The Top Whatever - The Last Bastion Of The Desperate Journalist

It can't be easy being a a magazine journalist. Trying to fill all those pages, yet limited by the particular scope of your publication (thank goodness for the far-ranging scope of NOMW). Hence, since time immemorial the Q's, Classic Rock's, Empire's and Narrowboat Magazine's of this world have turned to the wonderful space-filling realm of the list in order to do just that. And in so doing, so the theory goes, provoking the sort of heated discussion amongst interested parties that will ensure readership remains high. Of course, most of these top-whatevers are absolutely ridiculous (a case in point - this month's GQ rundown on the top 100 most powerful people. George Osbourne is NUMBER SIX. Enough said).

Anyway, it may smack (or at least lightly brush) of hypocrisy but, despite being not even one post old, NOMW is going down the list route. But before you say it, it's been borne out of extreme provocation, in the form of IGN.com's outrageous 'Top 10 prog guitarists'. Now, this touches on topics extremely close to the heart, so I cannot just let it slide. For those who missed it, this was their attempt. I mean, Greg Lake? Talk about a Lucky Man.

01. Steve Howe
02. Robert Fripp
03. Martin Barre
04. Alex Lifeson
05. Greg Lake
06. Peter Banks
07. Jan Akkerman
08. John Pretucci
09. David Gilmour
10. Steve Hackett

Now, the NOMW definitive top ten. Criteria not open to discussion or debate, the list is final.

01. David Gilmour
02. Steve Hackett
03. Allan Holdsworth
04. Steve Howe
05. Robert Fripp
06. Frank Zappa
07. Adrian Belew
08. John Petrucci
09. Alex Lifeson
10. Trevor Rabin

Look out for more non-desperate lists, coming soon to a blog near you (ie this one).