Are you from Texas blastingas?

Just for my own curiosity.

I have a lot of friends down that wayyy.;) is why I'm asking.

Yes I am. How could you tell? Was it my T-bone Walker reference?

Hard question. My immediate reaction would be Lennon/McCartney or Dylan, but they were all influenced by earlier artists like Elvis and Buddy Holly, who were influenced by early blues artists. And where did blues come from? Slave songs. It's a question that has no right answer. It will be debated for eternity.

it cant be narrowed down to one. but you can come of with a list. I know its just a long chain, everyone was inspired by someone. Ill take a less agnostic approach for the sake of the conversation.

In chronological order, ill start with Robert Johnson, he really needs no explanation. then howlin wolf, howlin wolf goes back to the days of robert johnson, they use to play together. also, howlin wolfs style of blues was more rockin than any other blues artist at the time. i think he is one of the most overlooked influences on rock, muddy waters gets more credit than the wolf and the wolf came before muddy.

Next ill go with muddy waters. Then T-bone walker, one of the most underrated musicians ever. He was one of the first to record with an electric guitar, he was the father of the electric blues and inspired everyone from bb king to chuck berry to albert king.

Then BB king, Fats Domino, little richard, elvis, bo diddley, james brown and chuck berry, roy orbison and buddy holly.

Now on to the Beatles, The stones, Bob Dylan, the yardbirds, the velvet underground, the who and jimi hendrix.

If you polled the people in your poll then it would be Elvis with Chuck Berry second.

I'm a big Hendrix and Velvet underground fan, but I'm surprised they placed higher than Dylan. Lou Reed and Hendrix and The Beatles were influenced by him.

Hendrix all the way

I think it's real close between Hendrix, Dylan and The Beatles. I think Dylan influenced Hendrix and The Beatles more than they influenced him, not saying he wasn't influenced by them, though. Hendrix is the most influential guitarist and Dylan and is the most influential songwriter.

Bill Haley and the Comets should be in there too. They were charting rock-n-roll hits when most of that list was in elementary school. Chuck Berry hadn't even cut a record yet. Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, Maddox Brothers and Sister Rose, Hank Williams- this is the stuff where rock-n-roll came from. It is sheer folly to only have the hippie 'rockers' on this poll.

I can agree with that. Robert Johnson certainly deserves to be in there. And some other blues artists