Do you ever wonder?

Phaelon: Are emotion and intellect really that separate? Wouldn't you say that profound emotion has enough depth to be analyzed almost endlessly? Take Bach, Coltrane, or Schoenberg for example...there is enough there to think about AND feel until the end of time! You really can't separate them if the art is that pure..

Not everyone on your list appeals to me either, especially Michael Bolton. However, in my opinion, all of the people and band on your list are talented and do appeal to others. Maybe you don't agree that they have talent?

One more time.

It doesn't matter what anybody thinks of my list or any other list.

Criticism (or validation) is unlikely to change many opinions here. For example, IMO Norah Jones really does suck despite some of the cheerleading for her I've read in this thread.

Please give us your selections and ignore the others.

I could list dozens but I'll stick with just one.I never could figure out why Elvis Costello is so well regarded in the music world.He has a few catchy tunes but I see nothing special about him,certainly not the musical genius that lots of people claim him to be.Of course this is just my opinion.

Yes Audiofeil, I do have a list for you. However I do not listen to (or really even think about) pop music, so it is jazz and classical.

I cannot understand how Winton Marsalis or his brother ever could be considered great jazz figures. They are both second rate revisionist imitators, makers of 'parodies' and farces. In the classical world, I cannot understand the adulation given to the Kronos Quartet. They playing sucks the life out of anything that is not 'obvious', and they 'mainstream' anything they touch.
And of course, I cannot understand why people do not see through Keith Jarrett. New age fluff, nothing more.