifting it to family or friends. MUSIC TITANS remains available at a discounted price through Amazon, BookBaby Bookshop, B&N, and many other sites. A sincere thank you – Steve
-
Two years ago, I released my first book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS. Featuring groundbreaking artists from all genres, many have been especially prominent or been in the news this past year. For example— Bruce Springsteen just wrapped up the biggest tour of his career and is featured in the new biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere; Ariana Grande, who boasts a four-octave vocal range, snagged an acting Oscar nomination for playing Glinda in Wicked, reprising the role in the newly released Wicked: For Good; Willie Nelson continues touring at age 92; Patti Smith, one of the founding figures of punk rock with the 1975 album Horses just released Bread of Angels: A Memoir. Her first memoir, Just Kids, won the National Book Award; Johnny Mathis gave his last concert in May, capping a 70-year career; the Who are finishing their Farewell Tour; Beyonce, who has won more Grammys than any artist in history, captured Album of the Year in 2025 for Cowboy Carter. Biopics on Bob Dylan (A Complete Unknown) and Bob Marley: One Love were international hits this past year. More biopics are in the works— Michael Jackson in ’26 and one for each of the four Beatles. A nasty feud between two of hip-hops biggest stars, Kendrick Lamar and Drake, spilled over into the Super Bowl and the Grammys. Several major artists passed away— visionary musician/composer/producer Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys; Sylvester Stewart, leader of the funk-rock pioneering band, Sly and the Family Stone; Garth Hudson, organist extraordinaire and last surviving member of The Band; Ozzy Osbourne, who first found fame as lead singer of Black Sabbath; and brilliant country singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson.
Black Friday marks the start of the Christmas gift-buying season, and I would be remiss if I failed to mention that MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS remains on sale in both paperback and eBook formats at Amazon, B&N, BookBaby Bookshop, and many other sites. Thanks, Steve
-
Greetings all! As my 2nd book, Lifelong Companion: My Journey Through 100 Dylan Songs, remains on hold as I await permission to quote from Bob Dylan’s songs, I would like to remind everyone that my well-received first book, Music Titans: 250 Greatest Recording Artists of the Past 100 Years, makes for a great Christmas or seasonal gift and remains readily available in paperback and eBook formats at Amazon, B&N, BookBaby, Apple, and many other sites. Music Titans contains encyclopedic entries on artists of all genres- from rockers like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Bruce Springsteen to country artists like Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, and Willie Nelson; from such vintage greats as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and George Gershwin to my parents’ favorites, Benny Goodman, Glenn Millker, and Tony Bennett; from experimental giants like Bjork, Kraftwerk, and Daft Punk to rap luminaries like Tupac Shakur, JAY-Z, and Eminem; from such transcendent greats as the Beatles, Elvis, and Michael Jackson to contemporary titans like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Rihanna. The artists are ranked from #250 to #1, using a clearly explained metric that considers such factors as record sales, and musical and cultural influence. Thanks for reading.
-
MUSIC TITANS celebrates 250 of the greatest recording artists that were/are active over the past 100 years. Musicians from every genre and era are included, ranked (based on an algorithm that looks at various measures of popularity, influence, and honors collected), and profiled with both biographical and musical information included. Here are just a few of the artists portrayed and the decade they were at their artistic or commercial peak —
1920s – George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Bessie Smith
1930s – Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman,
1940s – Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Charlie Parker
1950s – Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Little Richard, Hank Williams
1960s – Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, James Brown
1970s – Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Elton John
1980s – Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, U2
1990s – Garth Brooks, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Nirvana
2000s – Eminem, Coldplay, Radiohead, Kanye West
2010s thru Today – Taylor Swift, Drake, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar
It has to be said that some of today’s biggest stars are not in the book, but, no doubt, would be included if I ever do an updated edition. These include — The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, and more. MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS is available online through Amazon, BookBaby, B&N, Apple, and many more sites. Thanks.
