“The only male singer who I’ve seen besides myself and who’s better than me – that is Michael Jackson.” -– Frank Sinatra

“I didn’t want to leave this world without knowing who my descendant was. Thank you Michael!” – Fred Astaire

“He’s incredible. He’s a genius. Just to be in the same room [with him], I felt everything I wanted to accomplish in life has been achieved….That aura … that’s how incredible that aura is….The way he thinks….some artists think regional, some think national, I was thinking international. He thinks planets! It’s on another level!” – Akon

“This is big. I won two Grammys; but (winning) the Michael Jackson award is major…especially for somebody who always wanted…videos to come across on a different level…like Michael.” – Missy Elliot

“…he was a talent from on high” – Slash

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“Few” well known names from various genres of music who were influenced by Michael Jackson:

Lady Gaga
Mariah Carey
Ne-Yo
Snoop Dogg
Buckethead
Jay Z
Will Smith
Akon
Beyonce
Alicia Keys
Wil.I.Am
Janet Jackson
N-Sync
Alien ant farm
Green Day
Justin Bieber
Queen Latifah
Lenny Kravitz
MC Hammer
Mario
James Blunt
Britney Spears
Omarion
Pharrell Williams
Amy Winehouse
Ciara
P.Diddy
3 T
Craig David
Ricky Martin
John Mayer

doesn’t matter if we at all can stand the music of the above mentioned artists or not, the bottom line is if Michael Jackson isn’t considered one of the greatest ,if not the most, influential music artists of all time, then the word “influence/inspire” or “influential/inspirational” should quit existing in lexicon

Black Sabbath in my opinion undeniably comes in the top 5 as well… Led Zep were like the ultimate hard rock wonder,while Sabbath laid down the foundation for metal. Not only that, no other band ever had such sinister vibe in their music like they did.. which became an integral part of the music made by several metal acts in the future!And I think the king of Sabbath is Tony Iommi for those riffs of hell. I am not a huge fan of Ozzy, but all the eras of Sabbath were great in their own way, my most favourite being the Dio phase!

Even though Metallica went down hill with their music in the later years but they certainly can be regarded as Thrash metal pioneers and their earlier work did influence and still continues to influence lot of metal-heads …may be they could have been somewhere between 13-15 , but on a second thought, may be Motorhead deserves a place instead , I am a bit perplexed.

Some of the bands and their respective ranks in this list are acceptable, I agree. But still, names like Bob Marley ,Frank Sinatra, The Clash, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin do pop up in mind for obvious reasons. Yeah, we can’t mention all influential artists in a list of 15, but I would definitely put emphasis on MJ deserving a top 5 place along with Sabbath! Kurt was a grunge rebel, and I listen to Nirvana as a guilty pleasure, but Kurt Cobain has to be the most over rated guitarist of all time. Nirvana shouldn’t have been anywhere,even in a top 30 list.

Mentioning Alice Cooper would have made some sense. This shock-rock stuff was pioneered by Cooper.

Hendrix definitely deserves a spot in top 7! And lot of music artists owe BIG time to Robert Johnson for being there!He just cant be missed.

And leaving out MJ from top 5 (not just the entire list) reflects a case of severe amnesia, or sheer ignorance…no matter which genre or music artist you blindly support, disregarding the universal truth that MJ was one of the most influential artists of all time makes this very attempt of making this list a joke.His music spawned a breed of music artists, Usher, Timberlake, Chris Brown and many more (doesn’t matter if we like them or not). He himself was inspired by James Brown i agree, but he raised the bar of concerts miles high, his creative mind sparked ground breaking music videos, he has picked up stuffs and popularized them to a level of frenzy, and has been a sparkling innovator. He never played guitar yet inspired a guitarist of jaw dropping calibre like Buckethead, after all its his affinity for perfection and dynamic stage presence that deserves lot more accolades than what gets garnered these days! He broke boundaries of genres, and the kind of unity his fan base still holds, is enviable and incredible, its like he brought the world together through entertainment only something a few peace preaching personalities could only talk and dream of. And this is off topic i know since the list says “music”, but he has even inspired movie stars of several countries as well. And about popularity, yes legends shouldn’t be compared, but with all due respect, you might find MANY who haven’t heard of Jim Morrison or even Beatles in the third world countries, but don’t be surprised if you find a person living in some remote village of some faraway land who knows the name “Michael Jackson”, lol! Guess if there has been any celebrity as famous as Jesus Christ then its Michael We might want to play it safe leaving him off the list to ward off criticism from “we-know-real-music” sort of phonies, but we would be only deceiving ourselves. He has been a wonderful powerhouse of talent since his tender days of Jackson 5, and as a solo artist , he did set the world aflame!