Music Banter Hall Of Fame
 

Music Banter Hall Of Fame

An idea put forward by JayJamJah, the Hall of Fame is an ongoing project that with time should honour the music artists that are loved by the collective members of MB.

Here are the artists that have been inducted along with the cases for nomination written by members here.

To nominate an artist to be here go to the following thread:
http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...ns-thread.html

Nominated by 15Steps

Joy Division

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I think Joy Division would be a great band to nominate for the hall of fame, and there are many reasons why. My first reason being that the band has released two of the greatest albums of all times, and are basically pioneers of the post punk genre. Ian Curtis wrote some of the greatest lyrics in history and sung said lyrics with what could be the most recognizable voices in music history. Although short lived, Joy Division are known as one of the best bands of all time and have had a huge impact on modern music.

Nominated by Double X

The Beatles

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Clockwise, from top left: Paul McCartney, bass, lead vocals, Ringo Starr, drums, few lead vocals, John Lennon, rhythm guitar, lead vocals, George Harrison, lead guitar, some lead vocals.

Nay-Sayers,

STOP! Before you vote against the Beatles please consider – this is a hall of FAME. As in: a hall of famous groups. Even if you despise them for their technical skill, songwriting, vocals, hairdos or whatever, they are still the most famous band on this planet. Go to anywhere in this world today and ask “do you know of the Beatles” and as long as they are over 10 they most likely have at least heard of them. That alone should put them in this group. They sold a boat load of music too, most in the world for any band.

…Well, this shouldn’t all be about fame – I mean Britney Spears is pretty famous, but it would be kind of hard to convince me to be in a Hall of Fame because her music sucked. So how are the Beatles so great musically?

My closest friend has a younger 14 year old brother who is one of the biggest backlashers of ‘em all. Let’s call him Timmy for now. Timmy said the Beatles never really created anything new, they just stole brilliant new ideas and converted it to a pop formula (he mostly listens to progressive metal and hardcore metal). A ton of haters claim the Beatles don’t deserve all the revolutions they supposedly started. Mostly true. The Beatles didn’t create rock and roll, they copied it from the 1950s heroes like Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, etc. The Beatles also copied psychedelia from the West Coast. Bob Dylan created the ‘intelligent pop' music first as well.

(They were the first to use Eastern influences in their music though)

People look at it in the wrong light. They didn’t steal this work, they refined it with catchy melodies and great lyrics and dispersed it. They were ones to spearhead the British Invasion and to explode psychedelic music across the globe. The greatest thing about them though was the way they introduced new ideals to music by copying them made them similar to uh…a virus maybe?

Well, calling anything a virus never sounds good, but hear me out. The Beatles, with their amazing work ethic, constantly developed themselves using new ideas (or ‘copied’ ones) while retaining the best of their previous skills.

Don’t believe me?

Look at one of their earlier albums, like ‘Hard Day’s Night’ where they showed off their amazing voices and harmonizing skills. They retain this as they go on to work with new ideas in a later album, such as ‘Rubber Soul’. In this groundbreaking album they kept their vocal talents but their instrumental skills were catching up (i.e. Norweigan Wood, In My Life). Rubber Soul had more lyrical development throughout the album as well.

‘Revolver’ developed further their lyrical and instrumental skills, while maintaining their beautiful vocals. Songs like ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ and ‘She Said She Said’ shows the ever increasing musical skill, coupled with their vocals and songwriting.

Finally, they take a huge step forward with ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, where they retain all their previous skills but take their musical production to an unheard of level.

Wrap Up of the members (in case you haven’t been convinced)

Ringo Starr

In terms of singing and songwriting, he was never much. His voice is rather soothing though and Lennon and McCartney often wrote some songs for him to sing. His biggest songwriting contributions were ‘Octopus’ Garden’ and ‘Don’t Pass Me By’. His most famous song is a Lennon/McCartney (mostly Paul) children song ‘Yellow Submarine’.

Ringo gets slammed way too much for his drumming. A friend who drums from my art class (who loves Tool) said to me: “I can’t agree with the Beatles being the best band ever because I can play the drums better than Ringo.” Well I doubt he could play as good as Ringo, but Ringo was actually pretty innovative. He never filled like Keith Moon, it was usually a quick cymbal hit. His drumming on ‘She Loves You’ is quite essential to the mood of the song, and his drumming on ‘A Day In The Life’ is complex. Lennon/McCartney could take most of the attention of the listener and Ringo didn't need to show off.

