The musical genre, much akin to movies and film makers, is as widely varied as one subject can possibly be. Spanning generations as well as styles; ranging from gospel to funk, from rockabilly to soul, music as a whole has changed lives, encompassed eras, and become, to many, as powerful a messenger as religion. Here are fifteen of the most influential musicians of all time.
15. Bill Haley & The Comets (1952)
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American Rock & Roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley’s death in 1981. The band, also known by the names: Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley’s Comets (and several variations thereof), was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. Bandleader, Bill Haley, had previously been a country and western performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of ‘Rocket 88′, a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound that eventually came to be called Rock and Roll.
14. The Supremes (1961)
One of Motown’s signature acts, The Supremes were the most successful African American musical act of the ’60s, recording twelve American-Number One Hits between 1964 and 1969.Many of these singles were written and produced by Motown’s main songwriting and production team, ‘Holland-Dozier-Holland’, and the crossover success of the Supremes during the mid-’60s paved the way for future black Soul and R&B acts to gain mainstream audiences and success both in the US and overseas.
13. Queen (1970)
Queen are an English Rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, drummer Roger Taylor, and bassist John Deacon (joining the following year). Queen rose to prominence during the 1970s and are one of Britain’s most successful bands of the past three decades. The band is noted for their musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies and incorporation of ‘Audience Participation’ into their live performances. Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live music performance of all time in a BBC poll.
12. George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic (1978)
George Clinton (born July 22, 1941 is an American Musician and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands ‘Parliament’ and ‘Funkadelic’ during the 1970s and early 1980s, and was a solo funk artist as of 1981. He has been hailed as “The Prime Minister of Funk” as the leader of ‘Parliament’, as well as “The King of Interplanetary Funksmanship”. Though Clinton’s popularity had waned by the mid 1980s, he experienced something of a resurgence in the early 1990s, as many rappers cited him as an influence and began ‘sampling’ his songs. George Clinton is considered to be one of the most sampled musicians ever.
11. Bob Dylan (1941)
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American Singer/Song Writer, Author, Musician, and Poet who has been a major figure in Popular Music for five decades. Much of Dylan’s most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal chronicler and a reluctant purveyor of American unrest. A number of his songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They are A’ Changin’” became important anthems of the anti-war and civil-rights movements.
10. Black Sabbath (1968)
Black Sabbath are an English Heavy Metal band from Birmingham. The original band line up of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Terence “Geezer” Butler (bass), and Bill Ward.Black Sabbath remain a dominant influence in the heavy metal genre they helped create. VH1′s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock ranks them second, behind Led Zeppelin. The original and best known line-up are frequently credited as the inventors of the heavy metal genre. Black Sabbath have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
9. Led Zeppelin (1968)
Led Zeppelin were (and are, though without John Bonham, as of 2007) an English Rock Band that formed in September 1968. Led Zeppelin consisted of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first, and most influential, Heavy Metal bands. Their rock-infused interpretation of the blues and folk genres also incorporated: Rockabilly, Soul, Funk, Jazz, Celtic, Latin and Country. The band did not release the popular songs from their albums as singles in the UK as they preferred to develop the concept of ‘Conceptual Album-Oriented Rock’.
8. Pink Floyd (1964)
Pink Floyd are an English Rock band that initially earned recognition for their Psychedelic music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. They are known for philosophical lyrics, Sonic Experimentation, innovative Album Cover Art, and elaborate live shows. One of rock music’s most successful acts, the group has sold over 300 million albums worldwide and an estimated 74.5 million albums in the United States alone. The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) spent 741 consecutive weeks on the USA-based Billboard 200 album chart, the longest duration in history. It is also the Fifth Highest-Selling album Globally of all time with more than forty million units sold.
7. The Grateful Dead (1965)
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of Rock, Folk, Bluegrass, and Gospel among many others—and for live performances of long Musical Improv. In particular, the band, as one of the first to do so, frequently made use of “long jams”—whereby Jerry Garcia (lead vocals) would spend lengthy periods engaging in rock lead guitar solos that evoked various “depth moods.” Other bands utilized long improvisational jams, but “The Dead” took it to extremes. “Their music,” Lenny Kaye wrote, “touches on ground that most other groups don’t even know exists”.
6. KISS (1971)
KISS is an American Rock Band formed in 1971. Easily identified by their trademark face paint and stage outfits, KISS rose to prominence in the mid-’70′s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which, as the most prominent band to do so, featured fire-breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. Kiss has been awarded 24 ‘Gold Albums’ to date. The group’s worldwide sales exceed 95 million albums. The original lineup of Gene Simmons (bass and vocals), Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar and vocals), Ace Frehely (lead guitar and vocals) and Peter Criss (drums and vocals) is the most successful and identifiable.
