Artists can say whatever they want. Maeilyn Manson apparently considers The Doors the first punk band. Goofie, if you're reading this, I am not being snide, I seriously had no idea Manson had this opinion.

Anyways, Motorhead don't consider themselves metal, they are. What an artist says means precisely dick. You draw your own conclusions, and don't need Chino James Keenan or allmusic.com to subject their pretentious opinions towards you.

Influences are 100% in sound. I think we're confusing the terms influences and inspirations.

Motorhead are more "hard rock" than "metal"

they still retain the bluesy edge while most metallers do away with them

It goes the other way, too. If you listen hard enough, I'm sure you could say you hear hints of the Carpenters floating around in the mix. If a band actually gives you a list of artists that they say influenced them, I tend to go with that. It doesn't have to directly affect the sound of their music, but perhaps how they approach it.

How they approach it will end up in the sound, it's absolutely the same thing. Artists don't get to label themselves. Motorhead isn't "rock and roll", they're heavy metal. Heavy metal is a heavier version of rock, it's not rocket science here. They consider Little Richard their biggest influence, and you can hear it. That's the difference. System Of A Down only has similarities to Deftones like Deftones has similarities to 99% of the alt metal world from 1992-1999. You absolutely draw your own conclusions as a fan.

What sounds like influence to one person, or is influence to one person, might not be to the next.

THe deftones members are big music fans so im pretty sure everything from


1978-1993 there kid and teenager years ... since i think some of them are pushing 40 right influnced them

u can always kinda tell how much a artist digs other music or not like Lemmy i dont think he listens to Hip hop and all the weird **** Chino and frank listen 2 just saying

Most influences will show up in the mix, but having a certain mindset or using a technique another artist has used to write music does not mean you will be able to tell outright. And not agreeing with influences that the band directly says are influences is just dumb...sure, if SOAD said they were inspired by Britney Spears we could all assume it was a joke, but otherwise you're just arguing semantics. You can be influenced by someone and not have it smack you in the face in the music.

Again, SOAD was listing alternative metal bands preceding them as far as I can tell. I'd be interested to hear if they considered Korn, Soundgarden or AIC influences.

Deftones were pretty much just an exceptional nu metal band through their first 3 albums, I find it hard to believe that SOAD has any amount of real influence from Deftones.

I can say anyone's an influence of my band. Ke$ha lists Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin as her biggest influences, and considers herself alternative. I'm not even ****ting you with that.

I find it hard to believe, just like I find it hard to believe Deftones impacts SOAD.

Well, I was never arguing that. I was just arguing that someone can list influences that aren't immediately apparent in the music. Did SOAD ever say the Deftones were an influence?

As for Ke$ha...does she write her own music? My first instinct is no, so I don't know how any of those bands could have an influence on her. It's not her music. I can see where she gets her attitude now, though.

Interesting discussion. Don't discount the fact that any band will often bring a range of influences to their music from individual members. It's often the case that the variances in influence amongst the individuals within the band can combine to create something that doesn't sound like any of those individual influences. I know that even though my mates and I may have much common ground when all our tastes are blended it becomes a compromised collection of what we all bring.

And yeah deftones are pretty damn good too.

Deftones - Download the new song "Leathers" from their upcoming album KOI NO YOKAN

New song guys. It's awesome. Deftones are at their best when they're making really pretty stuff like this, in my opinion.