Top 10 Most Influential Rock Bands Of All Time

[Cyrus]

No solo artists. No uniquely greats, serious legacy required. The chance to play Christgau.

So, for better or worse:

The Beatles
Velvet Underground
Kraftwerk
The Ramones
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Cream
Grand Funk Railroad
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Nirvana

+ + +

Justifications : The Beatles, what can I say. The Velvets sold a thousand albums at the time but "everyone who bought it, went out and formed a band". Kraftwerk begat house, I kid you not. The Ramones actually started up punk, hence Ramones instead of Sex Pistols. Hendrix freed up the rock guitar from the blues chains. The Cream 'inspired' hundreds of jamming bands. Thanks, Eric. Grand Funk can be credited (or debited) with the riff-intensive, arena-filling, dumbed-down hard rock millions love. BS&T begat jazz rock. Nirvana kick started rock again. ..All too 60s for you? That's when the influence happen'd.

(I could sneak in Zappa through the Mothers but I won't because Frank left no legacy. And it's not a Most Creative list.)

Now, as the BBC reporters say, about number 10. What could be the Ur-band for surf music and all the guitar instrumentals that are still with us?

[John Cole]

Well, you missed at least one. And its (their?) influence goes beyond the music.

[Cyrus]

I forgot Sly & The Family Stone. However, this would complete the list of 10, and I still haven't got in the prototype for surf music/guitar instrumentals.

Maybe I should've included the Beach Boys right away, on subsequent influence alone. They did not 'invent' surf music, although they made it more popular than anyone before. But as to influence, hell, The Beatles were knocked out by the Pet Sounds, and started working on their own Pet Sounds; put Brian's mug on the cover of Sgt Pepper too. What was I thinking ?

[baggins]

The Beatles - i can't argue here

Velvet Underground - your quote sums up their influence.

Kraftwerk - don't know enough either way...

The Ramones - i love em. they sound like if The Beach Boys sniffed glue. i'd say they have more influence than The Sex Pistols for sure. but what about The Clash? i personally hate them, but they have influenced SOOOO MANY people. I'd still argue the Ramones, due to the flooding of the market with bad 3chord bubblegum punk bands.

{The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad} personally, i think these bands' influence has to be grouped together.

Blood, Sweat & Tears - don't know, don't care... sorry.

Nirvana - there is an argument to be made for The Pixies here. did Nirvana bring back Rock and Roll? or were they when Punk/Underground music became accessible enough for mainstream acceptance? don't get me wrong - Nirvana represents a lot in this slot. but there are more than a handful of bands that broke or almost broke at the same time that had the same influence on the same people. i think you'd have to honestly give a nod to Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, The Pixies, Mudhoney, and The Chili Peppers at least.

Also, it cannot be denied that Sabbath almost singlehandedly spawned most of the Metal to follow (for good or ill...)

and on the underground tip - about a billion bands were spawned from the following:

Bad Brains/Minor Threat/Dead Kennedys/Black Flag (hardcore's finest originators)

Rites of Spring/Embrace/Shudder to Think/Sunny Day Real Estate/Fugazi (post-hardcore/"emo"tional music. which still exists today in myriad forms - some watered down drivel, some really interesting and thoughtful)

also - why no solo artists? I think to deny the influence of Bob Dylan is just unnecessary arbitrary blindness...

[Tuco]

The single most influential band in terms of effecting change and awareness in a society is Bob Marley and the Wailers, and its not even close.

Tuco.

[Mason Malmuth]

You can also add Spirit, Traffic, and possibly Santanna.

MM

[Roy Munson]

James Brown and the Maceo Parker band have to be considered as one of the most influential bands. A closer listen to much of the blues and funk based Rock and Roll bands that came later shows a major influence by James Brown and his band.

[David Steele]

"Nirvana - there is an argument to be made for The Pixies here. did Nirvana bring back Rock and Roll?"

If you are thinking of influence to other bands, then maybe, but to the general population, it is the release of the masterpiece album Nevermind that started things.

D.

[Cyrus]

Ah, another Randy California man! Much as I swear by The Twelve Dreams myself, I don't see Spirit's influence anywhere siginificantly. A terrific West Coast band but they were not the progenitors of that scene nor its biggest legacy. I'd be glad to see my take corrected.

Traffic I probably cannot include since I included Cream, who were more influential, in the same vein. Stevie Winwood is a genius (eg Blind Faith) but where is his influence? (The horrible thought just came to me that the idiotic Yes, as reponsible for a thousand "progressive rock" bands should've been included. God. Let's hope no one notices.)

Santana should have been included for bringing in the Latin music into the rock fold. The legacy is definitely here.

OK and Ray Zee's Rolling Stones are in because they are responsible, more than anybody else, of bringing into rock music the Blues. Not on account of the corpus of their brilliant (and always blues-influenced!) music.

[clovenhoof]

Grand Funk over Led Zeppelin, or Aerosmith or the Who?

Both the Stooges and the New York Dolls preceded, and influenced, the Ramones, and many more major bands than the Ramones did. Also, you must be in on a major secret to suggest that the Ramones, whose first album was released in May of 1976, were the spark that inspired the Sex Pistols, who formed in 1975.

Kraftwerk may have been influential, but more influential than Pink Floyd? All I can say is that I disagree. (In fact, Pink Floyd had a significant influence on the Sex Pistols, as evidenced by Sid Vicious's t-shirt "f--k Pink Floyd".)

The Blood Sweat and Tears that the critics and historians rave about is the lineup from "Child is Father to the Man", with Al Kooper. But that was a group that was listened to, not followed. The lineup from their second album was little more than a really successful top-40 band. All in all, their major contribution to pop music was to bring in the horns that served more of a purpose than simple embellishment. Nobody -- not Chicago, not anybody who achieved any kind a success -- picked up that ball and ran with it.

I wouldn't include Santana on the list for similar reasons: great band, love the records, lots of people listened to them, but they didn't really break any new ground that anybody else built on.

'hoof

[Uston]

Yes, but in terms of influencing other Jamaican artists, Marley couldn't hold a candle to Joe Higgs or the Skatalites.

[Phat Mack]

They did not 'invent' surf music, although they made it more popular than anyone before.

I have to give the nod to Dick Dale and the Delltones.

[Phat Mack]

Grand Funk over Led Zeppelin, or Aerosmith or the Who?

I'm having trouble with Grand Funk myself. I have to lay the heavy metal progression on the Yardbirds - New Yardbirds - Led Zepelin.

On another note, how about the Monkeys for pioneering the artificial boy band concept...