Your List of the Top 10 Musicians who Matter Most in Rock History?

And I am a big fan of Little Feat, and Grateful Dead, but did not list Jerry Garcia or Lowell George, as they are also representative of branches of the family tree of rock, not fundamental enough to make the list.

 

I'm pretty much with you if we can find a way to slip Little Richard and/or James Brown in to the mix.

Chuck #1, for sure.

 

He hit mine, and it's hardly a laughable choice -- he's influenced a ton of artists, although probably a number of them are not among ones that you like. New wave, new romantics, post-punk, electro, and '80's pop, in particular, would never have evolved as they did without his influence.

 

Totally agree with number one. And although, I am not a huge fan, you can't deny Elvis's influence. He is right up there even though he didn't play an instrument very much.

 

I agree with Bowie, I did not choose him, but I thought he is top 20 material...I just had noticed his name had not come up before

 

that made me laugh out loud!

 

B. Holly
C. Berry
B. Wilson
J. Lennon- P. McCartney
B. Dylan
J. Hendrix
P. Townshend
J. Garcia
N. Young
R. Davies

 

Elvis
Chuck Berry
Bob Dylan
Lennon
McCartney
Richards
Jagger
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Page
Johnny Rotten

If we could combine Jagger/Richards and Lennon/McCartney then I'd add Tony Iommi and Kurt Cobain.

 

Gotcha -- thought you might have been being facetious. I was having a conversation with my wife this weekend re: '80's pop music -- we agreed that outside of US-styled arena rock and R&B-influenced artists, it seems like almost every popular artist in the early '80's wanted to be Bowie or Roxy Music.

 

had to laugh, because apparently Hendrix had so much influence on Page, that Jimmy copped the spelling of Jimi's name!

 

Ritchie Blackmore
Jon Lord
Ian Paice
John Bonham
Jimmy Page
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Tom Petty
Bruce Springsteen
Paul Stanley

 

I chose to list rock musicians who I consider "change agents", people who were catalyst to move rock music in a different direction. These people "matter" only insofar as what came after wouldn't have existed without them. The only people on my list that are suspect are Roger McGuinn and Kurt Cobain. McGuinn is there for his role in merging folk and pop music. Others were doing it, but the popularity and influence of the early Byrds is staggering. I'd guess that several rock sub-genres arose from the early Byrds influence. Cobain is included because I consider him to be the genre's last gasp at relevance and ultimately quickened it's demise. The legions of Cobain imitators brought the music to it's knees. Mainstream rock music was so devoid of substance (IMO) that a huge opening was available for something new, which turned out to be modern R&B, dance, and rap.

Elvis Presley
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Roger McGuinn
Jimmy Page
David Bowie
Lou Reed
Kurt Cobain


There was good rock music made after Cobain, for sure. But I'd tie those artists back to the others on my list.

 

I always consider a singer as a musician unless otherwise specified. This is not a list of my favorites nor greatest, though some do qualify in that regard. In no particular order:

Brian Wilson
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Buddy Holly
Elvis Presley
Roger McGuinn
Mick Jagger
Pete Townshend
Curt Cobain

 

No George Harrison Chief, Harrison's contribution to 'World Music' should be recognised, for popularising the blending of East and West and also for inventing the Charity Gig, I think Harrison did as much and one could argue even more than Lennon/McCartney for the Genre ? ?

 

oops.

 

Damn! How could I forget Lemmy?

 

Musicans

Jimi Hendrix
Paul McCartney
Keith Moon
Eric Clapton
George Harrison
Nick Drake
Johnny Marr
Ringo Starr
Brian Jones
Keith Rchards

Singers

John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Lou Reed
David Bowie
Morrissey
Mick Jagger
Bob Dylan
John Lydon
Neil Young
Frank Zappa

 

Robert Johnson
Hank Williams
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
Little Richard
Elvis Presley
Bob Dylan
John Lennon
Jimi Hendrix
Stevie Wonder
David Bowie

Yeah, I made it go up to 11.

 

Chuck Berry - invents the rock sound as well as the singer/songwriter and guitar hero
Buddy Holly - takes Chuck further, and adds in singer/songwriter/producer
Elvis Presley - understands how promotion and selling are to be done
James Brown - invents funk/soul everything from Michael Jackson to Mo-town, Stax and so on
George Martin - invents the rock LP, creates studio space and exploration, forces the Beatles to be more than they would have. Makes the studio an instrument.
Gil Scott Heron - invents rap
Pierre Schaeffer - invents electronic music
Johnny Ramone - invents punk rock
Manfred Robert Schröder - invents the MP3
Gage Kelso Brewer - the man who introduced the electric guitar to the world

 

The Beatles and the last time I am mentioning this should be viewed as collective because they influenced more areas of music including pop music than even their mentors. George Harrison could be the key Beatles because he had a direct impact on the Byrds and without the Byrds we are missing a huge chunk of rock history. He was important also on the electric 12 sting rock guitar sound, and helped advance rock’s sonic vocabulary.

 

Cannot believe that no one has mentioned KRAFTWERK yet !?

If you need individuals then Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter are the names.

 

Is that a nice way of saying his only talent was he looked good and could sing, but apart from that he was being controlled by someone else really wasn't he, Elvis had no talent in creating music, IMO he is not even in the same league from a music perspective as Holly and Berry, maybe Elvis needed a more evergreen name

 

I was going to, but apart from not remembering how to spell there names, the thread is 'Rock' not Electronic/Dance !!

 

Could not disagree with you more on the Beatles. George Martin produced recordings for many other artists, including contemporaries of The Beatles, such as Matt Monro, Cilla Black, and Gerry & The Pacemakers, as well as the band America guitarist Jeff Beck, sixties duo Edwards Hand, Ultravox, country-singer Kenny Rogers, Cheap Trick and Yoshiki Hayashi of X Japan. Explain how George Martin helped those acts?

None of those acts were writing albums like Revolver. Not taking anything from George Martin but it was Paul McCartney idea to experiment with avant-garde tape techniques and George Harrison use of world music instruments. It''s not like Martin told Harrison let's use the Lydian Mode on "Blue Jay Way" or the backward guitar parts on "I'm Only Sleepihg". Like George Martins said the Beatles genius was there's. It was a partnership but give some credit the Beatles wrote and played the damn songs.