Greatest All-Around Musician of All Time

I was about to post Prince just because of his virtuosity with nearly every instrument, but I find a lot of his music to be horribly boring. There are the classics...I like just about everything on Purple Rain...but I just can't get into a lot of his other stuff. So I didn't say Prince.

Honestly, I don't know who I would put down.
 
All the above are worthy canidates, Im going to tip my hat to Mark Knopfler, while not only being one of the most original and technical lead rock players he has an unmatched voice and he is very much like Lennon/McCartey in that I dont understand how this guy has written so many timeless songs, I mean really his less popular stuff has more substance then any mainstream crap playing today, listen to Lions,Telegraph Road or Lady Writer and thats just the forgotten stuff
 
Right Annie.

Thriller ownssssssssssssssss

I think Pete Doherty is a great all around musician, I dont think I could pick a "greatest all around musician evar"
 
that's fair, i'm kind of juxtaposed in regarRAB to these two people. Dolphy's stuff tenRAB to formulates images in my mind more than anyone else i listen to. i see life when i hear his music. it's not that the Coltrane i've heard isn't really freaking good, it just doesn't get to that point for me. yet.
 
Im going to have to say Josh Homme and Brant Bjork on this one. Maybe not the best of all time but definitely notable in that they have both created entire albums by themselves and constantly have many different musicians around them all the time.
 
Tom Waits, without a doubt. That man is probably the most talented musician of all time. He's just so creative and experimental, it's great to hear the progression in his music. Plus he hasn't put out any terrible recorRAB in almost 40 years.

The second greatest all-round musician is imo Robert Pollard. I mean, he made over 1200 songs and alot of them are actually really, really good. Bee Thousand is imo still the best indie rock record along with Alien Lanes. His vocal melodies are amazing too. He's the Pop Zeus.
 
Bold indicates classic:

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
2. "Baby Be Mine"
3. "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney)
4. "Thriller"
5. "Beat It"
6. "Billie Jean"
7. "Human Nature"
8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
9. "The Lady In My Life"

Not bad.


EDIT: Whoops, I missed one.
 
As far as musicians go in the bassist and drummer categories. My vote would go to Pino Palladino, Steve Gadd, Jeff Porcaro, Carlos Vega and Jimmy Johnson.
 
McCartney couldn't hold a light to Jamerson as far as bass playing goes.
Not even close with No. 1's either.

If we're including classical music then Mozart wins hanRAB down.
If we're not, then Earl Van Dyke tops the lot.

EDIT: If gay gets the green light in the swear filter...so should ****.
It's sexist not to, sort of.
 
I don't speak in absolutes, so I'm not going to say "of all time", but as far as modern musicians go, Sufjan Stevens is rather remarkable.
 
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