Are Queen One of the Greatest Music Artists of all time?

Recently, Queen were ranked 17th on the 100 Greatest Music Artists of All Time list on VH1. Some may argue Queen should atleast be in the top 10 and some may argue that Queen would not even deserve the top 40.The likes of Madonna (#16), Nirvana (#14), Prince (#7) are higher than Queen in the list and most of those artists are not as succesful as Queen (except Madonna) or are not as talented. Any this thread is about how does Queen rank in the Greatest music artists of all time. Succes is one matter and talent is an other. So lets take a look:

Queen I - Talent (Pretty Good) - Success (Very Poor)
Queen II - Talent (Outstanding) - Success (Pretty Poor)
Sheer Heart Attack - Talent (Excellent) - Success (Quite Good)
A Night at the Opera - Talent (Outstanding) - Success (Very Good)
A Day at the Races - Talent (Excellent) - Success (Quite Good)
News of the World - Talent (Quite Good) - Success (Good)
Jazz - Talent (Quite Good) - Success (Okay)
The Game - Talent (Pretty Good) - Success (Very Good)
Hot Space - Talent (Quite Poor) - Success (Okay)
The Works - Talent (Okay) - Success (Pretty Good)
A Kind of Magic - Talent (Okay) - Success (Good)
The Miracle - Talent (Okay) - Success (Quite Good)
Innuendo - Talent (Okay) - Success (Quite Good)
Made in Heaven - Talent (Pretty Good) -Success (Very Good)

So Queen are quite a successful band. They are in the top 5 best selling artists in the UK, Spent the most time on the charts and have the best selling album in the UK. Bohemian Rhapsody considered in the top 5 best songs ever. A Night at the Opera considerd exceptional. Live Aid voted the best concert ever..... Queen= Pretty Succesful Band. They were exceptionally successul in South America and Germany, however the downside to Queen's success was the USA. Queen were one of the few most successul bands of all time to have failed to have failed to have made a long lasting imapct in the States. Queen therefore missed out on being more successful.

Influence is another aspect and Queen have influenced so many different artits- Live Performances is another and Queen were just about the Kings of Rock concerts. Classic Album status has only been reached with A Night at the Opera. If Queen's first 5 albums were more successful, Queen's status as a classic rock artist would be higher.

 Most importantly, talent is what being one of the greatest artists of all tim are all about. Queen reigned a career for more than 20 years (more than Nirvana, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles). Queen's music was dynamic, inspirning and versatile. I Can't name a band who could write such contrasting and epic music as varied as Prog Rock, Metal, Opera, Vaudiville, Gospel, Disco, Synth, Arena Rock, Ragtime, Pop. Queen were so innovative they invented new styles of rock music and made a name for Stadium Rock. Queen's experimentation of different styles worked.  Queen's music is exceptionally talented (partiulary 1973-1976 and also 1977-1981).

It was the period after the Game that Queen's albums were shorter, not as heavy or dynamic and even lacked authentic instruments. The Works is a highly mixed album with some good tracks but it is not a classic. Perhaps these 1980s albums put Queen down a bit in the greatest music artists of all time. However you have to ask did Led Zeppelin release poor albums, was Michael Jackson a talented musician (we all know he was a fantastic performer and song writer), was Prince as amazing as Queen live, were the Rolling Stones Dynamic?????

My Best Artists of all time would look like this:

10. The Beach Boys
9. The Rolling Stones
8. Jimi Hendrix
7. Dire Straits
6. Led Zeppelin
5. Elvis Pressley
4. Rush
3. Michael Jackson
2. Queen
1. The Beatles

Queen are my favourie band but the Beatles are no.1 due to their influence on music and stunning popularity. Queen would not be around if it was not for the Beatles.

Rankings and lists like that are pretty pointless. People in Europe for example will not know any Rush - Song nor the name of any album. Polls like that may show how active the fan bases of certain bands are - but that's it.

In the end only time will tell what really becomes timeless and which bands will go down in history as the greatest music artists of all time. And even if many of my favorites will not be in that list....I don't care.

Those will be in that list whose songs are adopted by following generations without the artists being available or active anymore. Surely there will be the Beatles....Pink Floyd.....ABBA.....Queen.....probably Michael Jackson....who knows...

