Who are the most influential musicians of all-time?d

[The Holographic Universe]

I've seen many arguments on this forum about who the greatest bands/artist of all-time, but that is mostly subjective and pointless, so I'm curious to here from some of the forum members who are the most influential musicians of all time and why. Also, who will go down alltime in influential in the last 30 years. For example I know Robert Johnson greatly influenced Zeppelin. Berry and the Stones. Len often speaks of James brown and Little Richard. So, as a huge music lover I would like to know what people here think.

[Silent Jay]

Buddy Holly

[Zurimor]

Honestly, Mozart and Beethoven.

[DieselDaisy]

Haydn stands out. He helped popularise 'sonata form' and was prevalent in many of the ensembles such as string quintets and symphonies; you could credit him with the primacy of the symphony and classicism. He later taught Mozart who (in many aspects) was his musical heir. Beethoven is seen as an intermediary between classicism and romanticism but I'm not sure how influential he was during his own lifetime. I certainly would mention Wagner who basically invented an entire form of opera which goes under his name, and was very much the dominant figure of the late-19th and early-20th centuries (influencing people like R. Strauss and Elgar).

[bucketfoot]

Robert Johnson definitely, Chuck Berry and Little Richard as well. Elvis, Dylan, Lennon, James Brown, Hendrix....

[Lies They Tell]

I'm not an expert, but here's my silly attempt to list the most influential musicians:

1. Johann Sebastian Bach

2. Guillaume De Machaut

3. Joseph Haydn

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

5. George Gershwin

6. Ludvig van Beethoven

7. Richard Wagner

8. Charlie Patton

9. Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhytm

10. Franz Liszt

11. Claude Debussy

12. Buddy Holly

13. Scott Joplin

14. Kraftwerk

15. Igor Stravinsky

16. The Beatles

17. Louis Armstrong

18. James Brown

19. Mikhail Glinka

20. Black Sabbath

21. Claudio Monteverdi

22. The Golden Gate Quartet

23. George Frideric Handel

24. Bob Dylan

25. Duke Ellington

26. Chuck Berry

27. The Rolling Stones

28. Bob Marley

29. Smokey Robinson

30. Leonard Bernstein

31. Duke Ellington

32. Aphex Twin

33. Miles Davis

34. Frederic Chopin

35. DJ Kool Herc

36. Giuseppe Verdi

37. Jimi Hendrix

38. Edgar Varese

39. Stephen Foster

40. The Kinks

41. Elvis Presley

42. Billie Holiday

43. Led Zeppelin

44. David Bowie

45. Grandmaster Flash

46. Depeche Mode

47. Michael Jackson

48. Aretha Franklin

49. Hildegard Von Bingen

50. Ray Charles

51. Pink Floyd

52. Hank Williams

53. Run DMC

54. Arnold Schoenberg

55. Public Enemy

56. Madonna

57. Velvet Underground

58.  The Sex Pistols

59. Prince

60. The Clash

I did this just for fun, so please don't take it too seriously. Obviously there's no way to objectively measure the influence of these artists.

[Len Cnut]

1 minute ago, Lies They Tell said:

I'm not an expert, but here's my silly attempt to list the most influential musicians:

1. Johann Sebastian Bach

2. Guillaume De Machaut

3. Joseph Haydn

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

5. George Gershwin

6. Ludvig van Beethoven

7. Richard Wagner

8. Charlie Patton

9. Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhytm

10. Franz Liszt

11. Claude Debussy

12. Buddy Holly

13. Scott Joplin

14. Kraftwerk

15. Igor Stravinsky

16. The Beatles

17. Louis Armstrong

18. James Brown

19. Mikhail Glinka

20. Black Sabbath

21. Claudio Monteverdi

22. The Golden Gate Quartet

23. George Frideric Handel

24. Bob Dylan

25. Duke Ellington

26. Chuck Berry

27. The Rolling Stones

28. Bob Marley

29. Smokey Robinson

30. Leonard Bernstein

31. Duke Ellington

32. Aphex Twin

33. Miles Davis

34. Frederic Chopin

35. DJ Kool Herc

36. Giuseppe Verdi

37. Jimi Hendrix

38. Edgar Varese

39. Stephen Foster

40. The Kinks

41. Elvis Presley

42. Billie Holiday

43. Led Zeppelin

44. David Bowie

45. Grandmaster Flash

46. Depeche Mode

47. Michael Jackson

48. Aretha Franklin

49. Hildegard Von Bingen

50. Ray Charles

51. Pink Floyd

52. Hank Williams

53. Run DMC

54. Arnold Schoenberg

55. Public Enemy

56. Madonna

57. Velvet Underground

58.  The Sex Pistols

59. Prince

60. The Clash

I did this just for fun, so please don't take it too seriously. Obviously there's no way to objectively measure the influence of these artists.

