WTFDetroit presents "Detroit's Top 25 Recording Artists of All Time" -- NOMINATE NOW

[geerussell]

Anyone else starting to think that the pool isn't big enough for a top 25 to spark any interesting debate about who gets left off the list?

Another angle is old school vs new school.

For old school I'd rank Stevie Wonder as #1 weighing the born-and-raised factor strongly and his overall standing/impact.

New school I think would be a good cage match between May/Saunderson/Atkins, the White Stripes and Eminem. Even though Eminem is a megastar and the White Stripes gave a tepid detroit rock scene a serious shot of adrenalin and national exposure... I'd give the edge to the belleville three for really making detroit the cradle of house/techno in much the same way that new york is broadly viewed as the birthplace of rap/hip hop.

Overall I like to give a lot of weight to what the artist/act did to put the detroit music scene on the map in their time. A lot of the nominees so far made it big but none of that star power ever really shined locally except as a biographical footnote.