"If you have ever been in a band where you had to recreate Beatle songs, you would have realized Ringo Starr was no slouch. Those drum parts were very tricky and subtle. He did have a special ability to create interesting rhythmic structures within the music. This gave the Beatles a unique sound without loosing distinctive drive in rock and roll. ..." – Mike Finkelstein

Ringo ultimately was the one of the 4 kooky characters in the group and was probably the least talented member. Still was a pretty darn good member though.

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George Harrison

An essential part in the band, I can’t think of a better musician who fit in with John and Paul’s sound. His backing vocals were astounding and voice is quite distinct. He introduced the Beatles to Indian music and it became a key part of their sound. He never broke into mindless solo’s like other lead guitarists, but when he did do solos they were very compact and nice.

His songs in the Beatles catalog are considered among their best work. ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’ are all favorites by the vast majority of Beatles fans. ‘Within In Without You’ is my favorite of his work. I loved how while Lennon/McCartney just seemed to be able to pump out songs (in their early years especially) that didn’t always mean a lot to them, Harrison wrote directly about what he was feeling and his songs often contained a ton of introspective lyrics that are great messages of peace. He is my favorite Beatle (barely beats Lennon out) and definitely important to the band.



Paul McCartney

When I was younger, whenever I listening to the Beatles I always though of Paul as one of those musicians who has a really nice voice and just played bass to ‘get in’ the band without being instrumentally skilled and had a great voice.

Then I started playing bass. I looked up some of their tabs and watched some videos of the Beatles and he played bass so differently. He had so many different styles, from the relaxed, peaceful style on ‘Pepper’, to the bouncy early stuff, and then to an independent melody style on the white album. He also played piano, guitar, and drums frequently.

What more is there to say about his vocals? He had incredible range and its schlocky-ness was perfect to counteract Lennon’s biting sarcasm. Personal favorites are ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ and ‘Get Back’.



(watch the whole rooftop concert on youtube, it’s great)

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John Lennon

A lot of people say his guitar is very poor, and I can agree with that. However, his guitar playing held the Beatles together in their early years before George could get off his feet. His main role in the band was the lead singer and innovator.

From ’65-’67 he was drastically changing the Beatles sound. He started using backwards tapes and crazy sounds. Eventually Paul caught up a little at the end, but for the most part it was John making the crazy noises like ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and ‘A Day In The Life’

And of course his voice is one of the most emotional, honest, and beautiful voices I have ever heard. I think he has the greatest voice in music. Almost any sincere rock song I have listened to, I always think, ‘John Lennon could have sang this better’. My favorite song by him is ‘Dear Prudence’.



Even when they broke up, they all went on to release great solo albums. Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Band On the Run, Ram, All Things Must Pass (the best of ‘em), are all classics.

They were elected in their first year eligible to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Let’s do the same here and elect the greatest band ever to the Music Banter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Nominated by Proggyman

King Crimson

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While Pink Floyd is certainly the most popular Prog band, King Crimson is just as certainly the most popular band with Progheads. They're also arguably the most innovative band of the modern rock era, consistently reinventing themselves with just one constant member, but never settling for the current trend, never sacrificing artistic integrity for a more popular LP. Not to mention they've had more incredibly talented musicians than any other Rock band I know of. Robert Fripp is one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Bruford one of the greatest drummers. They're very popular here and certainly deserve a shot at the hall of fame.

Nominated by Sweet Nothing

The Velvet Underground

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"We're musical primitives."
-John Cale

Undoubtedly one of the most influential bands ever , second only to maybe the Beatles. The Velvet Underground eschewed conventional melodies and pop style lyrics in favor of dour, rigidly constructed songs about sadomasochism, sexual deviance, drugs, despair and the harsh reality of urban life on the fringes. Offbeat, daring, challenging, provocative, sometimes outrageous, always different, during wildly experimental and progressive second half of the 60’s The Velvet Underground was the avant-rock outfit of excellence. Although never commercially successful, there is that famous line from Brian Eno that only a few thousand people bought their first album and almost every single one of them would start a band. The Velvets influence on music can be traced everywhere from David Bowie to Sonic Youth.



