no, No, NO!
In Rolling Stone's new special issue (Nov 2011) "Top 100 Guitarists of All Time" Brian is ranked 26th.
The marks were provided by a panel of peer judges including Brian.
#1 was Jimi Hendrix.
The rest is too many to list - but all the favs are there. It's just a matter of the order.
They published a similar list in 2003 and Brian was, interestingly, #39 in that one.
Since neither include Mike Oldfield, who could play circles around a lot if their entries, and because Rolling Stone has made its reputation on pretending to know what its talking about (with questionable results), I'm inclined to disregard any such lists.
These things can never be comprehensive, as it cannot take into account every recorded performance and qualify the sum total of a career. Nor can it ever truly gauge the quantity of influence, partly because influences are always changing, as are society's standards.
Besides, why make it a competition? The only thing, in my opinion, that matters is serving the needs of the song.
rhyeking wrote: They published a similar list in 2003 and Brian was, interestingly, #39 in that one.
The only thing, in my opinion, that matters is serving the needs of the song.
Excellent point!
I'm a great admirer of Paul Gilbert, and while he can play with blistering speed, if the song doesn't call for it he won't play like that. Check out his tasteful playing on the Yellow Matter Custard tribute DVD, for example; he plays what the song requires. Taste and melody are the critical factors for producing great music.