5. The Sex Pistols (1975)
Sex Pistols are an English Punk Rock Band that formed in London in 1975. The band originally comprised vocalist Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and bassist Glen Matlock (later replaced by Sid Vicious). Although their initial career lasted only three years and produced only four singles and one studio album, the Sex Pistols have been described by the BBC as “the definitive English punk rock band.” The Pistols are widely credited with initiating the punk movement in the UK and creating the first generation gap within Rock & Roll.
4. Elvis Presley (1935-1977)
Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977), was an American Singer, Musician and Actor. He is a ‘cultural icon’ often known as “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, or simply “The King”. Presley began his career as one of the first performers of Rockabilly (an up-tempo fusion of country and Rhythm and Blues with a strong ‘Back Beat’ His novel versions of existing songs, mixing ‘black’ and ‘white’ sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the Rock & Roll genre, with tracks like “Hound Dog” and “Jail House Rock”, later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he is the only performer to have been inducted into four music Halls of Fame.
3. Nirvana (1988)
Nirvana was an American Rock Band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen (near Seattle), Washington in 1988. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, with the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.With the lead single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from their extremely influential 1991 album Nevermind. Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called ‘Grunge’, instantly recognizable by its flannel-and-denim jeans dress as well as its near ‘Emo’ appearance and style.
2. The Rolling Stones (1962)
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock Band formed in London in 1962. The band has released 55 albums of original work and compilations, and have had 32 U.K & U.S top-10 singles. They have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. 1971′s Sticky Fingers began a string of eight consecutive studio albums at number one in the United States. In 1989 the Rolling Stones were inducted into the American ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ and in 2004 they were ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine’s ’100 Greatest Artists of all Time’. Their latest album was released in 2005 and accompanied by the band’s highest grossing tour, which lasted into late summer 2007. The Bigger Bang tour had been declared the highest-grossing tour of all time, earning $437 million and landing them in the Guiness Book of World Records.
1. The Beatles (1960)
The Beatles were an English Rock Band from Liverpool, England whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They are one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music.
In the UK, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EP’s that reached number one. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries: their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion discs and tapes worldwide. The Beatles are the best-selling Musical Act of all time in the US. according to the RIAA. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. According to that same magazine, their innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today.
Contributor: StewWriter
^ That was me by the way. It wouldn’t let me log in or use my name, so I added an extra ‘d’ to ‘dazed’.
the beatles inspired boy bands. i dont think that deserves number 1.
Come on, Velvet Underground should be in the top three…I can’t believe they’re not on here. Pixies should probably be here too.
new york dolls
blink 182
no doors? /cry
People that should make the list:
The Stooges. Invented Punk Rock in the 60′s.
Bing Crosby. No kidding. He should be among the first 3, if anything.
Buddy Holly. Omitting him and keeping Kiss is just not kosher. At all. Because Kiss means nothing.
David Bowie. He invented 70′s rock music, basically.
Janis Joplin. A tremendous influence on female rock n rollers.
Black Sabbath. Good call. Every hard rock band knows the Ozzy-era sabbath albums inside and out. Huge Influence. More so than Led Zep, for sure.
Elvis should be first. He just cannot be denied that spot, because without him, no Rock n Roll.
Bob Marley. The one Reggae artist everyone knows. Say Desmond Dekker, and you get a blank stare.
Deep Purple. It’s a toss up between Sabbath and Purple. DP’s In Rock WAS the first real hard rock album, though.
And I just have to mention Al Jolson – not a guy you’ll hear everyday on the radio, but his impact was so great that he deserves a place on the list.
The Smiths ? Wasn’t that whining rock for yuppies ? Grateful Dead, a huge influence ? I certainly hope not. People who love them, REALLY love them – as for the rest of us…Nah. I never got the whole Nirvana thing. Perhaps they were some kind of trailblazers. Not to the extent that they should be on the list, in my opinion.
I can’t NOT BELIEVE u didn’t include 2pac….easily one of the most influential artist of all time…he’s right up there wit Cobain,…anyone who has really listened to his music would agree…i like Jim Morrison as well.
I think I like DDazedandconfused’s list at #120 better than yours, Stew. And I will agree that KISS and the ***** Pistols have no place on a list of influential musicians. Influential showpeople, maybe, but that’s a whole different category.
Really I don’t think you can easily hold a list like this down to twenty. I like the addition of Bowie, Roxie Music, and the Stooges, except that it’s hard to pick out their heirs in the modern scene. (Has there ever been, and will there ever be, anyone like Bowie?) I think you do need to go back to Mozart, Bach and Beethoven — and while you’re at it, Berlioz, who, as well as being a thunderous composer, also devised the symphony orchestra as we now know it. How’s that for influential? Then there’s John Dowland, and even earlier there’s Palestrina.