The Velvet Underground:
Lou Reed- lead vocals/songwriter/guitarist
John Cale- Multiple instruments/vocals
Sterling Morrison- Guitar/bass
Maureen Tucker- Drums

Also:
Nico- Vocals on The Velvet Underground & Nico
Doug Yule- Multiple instruments on The Velvet Underground and Loaded

Albums:
The Velvet Underground & Nico
White Light/White Heat
The Velvet Underground
Loaded

Recommended Songs:
Sister Ray
Heroin
Venus in Furs
Sunday Morning
Sweet Jane
I'm Waiting for the Man

Nominated by sleepy jack

Radiohead

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Okay yes they're overrated, yes their fans don't shut up about them, yes every time they so much as shit (on EMI inrainbows<33) we hear about it but that's for a reason. They're probably the most talented band out today and sure they're not releasing OK Computer or Kid A like creative albums anymore but how can you listen to Reckoner or All I Need and say they're past their prime? You really can't. The only thing that would make them better is if Thom came out and apologized for Coldplay.

Nominated by Waspstar and The Monkey

The Kinks

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1967 was a dramatic year in music. Jimi Hendrix, through the Monterey Pop Festival, became the biggest superstar in America since Elvis, thus putting a definite end to the first British Invasion. Mick Jagger was forced to sing “Let’s Spend Some Time Together” on Ed Sullivan. The Who countered their wild stage behaviour with increasingly complex studio albums, and released The Who Sell Out. The Beatles released their most acclaimed album to date, Sgt. Peppers. A Scott McKenzie became the anthem for the Summer of Love, the biggest event in the hippie movement second only to Woodstock.

The world was had never seemed so bright, and the youth were more optimistic and idealistic than ever before. Through music, art and a big amount of pot, they would change the world by bringing forward uncomplicated messages of peace and love. The old had to go, a new era had arrived.

That year, the last steam-powered trains in England was about to be replaced by electric locomotives. This, quite naturally, went ignored by nearly everyone on the music scene. Who, after all, cared about some olds trains when a world revolution of love was taking place? One band did: The Kinks. They recorded a song about it the following year.

The Kinks’ genius and driving force lay with singer-songwriter Ray Davies, who wrote the vast majority of the band’s songs. His brother Dave was guitarist and wrote a few songs for the band. Drummer Mick Avory and bassist Pete Quaife completed the early line-up.

The Kinks formed in 1963 and soon reached success with a series of singles, notably “You Really Got Me”, “All Day And All Of The Night” and “Tired of Waiting for You”, the first hit songs ever to be build around power chords. The band continued to release songs in the same protopunk vein for the next couple of years, although they were constantly in the shadow of contemporary British bands such as the Beatles, the Stones or the Who.

In 1965 something of great importance to the bands musical directions occurred: they were banned from performing in the Unites States for reasons to this day undisclosed. This had two major effects. One, their commercial success in the US over the next years was obviously dampened. Two, the musical direction of the band changed dramatically as a result of being cut off from influences from the American R&B and soul. Ray’s songwriting here attained a uniquely English, often nostalgic, flavour, drawing heavy influences from English music hall traditions. The band’s stylistic change was first evident with the singles “A Well Respected Man” and “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”. The character study and social commentary theme in these singles would continue throughout the band’s career.

The following four years, the band was at their artistic peak. The albums “Face to Face”, “Something Else by The Kinks”, “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” and “Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)” all showcase the very best of Ray’s writing, with Something Else being my personal favourite. The four most famous singles from this time are probably “Sunny Afternoon”, “Dead End Street”, “Waterloo Sunset” and “Days”. Their last big hit came in 1970 with the single “Lola”.

At a time when focus of the music scene was on Hindu traditions, Marxist writings and world revolutions, The Kinks was writing about the poverty and misery found in England’s lower classes. In many cases the living standard hadn’t improved much since WWII, a fact often forgotten when looking back at the 60’s. But Ray Davies did not forget those people in his songs, and The Kinks’ music is in my opinion the very best examples how brilliant and meaningful lyrics can be combined with beautiful and touching melodies.

The song that to me best symbolizes what The Kinks is all about is probably Dead End Street from 1966:



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Apart from releasing some of the great albums of the 1960's (Village Green & Something Else), they were a killer singles band (You Really Got Me, Set Me Free, Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, Dead End Street). They weren't limited to one basic style as most of their contemporaries were and managed to create some of the most abrasive, raw, rocking songs ever recorded as well as some of the most beautiful.

