Is Bob Marley the greatest artist of all time ?

@ronnyb (6113)
Jamaica
June 18, 2009 12:46pm CST
Right now this is a contentious issue on the island with a local artist Buju Banton challenging this statement. His contention is that many persons are giving Bob Marley the accolade of being the greatest artist ever but he is saying that in Jamaica he has more number ones than Bob and therefore the title should probably be revised to say greatest within a time frame. In addition many persons (well my friends mostly) are claiming that Bobs fame is fortuitous and stems from the kind of marketing machinery that he has behind him, at that time the Mogul Chris Blackwell was in charge of promoting him .He also get help many claim from the fact that he was saying the right messages at the right time a time when issues to do with world peace was at the fore. My friends even claim that his fame is immortalized by the fact that he died as an icon and that somehow he cannot be challenged by any one living because that would somehow be a comparison between eggs and apples since many persons will argue that if he was still alive he would even be larger (a fact that is knocked down by the fact that many living legends of the past are relatively unknown in the shadow of modern pop stars such as Britney and Mandy ) Now Buju Banton is my personal favorite artist of all time but somehow I believe that Bob is an icon and somehow he cant be touched by virtue of the body of work he did during his life .This belief is further supported by his award of the BBC title " man of the century " ,an accolade that could have been given to ant number of powerful white artist but instead given to Bob Marley .I don’t know what it is but there is just something unique about Bob's work that set him in an hemisphere apart from the rest I am interested in knowing what is your take on this issue. Do you for instance believe that an artist greatness should be measured within a time frame or do you think it transcends that or do you think that there can be no great artist of all time because all these artists are unique and the comparison should be done within genre, do tell, we anxiously await your answer so that it may be resolved among my friend and I .
2 people like this
2 responses
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
18 Jun 09
RONNYB, u wrote all that & didn't once mention elvis. U know he was the best ever, in my opinion. SHAME ON U!. MAYBE one day u will come around to my way of thinking.
@ronnyb (6113)
• Jamaica
18 Jun 09
LOL I knew you would say that and when I was writing it i was thinking that Antique will have a fit with this ,I was gonna mention his name but it slipped me entirely ....I hope i will scome around Antique ..i liek Elvis but he is not my fav either ...lol...but no problem knowing he is yours lol
1 person likes this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
18 Jun 09
I want give up hope on u "yet".
@ronnyb (6113)
• Jamaica
18 Jun 09
lol i know Antique ,I know lol
@rainmark (4302)
18 Jun 09
Hi there, i haven't heard buju. But im fan of Bob Marley, his songs in Philippines is famous. the first reggae i love most of his songs!
@ronnyb (6113)
• Jamaica
18 Jun 09
Ok lol I guess your answer is turning out to be a common answer as most persons havent heard of Buju but they have heard of Bob Marley .Buju is a local artist adn my personal afvourite however that hasnt made be biased to the fact that BoB Marley is just in a class by himself