Oh, and Dick Shoes, stay out of the comments until you’ve grown a brain. The Beatles were not a “boy band.” They took rock music and recording technology, and the very CONCEPT of what a band could be, lightyears further than anyone on the list. And in some ways, THEY are the originators of heavy metal and hard rock. Everyone from the Stones to Zep to Bowie to Floyd to the Beach Boys and dozens more freely admitted they ripped off the Beatles … who freely admitted their heroes were Chuck Berry, Elvis and Little Richard.
ok ok ok…..this list sucks……..some of them….zep…floyd…beatles……they stay…..others gots to go…ok the stones stay too…..but they dont have rush………um…did we forget lynyrd skynyrd……..and no one seems to add a bit of hendrix…k..zep(1) floyd(2) beatles(3) rush(4) and then who ever you want…dont matter from there….
Where is:
Television…
the clash….
The who….
bowie….
come on those are a given.
my list….
1. Elvis
2. The Beatles
3. Frank Sinatra
4. Johnny Cash
5. The Clash
6. The ***** Pistols
7. Eric Clapton
8. Bob Dylan
9. Bob Marley
10. Robert Johnson
11. Led Zeplin
12. Run DMC
13. Jimi Hendrix
14. Chuck Berry
15. Nirvana
This was a great list!!!!
But of course there might have been a slight oversight. I think you forgot to put Robert Johnson on the list.
My goodness how many bands have not covered this guy? Heck, we even get the whole idea of selling your soul for rock and roll from him. How many people have gone searching for the crossroads and the devil?
Zep, Stones, Clapton, Aerosmith, Zevon, Dylan, Dickey Betts have all been signifcantly influenced by this guy. You could even make a list called “top 20 musicians influenced by Robert Johnson!”
And of course his recordings are excellent!
Wow. Poor, poor Mozart…
I hadn’t commented here because I don’t have a lot of knowledge of rock music/pop music, but this is a list of influential modern musicians – it was not meant to include classical composers. So – as so many people have bemoaned their absence – I will write a list of the top 15 most influential composers sometime soon!
How about Chuck Berry ?
I went to the menu on the Bill Haley one and watched Swing Dancing to Bill Haley and the Comets (1956) was great to see the dancing. Wow bring it back! Trouble is it was before my time then and now I’m too old lol.
This list is clearly based on a blinded view of what is “influential” when all most of the artists did is sell a lot of albums with mediocre music (K.I.S.S is quite possible one of the most terrible rock artists in the history of music, and they do not deserve a spot on any “positive” list). Now, I agree that Black Sabbath, Nirvana and Elvis Presley extremely influential, but there are other artists that should be there, but aren’t because the entire list is limited to only the most famous artists. Venom, Korn and Metallica should be on the list, and I expected the latter two even if Venom didn’t have a chance, but I wasn’t even granted the chance to see Metallica on the list.
And to avoid sounding like a closed-minded metalhead, I also think artists such as Tupac, Frank Sinatra and Madonna (I hate all three, but my opinion fails to make them less influential on the music industry) should be up there.
So, if you ever decide to make a list of the most influential artists of all time again, I would suggest renaming this one “My own opinion that I try to pass off as a relevant list”, and going from there.
How about a list of the top ten most influential musicians who don’t like Led Zeppelin and voted for the worst presidents favorite Beatles songs?
(and you have to look at the list cross-eyed until it becomes one image)
bucslim: if you put that together I will strongly consider posting it
Upon further reflection (see my postings up above at #92, 94, and 105) I honestly think this is one of the worst lists I’ve ever seen on this site. Badly conceived and clearly written by someone without a *clue* about the history of modern music.
oh, and in my humble opinion, the list should be yanked.
i cannot believe jimi hendrix is not on the list he perfected the guitar. i go to this site often and usually enjoy the lists but i’n outraged that hendrix was left off. he is one of the best performers of all time and influenced everyone, even people who don’t play music. he is a person hero of mine and should be on this list.
There’s a pitiful shortage of black artists on this list. Considering they invented rock and roll, that’s an egregious error. How about Ray Charles? Little Richard? Ike Turner? Rufus Thomas? Get Bill Haley out of there: nobody ever sounded like him or wanted to. As for artists who retailored black music for white audiences, forget the Supremes – Sam Cooke blazed that trail, and Nat King Cole before him. Rock divas? Don’t forget the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Queen is just warmed over Led Zeppelin, get rid of them. Jimi Hendrix is the guitar god, no player doesn’t have him as an influence. The Grateful Dead couldn’t keep up with the Allman Brothers on their best day. Forget the Stooges and all the other punks and grunge acts – the Velvet Underground has all that covered. Kurt Cobain is Lou Reed with a tenth of the talent and without the guts to stay alive and take on middle age. Kiss is music for people who don’t like music: give them an award for best makeup and send them home. And where’s the hip hop? Ice T, NWA, Public Enemy – one of them should get a mention. But speaking of that – WHERE’S JAMES FREAKIN’ BROWN? For God’s sake, even Zeppelin bowed to him.
