10 most important figures in 20th century music

Just to say that I'm glad many of you had Stravinsky on their list

 

Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Miles Davis
Muddy Waters
Hank Williams
Chuck Berry
Elvis Presley
Beatles
Bob Dylan
James Brown
Ramones

a top 11. I had to keep cutting until I couldn't cut anymore. I had a top twenty going.

other top choices that had to be cut: Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, George Gershwin, Aretha Franklin, Rolling Stones, Lee Scratch Perry, Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles

 

Good suggestion. But who would I remove?

 

Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
The Beatles
Frank Sinatra
Bob Dylan
Miles Davis
George Gershwin
Bob Marley
Elvis Presley
Robert Johnson

 

The Beatles
Hank Williams
Dean Martin
Frank Sinatra
Bing Crosby
Al Jolson
Glenn Miller
Elvis Presley
Bob Dylan
The Beatles







Those that were close, but not picked are

Neil Young

The Velvet Underground

The Sex Pistols

Led Zeppelin

Michael Jackson

 

The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Hank Williams
Chuck Berry
Louie Armstrong
Duke Ellington
REM
Neil Young
The Velvet Underground
Brian Wilson

 

A difficult one this (here's my list excluding classical)
Charley Patton
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Charlie Parker
Chuck Berry
Hank Williams
Miles Davis
Elvis Presley
The Beatles
Jimi Hendrix

 

Let's start with Stephen Foster, John Philip Sousa, Edison (or Nipper - take yer pick), Gershwin, Glenn Miller, Sinatra, Hank Williams, Perry Como...aaaand, maybe later we can get to all your little 'Boomer-in-the-bubble' popstars, m'kay...?

 

I honestly don't feel nearly knowledgable enough to make such a list, because I know so little about music that isn't European or North American. It seems to me that only one or two lists in the thread so far have included people from outside of Europe and North America (and even those have only included one or two). I just don't buy that "20th Century Music" can exclude most of the world's musical traditions like that. It would seem to me that any list would have to be at least half from Asian, African, Latin American, and/or Caribbean musical traditions. And as for the "Western" contributions, considering the vastness of areas like contemporary composition, jazz, folk, country, and hip-hop, I don't see how there would be room for more than one of the rock and pop artists that dominate most of these lists.

So while I think most of these lists would be interesting under more narrow headings, like 10 most important figures in 20th century North American and European music (or popular music), they seem kind of stunningly limited given the vast scope of 20th century music.

 

Both great of course but the century was more than half over by then!

 

Surprised not to see more votes for Robert Johnson.

 

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.

 

No one has mentioned Irving Berlin once, so I will.

During a newspaper wrap up of 20th century music I picked one significant popular artist for each decade: Irving Berlin, Louis Armstrong, Caruso, Sinatra, Presley, The Beatles, Sex Pistols, Public Enemy, Nirvana. However, you can make a good case for a plethora of others, as seen in the comments above.

 

Robert Johnson- the father of the blues and influenced the great black bluesman that followed
Muddy Waters- There are many influential black blues players but he seems to one the 60/70's era rock guitarists mention most often interviews I have read and they "borrow" his licks often.
Chuck Berry- one of the biggest influences for 60's rock song writers IMHO. And another artist whose licks the 60's rock guitarist learned from
Jimi Hendrix- A game-changer
Beatles- No explanation needed
Sex Pistols- Put punk on the map and helped to kill dinosaur rock
Van Halen- Eddie Van Halen influenced the next generation Guitar players
Nirvana- Killed hair metal and started the 90's Seattle grunge

 

No one important beyond blues and rock?

 

Tiny Tim
Kenny G
Baha Men
Starship
Richard Marx
Rebecca Black
6IX9INE
Cannibal Corpse
Kidz Bop
Kanye West

 

Hmmm... I don't know. If we were allowed a dozen, I'd say add Charles Ives to the mix, too.

 

Of course, there are other types of music but those are the genres of music I am most familiar with and listened to the most in my life so I gave my opinion on what I know the most about.

I like classical, jazz, fusion, Prog, bluegrass, old country etc. but I am only a casual fan so don't feel qualified to comment on those types of music.

 

Patti Smith
Bob Dylan
John Lennon
Lou Reed
John Coltrane
Hank Williams
Chuck Berry
Woody Guthrie
Ray Davies
Jerry Garcia

 

(random order)


Billie Holiday
Duke Ellington
George Gershwin
Sam Lightnin' Hopkins
Merle Haggard
Charlie Parker
Munir Bashir
Fikret Kızılok
Roberta Flack
Erkin Koray

 

Gustav Mahler
Claude Debussy
Arnold Schoenberg
Anton Webern
Igor Stravinsky
Béla Bartók
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Charlie Parker
Karlheinz Stockhausen

 

I can make a top three, based on influence alone. The way they innovated and permanently defined how one writes music, not in their own genre, but in all. You can hear elements from their work and innovations in most music since them:

1 -Igor Stravinsky
2 - Miles Davis
3 -Brian Eno

 

interesting question:

prince

john lennon/george harrison

frank sinatra/dean martin/tony bennet

bob dylan/joni mitchell

cole porter

rogers & hammerstien

miles davis/john coltrane

the byrds - the original 5

elvis presley

johnny cash/willie nelson

 

You accidentally put the Beatles twice.

 

McCartney
Lennon
Louis Armstrong
Chuck Berry
Miles Davis
Dylan
Bowie
Sinatra
Elvis
Les Paul