The most INFUENTIAL rock band of all time

[Taverner]

Granted, not the greatest or best, but plain out influential artist or band

[mcctatas]

1. and the Rush freaks should come climbing out of the woodwork soon

that train is never late :scared:

[old mark]

4. they belong in the fucking woodwork...screechey inane bullshit.

Sorry ; I meant to say...

Screechy inane pompous bullshit.

Thanks for your patience.
(Or your patients.)

mark

[Taverner]

6. RUSH is OK, but they never really INFLUENCED anyone

There are no Rush clone acts that we all listen to

[TZ]

33. Thats actually complete and utter bullshit

Copycatting doesn't mean they haven't influenced. I guess Billy Corgan, Gene Simmons et al aren't "real rock musioians" then?
http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/rush_beyond_the_lighted_stage-film30846.html

[unpossibles]

52. not so much, no.

:D

Actually, Billy Corgin is ok, and I suppose they influenced the Mars Volta, which may be debatable whether that's good or bad, but I don't know I'd call Gene Simmons a musician so much as an "entertainer" of sorts.

[Taverner]

53. I will give you that Geddy, Alex and Neil have influenced the prog community

Even King Crimson has done Lifeson-esque riffs on occasion

But that's a small crowd to influence

[unpossibles]

64. Alex Lifeson is the ONLY member of Rush I consistently like

Maybe it's because he has nothing to do with the vocals/lyrics.

I dig some of Getty's bass lines a LOT. I think Peart is a bit complicated for his own good, and frankly would rather hear Copeland, Bozzio, Erskine, Moon, Uriel Jones, Topper, Ginger Baker, Bonham, Sheila E. or about a hundred other drummers who can manage to hold a good groove.

Lifeson on the other hand, is pretty tasteful with his guitar parts.

[Taverner]

65. I dunno Peart has some tunes that just work with the band

I usually don't like Rush, but YYZ is pretty amazing - I could listen to a whole album like that

[unpossibles]

70. yeah, that is a bad ass tune

I also like some of their stuff off Permanent Waves, but part of that is because I think the pop sensibilities of bands like The Police were influencing them in a good way.

And I also dig the song Anthem, despite it being Ayn Rand claptrap. That song is aural caffeine because of the 7/8 time.

[av8rdave]

30. You betcha

R & R HOF...one of these years.

[TZ]

34. Umm, you calling anyone else a freak is kind of ironic!

Pot kettle n all that.
Signed, one Rush freak...:D

[Dr Morbius]

2. Other: Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

Buddy Holly was a prime influence on much of the British invasion, and his influence can be seen throughout current rock and country music.

[MrCoffee]

3. This is a solid answer

:thumbsup:

[Taverner]

5. I will agree they should have been put in the list

But honestly - who was a bigger influence on the Beatles? Elvis or Buddy Holly?

[Dr Morbius]

19. Well, they named the band the Beatles, after the Crickets.

I'd think the latter, but I could be wrong.

[Ron Green]

22. You're right. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the most influential rock band.

Through the Beatles as well as directly through many others, and because their pop-style sound became the template for rock & roll, even more so than the R&B of Louis Jordan and others.

[Taverner]

55. I dunno - BH may have been closer to the source

But was his influence the same as The Beatles'?

I think of Buddy Holly as having taken Blues, sped it up and add some Hank Sr in there - and what they did had a lot of branches that went on and became big things

However - Think of the Beatles, and that everything since has been more like the Fab Four (or VU for that matter) than Buddy Holly

Although the fact that Buddy Holly died because of a coin toss still gives me the shivers every time I think about it.

[Ron Green]

66. I don't think the Beatles, despite their huge popularity and extensive catalog,

really changed the course of pop music very much. For example, Bruce Chanel's band was in England headlining a show and the early Beatles were opening for them. Bandmember Delbert McClinton showed John Lennon some harmonica licks (a la "Hey Baby") that later showed up on Beatles' tunes. My point is that American rock & roll was already established in a way that would not be substantively altered by the Beatles. Their greatest influence was probably in the "leaderless" aspect of the 4-piece band, which of course was adopted by countless groups to follow.

