Jump to content

NME: Aaliyah is more influential than The Beatles, The Stones, Michael Jackson, Prince, James Brown and Stevie Wonder.


Towelie

Recommended Posts

On 16 June 2016 at 0:47 PM, J Dog said:

As bad and boring as most modern rock and modern rap is these days, it makes sense that Radiohead, the Strokes, and Kanye are in the top five.

Exactly.  People seem to forget, The Beatles, The Stones, we're talking half a century ago and if you're gonna approach lists like this is a convoluted fashion well then fuck you all, Robert Johnson should be top of the list...but thats just not being realistic, is it?  Although I'd probably drop Kanye a little on the list but the broader point you're making is accurate, do you hear Love Me Do in songs today, do you hear Satisfaction, do you hear My Generation?  Shit, you don't even hear Welcome to the Jungle.  Personally, to me, Radiohead and The Strokes ain't shit but they're far more influential to what passes as rock today than Elvis is, even if I personally think Elvis is the fucking cats whiskers (and he is).

Edited by Len B'stard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎19‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 11:07 PM, Len B'stard said:

Exactly.  People seem to forget, The Beatles, The Stones, we're talking half a century ago and if you're gonna approach lists like this is a convoluted fashion well then fuck you all, Robert Johnson should be top of the list...but thats just not being realistic, is it?  Although I'd probably drop Kanye a little on the list but the broader point you're making is accurate, do you hear Love Me Do in songs today, do you hear Satisfaction, do you hear My Generation?  Shit, you don't even hear Welcome to the Jungle.  Personally, to me, Radiohead and The Strokes ain't shit but they're far more influential to what passes as rock today than Elvis is, even if I personally think Elvis is the fucking cats whiskers (and he is).

But then you have the argument about evolution... without Satisfaction there would be no Welcome To The Jungle, without James Brown there would be no Prince/MJ, without Prince/MJ the whole landscape of todays popular music scene would be very different. I still fail to see who Radiohead have influenced to that extent (because they haven't).

Even if you're talking exclusively about todays music scene, every other month there is a massive hit that borrows heavily from Prince/MJ. Whether it's a blatant pastiche like Uptown Funk, or a sampled dance hit like Somebody's Watching Me or a cover version like Alicia Key's take on How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore or Alien Ant Farms Smooth Criminal or Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean, it's fucking everywhere. When was the last time you heard a song on the radio and thought "oh, that's so Radiohead?". I'm sorry, it's the fucking hipster brigade out in full force, full of shit as per usual.

Edited by Towelie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2016. 06. 15. at 2:06 PM, Len B'stard said:

Or a major music publication with a certain degree of authority made a shitty list and published it.

lol

 

Nobody takes NME seriously since the 80's

 

This list is more than an updated "best of" list than a "who is more influential" list, though

 

Edited by Strange Broue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, Strange Broue said:

lol

 

Nobody takes NME seriously since the 80's

 

This list is more than an updated "best of" list than a "who is more influential" list, though

 

They're still an authority though, they're a music paper, whether you or i agree with the idea or wish to contest is is immatierial, personally i think it was a rag from day one but they are an authority, in the literal sense of what that word means.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Towelie said:

Alicia Key's take on How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore or Alien Ant Farms Smooth Criminal or Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean, it's fucking everywhere.

Those songs are old af, so I don't know what you're trying to prove by using them.

If you wanted to make a list of 'influencers' and then say "well, they were influenced by this even older group/artist" you'd never see the list change, that's boring. A lot of the people on this list were able to take the music they were inspired by and add their own mark on to it, which you can see in artists around in the most recent era of music (2010-onwards). I'm sure you would be overjoyed at another generic list with the Beatles and Elvis reigning supreme, but that's played out and tiresome. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎21‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 4:16 PM, toroymoi said:

Those songs are old af, so I don't know what you're trying to prove by using them.

If you wanted to make a list of 'influencers' and then say "well, they were influenced by this even older group/artist" you'd never see the list change, that's boring. A lot of the people on this list were able to take the music they were inspired by and add their own mark on to it, which you can see in artists around in the most recent era of music (2010-onwards). I'm sure you would be overjoyed at another generic list with the Beatles and Elvis reigning supreme, but that's played out and tiresome. 

Okay, well take todays most popular and biggest selling popstars... Beyoncé, Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga... they all cite MJ and Prince as two of their main influences, and you can see it in their stage costumes, their music, their videos, their choreography.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 21 June 2016 at 8:07 AM, Towelie said:

 

Even if you're talking exclusively about todays music scene, every other month there is a massive hit that borrows heavily from Prince/MJ. Whether it's a blatant pastiche like Uptown Funk, or a sampled dance hit like Somebody's Watching Me or a cover version like Alicia Key's take on How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore or Alien Ant Farms Smooth Criminal or Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean, it's fucking everywhere. 

