The wife and I are decorating our gameroom with posters of the artists and/or bands who changed the face of music. Bands that set tone for the next generation.

Our list so far includes:

Hank Williams
Evlis Presley
Beatles
Rolling Stones
BB King
Johnny Cash
Led Zepplin
Michael Jackson
Madonna
Nirvana

It was hard leaving out Chuck Berry or Kiss or Bob Dylan and, oh, say Debbie Gibson, but we wanted to limit it to only 10 of the most influential ... and there's only so much wall space

What are your thoughts? Keep the list to 10.

 

MY most influential -

1. J.S. Bach
2. Eric Satie
3. Frank Zappa
4. Tom Waits
5. The Beatles
6. Miles Davis
7. Sly and The Family Stone
8. The Pernice Brothers
9. Michael Franti/Spearhead

Generally influential:

1. Gesualdo
2. Bach
3. Beethoven
4. Wagner
5. Satchmo
6. Muddy Waters
7. The Beatles
8. James Brown
9. The Yardbirds
10. Husker Du

 

Sinatra
Velvet Underground
Sex Pistols
MC5
Nirvana
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
Benny Goodman
Rolling Stones
Replacements


The problem with just ten is there are mor than ten ways to sing a song, and the term "music" encompasses a whole spectrum of sounds. Some people might list Annie Lennox, while others might insist on Thelonious Monk, and both are correct in their own way. Kind of hard to leave out people like Sousa, Strauss, Bach, Stradivarius, hell, who knows how many, and only including "western" music. There are bound to be hundreds of people sprinkled through out history, on all continents, that "changed the face of music," making any list of ten woefully incomplete.

 

hmmm

My list I suppose...

1) The Beatles
2) Elvis Presley
3) Chuck Berry
4) The Smiths
5) Jimi Hendrix
6) Pearl Jam
7) Nirvana
8) The Temptations
9 ) Van Halen
10 ) David Bowie

 

These waters are broad and deep. The comment about Jazz is spot-on. You'd have to pick someone from every era (swing, dixieland, fusion...) just to cover that genre -- put Dizzie Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, and Chuck Mangione at the top of my personal influenced-me list.

I'd figure Pearl Jam in place of Nirvana. Good to see Jimi on someone's list. How about The Doors?

 

1) Velvet Underground (Lou Reed influenced the Pixies who were worshipped by Nirvana who opened the world to "alternative music")
2) Sex Pistols (who inspired Sting to form the Police, inspired Joy Division later to become New Order, inspired U2, whose fashion statement inspired Michael Jackson to wear that red jacket and silver gloves, see #1)
3) Beatles (need I say more?)
4) Kraftwerk (70's electronic music influenced the likes of Depeche Mode, New Order, 90's electronica, Chemical Bros., all the big-name DJ's)
5) The Ramones (who inspired the likes of Black Flag and Bad Religion who inspired Green Day who introduced the world to Blink 182 and Travis Barker on MTV)

i'm too tired to name 5 more...

 

I don't know how any list would be complete without Jimi Hendrix.

 

Speaking of Jazz - while I know you're trying to go with 'Icons' in your poster purchasing, I always think that a print of "A Great Day In Harlem" would make a great addition of prints/posters of musicians.

 

When I first read that I read "Velvet Revolver" I was thinking to my self, "What?, Is this guy retarded?" No offense.

I need sleep I guess.

 

"Oooo Ooooo Mr. Kotter Mr. Kotter. . . "
I can actually answer this question, but it requires the sort of musical geekery that'll get you lynched in certain music circles.

Keeping the list to 10 is for me, as close to insanity as I've had (musically) in quite some time.