Bowie, Mitchell, Yes Top Poll

by Robert Hilburn
Los Angeles Times
October 12, 1974

David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Yes and Sparks are among the big winners in this year's Melody Maker magazine reader's poll; probably the most prestigious popular opinion sampling in the record industry. Since most of the publication's readership is in England, there is a definite British bias in the results, but the fact that most of rock's major attractions in recent years have been English lessens the damage of that bias a bit. The poll has been quite reliable over the years in spotting new talent.

This year's results, for the most part, continued last year's trend in which voters began a dramatic rock 'n' roll housecleaning by sweeping out most of the veteran rock stars who had long dominated the poll in favor of newer voices. For instance, the Rolling Stones, which fell from second to an almost embarrasing eighth, dropped another notch to ninth this year.

Bowie, who dominated last year's results, was named top singer and top arranger in the international balloting (there is a separate British-only section), while he finished second among other writers and third among producers; his "Diamond Dogs" was sixth among top albums. Trailing Bowie in the male vocalist category were Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, Yes' Jon Anderson, Bad Company's Paul Rogers and Genesis' Peter Gabriel.

Joni Mitchell was voted top female singer, replacing last year's winner Carly Simon, who fell to third behind Scotland's Maggie Bell. Yes was named top band, while its Jon Anderson and Steve Howe were voted top writers, its Chris Squire top bassist and its Eddie Offord top producer. In addition, Rick Wakeman, a former Yes man, was voted top keyboard player.