[Taverner]

69. Huh?

The Beatles pretty much invented the song that it pretty much pure "lick" if you will

Also, I don't see Buddy Holly trying his hand at expanding rock and roll beyond its 4/4 boundaries

Don't get me wrong, Buddy Holly v Elvis, Buddy wins every time

But Buddy Holly v Beatles, you'd have to be a fan of Buddy to say other than Beatles

[Ron Green]

73. I'm a Beatles fan, too (saw them live in 1964), but I just can't agree that

their influence on the music that came after was as great as that of Buddy Holly, or as was mentioned in this thread, Muddy Waters' music of the '50s and '60s. Although this brings up the question: What is a band? Buddy Holly, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley - would you call these performers bands? Not in the same way the Beatles were a band; they were stars with accompanying groups, while the Beatles presented themselves as a 4-piece unit, and that was fresh. I can see that in that way they were influential in rock & roll.

[Taverner]

75. I consider them all bands

I mean, how important is Clarence Clemons in Bruce Springsteen's band?

(I don't really like Springsteen, btw - but I acknowlege his talent)

Even Bob Dylan - he was the final say whether it was him alone with a guitar and harmonica, or with The Band... but in the end it was all of them the pulled forward for a musical 'vision'

[Ron Green]

77. OK, then gimme the names of Chuck Berry's band!

You know, like John, Paul, George and Ringo.

:P

[Taverner]

78. That's easy - The White Stripes

:P

OK, I haven't a clue

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

60. that was my first thought at well

posted below, didn't see your answer ------ :)

[Taverner]

7. They weren't my choice, but you cannot deny the influence of the Allman Brothers

Think about all the bands that followed in their wake

In the 70's alone you have Lynrd Skynrd, The Eagles, the entire country rock movement (come on there were some great bands there!), Molly Hatchet, Tom Petty, All of Country music today....

[SoxFan]

41. You really do have a point

I never cared for Allman or Skynyrd, but contemporary "country" music is a lot closer to these guys than it is to Willie and Waylon.

[SoxFan]

8. Beatles, Velvets, Joy Division, Stones, Elvis

Beatles: Showed that pop music could be a serious art form

Velvet Underground: Fathers of avant garde, alternative rock

Joy Division/New Order: Moved punk beyond vitriol and towards something deeper, then combined rock with dance

Stones: The quintessential rock band

Elvis: The original rock star

Others worth a mention:

Iggy and the Stooges
David Bowie
Ramones
Buddy Holly

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Kraftwerk.

Oh wait, I don't listen to much "rock"...

[Taverner]

10. You can't say Kraftwerk didn't have influence...

Double negative?

Oops - just meant that Kraftwerk literally (not figuratively) invented electronic music. For everything Eno, Sly, the early Moog pioneers and Wendy Carlos did - Kraftwerk invented it.

As a viable music form.

There would be no Angelo Badliamenti without Kraftwerk.

[mitchum]

46. I remember reading an interview with Ralf and Florian back in 75...

and they said their biggest influences were the Doors, Velvets, and Stooges. Not bad at all.

[unpossibles]

54. Eno was pretty contemporary of Kraftwerk

I'm not entirely sure he doesn't get props alongside them, especially when you consider how much he did with other bands too.

[Taverner]

57. Perhaps - but Kraftwerk was a guitar band at one time

And sounded a lot more like Neu! than they eventually did...

Hard to say - who invented the drone? Was it Velvet Underground? Eno? Neu!? Kraftwerk?

ON EDIT: Let me say that I think the drone originated in rock with "Venus in Furs" - 1966

[unpossibles]

68. yeah VU really did influence a lot of bands

and still do.