Considering Hot Space and News of the world both hit number 4 in the uk charts i would say that their sucess is equally as good as each other

Being biased towards Queen i would put them in the top 10 best artists of all time but i couldnt say who was the best but they are one of the great artists in history of music, there songs still come on the radio several times a day and they are one of the few artists who i could listen to all day

There are few others for example, Elton John Bruce Springsteen Rod Stewart Madonna  and George Michael that i can do the same for and probably there are a few modern day bands around that could possibly last for a good few years for example, Take That have been around once before and come back, also Scissor Sisters Kings of Leon and muse

Here is my top 10 in particular order because they are all great

Queen
Elton John
Bruce SPringsteen
Rod Stewart
Marvin Gaye
Bon Jovi
Madonna
George Midhael
Aretha Franklin
Bryan Adams

Hey I'm European and I know Rush. I believe that Rush have quite a large following here in Glasgow.

Queen would not be around if it were'nt for Freddie Mercury's eclectic culture, he saw, he took in and then he conquered.
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Master Marathon Runner

Sorry, i meant to say; nowt to do with the Beatles

Soundfreak wrote: People in Europe for example will not know any Rush - Song nor the name of any album. 

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LOL.  Their upcoming European tour in May would like to beg to differ.

I'm not saying they are bad or worthless. They are excellent players and yet I couldn't name any song nor do I know anybody having one of their records....
But they are listed on that ranking mail of the "Greatest artists of all time" above on Number 4 even before Led Zeppelin and Elvis. In Germany "Rush" never had a chart song nor any album in the charts. And this Topic is about the "greatest music artists of all time". So "Rush" on Number 4 are a good example how absurd those lists are. They will not have 20 million people trying to get a ticket like Led Zeppelin.....

Soundfreak wrote: I'm not saying they are bad or worthless. They are excellent players and yet I couldn't name any song nor do I know anybody having one of their records....
But they are listed on that ranking mail of the "Greatest artists of all time" above on Number 4 even before Led Zeppelin and Elvis. In Germany "Rush" never had a chart song nor any album in the charts. And this Topic is about the "greatest music artists of all time". So "Rush" on Number 4 are a good example how absurd those lists are. They will not have 20 million people trying to get a ticket like Led Zeppelin.....
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'Me and my friends couldn't name a Rush song'  is a different statement than 'people in Europe couldn't name a Rush song'. As for Germany, they're playing a 13,000+ capacity venue in Frankfurt in May.  They just received some kind of lifetime achievement award from some UK rock magazine late in 2010.  Their #4 position is just in that poster's personal list, which is clearly always going to be a subjective exercise.  That said, I could virtually guarantee there are literally millions of people that would rate Rush in their personal top 10. The VH1 list puts them at 75.

And Rush who have never stopped touring outside a few years due to personal tragedy are hardly a reasonable comparison to a Led Zeppelin one off decades after they broke up.

im from glasgow iand i know who RUSH are, we went to see them at bluesfest in ONTARIO CANADA last year at there new tour and they were great also there playing may this year in glasgow :)

Soundfreak wrote: I'm not saying they are bad or worthless. They are excellent players and yet I couldn't name any song nor do I know anybody having one of their records....
But they are listed on that ranking mail of the "Greatest artists of all time" above on Number 4 even before Led Zeppelin and Elvis. In Germany "Rush" never had a chart song nor any album in the charts. And this Topic is about the "greatest music artists of all time". So "Rush" on Number 4 are a good example how absurd those lists are. They will not have 20 million people trying to get a ticket like Led Zeppelin.....

You should go onto youtube and listen to Xanadu and you would realize that Rush are one of the most talented bands ever. They are also third in the states for most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.

firstly i'd like to say...this is a rubbish thread...and not because of the topic, but because it's subjective.....you can't prove anything factual with opinions.

secondly, the word "talent" is a poor one to use...cos one thing Queen always had in shedloads was talent...it's not about talent, it's about how they use it.....and so therefore your choices should've been "creativity" and "sales"

thirdly, i hate hot space...but one thing i woudl always concede...it's covered in creativity/talent whatever....

fourthly, every fan of every band would put their band in the top echelons of these "all time lists".....even s-club7

lastly, just buying into your thread [briefly] 1. beatles, 2.elvis, 3. pink floyd, 4. the who, 5. led zep, 6. u2, 7. queen, maccartney [solo], 8. REM, 9. Prince, 10. Springsteen, 11. Bowie, 12. Elton, ...and for our favourite poster.......236,345,987,143,th Kiss

No.  They are not one of the greatest artists of all time.  They are THE greatest band of all time.

I agree with everything you said except for the fact that you put Michael Jackson number 3. He should hardly even be in the top 50 artists of all time. He is VERY overrated and ever since he died people have been over reacting about his music. IT WASN'T THAT GOOD.