While I’m thinking about it: the Byrds deserve a mention for electrifying folk music and paving the way for Dylan and all his followers. And the Beach Boys are gods to any group that wants to approach the state of the art in vocal harmonies. And every female singer acknowledges a debt to Joni Mitchell – surely there’s room one woman singer-songwriter on this list? And then there’s Buddy Holly, who gave the Beatles and Bob Dylan permission to be singer-songwriters. And the group who reinvented the rock concert as theater – the Doors, without whom David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, and all the rest would be working at Wal-Mart. And Talking Heads, who made it okay for nerds to be rock and rollers. Hm. Don’t think we can limit this list to just 15.
“QUOTE – Martin L.
Oh, and Dick Shoes, stay out of the comments until you’ve grown a brain. The Beatles were not a “boy band.” They took rock music and recording technology, and the very CONCEPT of what a band could be, lightyears further than anyone on the list. And in some ways, THEY are the originators of heavy metal and hard rock. Everyone from the Stones to Zep to Bowie to Floyd to the Beach Boys and dozens more freely admitted they ripped off the Beatles … who freely admitted their heroes were Chuck Berry, Elvis and Little Richard.”
bro that would be the stones not the beatles.. how old are you. back in the day beatles fans were 8 year old girls and stones fans were the men. The beatles were the first boy band period they are a joke and always will be a joke. The media and VH1 are the ones who made you think they were inspirational or even good. Please explain to me how Love me do, i am the eggman, and i want to hold your hand, can be taken seriously and held with any artistic merit. they are a joke and will always be a joke. I throw a party everytime one of them dies because ***** ups like you hold their dumbasses up on a pedistole and never did research to find out what kind of media *****’s these talentless twinks were.
god bless
and martin..
i dont think you are going to find one heavy metal group that will ever say they were inspired by the beatles. That’s like saying Picasso was inspired by ***** stains drawn on paper by 3 year olds. The originaters of heavy metal is and always will be BLACK SABBATH. period end of discussion. go filatiat paul’s rockstare son jessey. oh wait he himself did the same thing his dad did. sing to 6 year olds
dick shoes:
Are you for real, or is this some kind of a bizarre joke?
Yes, you are a total moron. That’s clear.
How old are YOU, “bro?”
It’s obvious you’re some teenage/twenty-something punk who hasn’t got a clue. And yet you pretend to speak with authority about historical events that occurred WELL before you were probably born.
Your statement that the Beatle’s fans were “8 year old girls” is laughable. The Beatles fans ran the gamut in age, doofus. *BOB DYLAN* was a fan of the Beatles from the moment he first heard them.
But oh yes, The Beatles’ music has only survived these last 45 years because VH1 has forced them on us.
Oh—kay.
“Retarded” is the word that comes to mind as I read this post of yours.
THANK you, Randall. Thank you.
Dick Shoes: I’d liketo point out that you, not I, are a sad dupe of MTV and VH-1. I grew up with the Beatles, and know that their fans cut through practically every demographic, as Randall says. You a) confuse the Stones with the Beatles in terms of greatness, and b) can’t even spell pedestal, or fellatiate. As far as Beatles prefiguring heavy metal, listen to “Helter Skelter” or “I Want You/She’s So Heavy.” And when Plant, Page and Jones were first getting their little band together, they played for the Beatles and ASKED THEIR OPINION. At which time John said opined it would go over like a lead balloon — from which response the band took their name.
How pathetic that you throw a party every time a Beatle dies. It’s YOUR opinion of Black Sabbath that’s been informed solely by cable TV. Deep Purple was in there ahead of them, as were MC-5 in the 60s, a time period concerning which we need to hear no further pearls of your wisdom.
Okay, now that I’m calmer: one more candidate for the list. Nobody’s mentioned Les Paul, inventor of multitrack recording and the solidbody electric guitar, besides being an excellent guitarist in his own right for over fifty years. Of course it’s his inventions more than his playing that have enriched modern music, so maybe he belongs on an inventors list … there is one around here someplace, isn’t there?
why the beatles were bad
WHEN I was growing up one thing was patently obvious: young people were either this or that. Not a bit of this and some of that. It was black and white with no Grey.
It was whether you were a fan of ‘The Beatles’ or a fan of ‘The Rolling Stones’. It was that simple.
