Poor Billboard magazine. They don’t know what the hell they’re doing.
Their top 100 albums by women list is topped by Adele’s “21” album. That’s ridiculous but that’s not all. The list OMITS Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Joan Baez and Patsy Cline, and Gladys Knight.
It’s not clear who the idiots are who made the list, but they should be fired. Immediately. They’ve got Big Brother and the Holding Company — aka Janis Joplin– at 75. And no mention of “Pearl,” Janis’s crowning achievement at all.
There’s no Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Lynn, or Tammy Wynette. Come on. Are you kidding?
NO Annie Lennox. No Annie Lennox.
And not a word about Dusty Springfield’s “Dusty in Memphis.” I mean, these people are brain dead.
They didn’t include Pink, Camilla Cabello, Sheryl Crow, or Wynonna Judd.
But there are multiple entrees from Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Adele, and Barbra Streisand. Did you have to pay to ge this on the list? How much? I will pay you, Billboard, to add the women who are missing. Get real.
Dinah Washington, Etta James? Nope. Billie Holiday? Nope. Jennifer Holliday? Nope.
But Paula Abdul? She’s number 10.
And no Ella, no Sarah. Wait, it just keeps getting worse. No Doris Day! And no Rosemary Clooney! No Judy or Liza either.
This is the Bible? The Music Bible? Maybe it’s “The Satanic Verses”?
Adding a PS because I was distracted by outraged emails. These lists are made by magazines to get attention and spark conversation. But this particular list just shows how stupid these people are, and their total lack of understanding of the history of popular music. “Tapestry” should be number 1 or 2, same for “Court and Spark” by Joni. The people who made the list seem like they were torn between contemporary crap and some legacy (Carole has 3 slots, Roberta Flack is there, Carly Simon’s “No Secrets” is way down the list). But basically this is a shanda. You can’t respect a publication that does this. PS Aretha could have at least 3 albums up there. Aretha!
