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?
50 Jack White
Rock City revivalistGenius credentials: From Talking Heads to Beck, most art-rock revels in ironic detachment. Not Detroit homeboy Jack White’s brainchild, the White Stripes. They reek of fire, brimstone and searing commitment to the cause of rock & roll. What Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and the Who were to the ’60s, Jack White is to the noughties. Yep,
that good.
His peers agree! “The White Stripes make me want to eat crack pipes and dance with the voodoo bones of the dead.” — Ryan Adams
Genius zenith: White Blood Cells (V2, 2001)
VIDEO: White Stripes, "When I Hear Your Name" Live at Bonnaroo 2007VIDEO: White Stripes, "Conquista"49 Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller
Unlikely architects of rock & rollGenius credentials: East Coast Jewish hipsters who were obsessed with black culture, songwriting duo Leiber & Stoller melded R&B and Tin Pan Alley tunesmithery on such hits as “Hound Dog,” “On Broadway” and “Stand by Me.” Elvis Presley, for one, believed them so essential to his mojo that he sometimes refused to enter a studio without them.
Their peers agree! “They were great songwriters.” — Paul McCartney
Genius zenith: There’s a Riot Goin’ On!: The Rock and Roll Classics of Leiber and Stoller (Rhino, 1991)
48 Polly Harvey
Sexy art-rock? Yes!Genius credentials: Those smart enough to buy
Dry (1992) knew they were onto something good, but even Polly Harvey’s most visionary fans could not have predicted the journey that followed in its wake. In the ensuing decade, with or without her guitar, Harvey has masterfully blended alt-rock, sexual bravado, goth blues, performance art and her own off-kilter gorgeousness — and laid convincing claim to being her generation’s most important female performer.
Her peers agree! “She’s the bomb.” — Garbage’s Shirley Manson
Genius zenith: Rid of Me (Island, 1993)
47 Björn Ulvaeus And Benny Andersson
ABBA’s palindromic whizzes Genius credentials: Hailing from darkest Sweden and influenced by Phil Spector and cheesy Europop, ABBA spent their decade of superstardom making perfect pop. The women — Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad — were the public face of ABBA, but Ulvaeus (clean-shaven) and Andersson (bearded) wrote the songs and added the clinically brilliant production.
Their peers agree! “These are great songs.” — Elvis Costello
Genius zenith: The Definitive Collection (PolyGram, 2001)
46 Eddie Van Halen
Dude, you shred!Genius credentials: Before Eddie Van Halen, guitar heroes mostly worked off the templates of worthy ’60s Brits such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, et al. Eddie Van Halen’s extraordinary bastardization of jazz, classical and rock inspired a new generation of guitarists, while sending the old guard scuttling back to the drawing board.
His peers agree! “I rank him along with Charlie Parker and Art Tatum as one of the three greatest musicians of my lifetime.” — Van Halen producer Ted Templeman
Genius zenith: Van Halen (Warner Bros., 1978)
45 Rick Rubin
Louder and defferGenius credentials: In 1985, Def Jam cofounder Frederick Rubin was alone in his belief that hip-hop and hard rock were linked by sheer obnoxiousness. But several million record buyers came around to his thinking a year later when his productions for Run-DMC’s
Raising Hell and the Beastie Boys’
Licensed to Ill went platinum-plus. Rap-metal, in all its mutant splendor, is Rubin’s brainchild.
His peers agree! “It’s an honor to have Rick produce your record.” — System of a Down’s Daron Malakian
Genius zenith: The Beastie Boys,
Licensed to Ill (Def Jam, 1986)
44 Patti Smith High priestess of punkGenius credentials: Genius doesn’t need to shave its armpits: Patti Smith broadcast that message in the Robert Mapplethorpe cover photo for her 1978 album,
Easter. A fan of the Rolling Stones and licentious nineteenth-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud equally, Smith snapped words as if they were gum and declaimed erotic punk-rock tales of hallucination, escape and rebirth, influencing R.E.M., U2, Nirvana and PJ Harvey.
Her peers agree! “My record collection started in 1976 with Patti Smith’s
Horses.” — Bono
Genius zenith: Horses (Arista, 1975)
43 Lee "Scratch" Perry
He invented the remixGenius credentials: No one in music demonstrates genius’s proximity to madness more definitively than Rainford Hugh Perry, a.k.a. “Scratch” and “The Upsetter.” By producing Bob Marley and the Clash, he helped take reggae to the international stage, and as pioneer of the mixing desk as musical instrument, he effectively created the remix (admit it, P. Diddy) — and thus all modern soundscaped music, from hip-hop to ambient and beyond.
His peers agree! “All three of us are inspired by Lee Perry’s music and production.” — The Beastie Boys’ Mike D
Genius zenith: Super Ape (Island, 1976)
42 Missy Elliott And Tim “Timbaland” Mosley
Hip-hop’s dynamic duoGenius credentials: Not just anyone can don an inflated garbage bag and pass herself off as a sex symbol. Elliott did exactly that in the video for her 1997 debut single, “The Rain,” arriving with master producer Timbaland to rejigger hip-hop into a futuristic carnival. This Virginia duo hasn’t stayed ahead of the pack so much as created its own bizarro universe.
Their peers agree! “God has given that girl a lot of beautiful stuff to work with.” — Mary J. Blige
Genius zenith: Under Construction (Goldmind/Elektra, 2002)
41 Andy Warhol
Wiggy pop-art originatorGenius credentials: Sure, only art critics can say why rows of soup cans are great. But when gay, wraithlike, Elvis obsessive Andy Warhol got ahold of the Velvet Underground in 1965, he led rock culture to depths of sex, drugs, glamour and filthy truth it might have dodged without him. His now-axiomatic prediction about fame proves ever more accurate.
And he designed the greatest album cover ever, the Stones’
Sticky Fingers.
His peers agree! “His way of looking at things would stop me dead in my tracks.” — Lou Reed
Genius zenith: The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve, 1967)