Nominated by British Pharoah

Public Enemy

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Their politically charged lyrics criticising the US government and the media make them the number 1 Rap/Hip Hop outfit of all time in my eyes, no other Hip Hop artists can enter any music HOF (even one for the purpose of fun on an internet forum) before these icons.
Hip Hop has unfortunately now become an outlet for young black men to spout off about how much money they have, how big their rims are and how violent they can be against other black men.

PE got it right and now the genre and image of Hip Hop has been tainted by these Hip Hop posers and phoneys.

Nominated by Zarko

Frank Zappa

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Frank Zappa Appreciation Thread (Admittedly average for a while)

There are few better rock artists who are as proficient in composing music across a variety of genres as Zappa was. And his ‘flair’ and his seeming ‘need’ to branch out and not remain stagnant is a quality that should not be ignored and should be applauded.

His career and output, along with ‘The Mothers of Invention’ spans nearly 40 years, his first official release being in 1966 (Freak Out!) and was certainly a sign of his determined nature to always look for a new avenue, constantly experimenting…

From the Appreciation thread, possible one of the best ways to describe his nature was ‘The mad scientist of rock and roll’ and it certainly is reflective of his music. Throughout his career, he had various albums which constantly pushed new boundaries, which included albums (which I would call masterpieces) such as the emphatic ‘Hot Rats’, ‘Weasels Ripped My Flesh’, ‘You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore (Vol. 1-6)’ and ‘Frank Zappa and the London Symphony Orchestra (Vol. 1-2)’, which was an exploration into classical composing, and an awesome one at that.

Oftentimes creating brand new albums from his live shows and performances, Zappa was as technically proficient outside of the studio as he was inside. Previously metion ‘Weasels Ripped My Flesh’, one of his highly regarded albums, was primarily built up out of various live performances by Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. It may not make much sense, but overall the album is amazing for its lack of aim and control rather than poor for it.

Unfortunately, Zappa passed on in 1993, 17 days short of his 53rd birthday. It was seemingly the end of his illustrious musical output. However, since then there has been much more Zappa music discovered, leading to many posthumous CD’s being released in his name. With these additions, Zappa released more than 60 albums, which contained both solo work of MoI work. There are other ‘unofficial’ releases available, primarily through download.

In 1995 he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1997 he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ever the ‘zany’ character, Zappa named his four children Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. This of course nowadays seems horrible and cruel to many outside the family :p:
He often criticised many views of mainstream society through his music, including the lack of freedom of speech, censorship and religion. He was also very vocal concerning the Parents Music Resource Center’s attempts to censor music, and made a statement to the PMRC board. The statement (Originally 5 pages long, though condensed) was as follows:

The full statement and questioning can be found here Frank Zappa Statement, PMRC Senate Hearing

It is virtually impossible to peg down Zappa as an artist to any specific sound or genre… Rather he was simply a musician who did what he wanted to do (Especially when he was under his own label), no matter what others thought, or whether they couldn’t understand his sense of humour.

Some youtube videos…


Why does it hurt when I pee?


Strictly Genteel


Peaches En Regalia


He’s So ***

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Nominated by Alfred

The Clash

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The Clash have been one of the most influential and inspiring bands in the history of punk rock, if not rock period. For a punk rock band, The Clash's music was complex. They were dubbed the "Thinking Man's Yobs" because of their political views that expanded beyond anarchy, unlike many of their peers. Along with punk rock, the Clash mixed a wide variety of genres into their sound, making them extremely diverse. This became more noticeable as their career went on. There's something in their sound for everyone.

You may hate U2, but I think The Edge put it best when he said "The Clash were the shit".

Nominated by Waspstar

Bob Dylan


http://www.bobdylanlyrics.net/bob_dylan_4.jpg

If he had done nothing but record Highway 61 Revisited, he'd still deserve a place in any hall of fame. But he's made plenty of records that are just as good (or almost as good):

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Times, They Are-A Changin'
Blonde On Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
Blood On The Tracks
Street Legal
Empire Burlesque
Under The Red Sky
Good As I Been To You
Time Out Of Mind
Love & Theft


And I'll bet there's no one here who hasn't heard some version of at least one of these: All Along The Watchtower, Blowin' In The Wind, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Like A Rolling Stone, If Not For You, Rainy Day Women. I can't imagine anyone not rating those as songs (say what you will about his voice or his haphazard approach to making records; his songs define brilliance).

