Stephen Stills Thinks Rock Lists Are 'Purposeless'

Posted on Nov 23rd 2009 4:00PM by Steve Baltin
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With songs like 'For What It's Worth,' 'Suite Judy Blue Eyes,' 'Teach Your Children' and 'Love the One You're With,' Stephen Stills is a fixture on lists naming the greatest rock songs. Despite that praise, he isn't a fan of the countdowns. "I don't pay any attention to those lists," he tells Spinner. "I think those lists are purposeless."

Case in point -- Stills says he couldn't pick a favorite guitarist. "There are five or six guitar players that I love equally: B.B. King, Elmore James, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, John Mayer. I think he's bad to the bone. You have no idea the looks I get when I say I think Mayer plays great," he says. "I love Robert Cray, Kenny Burrell, some of the jazz greats and then they get too numerous to name. I would say my favorite guitar players of all time were Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck -- two from the Yardbirds."

As a guitarist, he admits to looking at one list, the Rolling Stone countdown of the 100 greatest guitar players where he placed very admirably in the top 30. But even that didn't impress him. "The only thing I looked at was the guitar player list in Rolling Stone and I asked, Jann [Wenner, Rolling Stone's publisher], 'Why are you starting all these lists? This is not football. This is not the All-Star Game,'" he says. "So much of it involves taste. Earl Scruggs is one of the greatest guitar players of all time and god, it goes on and on, people I played with I can't recall right now."

What did Wenner say when Stills put him on the spot? "I think I blindsided him a little bit," he says, laughing. "It was one of those role reversal moments, but Jann and I have been friends for a long time and he sort of expects that of me. 'Oh god, here's Stills, what's he gonna do now?'"