Most Influential Rock Artist Ever
 

Ok who do you consider is the most influential rock artist? Their influence can extend into other genres just not rock music.

No "other" option?

an other would be appropriate
i went with VU

I went with the real appropriate answer the Beatles. Even though I am huge fan of VU and the Who.

From this all I see are subjective fights about where each respective artist lies in relation to genre (ie Bob Dylan = folk...) Are we talking influence on rock from anywhere or just influential Rockers?

Other - Robert Johnson :p:

But ignoring that, Beatles...

My criteria is but hey it's only my criteria.

Direct Influence- Influence on musicians directly
Enduring influence- Musicians from a previous era that are still influencing musicians directly.
Immediate Influence- Musicians when they came out changed the genre.
Varied Influenced- did their influence spill over to other genres like Pop or Folk. The best example is the Byrds and partly Dylan going electric because of the Beatles chord progressions.

Ah Radiohead90...I came in here as an EXTREME Beatles fanboy...don't worry you'll change (I somewhat did).

i find it hard to pick against the beatles in this argument... they're not my favorite but still

VU comes in second for me

I actually hated the Beatles until I got Abbey Road.
 

Yeah, I love the Beatles but that was not the case 5 years ago. It's only starting to play the guitar and learning the chord progressions of songs like "You Never Give Me Your Money' that made me start to realize there is a lot of elements in their music that you don't hear in say the Stones or Dylan. I was going to put Radiohead on my list but I don't think any support on them here. The Velvet Underground is another good choice that my friends pound it my head also but do they translate into pop music?

Radiohead is adored here too, I believe. :)

Without sounding elitist, you forgot Robert Johnson.. and here endeth the thread.

With all due respect Robert Johnson is not a Rock artist or a Rock n roll artist. Man there is even a difference between 50's Rock & roll and what a lot of people just call Rock music that came out in the 60's. I know some oldtimers will disagree with me on that point.

Sorry, but I'm voting The Kinks with 2nd Being VU and 3rd being The Beatles

Robert Johnson was THE original Rock star. He sold his soul to the devil. You can't get more Rock n Roll than that. My post was more of a reminder of Robert Johnson's utmost importance to music and to me he is the most influential.

Just curious: How many blatant rip offs of Beatles songs have been made?

I dunno, Oasis alone have a pretty good sized discography.

The Chemical Brothers 'Setting Sun', a psychedelic techno-rocker which cleverly builds upon the legacy of the Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows' (heck, in a way, it is 'Tomorrow Never Knows' - just listen to that Ringo beat!

Radiohead song "Karma Police" is based on "Sexy Sadie" and "Paraniod Andriod" is based on "Happiness is a Warm Gun". The most blatant is Jet "Look What you Have Done".

Dylan is basically the reason the term "musical influence" was coined. Him or the true king, Buddy Holly.

The Beatles, of course ! :D

The Kinks>VU>Bob Dylan>The Beatles
In order of influence, The Beatles really shouldn't be getting as many votes.

In order of influence the beatles should never have existed, if only russia had some balls and nuked liverpool in the 50's.

Oh wow yet another thread sucking The Beatles cocks

Yea as usual.

I would have thought Hendrix would be doing at least a little bit better.

I'd go Hendrix definitely, possibly the first to really blend pop, the avantgarde and the plain fucking cool.

I love the The Beatles, but I don't really see their influence in music as much as I do of VU or Bob Dylan.

The Beatles are the only choice.
 

I think the Beatles influence might be overstated but the Beatles did influence Dylan and the Byrds to go electric. The Beatles did start the British Invasion that included the The Kinks, The Who and the Stones. The one thing that separates the Beatles with VU or Bob Dylan is that the Beatles influenced Nirvana, King Crimson, Ozzy Osbourne and then they can influence the Monkees and the Jonas Brothers. The Beatles influence is across the board. Britpop and the Alternative rock scene of the 90's was more influenced by the Beatles than Dylan or The Velvet Underground.

That would be "Tomorrow Never Know", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Good Vibrations".

Hah, I laughed.

This is hard because the most influential musician does not equal the greatest musician. I'd have to say Elvis Presley for right now in terms of Rock 'n Roll. Maybe Chuck Berry. I don't know...it's a tough question! roflmao!

I believe it was Brian Eno who said that, although not many listened to the Velvet Underground when it came out, those who did went on to start bands of their own.

VU's influence is undeniable, Beatles influence is however. That Led Zeppelin, the Stones and The Who have no votes and the Beatles 15 is proof that the main population of this forum have no idea about anything, at all, ever.

The Beatles revolutionized pop music and they popularized experimental music in Rock. They influenced the Rolling Stones to write their music. They started the British Invasion, they influenced the Byrds to blend folk with rock. They influenced the Beach Boys to create Pet Sounds. They blended Avant Music with Pop. They blended Traditional World Music with Rock. They established feedback, tape loops and backward guitars, vocals etc, in in Pop Music

The Beatles made the rock band bigger than the Elvis types. The Beatles played in the first big stadium concert. Sorry to Buddy Holly or Chuck Berry it took the Beatles to establish the songwriter/ rock band/ without a focal point rock band. They had a huge influence on Progressive Rock and the start of Heavy Metal with songs like "Helter Skelter, and the Proto Gloomy Metal of "I Want You". Countless of Indie Bands are influenced by songs like 'Rain, Tomorrow Never Knows, She Said She Said and I'm Only Sleeping.

