ConGrUenCy

Zeppelin and Black Sabbath greatly influenced rock and metal respectively.

hip hop bunny hop

Regarding the constant references to the Beatles; I'd say the band, of the same era, which was far more influential on metal would be the Monks. If not through a direct influence, due to the Monks massive influence on punk rock.

...that, and Slayer have been _far_ more influential than Metallica. While all their prior releases were quite important, 'Reign in Blood' changed metal in such a manner that it would be hard not calling it the single most important metal album of the 1980s.

mr dave

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

maybe if ...and justice for all came out 2 years later. 'One' changed metal in the 80s far more than everything else out at the time. being a #1 hit on billboard meant that actual legitimate metal was entering suburban homes for the first time for a lot of ears. EVER. all of a sudden the mainstream had to acknowledge metal as a legitimate style, it provided a way for kids who had no access to the underground to finally taste what they had only read about in magazines.

think of it like this, in order for anything to be influential it has to be known. Metallica is the reason metal got known outside of the underground in the 80s. they're the reason it got well known in the mainstream. that single is what busted doors down and why there are so many people who can now look back and rediscover all the good stuff that was going on. having that hit single meant that album was going to be on shelves all over the continent, at all the department stores that 'refused' to carry metal.

there's a difference between influence, coincidental imitation, and retrospective adulation. it's not to say Slayer doesn't influence people now, but when it actually was the 1980s the most important album in metal was most definitely by Metallica. if it weren't for them then 'Reign in Blood' would have remained in obscurity, regardless of its awesomeness.

__________________
i am the universe

hip hop bunny hop

Reign in Blood broke the Billboard top 100 - topping at 94 - and South of Heaven hit 57. Slayer were definitely not obscure.

Victory Guy

To really show who is the most is to create a sort of tree of influence. If you really do make one of these trees (it would be lengthy as hell :/) you would find that you are likely to come up with an influential bluesman by the name of Robert Johnson.
Johnson influenced (among hundreds of others) Muddy Waters, who then influenced Chuck Berry, who after that influenced people like the Grateful Dead, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The Beatles influence was MASSIVE. With artists like Oasis, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie (and pretty much every un-death/black metal band ever created since the 70's haha) being influenced majorly by the Beatles. Hendrix helped inspire the metal genre, while David Bowie's image pretty much single-handedly created the glam culture/music. Oasis impact is also large in British music, with bands like Muse, Keane, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys owing something to them.
From there on in you can pretty much branch off to all these other artists which truly shows you the influence Johnson had on music.
Of course there are many other ways you can view the 'tree' with all types of outcomes on who is the ultimate influencer. I just quickly typed some influences and whatnot so of course my branchings aren't really that accurate.

__________________
my last.fm profile

hip hop bunny hop

On that note:

The Monks
bla bla bla
Discharge
Slayer/Hellhammer (Celtic Frost)
Repulsion/Master/Death/Sepultura/Venom
Releases/More/Amazing/Than/Anything/Metallica/Ever/Released

The Monkey

Without The Velvet Underground we wouldn't have any glam rock, noise pop or shoegaze, and punk would probably look very different.

Urban Hat€monger ?

Glam Rock would have certainly existed. The New York Dolls main influence was The Stones, Bolan's was 50s Rock n Roll, Bowie's was all over the place. If anything the Velvet Underground are the total antithisis of Glam Rock, I think their influence on it is minimal, maybe with some of the sleazier subject matter you could credit them but you could do that with the Stones too.

Shoegaze is basically miserable psychedelia. A stronger influence but not the only one.

Noise Pop, again maybe some claim. Still would have existed though Krautrock , Punk & Jazz though.

Their only real influence in punk is subject matter, which wasn't really anything exclusive to them either. I don't really see how punk wouldn't have happened, not with the Stooges, MC5 and the whole Ladbroke Grove counter culture scene (Which pre-dates the Velvets).

I do think they influenced a lot, but I think it has become far too overstated over the years and I think now they're given too much credit for things they had a minimal effect on.

__________________

Zarko

Surprised Judas Priest haven't had a shout yet (Not that I can see).

Forebearers of metal with Black Sabbath, especially the look.

Mr_Charisma

The "Big Four" (Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, and Anthrax) had a huge influence on all of Metal. You don't necessarily have to be known by every Joe Shmoe and Lucy....Schmoosy to be influential. But then there's the super obvious of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple which pretty much sped up the creation of metal (Or just outright made it huge in the case of Black Sabbath). There's a hundred others but yeah... The Big Four are my favorite of the more influential bands.

__________________
Just because you're ugly doesn't mean people dislike you...they just dislike being AROUND you.