Dylan was my gateway drug into bona fide music addiction, and in a way, that was a bad thing, because everything was downhill from there. :)

Nominated by Jackhammer


Pink Floyd


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I could go into huge detail about this band but almost everybody knows who they are and probably own something by them. They have spent a staggering 700+ weeks on the billboard charts but ask the average joe what they look like and they wouldn't have a clue. They have never thrust their politics down anyones throat and are notoriously media wary.

Their album covers alone are works of art and for better or worse they have been instrumental in pushing production quality to the max.

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is better than Sgt. Peppers (released in the same year) with the opening track still sounding extraordinary after 40 years.

David Gilmour is a superlative guitarist and Roger Waters was a brilliant lyricist. Syd Barrett's influence is still heard today in guitar based pop music. Oh and David Gilmour sold one of his houses a few years ago and gave all the money to shelter- a homeless charity (a cool £million+), a fact little known because he didn't big himself up for it. Vote them in. you know you want to.

Nominated by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

Tom Waits

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After Four decades of musical excellence, and a catalouge that has never comprimised, Tom Waits stands as one of the most enduringly intriguing artists in the modern landscape. Confident enough to sing, arrange, and perform whatever comes to mind, Waits is and has only ever been limited by his imagination, and the prism of experience it shines through.

Nominated by Bulldog.

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

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So, I've decided to go ahead and nominate Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band for a richly deserved place in the MB Hall Of Fame. Maybe another fairly safe choice, but it's one that I'm surprised has been overlooked 'til now. Basically, Beefheart's discography is, for me, a bottomless treasure trove of avante-garde delights which it took me a while to truly appreciate (I'd owned Trout Mask Replica on CD for about 3 or 4 years before it finally clicked with me). What at first seemed to me like 28 tracks of people yelling, thumping and twanging things eventually turned into one of the most beautiful and blissful albums I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.

From his beginnings as a rambling, psychotic bluesman to the end of his recording career as someone whose videos were 'too weird' for MTV, Beefheart's been responsible for some of the most important and influential music of the past 40-50 years. Good old John Peel does a nice job of summing my feelings on the matter;

"If there has ever been such a thing as a genius in the history of popular music, it's Beefheart…I heard echoes of his music in some of the records I listened to last week and I'll hear more echoes in records that I listen to this week."

The most important and influential of his twelve albums would probably be the double salvo of Trout Mask Replica and its followup, Lick My Decals Off, Baby. Both albums are two of the most impenetrable and difficult albums you're likely to hear (unless you count Having Fun With Elvis On Stage as music), and did so much to show the listening world (or at least those that were willing to listen) the kinds of things could be accomplished within the confines of the rock band format. This pushing of music's boundaries to breaking point, this bridging of the gaps between rock, psychedelia, blues and jazz not only laid the groundwork the countless, surreal experiments in music to come, but also influenced artists as diverse as John Lydon, the Fall, the Clash, Tom Waits and even Franz Ferdinand and John Frusciante.

If you haven't already, for chrissakes, find yourself a copy of Decals and Trout Mask, listen to them 6 or 7 times and see if you don't experience something akin to spiritual enlightenment. Oh, and vote yes dammit!

Nominated by Sweet Nothing

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine:
Kevin Shields- Lead Guitar/Songwriter/Vocals
Bilinda Butcher- Guitar/Lead Vocals
Debbie Googe- Bass
Colm Ó Cíosóig- Drums

Albums:
Isn't Anything
Loveless

Recommended Songs:
Only Shallow
Sometimes
Soon
When You Sleep
Don't Asky Why
You Made Me Realise
Feed Me With Your Kiss
Loomer

Nominated by Conan

John Zorn

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag...ohnzorn460.jpg

Whether or not you've heard of him, John Zorn has had a tremendous impact on jazz punk, avant-garde, and other expirimental genres. When somebody has over 400 albums to his name, you're bound to love some of John's music.

John is an avid saxophonist and a talented multi-instrumentalist, often using his instruments in ways never thought possible.

He has released over dozens of jazz albums, notably his jazz quartet Masada has over 40 releases.



In 1988 he founded Naked City, a hardcore project of sorts, which John described as a 'compositional workshop' to test the limitations of a rock band format. And test limits it did. Sonic blasts of screaming, distorted saxophone coupled with bombastic blast beats and raving guitar defined the groups sound, and yet even within the boundries of specific projects John's expirimentation knows no boundries.