I love that song, btw. I'd say the Doors had their hand in there somewhere too in pushing Rock past the typical blues structures of the time.

and now some Roxy Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVeEBMJt8vs

[Taverner]

71. The Doors too...

And I can't believe I didn't include them, even though I wouldn't have chosen them...

[abq e streeter]

11. Considering Dylan and Elvis weren't bands, VU, The Crickets , Beatles and Stones

Ramones,Kinks, Sex Pistols and The Clash in top ten too. If you consider Bill, Scotty and D.J. as a band ,and I guess you could make a serious case for Elvis and them being a band and then they've gotta be # 1.
Dylan's influence is enormous but again,it's on his own, even with all the years playing with bands including THE Band.

[Taverner]

12. Do I hafta say it - OK Bob Dylan and the Band, Elvis and the Mephis Mafia...

[abq e streeter]

13. Nah, you don't hafta say it...Question was about BANDS..perfectly reasonable question

just finagling the definition of a band, and that's why I did leave Elvis and Dylan on their own and not as a band.

[Taverner]

14. Bands/Artists/Computerized music creations (the next thing...)

In fact, my belief is the next 4 years will see an AI program that writes its own music (and performs it), and you can influence it based on settings.

[Taverner]

15. Wait - I'm a computer guy!

I could do this!

Why didn't I think of this before?

[cemaphonic]

48. Actually, algorhitmic composition has been going on for awhile

David Cope has written a program that lets him compose "new" music in the style of dozens of older composers, as well as the style that he prefers in his own music.

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/experiments.htm

[unpossibles]

56. I was going to suggest him too

I saw him speak at SIGGRAPH in San Diego if I am not mistaken. Some cool stuff.

That said, music is a lot more than just notes on a staff.

[cemaphonic]

74. I had a music theory professor that was briefly fooled by one of his EMI Bach pieces.

He said that on an initial listen, it sounded just like it could have come from some forgotten volume of the Well-Tempered Clavier, but after listening to it a few times and transcribing and looking at the score, the long-term musical logic wasn't nearly as tidy as if Bach had actually written it.

[Taverner]

67. How has this not morphed into a video game??????

We are talking something to unseat Rock Band - Imagine being in a rock band that ACTUALLY WRITES MUSIC rather than just playing standards???

[abq e streeter]

16. Sly and the Family Stone, and Alice Cooper are IMO underrated as far as influence

[Taverner]

17. Alice Cooper Begat Marilyn Manson. Other than that, I got nuthin'

:shrug:

[abq e streeter]

18. Just thinking in terms of busting the idea that there are limits as to what you can do onstage

...limits of supposed "good taste" etc. You'll probably have to take the word of a rock and roll geezer here; what they did, when they did it, was a quantum leap beyond anything anyone had done before...whether for better or worse ( and maybe more worse than better , but rock and roll as theater was never the same).

[Taverner]

40. Aye...true that

[SwampG8r]

96. all "theatre rock" from kiss to pink floyd owes its credibility to cooper

[Taverner]

72. However with Sly, yes, you are right. You are 100% right

I almost chose them...

Just listen to Motown before and after Sly. Whole different animal.

Miles Davis, before and after Sly - even more demonstrative

[LibDemAlways]

20. Influential....Beatles.....but you have to remember their

influences - Chuck Berry, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Lonnie Donegan. They didn't emerge out of a vacuum.

[carlyhippy]

21. It's a tie between the Beatles and the Beach Boys

Both were dueling for the top spot in America at the same time. The Beatles were just awesome, hands down. Beach Boys brought harmonies into rock music. Both bands burned bright and burned out too fast.

[Iggo]

23. Bill Haley And His Comets. (n/t)

[DBoon]

85. My choice too

He invented rock and roll as we know it

A western swing band that started to play jump blues, and crossed musical and racial barriers in the process.

[Truth2Tell]

24. Ray Charles nt

[WCGreen]

25. with out a doubt the Beatles...

