Top 10 most influential contemporary musicians over the last 50 years

[smokedout]

if you wanna get down to brass tacks teejay, youve defeated your own argument when it comes to bb king

he was far from the father of the blues, although was possibly one of the best blues guitarists of all time

that makes him a great musician, but not necessarily an influential one

 

[smokedout]

Wynonie Harris

too early, all washed up by the sixties

 

[TeeJay]

if you wanna get down to brass tacks teejay, youve defeated your own argument when it comes to bb king

he was far from the father of the blues, although was possibly one of the best blues guitarists of all time

that makes him a great musician, but not necessarily an influential one

If you want to get down to brass tacks you should re-read the thread and note that it was you who brought up the three names in the first place, not me.

I was just responding to this post:

i deliberately put a 50 year cap on it to keep blues out of the pciture or it would just get too complex

muddy waters, bb king and robert johnson would all have to be there

...and questioning whether two of them would really be cut off by your 1956 'line in the sand'.

I never made any claim about anyone being "the father of the blues" - that must be you thinking out loud or something.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

i'm not sure that's true. His early stuff didn't really fit that at all.

how influential was his early stuff? not sure, again , it's not about quality.

 

[Blagsta]

dance music/rave/electronic would have happened without kraftwork imo

Kraftwerk also influenced hip hop and electro.

 

[Hollis]

I always think being influential is overrated.

People either right shite music or good music, - where's its gone on to influence another bunch of monkeys - I don't give a damn.

 

[smokedout]

electro maybe, hip hop very very little

i wouldnt have em in my top ten, but im willing to defer

 

[stavros]

I haven't read through all of this thread by any means but how about Missy Elliott as a recent inclusion. Without her and Timbaland, chart hip-hop/RnB would've sounded very different over the last 10 years.

 

[smokedout]

thanks hollis but dont spoil things

havent hung out in music much im kind of enjoying it

missy elliot, probably top 20, but im not sure she outranjs the ones mentioned by me or flash

(if we could find a way of establishing consensus on this we could do our own brits ... the peoples brits, just a thought)

 

[Iam]

It's already far more worthwhile than the real ones are...

 

[DJWrongspeed]

I always think being influential is overrated.

People either right shite music or good music, - where's its gone on to influence another bunch of monkeys - I don't give a damn.

i agree hollis but then it's also interesting to view those creative minds who have not ploughed a certain path but tried to invent there own. Alot of 'influential' music isn't as good as what it infuenced, let's not forget!

 

[Hollis]

thanks hollis but dont spoil things

Terribly sorry, I wasn't aware I was spoiling things.. it just gets me when people judge a band on how influential they were rather than how good their music actually was.

For the record - The Smiths - I think were spectacularly uninfluential.. I'd say Echo & the Bunnymen were more so, but then I suppose you'd have to go back to Television..

 

[smokedout]

with good reason

great lyrics, shame about the tunes

 

[nick1181]

In terms of one-degree-of-seperation, sheer-biomass-of influencees (rather than sales), number one would probably be The Velvet Underground.

 

[smokedout]

i reckon even lou reed would disagree

cool band but more influential than chuck berry, the beatles, hendrix, nwa, even fucking kraftwerk ... get a grip

 

[Hollis]

Alot of 'influential' music isn't as good as what it infuenced, let's not forget!

Indeed the whole history of blues and rock fusing in the Volcano that was called Led Zeppelin. Yes! - Me and you Wrongspeed - we sing from the same sheet!!!

 

[stavros]

I think NWA rank above solo Dre for influence, opening up hip-hop to the confrontational criminal scene.

 

[smokedout]

nah dre's influence as a producer far outweighs NWA

as ive said before, the discoverer and producer of 50 cent, snoop, eminem amongst many others

 

[CharlieAddict]

miles davis
pink floyd
nina simone
pj harvey
bjork
elvis
black sabbath
public enemy
george clinton
james brown

 

[CharlieAddict]

nah dre's influence as a producer far outweighs NWA

as ive said before, the discoverer and producer of 50 cent, snoop, eminem amongst many others

yeah but without nwa, dre wouldn't have got that status.

 

[smokedout]

george clinton ... good call, not sure if hes top ten material though

but bjork, whid she influence except a bunch of students to wake up with sticky messes on their duvets

and pj harvey, come on

as for fucking elvis, he wasnt a musician, he was a glorified karaoke singer, he didnt write his own songs, he was the white acceptable face of rock and roll

youll be telling us bill hailey invented rock and roll next

feel the need to big up chuck berry again, number 1 in the list in my view

 

[Iam]

But if we're talking influence, rather than talent, or songwriting ability, wasn't Elvis the first real "popstar"? And so, you could say that he opened the doors for pretty much everyone who came after - from the sexy presence of someone like Jagger to plasticity of a Jason Donovan...

 

[nick1181]

i reckon even lou reed would disagree

cool band but more influential than chuck berry, the beatles, hendrix, nwa, even fucking kraftwerk ... get a grip

That's why I said "one-degree-of-seperation". I'm not talking about people who have influenced people who have influenced people who have influenced people. I'm talking about direct influence straight of the bat.

The VU started in 1965 - and they're still influencing people now. If I go down any of the indie-band places in town, there they'll be... and it's been like this for at least 20 years. The reason I said "Biomass" is because these days about 30,000 bands form every year in the UK alone - not all influenced by VU, granted - but I don't think there was the sheer numbers doing it when the first-degree-of-seperation was being influenced by the people you mentioned. CD sales may be falling but apparently guitar sales in the last 10 years are up about 50%.

People who compile top 100 albums of all time programs on TV absolutely cannot mention the VU without also saying "They may not have sold a lot of records, but everyone who bought one went out and formed a band"

 

[smokedout]

If I go down any of the indie-band places in town

got ya

so because a bunch of uk based marginalised cult acts which saw moderate success in the 90's but never flared again pretentiously claim to be influenced by VU even though they sound more like the beatles/stones then VU are the one of the most influential bands in the last 50 years

nah

 

[smokedout]

i like velvet underground by the way, but im guessing so do you, maybe a little too much

 

[smokedout]

But if we're talking influence, rather than talent, or songwriting ability, wasn't Elvis the first real "popstar"?

but is that musical influence, maybe he had a cultural influence but sadly hes excluded because he wasnt actually a musician

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

In terms of getting people to pick up a guitar and form a band The Sex Pistols have to be up there.

 

[stavros]

Bjork isn't influential, such is her uniqueness.

 

[Iam]

but is that musical influence, maybe he had a cultural influence but sadly hes excluded because he wasnt actually a musician

Others might argue that he was the best singer ever...

Interesting point though. I suspect that in some artist's cases, cultural and musical influence will be blurred together - for instance, I accept the point that what I said about Elvis certainly was cultural, but I would opine that his records had a fairly overt influence musically as well - and others may be more one than the other.

It's another one of those things where influence can mean a deal of quite different things to different observers.

 

[sunflower]

bob dylan..haven't read the thread