I watched the thing on tv the other night and it seemed like any time you put together a list like this you're going to have a lot of people shaking their heads. I just didn't like the number of bands pretty high up on the list who I would consider "fringe" type music like metal, etc. But that's because I'm not a fan of metal and I've always considered it to be more of a narrow appeal type of music, like jazz or classical. Do artists who specialize in types of music that don't have the broader across the board appeal really deserve to be near the top of that list?
For my opinion, if you're looking for people who were influential in music or had lasting appeal, you have to at least give honorable mention to Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, and Johnny Cash. I'd throw Elvis in there as well for the icon that he was.