The end of the 1950s ‘mods’ and ‘rockers’ era, had a shift, such that if you were a ‘rocker’, you generally liked ‘The Rolling Stones’, and if you were a ‘mod’ you liked ‘The Beatles’. Prepubescent, good, and white girls were usually in with ‘The Beatles’, gathering around ‘Dansette’ record players and ‘Radiograms’ to listen to the new ‘Pop’ music on ’45s’, while boys liked ‘The Rolling Stones’.
Sure, that is an over-simplification, for example, boys seemed to either like football or music, and the division between ‘The Beatles’ and ‘The Rolling Stones’ was not merely about gender, but about attitude, clothes and youth identity and culture.
As a family, we were ‘cool’ (like ‘The Fonz’) — we were more ‘The Rolling Stones’ than ‘The Beatles’. And I am comfortable with that, in fact I am glad for that.
To this day I think ‘The Beatles’ are an over-rated pop group. They were in existence from what, 63 to 70 — 7 or 8 years? And they went from ‘She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah’ to ‘Revolution No.9′. It was a mess.
I HATE ‘Oblidioblidah’ almost as much as I HATE ‘Yellow Submarine’.
Oh! How could anyone rate this group? They were awful, they had zero ’street cred’ and they were merely the first to be exploited. If there is one thing that can be said about ‘The Beatles’ is that they were manufactured through-and-through. Because of ‘The Beatles’ we have the record business, the teen-pop marketing machine, the fashion tie-in, the posed magazine photograph, and the cheeky interview.
The crowds of screaming teenage girls invented by Sinatra’s people and groomed by the Presley camp, were simply moved on to the next thing — and this tradition continues yet.
On the other hand, ‘The Rolling Stones’ have continued — they still tour, they still sell lots of recordings, and they stuck to what was honest and truthful — themselves and their music.
‘The Beatles’ tried to be ‘cool’ and failed. They refused to accept their gongs from the Queen (what happened to those ideals, SIR Paul McCartney??). McCartney formed ‘Wings’ with his sad-looking wife, and launched with the worst and most childish gibberish ever imposed on the public. Lennon was even less talented, and his child-like endeavours were even less-well received than Mccartney’s. Ringo Starr did children’s TV voice overs and Harrison had a decent enough career away from the others.
* From their solo careers, it is patently obvious that ‘The Beatles’ were a creation. Whatever talent they may have had musically was early, manipulated and short-lived.
Probably the most amazing time in the history of music is the mid 1970s — when people could record on cassette tape from cheap radios and music centres, when synthesisers appeared, when types of music merged, when Progressive Rock was invented along with Punk, when the music business felt threatened by illegal taping, bootlegs, and the independents.
‘The Rolling Stones’ went onto even greater success, they exploited the laser shows, the big stadium gigs, the new instruments and recording techniques. The solo careers fitted the expectations and qualified ‘The Rolling Stones’ as a band of talent. Compare that with the same period for the solo careers of each ‘Beatle’! ‘C Moon’? ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’? ‘Hi Hi Hi’???
Like so many manufactured pop bands, ‘The Beatles’ were short-lived and essentially cheap-throw-aways. They were cartoons, they were hairstyles, their songs should have been thrown away too; they are pop and therefore worthless.
George Martin was very talented musically and he managed to take whatever was chanced upon and make something of it. He has milked that cash cow long and hard ever since — and is a crashing bore as a result. It is a great pity he cannot take the credit he is due. On the other hand I wish he would just leave it all alone to fade away as it really should.
I am not advocating ‘The Rolling Stones’, but I am trying to correct the rewriting of history: people seem to have forgotten the ‘Stones vs Beatles’ thing. People seem to have forgotten that ‘The Beatles’ were not cool.
Sorry world, but ‘The Beatles’ were made out to be more popular than they really were. They milked the media machine dry. They had no competition (unlike the world today). Their fanbase was preteen girls.
We were cool; we didn’t like ‘The Beatles’ in our neighbourhood. Boys went on to like Led Zeppelin, Cream and Jimi Hendrix — album bands, and girls filled the vacuum left by ‘The Beatles’ with ‘The Bay City Rollers’ a couple of years later.
Pop acts like ‘Sweet’, Alvin Stardust, David Es*****, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Leo Sayer, ‘Bony-M’, Gary Glitter, The Osmonds, The Jackson Five, David Cassidy and ‘Abba’ took over the pop scene.
Girls and the preteens were the ones buying pop — they listened to (and recorded) the BBC pop chart every week. Teen Boys refused to have anything to do with pop music — they NEVER watched ‘Top of The Pops’ — they watched ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ and ‘The Tube’.
