They probably wanted to put Jack White first (R.S. probably just get paid to give some current acts some added promotion), but knew it was a bit of a stretch to bump Hendrix. They might've realised that because Hendrix is so far better than anyone, that no matter how you graded the list (ability, songwriting, showmanship, popularity, influence, musicianship, innovation etc etc), he'd still win.
If they put Kurt Cobain on there (wrote a couple of good songs), Bob Dylan (wrote more than a couple of good songs...) should be on there too... its a totally strange list, it doesn't know what it is or how anyone is supposed to be ranked. Its just an editorial wank basically. Its just some young jerk's opinion at Rolling Stone magazine, with random donations from record companies influencing the choices....
I love how when Rolling Stone initially wanted to put Frank Zappa on the cover, they rang him up and he said "You want ME to prostitute myself to help sell YOUR magazine?! No way, you can't use my picture, **** off."
Most musos would kill to get on the cover of RS, Zappa sure had some integrity!
Edit: ^^^ Apologies for the thread from the dead, I believe it was my fault.