No wonder music so shite nowadays :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Len B'stard said:

A still thriving genre at that, as much as i think they and it are shite.

Ha well i can't agree with you on that but yeah, Sabbath have a hand in creating Metal, Doom/Sludge/Stoner (that's actually 4 i sold them short)and obviously while not creating it have their hard rock chops as well. Let's not forget how heavily they influenced Grunge as well, their sound is all over AIC and Soundgarden's early stuff and Cobain is qouted as saying he wanted Nevermind to sound like them.I mean for ffs Bikini Kill?, yeah every kid slinging a guitar over their shoulder cites Bikini Kill an influence...pfft.

Edited by Silverburst80
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Len B'stard said:

I love Bikini Kill but your point is no less valid.  I've liked them since their early days and they are really quite obscure, even now.

I don't mind them i guess i could have picked out 10 bands on that list that Sabbath absolutely destroy in terms of influence, they should really be top 10-15 on any list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Silverburst80 said:

I don't mind them i guess i could have picked out 10 bands on that list that Sabbath absolutely destroy in terms of influence, they should really be top 10-15 on any list.

To add to your early point about the influence, to be fair, Sabbaths influence on punk is not to be ignored either.  Black Flag were quite Sabbath influenced, Captain Sensible remarked upon hearing Anarchy in the UK by my beloved Sex Pistols that it 'sounded like Old Man Steptoe wailing over a dodgy Black Sabbath riff' :lol:. Not sure I agree with that appraisal entirely but point being, broadly speaking, there was an influence there over certain aspects of punk, musically.

I always felt like Sabbath were a band trying to play the sort of heavy handed blues of a band like Cream and, not being as musically profficient as them, coming up with a sort of haphazard approximation that filled a massive gap in popular music.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other one that really puzzles me is Kanye West at 3. And again what's good and what's not is a matter of opinion but what has/did he ever do that had influence in hip hop?. As a producer he did some good shit in his early days but even then it wasn't anything groundbreaking. I never heard anything there that hadn't been done before and if anything he seems to latch onto what's popping at the time, was heavily influenced by east coast ( did alot of that "chimpmunking" shit RZA used to do), had a auto tune period which was done before him etc....i can see a grime album next.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, Silverburst80 said:

The other one that really puzzles me is Kanye West at 3. And again what's good and what's not is a matter of opinion but what has/did he ever do that had influence in hip hop?. As a producer he did some good shit in his early days but even then it wasn't anything groundbreaking. I never heard anything there that hadn't been done before and if anything he seems to latch onto what's popping at the time, was heavily influenced by east coast ( did alot of that "chimpmunking" shit RZA used to do), had a auto tune period which was done before him etc....i can see a grime album next.

I guess i can kinda see that, that awful tinny electro sound pervades hip hop now. But yeah, he ripped off The Abbott greatly and not just in regard to the chipmunking thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Len B'stard said:

I guess i can kinda see that, that awful tinny electro sound pervades hip hop now. But yeah, he ripped off The Abbott greatly and not just in regard to the chipmunking thing.

Oh yeah he totally ripped off RZA, i'm pretty sure he's admitted it to be fair to him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Towelie said:

Least it ain't a wide eyed MJ!!!!

To be fair I'd've probably taken a finger up the arse for a fortnight at Neverland Ranch :lol:. Think about it, chance to hang around a Motown legend at a free amusement park, free Jesus juice compliments of the house, i dont see what they was moaning about personally :lol:

Edited by Len B'stard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/22/2016 at 5:51 PM, Towelie said:

Okay, well take todays most popular and biggest selling popstars... Beyoncé, Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga... they all cite MJ and Prince as two of their main influences, and you can see it in their stage costumes, their music, their videos, their choreography.

Justin Bieber is a product of Usher and Justin Timberlake's era of music, he may find MJ inspiring but his music is more reminiscent of those two (Usher for more obvious reasons). Lady Gaga is more a product of Britney and Christina's era. Beyoncé debuted in 1998, so I'm not gonna classify her as being of 'this' gen.

Beyoncé and Timberlake are already at the stage where they've influenced the younger generation of artists.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Len B'stard said:

How do you seperate the influence of Usher and Timberlake from MJ?

In JB's music? I don't really hear MJ in Justin's sound, I hear a watered-down version of Usher/JT who in turn were inspired by MJ. Like I said before, you could keep tracing it back to who was influenced by who, but then that'll just leave you with the same list over and over again.

Justin's more recent music is also EDM-inspired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Len B'stard said:

To be fair I'd've probably taken a finger up the arse for a fortnight at Neverland Ranch

I know, right?

I'd've taken it up the Harris for that, I'd've done a lot worse for a lot less when I was 12 years old! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...