They kept evolving as a band, explored new ways of presenting music...

And they knew when to call it quits.

[Nailzberg]

26. Velvet Underground

I think it was Brian Eno that said something along the lines of, "they didn't sell many albums, but everyone who bought one started a band."

[slay]

27. In general - The Beatles. For me - Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix

all superior to The Beatles in my eyes.

Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze (Live 1967) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hSW67ySCio

Grateful Dead: Ripple (Live Acoustic) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdTQ3OPtGY

Pink Floyd: One of These Days (Live at Pompeii) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgvAwBDbuIo

Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick (Live 1978) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toHlMD50eYY

Enjoy. :smoke:

[mikeSchmuckabee]

28. Bo Diddley-He's got a beat named after him!

There's no Beatles beat, no Dylan beat, not even a Ramones beat.

Plus, rock and roll is the guitar, thanks to Bo Diddley.

[unpossibles]

62. I agree about Bo Diddley influencing almost ALL of the greats

but I disagree that the Beatles and the Ramones don't have their signature beats/styles.

[Steerpike]

29. huh

seriously...


THE SEX PISTOLS!!

POSSIBLY

The Ramones...

[old mark]

31. KC and the Sunshine Band!!!!!11!!!!!

Link here!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWf1MdHv80Q


Maybe not THE most influential, but....


They had GREAT HATS!!!!


mark

[Dr Morbius]

32. I have an honorable mention.

The Yardbirds may not have been as influential as Buddy Holly & the Crickets, but no band is more closely connected with British and American classic rock from the late sixties until the eighties.

Three of the members of that band were the lead guitarists. First was Eric Clapton, who left because he felt the band was getting too commercial. He was replaced by Jeff Beck, and after a brief but memorable overlap, Beck left the band to be replaced by Jimmy Page.

Clapton went on to join the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and then to form Cream, and then join the Plastic Ono Band, and then Derek and the Dominoes, before going solo. Blind Faith was in there, too. Beck formed his own band, playing with such legends as Rod Stewart and Pat Metheny. Page of course famously formed the "New Yardbirds" (Led Zeppelin) and then the Firm with Paul Rodgers. All three played with many, many others.

So literally hundreds of bands and individual artists are no more than a handful of steps from the Yardbirds. For example, Clapton played with the Beatles on While My Guitar Gently Weeps and played with John Lennon in Plastic Ono. So the Beatles are one step from the Yardbirds. Clapton also played with Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, so Traffic is two steps from the Yardbirds. On a couple of Clapton's solo albums, his drummer was Phil Collins. Now Genesis is two steps from the Yardbirds. Rod Stewart, himself just one step from the Yardbirds, played in a fine band called Faces (two steps) with Ron Wood. Ron Wood did bloody well for himself as a Rolling Stone, so the Stones are three steps from the Yardbirds.

You can play six degrees of separation with the Yardbirds. There's no other band so interconnected with so many other bands! Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton_discography . Eric Clapton played with people from Frank Zappa to Dr John to Bob Geldof. Jeff Beck has been much less active but no less diverse, and Jimmy Page's connections range from the Monkees to the Black Crowes.

So while no one can reasonably claim the Yardbirds are the most influential band, they certainly were one of the most important. Hence the honorable mention.

[Mendocino]

81. Clapton and Butterfield?

I'm wondering if you were thinking of the Bluesbreakers?

[Dr Morbius]

98. Of course. John Mayall, not PB.

Yesterday was a long day; good catch.

[Mendocino]

101. I can listen to the "Beano" album

over and over and it always sounds fresh. This is the one that started the "Clapton is God" hype.

[retread]

35. Muddy Waters Blues Band from 1950 to around 1960. Every major rock band

since has either been influenced by, directly copied, or blatantly ripped off Muddy's music from this period.

