20. Britney Spears

19. The Brady Bunch

18. Bill Clinton

17. Mickey Mouse

16. Muhammad Ali

15. Jennifer Lopez

14. Steven Spielberg

13. Jerry Seinfeld

12. The Beatles

11. Friends Cast

10. Michael Jackson

9. Princess Diana

8. Michael Jordan

7. Madonna

6. Marilyn Monroe

5. Tom Cruise

4. Lucille Ball

3. Elvis Presley

2. Superman

1. Oprah Winfrey

Though all of the above mentioned are note worthy, I'm surprised that there aren't some more seasoned and more appropriate icons that deserved to be on the top 20 rather than some of the new comers on this list...

You can check out the rest of the list, 22-100 at:

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/...event_id=865242

I'm pretty amazed by the entire list - then again, this is VH1...

I would immediately knock Tom Cruise, the Friends cast, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Lopez, Bill Clinton, The Brady Bunch, Britney Spears - and possibly Oprah Winfrey - out of the top twenty (many of them out of the top 100) and replace them with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, JFK, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Walter Cronkite, Grace Kelly, Alfred Hitchcock, and, possibly, Barbra Streisand. I might also replace The Beatles with John Lennon on his own. Of those mentioned further down the list, I would also move up Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Audrey Hepburn, Bill Cosby, Paul Newman, Jackie Onassis, Woody Allen, Bette Davis, Johhny Carson, Hugh Hefner, and David Bowie - then I might start considering some of those I bumped.

I was also astonished to find that, in a list of 200, they didn't even include Cronkite, Greta Garbo, Albert Einstein, John Glenn, Twiggy, Sidney Poitier, Douglas MacArthur, Farrah Fawcett, Louis Armstrong, Mao Tse-Tung, Milton Berle, Mark Spitz, Buddy Holly, Laurel and Hardy, or - the most recognizable "icon" in the world - Ronald McDonald. Yet they could include Susan Lucci, Bob Denver, Christie Brinkley, and Dr, Phil??

What is it about we American that we just love to list the "Top 100" of anything and everything.

My Top 100 would be very different from Wertz's or Billy Jean's and what would it really prove?

Does anyone remember when VH-1 used to play videos?

Bob Marley at 184? Where are Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and His Imperial Majesty? Jennifer Lopez? My parents don't even know who she is! What's next the Whazzaaup guys? What did Princess Diana do other than marry someone famous and do some charity work? Mike Myers and no George Carlin or Andy Kaufman? Sounds like the list was complied by my little brother. Eminem meant more to our culture than Bob Marley?
Here's a list of people they missed or I didn't see when I checked the list:
Ras Tafari
Monty Python guys
George Steinbrenner
LT
Derek Jeter
Roberto Clemente
Hank Aaron
Broadway Joe
Fernando Valenzuela
Do they have O.J.? How can they not have O.J.?
Al Gore
Dubya
Reagan
Tony the Tiger
Rush Limbaugh
James Bond
Where's Waldo?
Joe Pecsi
The Maytag guy
The Statue of Liberty
Osama bin Laden
Saddam Husien

I think wertz nailed it...

VH1's top 100s are generally only so so. Meatloaf (I have nothing against the man) made the top 100 greatest hard rockers if I remember correctly. And GNR didnt even make their hairbands list, unless of course they arent counting GNR as a hairband which is possible as they were on the end of that era. Silly VH1.

I find it funny that MTV is now starting up MTV2.

MTV2 will actually play videos.

Aha! Good job I checked the link. I was about to ask how on earth Oprah Winfrey and Princess Di got to be icons of Pop Music, then noticed it was actually about pop CULTURE!

Such lists aren't the exlusive preserve of Americans - the defining book of lists is the Guiness Book of Records, I guess. (Origin: - Britain, funded by an Irish brewery.)

I checked the VH1 Europe site to see if they've done a similar poll, and drew a blank - I couldn't imagine that Oprah would even figure on a non-US poll, let alone top it (I guess that was a surprise for some of you guys too!)

