[www.thestate.com]

Everybody knows about Mount Rushmore, right? At least I hope all of you were awake in history class that day.

Mount Rushmore, of course, is the iconic national monument that features the faces of four of this country's greatest presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt — carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota. Now I'm not altogether sure why these guys got the nod over, say, Millard Fillmore or Rutherford B. Hayes, but I can live with those choices.

Today, however, there is a far more important debate circulating on Internet message boards, and the question is this: Which four faces belong on a Mount Rockmore sculpture, which would record the four most iconic rock 'n' rollers of all time?

The discussion has gotten so intense that a radio station in St. Louis even polled listeners to come up with its Mount Rockmore. The winners were immortalized on T-shirts that were given away, which is almost as lasting as a giant granite sculpture.

But let's get back to the question. It sounds relatively simple, but it's not.

The list of choices is long, and any debate about people's favorite musical artists is bound to get testy. So I've decided to bring in a couple of Columbia's top rock experts to help with the discussion: Scott Padgett, the former owner of the late, great Five Points rock club Rockafellas, and Dave Stewart, the morning man and program director for Rock 93.5.

One thing became evident immediately. "It's tough limiting it to four," Padgett said.

Sorry, Scotty P, four is all there is space for on Mount Rockmore. So who might be the historical no-brainer picks?

"It would seem like a crime not to put Chuck Berry up there," Padgett said.

Stewart had his own immediate pick. "I'm not particularly a fan, but I don't know how you don't put Elvis up there," he said.

Two solid choices.

But then it started to get tricky. Do you have room for John Lennon and Paul McCartney? Mick Jagger and Keith Richards? Do you include both? Neither?

Both of my judges liked Lennon's rock credentials far more than those of McCartney.

"Paul McCartney's never made a rock 'n' roll record in his life," scoffed Padgett.

"He was lucky to have found John Lennon," Stewart said.

Interestingly, they went in different directions when it came to Jagger and Richards. Padgett went with the guitar player, and Stewart went with the front man.

"If you're going to do it about rock 'n' roll, you have to put Keith Richards on it," Padgett said. "Rock 'n' roll is supposed to be about rebellion. He's the embodiment of rock 'n' roll. He's the ultimate outlaw, anti-establishment, I'm-going-to-do-it-my-way guy."

Stewart liked the swagger of the Stones' lead singer.

"It's got to be Jagger. Seems to me you've got to have a rock star, and there's no bigger presence on stage than Jagger," Stewart said.

Each of them also picked out one of rock's most legendary performers. Padgett went with Bob Dylan, the folkie who turned into rock's greatest songwriter.

"Bob's got to be there," Padgett said. "He could have a whole mountain by himself."

Stewart went with Jimi Hendrix. "When you think rock, you think guitar. And when you think guitar, you think Hendrix," he said.

It really started to get tough when they began to focus on their last choice as they tried to keep the list at four. Questions abounded.

Do you go with a great rhythm and blues influence like James Brown? What about Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin? Or Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend from The Who? Surely, there has to be room for Eric Clapton, doesn't there?

(A Mount Rockmore, Guitarists Only sculpture might be Hendrix, Clapton, Page and Richards. Or how about the Mount SoftRockmore Singer-Songwriters carving of James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell? It would be easier to categorize that way.)

What about great artists whose recording careers began after the 1960s, from Bruce Springsteen to Sting to Prince to Bono to Kurt Cobain? In the case of artists like Hendrix and Cobain and Jim Morrison, death proved to be a great career move.

Padgett knew one thing. "How could you not put Springsteen in there?"

So he did.

That gave him a final Mount Rockmore of Berry, Dylan, Richards and Springsteen.

Stewart finished with Presley, Lennon, Hendrix and Jagger.

Two different lists, but both are arguably representative on any mounstainside. (That St. Louis radio station, by the way, ended up with Clapton, Lennon, Hendrix and Jagger.)

My Mount Rockmore? OK, if you're twisting my arm, here goes:

Berry, Dylan, Jagger, Springsteen.

Get out the carving tools.

I would have to go with Stewarts list, those are the exact 4 I would pick. Granted I'm a Keith girl, but Jagger is much more recognizable than Keith, that seems so crazy that someone wouldn't know him, but it still happens. Someone at work just asked me yesterday in fact. Dumb asses. But everyone one knows Jagger.

Elvis, Dylan, Jagger and Lennon. How can Springsteen not be on the list? Can't believe someone actually said that. Springsteen is great but doesn't belong on Mount Rockmore with so few spots available. Seems like they were trying to include a latter generation star instead of going with the four best rock stars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-09 03:34 by FrankM.

Buddy Holly

Elvis

Lennon

Hendrix

I love the guys, but they shoulda never carved that into sacred Dakota Lands,...we'll be paying that back shortly....

JR

How could you not have Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee?
Springsteen, Bono, Cobain, Sting? No way, not even Clapton would be on mine.
And as much as I love Keith, Lennon, Mick, etc. they'd have to stand in line behind those other guys.

I'd go with Berry, Presley, Lennon and Jagger

I wouldnt limit it to rock, but for contributions to 20th century music :

Elvis, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra.

With Woody Guthrie, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Johnny Cash bubbling under

The Stones and Beatles are bands. If they all arent included together, then none should be individually

Elvis and Dylan are the two most important figures in rock history by far.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-09 18:18 by Gazza.

Quote
FrankM
Elvis, Dylan, Jagger and Lennon. How can Springsteen not be on the list? Can't believe someone actually said that. Springsteen is great but doesn't belong on Mount Rockmore with so few spots available. Seems like they were trying to include a latter generation star instead of going with the four best rock stars.

Bruce's career is already more than a decade longer than Elvis or Lennon's were. And he produced a better and a more consistent body of work than both. Dont know if I'd call him a 'latter generation' star when his first success was only about 5-6 years after acts like Hendrix.

That said, as much as I love Bruce, I agree with what I think you're getting at, namely that something of that magnitude (even though its fictitious) should reflect pioneering in music more than anything else.

The guy who said that McCartney never made a rock n roll record in his life is a clueless idiot



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-09 18:20 by Gazza.

Sporty

Ginger

Baby

Scary

...Posh doesn't make it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-09 18:28 by Adrian-L.

..That'll wipe the smile off her face...

oh wait.....

Quote
Gazza The Stones and Beatles are bands. If they all arent included together, then none should be individually

Agreed