Now you know why ‘The Beatles’ were bad — they had little talent individually and musically, they were pretentious and fake and created all that is pretentious and fake in the pop world. Time to step out, stop believing the bull***** and hype, stop following the revisionism, let the truth be told! ‘The Beatles’ were bad!
the truth hurts martin and randall.. it hurts.
“dick”:
Clearly this is taken from SOME article or essay. CITE what you quote, kid—otherwise it’s called plagiarism.
Now… this bit of vitriol was obviously written by some Brit of the day (which you just as obviously, from your previous syntax, are NOT—I have no doubt you’re some *****ly American 17 year old, or thereabouts) who has an axe to grind; someone, clearly, has issues they haven’t resolved since they were a teenager themselves in the NINETEEN-Freakin’-SIXTIES.
And just as obviously, “dick”, you’ve yanked out this solitary acidic article in some hopeless attempt to make your case—and worse, it’s probably the ONE article in the entire world that you’re basing your view on. And yet you accuse others here of being “duped.” Real smart, kid.
Because we could pull out DOZENS of essays and articles with an ENTIRELY opposing view—written ALSO by people WHO WERE THERE.
This is moronic; A) there’s nothing wrong with “pop” music—-people who make a show of despising music simply because it’s pop are poseurs, pure and simple—and B) this writer’s idea that the Beatles were made out to be more popular than they were is so laughable it can’t even be credited. The author of this piece is obviously off his nut, and never having grown up out of his “rocker” hatred of the Beatlesm, he has crustily grown to a point where he can’t even see straight anymore.
He obviously SO DESPERATELY wants us to believe his twisted version of reality that he keeps making over-the-top statements averring that “Teen Boys refused to have anything to do with pop music” and so on—as if he and HE ALONE knows what EVERYONE else in Britain was doing and WHY they were doing it.
“dick,” you’ve fallen for the writings of someone with an essentially authoritarian “only I can be right” mindset, like the kind of softbrains who fall for conspiracy theories.
Since we could cite for you a virtually *endless* series of statements and opinions that would totally contradict this clown’s words, your postings–and his thoughts–are worthless.
45 years later, the music of the Beatles survives and is still hugely popular. That alone is proof enough that–regardless of whether they were “the greatest” or not–they certainly weren’t “pretentious and fake,” nor were they “bad.”
Grow up and get some critical thinking skills, “dick.” Getting all your information from a single, nutbrain source is no way to advance yourself in life.
Martin L – good points, but I believe it was Keith Moon who coined the led zeppelin comment.
Dick,
Congrats, I think you’ll probably win some prize for being the stupidist person to comment on this site. Your farcical comments make absolutely no sense whatsoever. He doesn’t have to quote, Randall, he’s making it up as he goes.
If you wanna say you don’t like the Beatles, fine. Calling them talentless is intergalactically *****ing insane.
Either it’s time to up the meds or you need some serious Jungian throwdown pal.
I’m gonna say it………… Elvis Presley, completely overrated, pretty much stole everything from Chuck Berry and other black rock’n'roll musicians at the time who weren’t getting there name cos of their colour
Bucslim: I think you’re probably right there — though I recall somebody attributing it to Lennon once, later I also heard it was Keith. Oh well.
And now, I think, my last word about Mr. Shoes. Randall’s right: compare the comparative subliteracy of his earlier posts with that suddenly at least half-coherent and correctly spelled “essay,” probably from some fifth-rate lad-mag somewhere, and it’s obvious this kid’s spouting off anything BUT original thought. And you’re giving him too much credit when you put him at age seventeen. I think he’s a twelve-year-old whose mommy doesn’t know what he’s up to on the family computer. He’s an immature fraud, and nothing to be upset about.
Truth doesn’t hurt, you little pipsqueak. It’s horse***** that aggravates.
Wait just seen what dick shoes wrote, retard, im 18 and had to find out the beatles music myself, have you even heard A Day in the Life? Not many would disagree with me when i say people will look back at this time many years from now and rate the beatles in the same way we rate classical composers like mozart and beethoven.
Their pop music was really the commercial side of it, they wrote many innovative, culturally defining songs [All You Need is Love] and pretty much gave the music industry what it is today.
BTW favorite is ringo
as a person who studies music. It is a ***** in the face to hear people defend this ***** smear of a music. You are the same queens who defend rap music and declare it is poetic.
As a person of intelligence, it’s time for me to ignore you.
here’s some ammo boys, the link to dick’s “original thought”.
http://rtone.wordpress.com/2006/11/25/why-the-beatles-were-bad/
dick, welcome to the site. you don’t have to make the best argument to be heard here. just express how you feel. plagarism makes you look disrespectful, petty and gives us all pause to listen to you any further.
you have as much right as anyone else to express how you feel, just do it honorably.