[mitchum]

36. That's the correct answer

[Ron Green]

42. You make a very good point, but I still consider Holly & the Crickets to be

more influential, mainly because their pop style influenced commercial rock & roll in a fundamental way, pushing it toward more of an AABA song form than a 12-bar form. Of course Muddy Waters' influence was huge, especially in Britain, and R&B from Louis Jordan, Lowell Fulson, Hank Ballard and many others contributed to the scales and modes that infused rock music.

Maybe I'd give you 50-50 between Holly and Muddy Waters. :-)

All the voters for the Beatles are of course confusing "influence" with "popularity."

[Lurks Often]

37. Should Led Zeppelin by on the list? NT

[Sebastian Doyle]

49. probably so

..if you consider all the bands who tried (and failed) to be Zeppelin. Some of the more blatant ones were Great White, Kingdom Come, Whitesnake, and Jason Bonham's band Bonham (who at least had a hereditary claim to the title)

Pretty much all the "metal" bands of the 80's were trying to be either Zeppelin or Van Halen, and failed to be either one. Even Van Hagar failed to be Van Halen, and they had three of the original members.

[unpossibles]

63. a lot of them wanted to be the next Queen too

but failed.

Thing is though - and I am a HUGE Zep fan - they pretty much ripped off everyone, although like so many others (and honestly almost all musicians rip each other off, even back in the Charlie Patton days) they managed to make their own sound out of all of that.

[DevonRex]

50. yes. nt

[begin_within]

38. Oasis

Just kidding! The Beatles, obviously. No other band even comes close in terms of influence.

[YOY]

100. Corky and the Juice Pigs...DUH!!!

n/t

[Tommy_Carcetti]

39. Without question, the Beatles.

Take one look at this and tell me anything otherwise:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gM5TjSOQ48

[Arugula Latte]

43. Obviously a rip-off of "I Am the Walrus."

Repetitive sounds (goo goo ga joob / p-p-p-p) - check
Declaration of being a specific animal - check
Inspired by drugs - check

[cherokeeprogressive]

44. Other: The Knack

M M M MY Sharona!

[NoGOPZone]

45. You need to put Chuck Berry and Elvis among the selections nt

[elocs]

47. The Beatles, hands down. They influenced the music of their day and that generation also

and there are young musicians today who have been influenced by The Beatles. Their music will endure long after all of us are gone.

[Bennyboy]

51. The Grateful Dead...

Look how many top selling, touring bands are heavily influenced by the GD. Phish, DMB, Dylan (yes Dylan was heavily influenced by the Dead, in fact he tried to join them on one ocassion), Widespread Panic (who were at the beginning a dead cover band)and so many others.

The GD influence is so strong at every festival I go too.....

[Taverner]

79. Yes - they did have influence

But consider that they were a band to take in a lot of influence - just look at their setlists!

They knew what to look for, like David Bowie, or any great musician for that matter

[Captain Hilts]

58. GET THE KIDS INSIDE!!! LOCK YOUR DOORS! There are people out there that don't think the Beatles

are THE most influential rock band!!!!

[Taverner]

76. Lets do this using the Scientific Method

Honestly, if its a Buddy Holly v Beatles thing, I'd be willing to help set up a model

First we need to set up musical family trees. Set up dotted lines that connect bands which were influecned by both (Velvet Underground)

Then we weight each band, based on THEIR influence

Then to top it off we drink a pitcher and figure out the numbers :toast:

[Captain Hilts]

80. We have a plan! nt

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

59. you could argue this till the end of time

however, as far as bands, maybe Buddy Holly and the Crickets, certainly a great (greatest?) influence in the development of Rock and Roll.

[Captain Hilts]

61. Some of the others - Chuck Berry - influenced music arithmetically, the Beatles did so geometrically

[bluedigger]

82. Most lopsided poll evah!

Congrats!:applause:

[kwassa]

83. Bob Dylan was and is by far the most influential INDIVIDUAL in rock of all time

He changed all the rules of what popular music could do or be, without being all that popular himself with the mass public.

