Rating: NNNNN
Who | Willie Nelson 70 | Burt Bacharach 75 | Neil Diamond 63 | Tom Waits 55 | Iggy Pop 56 but looks 76 | Leonard Cohen 69 | Kris Kristofferson 68 |
Contributions to Music as we know it | Walks the line between country and pop, folk, rock, blues, jazz and rock ’n’ roll, paving the way for new country and the alt-country movement every hipster likes to think s/he discovered. | Redefines Brill Building pop with sophisticated melodies and daring arrangements that paved the way for generations of rock, punk, pop and lounge. | Sweet Caroline, Red Red Wine and more, including the Monkees’ break-out hit, I’m A Believer | Poetry for macho men. Creates common ground between clueless posturing art boys in crushed fedoras and freshly scrubbed first-year female psych majors, no doubt resulting in sexual liaisons. | A prototype for skinny guys who can’t sing. His Stooges set the tone for punk as we know it. | Making the Byronesque Euro melancholy romantic-poet-as-sex-god image accessible to North American music audiences, inspiring would-be Casanovas in coffee shops everywhere to put pen to paper. | Wrote 450 songs, including Janis Joplin’s biggest hit, Me And Bobby McGee, and stars in cool movies like Semi-Tough, Blade and two John Sayles pix. |
Covered By | X, Ryan Adams, Butthole Surfers, Cake, L7, Johnny Cash | Alicia Keyes, Cher, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Ted Nugent, Pizzicato Five | Korn, Ron Sexsmith, UB40, Phish, Deep Purple, Murder City Devils, Johnny Cash, Smash Mouth | Sarah McLachlan, Primus, Neko Case, Meat Loaf, Johnny Cash | Lunachicks, 7 Year Bitch, Nick Cave, the Damned | Jeff Buckley, the Pixies, Tori Amos, REM, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson | Aside from Joplin, Supersuckers, Skid Row, Johnny Cash, Jennifer Love Hewitt (!), Calexico |
Why he’s still the coolest guy at the seniors’ dance. | He handled that IRS kerfuffle with such grace, but those long, lush locks say, “I’m still a wild man.” Plus, he works doggedly for causes like Farm Aid. | People Magazine named him one of the sexiest men alive in 2000. Was your dad on that list? I don’t think so. | He’s the one in blue jeans. | The older and uglier he gets, the hotter he gets. | Your mom might be the right age to date him, but she’d still hate him. | He’s probably the only Buddhist monk who is also a Companion to the Order of Canada. | He’s got brains – he was a Rhodes scholar – and brawn. And have you seen those eyes? |