QUOTE: JMurf
Not many would disagree with me when i say people will look back at this time many years from now and rate the beatles in the same way we rate classical composers like mozart and beethoven.
congrats. Mozart and “beethoven” just ***** their *****ing pants and are going to haunt your family forever for even thinking about comparing the beatles to the genius of Mozart.
i give you, according to JMurf, the eqiv. of Mozart.
Leave my kitten alone
By: The Beatles
You better leave my kitten all alone,
You better leave my kitten all alone.
But I told you big fat bulldog,
You better leave her alone.
You better leave my kitten all alone,
You better leave my kitten all alone.
This dog is gonna get you,
If you don’t leave her alone.
Well Mr.Dog I’m gonna hit you
On the top of your head.
That child is gonna miss you,
[ Lyrics found at http://www.mp3lyrics.org/s9m ]
You gonna wish that you were dead.
If you don’t leave my kitten all alone.
Well I told you big fat bulldog,
You better leave her alone.
Well Mr.Dog I’m gonna hit you,
On the top of your head.
That girl is gonna miss you,
You gonna wish that you were dead.
If you don’t leave my kitten all alone, oh yeah.
Well I told you, big fat bulldog,
You better leave her alone.
Hey hey you better leave, you better leave,
You better leave, yeah you better leave,
You better leave, oh you got to leave…
if you can defend these lyrics with the equally *****ty 3 chords played over and over and ringo playing off time about 6 times over the course of the song. Then i pity your life
great website i found
http://www.areddy.net/beatles_suck/
I have to admit, as a contrarian and a Stones fan, despite Dick Shoes’ poor syntax and plagiarism, I really enjoy someone taking a shot at the Beatles.
Although I admit they deserve their position on this list.
Very disappointed to not see Frank Zappa there.
146 Dick Shoes: Daron Malakian of System of a Down says the Beatles are one of his favourite bands and biggest influences.
I really don’t have time for this little pinhead, so if someone else wants to step in, feel free.
Just a few quick points, “dick.”
A) I notice you didn’t answer my last post that was directed at you. Clearly this is because you *have no answer.*
B) An artistically successful rock and roll song is much more than the sum of its parts, and that goes for its lyrics. Any idiot should know this just from *listening* to rock and roll, but obviously this simple fact has escaped you. You could yank out ANY artist’s lyrics and 9 times out of 10 they’ll fall flat without the melody and harmony that accompanies them. The lyrics of very, very few songs can stand on their own. Now, having said that, it next has to be pointed out to you (why I don’t know) that the Rolling Stones wrote a lot of crap lyrics too, kid. A LOT. As did the Who, and the Kinks, and so on and so on. But then….
C) You make the mistake of employing the old, shallow and transparent trick of trying to support your argument by grabbing for one of the weakest set of lyrics Paul McCartney ever wrote (and indeed, he wrote his share of weak lyrics… but he also wrote “Hey Jude”). Nice try, but when you play with grownups, you have to have better tricks up your sleeve. At any rate, your argument is spurious; nobody says the Beatles didn’t produce some clunkers, and anyway, as I noted above–lyrics on their own mean next to nothing.
D) Why all the freakin’ anger and vitriol about this? Why is this such a crusade for you? Find something more constructive to do with your time. And more sensible. Because you come off like one of those guys who claim we never went to the moon.
Oh, and one last thing—I get the feeling you’re one of these buttheads who think “musicianship” is vital in rock and roll. It isn’t, junior. But you’d know this if you’d turn off your seething desire for attention and your anger for the Beatles (!) and just kick back and enjoy life. Christ.
I don’t know why I’m still doing this, but
Dick: I don’t defend rap music; not in the slightest. First of all, to me the term is an oxymoron, because most of the time the “music” component is a synthesizer program, or samplings of other people’s music. To me, rap is spoken-word performance. Some of it is poetic, and a lot of it is inexcusable garbage; to me it’s hilarious that 70% of the market for gangsta rap is suburban white kids ages 12-19. But I won’t take away from Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC or even Tupac; they contributed something. As did the Beatles.
What’s really going on here is a culture war: you’re part of a generation that’s out to dis the lads because you disrespect Boomers — perhaps as in your parents. You don’t know the whole cultural scene of the 60s that a lot of us commenters grew up in. We grew up with Vietnam and bloody corpses on the tube at the dinner hour; I *can* tell you exactly where I was when I heard President Kennedy was shot; I followed what was going on at Woodstock and wished I’d had the guts to try to hitchhike there (I was eleven at the time). I even remember the Cuban missile crisis; picture a five-year-old kid absorbing the idea that any second he could be snuffed out in a nuclear fireball. The winter of Kennedy’s assassination, the whole world went black for everybody. One of the things that came along just in time to relieve that blackness and put a little fun and hope back in people’s lives was the Beatles, and the storm of acts (like the Stones) that came through the floodgates the Beatles opened. John and Paul even wrote songs for the Stones; the reverse never occurred, because the Stones weren’t really good writers.