Everyone who made music was influenced by him, including the Beatles.

[Sebastian Doyle]

84. They actually tried writing a song together once.

Never finished it though. Great story.....

http://expectingrain.com/dok/int/pneumonia.html

[madrchsod]

86. rock-a-billy and the blues...

WLAC -Nashville Tenessee...http://yodaslair.com/dumboozle/wlac/wlacdex.html

the wolfman broadcasting out of mexico and alan freed.

[elleng]

87. Bill Haley and the Comets!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM

They STARTED it for MILLIONS of us boomers. Apres moi, le deluge.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

88. I want to personally thank you for not putting Led Fucking Zeppelin in your poll

I almost didn't want to click on the thread because I thought "I'm gonna see Led Zeppelin and two or three hundred votes and my head is going to explode" but that didn't happen, so thank you.

That's not to say that it won't happen sometime in the future, when someone waxes philosophic about how Led Zeppelin was the most influential rock band of all time, but it didn't happen tonight, so at least I have that.

:rofl:

[peekaloo]

92. I want to personally thank you for thanking the OP for nary a whisper

of Led Fucking Zeppelin.

as Homer Simpson once remarked upon sighting Jimmy Page : "There's Jimmy Page, the greatest thief of American black music who ever walked the earth."

:D

[Amerigo Vespucci]

93. But there's also the other half of that equation

Page and Plant are well-known as two of the most litigious musicians in the business. They have consistently and aggressively gone after anyone even remotely attempting to "steal" their music...kind of like when someone says something remotely bad about Tom Cruise and 50 lawyers from the Church of Scientology descend upon his or her ass.

Meanwhile, Page & Plant record Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me" and release it with a Page / Plant songwriting credit and attempt to "justify" that with the ridiculous notion that they changed the original substantially enough for it to be considered a "new composition."

Fuck Led Zeppelin. I cannot state that emphatically enough. Fuck them.

[bluesbassman]

89. Well, it wasn't really a rock band, But John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

spawned some pretty influential musicians. Old John has a mean eye for talent.


Lineup over the years:

John Mayall
Rocky Athas
Jay Davenport
Greg Rzab
Eric Clapton
Jack Bruce
Peter Green
John McVie
Mick Fleetwood
Hughie Flint
Mick Taylor
Colin Allen
Don "Sugarcane" Harris (deceased)
Harvey Mandel
Larry Taylor
Aynsley Dunbar
Dick Heckstall-Smith (deceased)
Andy Fraser
Johnny Almond (deceased)
Jon Mark
Freddy Robinson (deceased)
Kal David
Walter Trout
Coco Montoya
Soko Richardson
Keef Hartley
Buddy Whittington
Joe Yuele
Hank Van Sickle
Tom Canning

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

90. Beatles

I would say Elvis but he is not a band, the Beatles were influenced by the same music that Elvis borrowed from and made safe for white audiences.

[Mad_Dem_X]

91. Hands down, no contest. The Beatles.

[zonkers]

94. Beatles. But Beach Boys certainly deserve to be on this list.

[Beer Snob-50]

95. Chuck Berry

because every current song out there owes something to johnny b goode

[greendog]

97. There's no such thing as the most influential rock band.

The influences for rock music span the globe and stretch back thousands of years.

It probably started with the invention of the drum. That was a lo-o-o-o-ong time ago.

"Rock" is a marketing gimmick.

[ceile]

99. Pixies

They have influenced pretty much everything created after 1990 in the "alternative" genre.

[tinymontgomery]

102. Other

I think to many of the 60's bands influenced to pick just one. Most have been named here already. Dylan, Beatles, Stones, Dead, Allman Brothers, etc. The list goes on.

[TrogL]

103. Emerson Lake and Palmer

Name one current band that doesn't have some sort of synthesizer either onstage or hooked up to one of the other instruments. Yes, guitar pedals count.