This lad deserves a fuckin round of applause for ever, fuckin hell man

[DieselDaisy]

Handel pilfered works from obscure Italian composers, passing them off as his own to the naive English. Musical scholars are constantly unearthing these comparisons.

[bucketfoot]

3 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

This lad deserves a fuckin round of applause for ever, fuckin hell man

He missed Right Said Fred off  good attempt though.

[soon]

For fun, just adding to whats already listed.

-The people who wrote songs for world religions, like whoever wrote the melody that the Qur'an is sung to and how people are called to worship. Or the Psalms of the Judeo-Christian traditions many written by a harpist named David.  The traditional songs of indigenous peoples and all the traditional folk songs of all cultures; so many whose authors are unknown.

-Sam Phillips

-Les Paul

-Gershwin brothers

-Jean Ritchie

-Sugarhill Gang

-Chuck Berry

-Bob Marley and the Wailers, with Tosh 

-Black Sabbath original lineup

-D'jango Rhienhardt 

-Rogers and Hammerstien

-Enrico Caruso

-Dolly Parton 

-Willie Nelson

-Chet Atkins

-NWA

-The Stooges

-John Williams

-Phillip Glass

-Madonna

 

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2017 by soon

[moreblack]

1 hour ago, DieselDaisy said:

Handel pilfered works from obscure Italian composers, passing them off as his own to the naive English. Musical scholars are constantly unearthing these comparisons.

Not the last one to do that.

[S1lkw0rm1]

My favourites (just focused on rock music from the 20th Century):

- Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

- Joy Division

- Bowie

- Iggy Pop

- The Cure

- Kraftwerk

- Neu!

- Beatles

- Stones

- Stone Roses

- The Smiths

- My Bloody Valentine

- Radiohead

Edited April 26, 2017 by S1lkw0rm1

[The Holographic Universe]

13 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

Haydn stands out. He helped popularise 'sonata form' and was prevalent in many of the ensembles such as string quintets and symphonies; you could credit him with the primacy of the symphony and classicism. He later taught Mozart who (in many aspects) was his musical heir. Beethoven is seen as an intermediary between classicism and romanticism but I'm not sure how influential he was during his own lifetime. I certainly would mention Wagner who basically invented an entire form of opera which goes under his name, and was very much the dominant figure of the late-19th and early-20th centuries (influencing people like R. Strauss and Elgar).

i did not know thanks for sharing

[The Holographic Universe]

6 hours ago, Lies They Tell said:

I'm not an expert, but here's my silly attempt to list the most influential musicians:

1. Johann Sebastian Bach

2. Guillaume De Machaut

3. Joseph Haydn

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

5. George Gershwin

6. Ludvig van Beethoven

7. Richard Wagner

8. Charlie Patton

9. Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhytm

10. Franz Liszt

11. Claude Debussy

12. Buddy Holly

13. Scott Joplin

14. Kraftwerk

15. Igor Stravinsky

16. The Beatles

17. Louis Armstrong

18. James Brown

19. Mikhail Glinka

20. Black Sabbath

21. Claudio Monteverdi

22. The Golden Gate Quartet

23. George Frideric Handel

24. Bob Dylan

25. Duke Ellington

26. Chuck Berry

27. The Rolling Stones

28. Bob Marley

29. Smokey Robinson

30. Leonard Bernstein

31. Duke Ellington

32. Aphex Twin

33. Miles Davis

34. Frederic Chopin

35. DJ Kool Herc

36. Giuseppe Verdi

37. Jimi Hendrix

38. Edgar Varese

39. Stephen Foster

40. The Kinks

41. Elvis Presley

42. Billie Holiday

43. Led Zeppelin

44. David Bowie

45. Grandmaster Flash

46. Depeche Mode

47. Michael Jackson

48. Aretha Franklin

49. Hildegard Von Bingen

50. Ray Charles

51. Pink Floyd

52. Hank Williams

53. Run DMC

54. Arnold Schoenberg

55. Public Enemy

56. Madonna

57. Velvet Underground

58.  The Sex Pistols

59. Prince

60. The Clash

I did this just for fun, so please don't take it too seriously. Obviously there's no way to objectively measure the influence of these artists.

