Sorry, I meant to return to this.
can you name me one artist that had their stylistic range (from folk to country to blues to rockabilly to soul to r&b to music hall to psychedelic rock to hard rock, the list goes on & on & on) in such a short period of time, accomplished with such a dazzling array of success (including vast amounts of critical favor & praise nearly a half century later, peerless enduring popularity, record-breaking album sales & unmatched influence)? i doubt you could name a single musician.
Well, versatility alone doesn't amount to greatness, of course, and I'm not sure whose opinion you're going by on "success", your own, or "The Majority". "Vast amounts of critical favour" again doesn't bring inherent greatness. (But it might.) Shakespeare's still studied today, but he's not necessarily
good. (I think he is, but that's because
I like his work.)
Everybody loves
Gone With the Wind, but I gave it a prompt "no stars" when I saw it last; also, I recognise and acknowledge
influence, but consider it separately to measuring
greatness. But we've been down this path before.
How, by the way, would you define the following phrases:
"unmatched influence"
"peerless enduring popularity"
"dazzling array of success"
They sound like fashionable (and dismissable) buzz-phrases, to me.
Anyway, to answer your question, here's a few names that come to mind, for versatility, artistic innovation, enduring appeal and ultimately, influence.
DJ Shadow, Aphex Twin, Radiohead, Tom Waits, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Damon Albarn.
Oh wait, and Dylan.
(Should Dylan be dismissed because The Beatles sold more records than him?)
And, for what it's worth, since we're all sounding very snobbish already, I'll say that Eminem's
Marshal Mathers LP is worth ten
Sgt. Peppers as far as lyricism goes.