-
I continue to be gratified that my book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, continues to attract new readers. Below, you’ll find the opening passage of the book, which sets out how I came to write it —
There are not a lot of universals in this fractured world. Certainly we are divided by politics, religion, class, and, all too often still, by race. One universal bonding element, however, is music. Music is found in all cultures, and even the most hardened or stoic individual can be moved by a song, a melody, a chord, a lyric, a beat.
Not that we all love the same songs or the same styles of music. As a child, all too often, I heard my father hollering to “turn that noise down,” while I often looked to flee the room to avoid having to hear his melancholy tunes. Still, I think it is safe to say that virtually all human beings can be stirred, at times, by some form of music.
This book is an attempt to honor that universal grace that we call music. I am not a professor of music and I don’t purport to know much about Indian or Chinese or Middle Eastern music. I may speak a little Spanish, but I am not qualified to write about Mexican ranchera or mariachi styles. What I have been doing, ever since I was a little boy in the mid-’50s, is listening to music—religiously, fanatically, constantly. In countless ways, music has colored, even defined and given meaning to my life. I bought my first 45s at age seven, made weekly lists of my favorite songs when I was 11 or 12, sang in choirs and choruses and informal doo-wop gatherings with friends as I grew into adolescence. As I said, I didn’t listen to mariachi or Indian music because it wasn’t readily available, but I consumed everything within my grasp. When I bought my first $8 guitar from Woolworth’s, I learned to play (badly) and in no time I was singing and strumming in a teenage band, then later in parks, on beaches, and street corners, caring not for the coins or occasional bills that came my way but only for the love of singing and sharing song. Never parlaying the occasional coffee house, recording session, or church gig into a career, I grew instead into a teacher but never left the world of music behind.
This book, then, is a labor of love. Whenever I watch or read about the latest Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, or check out Rolling Stone’slists of the greatest this or that, or listen to a trendy artist picking up a handful of Grammys, I am always intrigued and sometimes ready to differ. That’s what this book is about—it seeks to answer the question, just who are the greatest recording artists of the past century?
MUSIC TITANS remains available at Amazon or wherever books are sold online. Thank you!
-
86 years ago on Easter Sunday, MARIAN ANDERSON sang at one of the most historic concerts in U.S. History. In honor of that occasion, here is an excerpt from her profile taken from my book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS (Music Titans, by Steve Williams, is widely available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookBaby Bookshop, Apple, and more. I’d be honored if you read it and tell your friends about it, if you enjoy it. A sincere Thank You if you’ve already done so)—
Best known for shattering racial barriers, Marian Anderson was also a brilliant contralto who could also sing in the soprano range, possessing a voice that appears “once in a hundred years,” according to famed conductor Arturo Toscanini.
Born in Philadelphia, Marian began singing in her Baptist Church choir at the age of six, transitioning to adult choirs as she moved into her teens. She was so impressive that several organizations raised money so that she could train properly. Winning a contest brought her the opportunity to sing in 1925 with the New York Philharmonic, and, by 1928, she was performing at Carnegie Hall. Touring the United States, she regularly faced racial prejudice, denied entrance again and again to hotels and restaurants in many of the cities where she sang. She was a big hit in Europe in the 1930s, and, in 1939, she performed at the White House for the Roosevelts and the King of England.
That same year, she was barred from singing at Washington D.C.’s Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The NAACP launched a protest, which was given a great boost when Eleanor Roosevelt quit the DAR, prompting many other members to follow suit. An alternative concert was arranged for Easter Sunday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with 75,000 attending and millions more listening to the live radio broadcast.
Anderson sang classical and opera numbers as well as traditional African-American spirituals. As musician Rhiannon Giddens wrote, “By performing spirituals in the concert hall, Anderson linked generations of listeners to Black American history.”
In 1955, at the age of 58, Marian shattered another color line by making her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a lifetime Grammy, and countless honorary doctorates, Anderson truly paved the way for other greats such as Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman.
