The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time: Reader Letters

Dear Rolling Stone,

As a lifelong subscriber, it is always fun to read your lists of the "100 this" or the "100 that" and I realize you can't possibly fit everything into these lists to please everyone. But it is almost a crime that on the list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" that there was not a single Ted Nugent song. How could Gonzo's "Stranglehold" not have been in the top 10? As far as a guitar song goes, it blows Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" out of the water! When I bought my guitar, "Stranglehold" and "Free For All" were the only songs I wanted to learn. I was seriously disappointed that one of the "greatest guitar players of all time" didn't make the cut on this list. Shame on Rolling Stone!

Jim Olson
Des Moines, IA

PS — Another guitar song missing is "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group.

Major respect to David Fricke and Co. for an overall excellent list, but the Velvet Undergound's "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" is one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time and should have made the cut.

Steven Bonaccorso
San Francisco, Ca

The latest issue of Rolling Stone arrived in my mailbox on the same day that I heard we had lost Bo Diddley. I thought, how fitting that the cover story for this issue is "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" and immediately began to search for any Bo Diddley songs in the list. I was amazed to find, that through your lack of historical rock and roll perspective, not one of The Mighty Diddley's songs was on the list. I wonder how many songs on the list exist because of Bo Diddley's influence. We know he was cheated out of financial security by unscrupulous recording executives and now this list cheats him out of the recognition of his influence on early rock and roll, which survives to this day through the music of many who, ironically, are on your list. The irony will compounded when, in the near future, he appears on the cover of your magazine.

Jerry Johnson
Twinsburg, Ohio

This is my first time ever commenting to a magazine about an article. In a word, your list of "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" stinks! The most blatantly misguided omissions are "Comfortably Numb" followed closely by Beck's "Bolero." And, how could you possibly ignore one of the all time greats - Joe Walsh? That said, I personally disagree with about 90% of your choices by the artists with whom I'm familiar. Rolling Stone's Rock & Roll expertise really takes a hit in my book with this one.

Chris Jones
Quincy, MA