The Beatles actually lasted from 1961 (the Munich years) to 1969. They were the first to experience being real superstars; even Sinatra, Marilyn and Elvis weren’t mobbed as wildly as the boys were. They couldn’t go out anywhere; every visit to every city was a mad dash from hotel entrance to limo, limo to stage door, and so on. John makes an offhand remark about the band being more popular than Jesus, and all of a sudden Beatles records are being burned all across the Bible Belt, while Americans with brains shook their heads and laughed. (And I know you’re going to say that a million burned Beatles records is an improvement, Dick, and I really don’t care.) They became trendsetters without even trying; the Beach Boys even had Paul as a guest artist on “Pet Sounds.”
I could go on and on here. I know I’m not going to convert you or open your mind; I think it would take a jackhammer to accomplish the latter. And I’m going to follow Bucslim’s lead and delete you from my reality. I like the people who speak here, almost all of them. I don’t need you. You no longer exist.
Dick:
The Beatles wrote hundreds of songs in commercial career, yes that song is *****, for ***** sake westlife wouldn’t sing it, but they have a huge quantity and quality of magnificent songs. Your argument is like basing the quality of a soil in field by picking up a lump of ***** in a hedge nearby.
And YES people WILL look back many years from now and rate them as highly as we today rate the Classical composers.
You said you studied music? My hole you did. The Beatles are practically compulsory learning for everyone studying music appreciation
By the way I don’t rate rap, it’s like every second line is getting further away from the meaning of a song, it’s only the chorus that realigns it. But I do acknowledge it’s influence even if it is *****
Martin L : Don’t agree with you saying the stones are bad writers, they are fantastic writers, it was only the quality of music during that era that might make it seem different. If they broke through into todays music market they’d be seen as a revelation
I saw Led Zeppelin in London Monday night. Just wanted to put that out there.
JMurf: Maybe. Their music just didn’t speak to me the way the Beatles’ did. And really my point was that the Beatles wrote for the Stones on more than one occasion, but the reverse never occurred, to my knowledge. And I don’t think Mick and Keith would have tried to stretch stylistically the way they did without John and Paul challenging them; there was a rivalry there that benefited both bands, and for a while kept the publicity machines for both revved up. Maybe I’ll retract my downgrade of the Stones’ writing, though. Don’t know if they’d be seen as a revelation if they broke today, but that’s such a hypothetical proposition; any outcome you or I came up with would be heavily tinted by our different personal lenses, you know? They were highly influential — I won’t try to take that away from them.
TMo, you lucky lucky bastage
Where is Metallica?!?!? Also Hendrix, Clapton, and Bob Marley. And I couldn’t help but notice that there are no country musicians on this list.
Marin L:
Yeah I agree, it really comes down to your own preferences. I don’t like Black Sabbath, but I note their influence
Sometimes I guess it has to depend on what you like or what you know. These music lists and subsequent arguments turn into “Band I Like is better than Band you like” or “I know more about music than you.”
If you like or play Metal, Black Sabbath is, really, one of the most influential. Love them or hate them, if you’re hearing a tuned-down power chord that has that ‘dark’ sound, Sabbath was there before you, and is probably the reason your favorite band is doing it.
The Smiths are very influential, but then again, so are The Cure. Bob Dylan changed the way songs were written. I don’t know that KISS has really inspired that many people musically, but they did set a benchmark for extreme showmanship. (Which was inspired by Alice Cooper. It’s an endless web!)
–>insert band name here
Um, only half of my comment showed up.
I’m not writing it again, which is unfortunate for you guys to be left with only half of my brilliance.
I did say that Jamie ought to stick to religion and politics because the music lists tend to really ***** people off.
Um, David Bowie??? Moby declared him as the most in fluential musician of all-time (in his opinion of course).
Velvet Underground?
Queen were an amazing band, but they weren’t really influential.
JMurf:
What did John and Paul write for the Stones??? I didn’t know that…
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a Lennon/McCartney song I think?
No one ever mentions Hank Williams. The man was awesome and highly influential on Elvis, Dylan
and Johnny Cash as well as a host of others. Also Woody Guthrie, James Brown, Public Enemy, Miles Davis… I don’t quite see the point of including musicians from sub genres of rock and roll and all from a similar era. I don’t want to diss a band as great as the Stones, but without them a band like the Kinks would be held in the same awe as the Stones are held today. From that I would say it was really the Beatles who were the influential band. Oh and the Beatles gave the Rolling Stones I wanna be your man, which was the Stones first top 20 hit.