John has been active in everything from Film Music to avant-garde concert compositions. To try and describe all that this man has done is truly impossible.

If you want to see just a partial list of everything this man has done, see Discography of John Zorn on Wikipedia. For a more complete list, see this web page.

This one's from Alfred

Bad Brains

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Bad Brains were one of the founding fathers of hardcore punk, and arguably the most unique band to come out of the early 80's hardcore scene. The band is notable for incorporating Reggae and Rastafarian themes into their music. With their blistering tempos, technical guitar, and HR's signature vocal delivery, Bad Brains were in my opinion, the best hardcore punk band. They later went on to experiment with funk and heavy metal in addition to their energetic, Rasta-themed punk sound. Bad Brains have inspired and continue to inspire a wide variety of bands, including, but not limited to Beastie Boys, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Fugazi.

Nominated by Davey Moore

Nominated by Gavin B.


Has Bob Marley never been nominated to the MB Hall of Fame? That's hard for me to believe so I'm going to nominate him because he is still the most internationally recognized musician 30 years beyond his death.

Bob produced a body of music that has stood the test of time and his back catalog of albums are second only to the Beatles in international sales. He also brought reggae music to the 7 continents of the earth and the four corners of the globe. Bob composed music that significantly changed people's lives and the world we live in. He should have been one of the first nominees.

Here are some of my favorite Marley videos on YouTube:

Concrete Jungle-- In the video Peter Tosh is on the left with sunglasses on, Bob is in the middle and Bunny Wailer is to the right with the funny fez hat on his head.



Coming In From the Cold



One Drop--- This video is from Bob's last concert in 1980. It's amazing how much energy he had, even as he was months away from his death.



Zimbabwe-- This is from his 1979 tour at Harvard Stadium... I was at that show and it was the best concert I've ever seen.

Nominated by Dieselboy



Starting off as a hardcore punk outfit in NY, Michael Diamond (Mike D), Adam Yauch (MCA), and Adam Horovitzand (Ad-Rock), originally toured the scene and opened for impressive names such as The Misfits and Dead Kennedy's. All this changed suddenly though in the early 80's, when they teamed up with Def Jam's Rick Rubin. Becoming a three man rap group with punk leanings, they released the legendary album Licensed To Ill. With songs like; Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Brass Monkey, they climbed the charts, were labeled as a "White Run D.M.C.", and became a hero to frat-boys across the nation.

The years that followed have seen the Beastie Boys constantly staying busy and evolving, while releasing hit after hit. Albums like the sample-heavy Paul's Boutique landed at #156 on Rolling Stone's top albums of all time list, and the incredibly eclectic Ill Communication features one of the single greatest songs ever in Sabotage. It was actually around this time that nu-metal was taking form, and they were in fact accused by some to be a main influence. This idea was shunned by the Beastie's in song, with the lyric, "Created a monster with these rhymes I write, goatee metal rap please say goodnight." They have since moved on to different sounds, with more recent works being more straightforward hip-hop and DJ influenced.

Honestly, I think the three albums discussed above make the Boys worthy of nomination, but they've continued to evolve and release great music even up to the present. They play many of the instruments on their albums and in live shows, and are also one of the longest running acts in the history of hip-hop (nearly twenty-five years). When you look at everything they've done, I think it's a no-brainer.

Nominated by Akira:



Discog (whilst alive):

The "Chirping" Crickets - 1957
Buddy Holly - 1958
That'll Be The Day - 1958

Buddy Holly was a major influence on rock and roll, being one of the first main artists to perform,write and produce, he also set the benchmark for your bog-standard rock band, this includes a bass, two guitars and someone on drums.

His music was fresh at the time and highly influential to upcoming artists at the time, whilst often being pure and simple and free from the bells and whistles that would soon follow within the rock and roll world.

Despite not being an obvious sex symbol like Elvis, today would call him geek-chic (blech), his music reached out to his fans and his clean cut image appealed to women all over.

Many big names of the 60's cite Buddy Holly as a huge influence on their own career and music, included are The Beatles who covered his stuff in their early years, The Rolling Stones, one of their first major hits was a cover of Not Fade Away, and Bob Dylan, who had seen Buddy play live just two days before his death.

Not many people had such a profound effect on a genre as Buddy did with Rock and Roll, and yet his career only lasted 18 months.