Others in the top 20 I think wouldn't appear in the top 100 outside the USA:
Michael Jordan (most US sports are minority interest outside USA)
Jerry Seinfeld
The Brady Bunch
Lucille Ball

Ones that would appear, but not in the top 20:
Tom Cruise
Stephen Speilberg
Bill Clinton

Others I imagine would be included in the top 20 in the slots vacated by those 7 guys if the poll were done in Britain (which is bound to be biased by my personal loves/hates)
Batman
Bugs Bunny
Nelson Mandela
James Bond
Maggie Thatcher
David Beckham
The Sex Pistols

Is VH1 showcasing its ignorance again? They'll never learn. Anyway, here's my top 10 list.

1. GOD

2. Jesus Christ

3. Mohammed

4. George Washington

5. Karl Marx

6. Buddha

7. Ghandi

8. Christopher Columbus

9. Albert Einstein

10. The Beatles

so you can make your own list here, cool. I have watched various shows on VH1 about such lists, i never agree with them most of the time

well here is my list then.

1:monty python guys
2:charles darwin
3: sigmund freud
4: trent reznor
5:tower of london(can I)
6:stephen hawkings
7:Albert einstien
8:bertrand arthur william russell
9:godzilla
10:prometheus
11:David M. Buss
12:stephan pinker
13:Karl marx
14:ren & stimpy
15:aristotle

thats all i can think of for now.

Why am I not on any of these lists?

I'd like to add moif to my list.

He has that razzle dazzle...

Wow!! Some body loves me!!

I'm very surprised Jimmy Stewart isn't on that list. I would definitely add him, as well as some of Wertz's picks....Definitely Bill Cosby, James Dean, Einstein...

there's an abundance I would remove too. Jennifer Lopez give me a break! Greta Garbo isn't on there, but Lopez is? That list makes no sense.

I agree with much of Wertz's suggestions. Where is Jackie Kennedy Onassis? And how about the have a nice day smiley ..you know this

My God, I just noticed, John Wayne ain't in the top 20. He has to be in the top 10 if not the top five.

My top five

5. Princess Diana
4. Jackie O
3. John Wayne
2. The Beatles
1. Elvis

Here's my list...

20. Ben Affleck

19. Tabatha Soren (MTV veejay who reported the news and did solo reports. ie: Teen Pregnancy, Teen Drug Use)

18. Lewis Black (comedian who reports on news subjects on Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central)

17. Shirley Manson (Garbage lead singer)

16. Kurt Loder (MTV veejay who actually made sense at
times)

15. Jennifer Aniston & Neve Campbell (actress ie: Party of Five, Scream Triology)

14. Jim Carrey

13. Courtney Love

12. Trent Reznor

11. Tech N9ne (rapper)

10. Michael Jackson

9. Chris Farley

8. George Carlin

7. Marilyn Monroe

6. Kurt Cobain

5. Louise Post (Veruca Salt lead singer)

4. John Belushi

3. Marilyn Manson

2. Denis Leary (Actually I'd have to say that there would
be a tie between Denis and Bill for first)

1. Bill Maher

debatequeen - if you have to explain who they are, do they qualify as "pop"

Sorry, couldn't resist that one

sure they do!! lol Some people might know the names of the people, but not what they do..or vice versa. Haven't you ever known a face to a person, but never the name? Or, have forgotten the name to the person you know the face to? Hehe, have I confused you yet?

Wow, that list has so many lame entries from the perspective of "pop ICON." Okay, so Spielberg may be a powerful player in shaping popular culture, but he is not, himself, a pop icon. And, of course, it is a decidely American centered listing...

Here's 20:

Snoopy and the Peanuts gang.

Smiley Face.

Elvis

Mr. Rogers

The Muppets (Sesame Street / Kermit & the Gang)

The Beatles

John Travolta

James Dean

Elizabeth Taylor

Darth Vader

John Wayne

Bugs Bunny

Mickey Mouse

James Bond

Tarzan

Cher

The Rolling Stones

The Simpsons

Jimmy Stewart

Political Revolutionaries (the cast changes somewhat over time, but it has consisted of Che Guevarra, Fidel Castro, Ghandi, Nehru, Nelson Mandel, Mao, and an assortment of lesser lights)

Now, y'all will notice that the newest entry on the list is The Simpsons, coming in at 13 years old now. I don't doubt that some of VH1's newer candidates will have the staying power to reach the status of "20 greatest pop icons of all time" (Madonna and Michael Jackson are the two most likely from their list, only bumped by the incredible yet lowkey iconic status of the Muppets and Mr. Rogers.

