Who according to you are the most original artists in music history?

Harry Partch
Iannis Xenakis
Conlon Nancarrow
Christian Wolff
Charles Ives
The Shaggs
Captain Beefheart
...to name a few

 

Monteverdi
Bach
Beethoven
Wagner
Schoenberg

 

Correct. And of course he was a Beatle...

 

Sun Ra above all as he created his life as work of art, which included every second, every breath, every moment.
many revolutionized a genre more than others or left a mark that changed the face of music - Steve Reich, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Bathory, Mayhem, Dillinja, Underground Resistance, Kraftwerk, Ligeti / Penderecki / Gubaidulina, Webern / Berg / Schönberg, that´s just the first 10 seconds brainstorming.

 

I'd think those who took and moulded traditional music from specific cultures. Very, very few in the contemporary music/rock scene. Those would be the ones who were a genuine crossover, so Presley, Dylan, Bowie, albeit he was always more arty than rock but he combined the two. Billie Holliday and Bessie Smith also, both who could almost be the Amy Winehouse types of their day and groundbreaking to some extent.

And no, I wouldn't include the Beatles.

 

Really? The band whose early catalogue is comprised of 30% covers are the most original artists in music history?

 

Not a fan but Yoko seemed to have that screaming thing all to herself back in the day.

 

Roxy Music
Joy Division

 

This.

 

This too. Can't say that Bach was the most "original" insofar as he was considered musically conservative in his own time. But Bach is still mind-blowing. Maybe not the most original, but probably he most gifted.

Special mention must be give to Hildegard von Bingen. In the context of her time she was revolutionary.

 

Mozart

Beethoven

Wagner

No-one else deserves to share the podium with those three.

 

Armand Schaubroeck Steals



If you want to hear something completely original and very well played, check out Armand Schaubroeck's stuff. One of his albums is unprintable here, but it's great too. But the above 3-record set is amazing!

 

BECK

 

Beck steals from everyone.... same goes for Bowie. Love them both btw

 

Does Ivor Cutler count?

 

WESLEY WILLIS.

 

Negativeland?

 

Bela Fleck. The music he has created on the banjo is unlike anything that has ever come before.

 

But noone has stole quite like Beck, though.

 

MONK

 

Another person who has not properly listened to Revolver

 

The Carter Family back in the 1920's, obviously.

Louis Armstrong in the 1920s.

 

Donovan
Television
Velvet Underground
The Byrds

 

Frank Zappa
Captain Beefheart
Yoko Ono

 

I'd add Debussy to that list.