// BEGIN editorial data var i = 0; var Ent_FiveTop_070130 = new Array(); Ent_FiveTop_070130.ID = "Ent_FiveTop_070130"; Ent_FiveTop_070130.ID_WB = 16874724; Ent_FiveTop_070130.sPubDate = "1/30/2007 7:45:35 PM GMT"; Ent_FiveTop_070130.navsectionID = "3032083" Ent_FiveTop_070130.appFmt = 2; Ent_FiveTop_070130.itemsPerPage = 5; Ent_FiveTop_070130.nTeaseW = 198; Ent_FiveTop_070130.nTeaseH = 198; Ent_FiveTop_070130.appWidth = 624; Ent_FiveTop_070130.appHeader = ""; Ent_FiveTop_070130.appFooter = "   By Marc Hirsh"; Ent_FiveTop_070130.rowSpacer = "20"; Ent_FiveTop_070130.rowAlt = "F7F7F7"; Ent_FiveTop_070130.appNavStyle = 3; Ent_FiveTop_070130.appLayout = 1; Ent_FiveTop_070130.copyMargin = 9; Ent_FiveTop_070130.copyBorder = 0; Ent_FiveTop_070130.sBodyFont = "font-size:12px;"; Ent_FiveTop_070130[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070122/070122_5top_gabriel_5p.small.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Getty Images", "134", "198", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_070130[i-1].body = "Peter Gabriel (eligible since 2003)
Peter Gabriel’s work with Genesis barely hinted at the scope and focus of the solo career that began with his 1977 resignation speech/mission statement “Solsbury Hill.” On 1980’s \"Peter Gabriel,\" he nailed Cold War humanism five years before Sting’s “Russians,” incorporated African music six years before Paul Simon’s \"Graceland\" and, with South Africa still mired in apartheid, honored Stephen Biko four years before Bono took the bold stance that the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was wrong. But 1986’s \"So\" not only successfully combined pop hooks, the avant-garde and non-Western sources, it accomplished something far more difficult: it brought them into the mainstream."; Ent_FiveTop_070130[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070122/070122_5top_Katebush_5p.small.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Getty Images", "161", "198", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_070130[i-1].body = "Kate Bush (eligible since 2004)
Starting out as a literate but ultimately ordinary piano-playing singer, Kate Bush became pals with Peter Gabriel by her third album (1980’s \"Never For Ever\"), taking a few of his musical strategies and running with them. Armed with the art-rock possibilities of increasingly sophisticated synthesizers and the earthy beauty of Celtic instrumentation, she fully abandoned confessionalism, developing a style that was both theatrical — she sings each song on 1982’s \"The Dreaming,\" for instance, in a totally different voice — and indisputably feminine. In the process, she became practically ground zero for an entire generation of female singer/songwriters. There’s no Enya, Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan without her. For better or worse.
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With artists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder demanding more artistic control as the 1970s beckoned, Norman Whitfield was one of the last of the old Motown guard, keeping Berry Gordy’s assembly-line approach viable well into the new decade. As a songwriter (with partner Barrett Strong) and producer, Whitfield helped toughen up the records coming out of Hitsville, U.S.A. The rawness and aggression in Whitfield songs like Edwin Starr’s “War,” the Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next To You” and “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” and Marvin Gaye’s eternal “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” helped set some of the rules for the nascent funk genre."; Ent_FiveTop_070130[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070122/070122_5top_bigstar_5p.small.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "AP", "135", "198", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_070130[i-1].body = "Big Star (eligible since 1998)
Big Star was to the 1970s what the Velvet Underground had been to the 1960s. The Memphis band existed only long enough to record three fitfully brilliant albums (each with its own distinct sound and vision) that helped define power pop before the public’s nearly deafening apathy took its toll. Over the years, however, Big Star’s blend of British Invasion guitar hookcraft and southern soul fervency wound its way through the DNA of acts as varied as the Bangles (who covered the shimmering “September Gurls” on their megahit \"Different Light\"), Nirvana, Jeff Buckley and newly minted Hall Of Famers R.E.M. That’s a cover of their “In The Street” you hear every night at 11:00 when you forget to turn the TV off before \"That ’70s Show\" comes on.
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In the four decades since helping to found trailblazing folk-rock band Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson has cemented his reputation as a frighteningly agile guitarist and a songwriter’s songwriter. It’s hard to imagine anybody else supplying material to the Pointer Sisters (“Don’t Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart”), Patty Loveless (“Tear-Stained Letter”), Celtic singer Mary Black (“Waltzing’s For Dreamers”) and post-rock band Tortoise (“Calvary Cross”). Then there’s his landmark 1982 album \"Shoot Out The Lights\" with soon-to-be-ex-wife Linda, which stands as one of the most harrowing examinations of romantic implosion ever released, a must-avoid for anyone who wishes to make it through a breakup without recriminations or bitterness. "; // END editorial data