Do you ever wonder?

Good one, Bill. You are the provocateur el suprimo.
I don't agree with all on your list but that isn't your point. The band I don't get is "Cowboy Junkies". I have tried and tried to catch the buzz on them. Great arrangements - yes. Great recordings - yes. Good songs? Good performances? I guess, but mainly I just fall asleep.

It does make me wonder how a group like ELP ever became so popular in their heyday, and I like ELP a lot.

Phil Collins- So so badio
Sting- Pompous duschebag
Maria Carey- Pop fingernails on the chalkboard
Madona- Bad medicine for the masses

And the number one all time biggest selling artist that completely baffles me is.... Garth Brooks

And one more thing, I grew up in the 70's. How was it that the biggest radio stations would heavy rotate the likes of Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Chicago, Foghat, Rick Deringer, Kansas, ELO when there was the Roling Stones , The Who, Led Zepelin, Allman Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, Aretha Franklin (I could go on here forever with great artists)? The 70's rock format stations are still play that garbage.

Neil Young or Guns 'n Roses. Makes me turn off the radio.

What, no mention of Kenny G or John Klemmer? IMHO, neither of them should have ever picked up an instrument.

However, I think that many of the artists deservedly roasted in the post have also done some great work. For example, REO Speedwagon released the excellent T.W.O. before all of their subsequent drivel. Chicago produced 6-7 great albums and another, what, two dozen of dreck? Tom Waits' last 15 years may have been an artistic waste, but The Heart of Saturday Night is unforgettable....and so on. Hell, even Miles Davis had an off decade now and then.