I appreciate the time and thought you put into this list. Even ole Len was impressed, no easy feat. Im curious, are you a fan of all these artists?

[J Dog]

Muddy Waters

Johnny Cash

Tupac Shakur

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

34 minutes ago, J Dog said:

Muddy Waters

Johnny Cash

Tupac Shakur

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

1 hour ago, The Holographic Universe said:

I appreciate the time and thought you put into this list. Even ole Len was impressed, no easy feat. Im curious, are you a fan of all these artists?

Len is a god!

7 hours ago, soon said:

For fun, just adding to whats already listed.

-The people who wrote songs for world religions, like whoever wrote the melody that the Qur'an is sung to and how people are called to worship. Or the Psalms of the Judeo-Christian traditions many written by a harpist named David.  The traditional songs of indigenous peoples and all the traditional folk songs of all cultures; so many whose authors are unknown.

-Sam Phillips

-Les Paul

-Gershwin brothers

-Jean Ritchie

-Sugarhill Gang

-Chuck Berry

-Bob Marley and the Wailers, with Tosh 

-Black Sabbath original lineup

-D'jango Rhienhardt 

-Rogers and Hammerstien

-Enrico Caruso

-Dolly Parton 

-Willie Nelson

-Chet Atkins

-NWA

-The Stooges

-John Williams

-Phillip Glass

-Madonna

 

 

 

 

brilliant!

 

[J Dog]

1 hour ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

You're laughing at Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash, and Tupac?

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

i think a person's most influential musician should not BE one or even three. go farther than that fa,r beyond one or three. don't just say three musicians define you. try taking a music class, expand your horizons, we have talked about this before.

Edited April 27, 2017 by AxlsFavoriteRose

[J Dog]

21 minutes ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

i think a person's most influential musician should not BE one or even three. go farther than that fa,r beyond one or three. don't just say three musicians define you. try taking a music class, expand your horizons, we have talked about this before.

Most of the big ones have already been mentioned, I just didn't want to list the same names over and over. None of those three were mentioned and I feel like their names deserved to be on the list. I honestly didn't think I needed to explain that.

Edited April 27, 2017 by J Dog

[Zurimor]

10 hours ago, Lies They Tell said:

14. Kraftwerk

Yeah, of course! Definitely!

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

12 minutes ago, J Dog said:

Most of the big ones have already been mentioned, I just didn't want to list the same names over and over. None of those three were mentioned and I feel like their names deserved to be on the list. 

so why care what i care? you have what you want so what do you do you care? you did me the biggest favor by making me  see the greatest guy here, the thing that made me mad was i kept asking for THE truth ...the very simple truth...

[The Holographic Universe]

20 minutes ago, J Dog said:

Most of the big ones have already been mentioned, I just didn't want to list the same names over and over. None of those three were mentioned and I feel like their names deserved to be on the list. I honestly didn't think I needed to explain that.

I like that you expanded the idea and scope of influence. Tupac is without a doubt one of the modern influences. Every rapper list him as an influence.

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

1 minute ago, J Dog said:

Most of the big ones have already been mentioned, I just didn't want to list the same names over and over. None of those three were mentioned and I feel like their names deserved to be on the list. 

so why care what i care? you have what you  you did me the biggest favor by making me  see the greatest guy here? i  just hare beuing ied to....

[J Dog]

8 minutes ago, The Holographic Universe said:

I like that you expanded the idea and scope of influence. Tupac is without a doubt one of the modern influences. Every rapper list him as an influence.

Just thinking outside the realm of rock n roll for a bit.

Pac pretty much had an entire genre copy him. Even to this day, Kendrick Lamar is by far the most popular rapper and one of the best selling artist over the last five years, his biggest influence is Pac. Eminem is the best selling artist of the 21st century, not just rap, but music period, he has cited Pac a hundred times as one of his biggest influences. He was a huge influence outside of music as well but I guess that's a different discussion.