Suggested Songs:
Ave Maria (1936)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I See (1948)
Crucifixion (1948)
-
One of the delightful performances this Oscar season came from ARIANA GRANDE in the Wizard of Oz prequel, Wicked. If you haven’t seen the movie, believe me, she’s a hoot as a young Glinda. Ariana already secured a spot in my music history book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS. Here is an excerpt from her entry—
It’s only been a single decade, but Ariana Grande’s musical footprint is already huge—among the 100 top-selling artists of all time, one of the most streamed and social-media-followed singers of her time, and a voice that has been compared to the greats.
Born in Florida to two successful parents, from a young age she sang and did children’s theater, landing a Broadway role in 2008. From 2010 to 2014, she was a fixture on Nickelodeon as the slow-witted but sweet sitcom character Cat Valentine. Ariana released her first single in 2011, “Put Your Hands Up,” which she later described as “bubblegum pop” and not representative of what she hoped to do. Since 2013, she has released six studio albums, five reaching the top spot on pop charts, with the one that missed hitting #2.
Her musical style has been described as R&B-flavored pop, though she has mixed in various dance, EDM, and hip-hop elements, as well, singing of the push-pull of relationships… self and female empowerment, material wealth, and moving on in the face of loss. It is Ariana’s voice, however, that has garnered most of the attention. With a four-octave range, the ability to reach the whistle or highest register, and wonderful control, she has been compared endlessly to Mariah Carey.
Her most talked about songs include 2013’s “The Way,” a pop/hip-hop duet with troubled rapper Mac Miller; “One Last Time,” a love loss mid-tempo ballad that took on new meaning in 2017 after a bombing at her Manchester Arena concert that killed 22 people, as the song became a loving send off to the victims; “No Tears Left to Cry,” Ariana’s positivity response in the face of tragedy…and the giant “Thank U, Next,” which celebrates all that we can learn from past loves.
She is only 30; we can only guess at what she will accomplish in a full career.
Suggested Songs:
One Last Time (2015)
No Tears Left to Cry (2018)
God Is a Woman (2018)
Thank U, Next (2019)
Thank you for your continued support of MUSIC TITANS, available everywhere online. I’m working on a new book; I’ll be saying more about that soon. Thanks.
-
It has been one year since my music history book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, released in eBook format (the paperback came out in March 2024). I am not a best-selling author (not close), and it would be a huge stretch, even, to call my book a hit. Still, MUSIC TITANS has remained fairly consistently among Amazon’s Top 5% selling titles (there are millions of books out there). It is well regarded (4.4 on Amazon and 4.73 on Goodreads), and has even been picked up by several library systems.
For those who don’t know, I looked at 100 years of recorded music (1923 to 2023), artists from all genres, and three broad metrics (Popularity- total records sold; live music or concert attraction; longevity as a consequential artist. The second metric was Influence- musical and cultural, both in their own time and long-term. The third metric was major Awards and Honors won). Using a point system, I then came up with my ranked list of the 250 “greatest”- Not necessarily my favorites. I let the three criteria and the total number of points define who is on the list. Of course, people can and do and should disagree with who is on and who is not on the list. I don’t pretend that this is a definitive or scientific ranking. I often have second guessed myself, feeling like I undervalued or over valued certain artists. I did, though, do a lot of reading and research, as well as listening, and I assure you that all the true, no doubt about it, giants are here- Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Miles, Hank, Elvis, Streisand, the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Willie, Dolly, Aretha, Michael, Marley, Madonna, Eminem, and so-on. MUSIC TITANS is meant to be educational, but it is also meant to be fun, to provoke discussion and debate, but also to promote listening.
I hope you read it (if you haven’t already), tell your friends about it, and let me know your thoughts. It is still widely available at Amazon, BookBaby, Barnes & Noble, etc. Thanks!