I guess the Beatles did nothing please. The Velvet Underground who I like influenced a small fraction of rock music and none in Pop Music. They should not even been on this list to be honest.

.

If you say so

No that was Andrew Loog Oldham

No that was The Tornados

I don't really care about either band so I can't comment here

But they wern't the first and it wasn't groundbreaking

Again , not exclusive to The Beatles

No that was Joe Meek
So they were popular & influenced things , great. So did all the bands on this list

They did something , it's just always overstated by fanboys like you

The Velvet Underground probably influenced most of my favourite bands , and I willing to give them credit for that even though I don't like them a huge amount.

Lol
 

Joe Meek did not establish intentional guitar feedback as a recording effect.
Joe Meek used backward tape. Beatles used backward guitars, vocals first. The Stones were impressed The Beatles could write a song in ten minutes. They decided to do it they could do it. Even Keith Richards admits the only way they could have competed with the Beatles was to write their own songs.

The Beatles started the British Invasion in the states that paved way for the Stones and the Kinks. They were others who had hits in the States before the Beatles. That does not British Rock was established here. No one was really interested British Bands until the Beatles made it big.

Please the Beatles blended Avant Music with Pop/rock if they were not first they were one of the first. I would call "Tomorrow Never Knows" or "Strawberry Fields Forever" groundbreaking. I would not call Velvet Underground pop music and the Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" predates the Velvet Underground

The same for using World Music with Pop Music. Again I would call "Norwegian Wood" groundbreaking. George Harrison at least played the sitar. The song is modal except for being blues influenced it was eastern Influenced. "Tomorrow Never Knows is another song that blends World Music influences with Rock.

So am I fan boy because people like you knock the Beatles and I am defending them.

Who's knocking them? I gave them some credit.

Like why does it matter who did what first anyway? This is not what its about. There is a serious double standard when it comes to the Beatles by the naysayers.

Really the Kinks did not invent feedback, distortion, loud vocals but that does not take away what they did for future music like Hard Rock

Again, The Velvet Underground did not invent drone, feedback and extreme distortion it was already well established. They were still innovative and influential.

I really don't have a problem with the Beatles using Traditional Indian, Stockhausen and creating a new sound in a Rock or Pop Context. No one creates music without Influence.

Wow I am surprised that Led Zeppelin, The Who and the Stones have no votes. I wonder is this a younger crowd voting?

Yes, Urban, the you may be right on all of these points, you may not. I don't have the desire nor the ability to check all of these facts. But even if the Beatles weren't the first to do so, shouldn't the fact that they were able to incorporate all of that count for something?

Here is my research and it only really proves the Beatles were innovative and they were either one of the first or the first to do these things in pop music

The Beatles "I Feel Fine" the first song to go number one with intentional guitar feedback.

"Rain'- first Pop Song with backward vocals

"Tomorrow Never Knows- first Pop song with backward guitar solo

"Love You To- first conscious effort attempt in pop music to emulate a non western form in structure and instrumentation. The Dawn of Indian Music in the West By Peter Lavezzoli other examples that precede this like "See My Friends", "Eight Miles High", "Norwegian Wood" and "Heart Full of Soul" show only influence.

"Tomorrow Never Knows"- first pop song that is based on Indian drone of tamboura The Dawn of Indian Music in the West By Peter Lavezzoli

The Tornadoes certainly did not start the British Invasion. Telstar is the first British song to go number one in 1962.There was no instant wave of British Rockers in 1962 Cliff Richard struggles in the American charts was the reason many thought British Bands would not make it. The Beatles broke through in America in 1964 and followed later that year The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Kinks and dozens of others.

The artful Roger: in The Folk Den with Roger McGuinn- The Beatles influencing the Byrds and Folk Rock

When the Beatles had come out, the folk boom had already peaked," McGuinn notes. "The people who had been into it were getting kind of burned out. It just wasn't very gratifying, and it had become so commercial that it had lost its meaning for a lot of people. So the Beatles kind of re-energized it for me. I thought it was natural to put the Beatles' beat and the energy of the Beatles into folk music. And in fact, I heard folk chord changes in the Beatles' music when I listened to their early stuff like 'She Loves You' and 'I Want To Hold Your Hand.' I could hear the passing chords that we always use in folk music: the G-Em-Am-B kind of stuff. So I really think the Beatles invented folk-rock. They just didn't know it."

Avant with Pop Music- "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" both songs have obvious pop influences but it also uses classical Avant Influences of Stockhausen, Cage and Varese

Here are some others

"Ticket To Ride- Predates the Kinks "See My Friends" in its use of guitar drone replicating Indian tonal concepts in rock music.

"Strawberry Fields Forever"- uses drum loops

'Revolver first record that uses common studio practice of Automatic Double Tracking which differs from double tracking and vocals through leslie speakers both common in music.

"Eight Days A Week"- an early use of volume swells.

The Beatles were not the first to use tape loops or backward tape in pop music. But they were the first to marry it with a repetitive drum and bass sound on "Tomorrow Never Knows" which is common practice today in various genres.

The Beatles influenced the Stones largely to write their own songs.
Watching Lennon and McCartney compose "I Wanna Be Your Man" this inspired Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to write more original songs. The Stones had mostly covered American Blues songs to this point. It was a big step for Mick and Keith, since they didn't consider themselves songwriters.

We're talking influence, not who were the first to do whatever.