Some may disagree with Tarzan, but Tarzan has appeared in more films than any other character in history, with more on the way.

Others in the top 100 would be Twiggy (the first supermodel), Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, the Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Charles Lindbergh, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Robin Williams, Pele (before Beckham, there was Pele), The Beach Boys, The Mustang, the Playboy Bunny, Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan, Bjorn Borg, Johnny Carson, Timothy Leary, and a bunch more, (probably more than a 100!)

I don't know if anybody has mentioned Paul Newman but I'd def have him in there. Not only was he in a whole slew of great movies *most of which can still be seen on AMC*(Cool Hand Luke, The Sting, The Color of Money, Long Hot Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid...) but he's also known for his salad dressings and lemonade.

Bikerdad made some excellent suggestions...I dont completely agree with his rankings but I def agree with his choices.

So, personally, I feel that each of us have our own definitions of pop icons. Some were around when one particular person changed things, but on the other hand..others were around with another particular person was around. It is all a matter of how you define it. Heh, I guess.

I was interested to see that Bikerdad included the Mustang in his shortlist. Presumably he means the car and not some anonymous horse. If that's the case, are there not a lot of other products that would qualify for iconic status - possibly before the the Mustang? Immediately leaping to mind would be the Zippo lighter, the Coke bottle, the Campbell's Soup can (does it get more "pop"?), and, speaking of cars, the Volkswagon Beetle.

In discussing "icons", though, should we bear in mind the origin of the term? Originally, an icon - or ikon - referred pretty exclusively to representations of sacred or sanctified Christian personages - Jesus, the BVM, various saints - traditionally venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church. More recently, the term has come to imply an enduring symbol or a figure who is widely celebrated or venerated in other fields (a different type of "idol"), who is usually recognizable to a broad range of people - and who will still be recognizaable years after they're gone. "Pop icons" would seem to refer to such figures from popular culture: people or characters with immediately recognizable, enduring images, who are widely appreciated, celebrated, or, at the very least, identifiable.

That being the case, I wouldn't question many on DQ's list as being "pop" so much as qualifying as "icons". As fond as I may be of Garbage or Nine Inch Nails - or the early career of Simon Rex - I doubt that many veejays or lead singers of non-multi-platinum bands will ever quite qualify for the status of "icon" - even on VH1.

As I agree with you Wertz, but as I stated in an above post...



I may not have the same pop icons or the same people as you that I looked up too. That's how I defined "pop icon"- being someone that you know and have looked up to in some way or another. Personally, I have never looked up to the Mustang *car*, I think they are rather overrated...but I wouldn't say that to anyone because that's their list. I'm not bashin' ya Wertz...You have a valid point..I am sure that Kurt Loder nor Garbage will be on VH1's pop icon list...however...In my eyes, they're on mine.

Maybe we need a list of "Household Gods" rather than "Icons".

Simply put the list proves something I've said for along time. People are stupid, especially those vote on lists on TV. I haven't looked on the list but Adam West/Batman better be on their or someones getting caped. Lopez, what did that fat arsed diva ever do to set trends, etc. Never ever underestimate the stupidity of the masses.

I think its funny to see people putting some non-mainstream suggestions up. Pop icon means popularity and trend setting not quality. Hey if we're picking out non-mainstreamers how about:

Stewie Griffin
Cedric Blixer
Mike Patton
Josh Whedon
Kevin Smith

or more mainstream icons

Spinal Tap
Jimi Hendrix
Kurt Cobain
Batman
Jedi
Satan
Adam West (preceded the lunacy of Mel Brooks and voices his own paradies, how cool is that. I know Hamil does that but he needs the cash.)

[B][I]Must refrain from insulting Superman... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. He sucks sooo bad. Batman beats him in a fight and he has no super powers. Invinceable and he loses to Adam West! KILL. SUPERMAN WORST HERO EVER, well maybe Captain America or Captain Planet or the Green Lantern.

Damn straight and too late!

Simon and Garfunkel
Rowan and Martin
Madonna
Elvis
Johnny Carson
Eddie Murphy
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sonny and Cher
Marilyn Monroe
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Who
Buddy Holly
Bob Marley
Frank Sinatra
Sean Connery
Jim Morrison
Jerry Garcia
Bob Dylan
The Blues Brothers