Towering natural ability! Exceptional creative powers! A brain the size of Alaska! Without the 50 on this list, not only would the music we love be worse, it wouldn’t exist at all. So who cares if some of them are utterly nuts?
30 David BowieA thoroughly modern rock starGenius credentials: In his glory years, he was ahead of everything and everyone, inventing glam rock, electro-rock and cocaine abuse before anyone else had thought of such things. He understood the value of pretending to be gay, and he designed himself: each image, each new musical direction and each wildly different tour. Inevitably, he ran out of steam, but without him there would be no Marilyn Manson. Heavens.
His peers agree! “We all owe David a debt.” — Kurt Cobain
Genius zenith: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (Virgin, 1972)
29 Berry Gordy Jr.Mr. MotownGenius credentials: The man behind Motown was a former boxer and record-store owner. He spotted singers (Marvin Gaye), producers (Holland-Dozier-Holland) and songwriters (Smokey Robinson), but most cleverly, he made the Motown
sound the star. He put his wannabes through charm school and made them work as hard as he did. Better yet, he was among the first businessmen to sell black-owned product to white America.
His peers agree! “Berry Gordy is a one-in-a-trillion person.” — Smokey Robinson
Genius zenith: Various Artists,
Motown: The Classic Years (Motown, 2000)
28 Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell never liesGenius credentials: Ex-lover David Crosby once asserted that Joni Mitchell is “about as modest as Mussolini.” But Mitchell’s records back up such immodesty, thanks to her pioneering of the song as intimate confession on her early albums and complete mastery of the form with 1971’s
Blue and 1974’s
Court and Spark. The underrated
Mingus (1979) still stands as about the only example of a rock star mixing pop and jazz without making a total ass of herself.
Her peers agree! “What can I say? She brings tears to my eyes.” — Jimmy Page
Genius zenith: Blue (Reprise, 1971)
27 Jimmy PageHeavy-metal mastermindGenius credentials: “Do you think there would be interest in America for a guitarist like me?” asked 19-year-old session player Jimmy Page of a friend. The answer came with 1969’s
Led Zeppelin, on which Page remade American blues in a riff-heavy manner that defined rock for a decade to come. And Page’s influence extends far beyond rock: His titanic production of John Bonham’s drums is endlessly sampled by hip-hoppers to this day.
His peers agree! “He’s a genius.” — Eddie Van Halen
Genius zenith: Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic, 1971)
26 PrinceBottomless talent, egoGenius credentials: A hundred pounds of purple pulchritude. Radically fusing James Brown butch and Little Richard camp, he funked up the ’80s. Hyperactive of both groin and musical imagination, he choreographed gaudy sex shows that were entertainment heaven and provided Eminem a movie role model. Despite the notorious Symbol/Artist Formerly Known As pratfall and other plot losses, Prince won’t give up until they nail the lid down.
His peers agree! “He’s a thoroughbred. He’s like an Arabian breed.” — Miles Davis
Genius zenith: Sign o’ the Times (Warner Bros., 1987)
25 Phil SpectorThe original producer-as-geniusGenius credentials: The first record producer to claim pop stardom, egomaniac Phil Spector created his signature Wall of Sound in the early ’60s, using dozens of musicians to create symphonic epics. Hits by the Crystals, Ronettes and Righteous Brothers established the notion of pop as an art form, inspiring Brian Wilson, whose
Pet Sounds owes everything to Spector. Later tales of Spector as a brooding, gun-toting recluse have only enhanced his mystique.
His peers agree! “I have always admired this genius.” — John Lennon
Genius zenith: Back to Mono (ABKCO, 1991)
24 George ClintonFreaked the funkGenius credentials: “Who says a funk band can’t play rock?” demanded Funkadelic on their 1978 album,
One Nation Under a Groove. The answer was a resounding “No one!” thanks almost entirely to Clinton’s Funkadelic/ Parliament output, which reveled in rock, funk, soul, science fiction, drug ingestion and diaper wearing. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name a few, would all come to honor the P-Funkateer’s musical legacy.
His peers agree! “He’s a national treasure.” — The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea
Genius zenith: Maggot Brain (Westbound, 1971)
23 Hank Williams 
He’ll melt your cold, cold heartGenius credentials: He couldn’t read or write music, but in the 1950s he single-handedly broke country not just coast to coast but worldwide. He was drunk, drugged and dead by 29, but his immortal weepies, such as “Lovesick Blues” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” found a devil-may-care glamour in backwoods heartbreak, making losers feel like winners.
His peers agree! “I go back, back further all the time. Back into Hank Williams. Because the human thing in those records is just beautiful and awesome.” — Bruce Springsteen
Genius zenith: 40 Greatest Hits (Mercury, 1978)
22 Lou ReedElectric-shocked rockGenius credentials: Reed’s legendary debauchery distracted attention from his dedication to redrafting the rules of rock. “The music is all: People should die for it,” he once proclaimed. His life was shadowed by the electric-shock “cure” for homosexuality he underwent at 17. In the ’60s, he forged the Velvet Underground’s back-alley sound. Later, Andy Warhol’s death shook him out of a mundane spell, and in middle age, he regained his ruthless, passionate precision.
His peers agree! “Lou Reed started everything about that style of music.” — Mick Jagger
Genius zenith: Transformer (RCA, 1972)
21 Florian Schneider and Ralf HütterThe electronic BeatlesGenius credentials: When Kraftwerk’s cofounders began experimenting with synthesized sounds in the early ’70s, not only was there no electronic rock to speak of — there were no electronic instruments, either, so they had to build their own. Artists from New Order to Timbaland have been paying tribute to their cyborg vision ever since.
Their peers agree! “This record by Kraftwerk is great — I can even go to the bathroom while I play it!” — Grandmaster Flash
Genius zenith: Trans-Europe Express (Capitol, 1977)