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Here's how Rolling Stone comes up with these lists:
-- Each of the seven or so members of the music staff comes up with his (almost entirely) own list. No interns or nonedit people are consulted. These guys are smart, but they don't have much more expertise than your average music geek.
-- The seven guys get together and half-heartedly pass around lists. Someone makes a master list.
-- Certain names are cut when they prompt howls from a staffer or two. Others are added in the interest of pleasing Jann Wenner.
-- What's left is cut down to 40 (or whatever number they're shooting for) through an uninteresting process of justification and random gut-trusting.
In other words, don't take it too seriously.
