Who is the most influential rock and roll band EVER?

Its The Beatles, by a landslide!!!!

"Jimmy Page invented the heavy metal guitar riff"???

I don't think so.

 

The problem with The Who, The Rolling Stones, and the Zep is that they were all bluesy rock and roll bands that (imo) had more-or-less equal influences. The VU, however, were the first and only alt rock band for a large number of years. They did more to show what was and was not acceptable than any other band...

 

I voted for The Velvet Underground.

Lez Zeppelin, the Stones, and the Beatles would have been tied for 2nd, imo.

 

I agree his solos were more innovative than Harrison's, and Bonzo was head and shoulders above Ringo.

Listen to Freddie King, Albert King, B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Muddy Waters, just to name a few. Page played the same licks (minor pentatonic scale, mostly) as the old Blues players.

 

epitomize? oh, man... did you maybe mean "copped the blues"? zep and the stones wouldn't exist without the pioneering african american artists of the 30', 40' and 50's. they borrowed and outright stole a good majority of their riffs from the likes of muddy waters, et al.

i like both bands, but let's not overstate their influence.

i'm not sure what popular opinion has to do with this. hasn't garth brooks now passed the beatles in terms of cumulative sales? why isn't he on the list?

i'm sorry: this topic begins and ends with the beatles and that's coming from someone who's never been a huge fan of their's. every rock band since has been influenced by the beatles. heck, jagger openly idolized them even when both bonds were at the absolute primes in the late 60's. go check out... oh, crap... what's the name of the stone's "sgt. pepper" retread? can't think of it off the top of my head, but it's comedy gold.

also, for arguement's sake, where in the hell are the ramones? aerosmith over the ramones? aerosmith?!

 

Most influential?

This thread is just like all the other "best hoops player ever", "best president", yadda yadda yadda.

All of the bands listed were influential on other musicians/bands to some extent. It all depends on what kind of music the "influenced" musician/band was into.

For Chrisssakes, why isn't Alexanders' Ragtime Band listed?
They influenced a whole GENERATION of musicians!!

Oh wait...you said "Rock n Roll" band...my bad!

OK here goes...Bill Haley and the Comets were the most influential rock n roll band ever, because before they came around, rock n roll was known as rhythm and blues!

 

if longevity merits mentioning, where's kiss? or van halen? i'd rate both more influential than aerosmith.

i really don't think garth brooks belongs on any list (tho, i have to admit, that freaking dr. pepper jingle is like musical herion); i was trying to make a point. record sales would be a far greater barometer of influence than concert sales and yet i'd still be skeptical of record sales because, if garth brooks can outsell the beatles...

besides, are you aware of the vast difference between touring in 1965 and 1974? night and day. it's really not a valid point with regards to this specific subject.

as for the ramones: the ramones launched the punk movement. the sex pistols, the clash and the entire seattle grunge scene, to name just a few, were all birthed in some form because of the ramones. they have their fingerprints all over far more bands and trends than aerosmith, the stones or the who.

in fact, the stones tried in vain to jump on the punk bandwagon which preceeded their attempts to jump on the disco bandwagon. the stones were, and always have been, followers. great band in their beggar's baquet-exile prime, but not terribly influential.

you're right, zeppelin certainly didn't; in fact, your poll failed to metnion anyone who had a hand in rock's invention.

 

It's funny - the influence a band has never stays the same. If you had asked me in 1990 who is the most influential rock band of all time, I would have said Zepellin. At the time, all the hair metal bands and even some of the heavier alt-rock bands (Soundgarden, Jane's Addiction) owed alot or even everything to Zepellin. The high pitched singing, the boom-crack style of drumming, and the quasi-blues guitar riffs all pointed to Zep.

However, times change and most rock bands that you hear today are largely influenced by Metallica. They all use a heavily-distorted (usually via a Mesa-Boogie amp with a scooped eq), down-picked and palm-muted style of guitar playing that James Hetfield pretty much popularized. Most of the drummers use a drum sound and the lead-footed approach similar or identical to Lars Ulrich. Of course these bands try (emphasis on try) to be funkier (due to their hip-hop influences) but the Metallica influence is still very much there.

Just about every pop band has been influenced by the Beatles. However, there have been times when the Beatles influence was negligible (the 70s for example) and their influence on rock music is more debatable. You don't hear as many bands who sound like the Beatles as you do say Zepellin. That may be a good thing (imitation may be flattery but it's not always particularly easy to listen to) and it may be a bad thing (good songwriting and smart arranging are things alot of bands could use).


The Velvet Underground, when all is said and done, really didn't influence that many people. However, pretty much all the people who bought their albums when they were first released went on to form great bands (i.e. David Bowie, Brian Eno, Chryssie Hynde, Ric Ocasek). I think that's the best kind of influence anyone could hope for.

 

I think you are understimating the Stones influence. The thing that carried the Rolling Stones IMO was Jagger however. That guy is a very powerful, creative, talented and charismatic singer--and you can't take that way when judging the impact of the band. In fact I think they have a very strong influence on the musical landscape, but it boils down to Jagger and their songwriting more than any innovation in their musicianship IMHO.

 

While they aren't my favorite band on the list (not that I dislike them), by far the Beatles have to be the #1 most influential band in American history. Ask a random sampling of musicians around the age of 40 why they play their instrument and the most common answer would be "seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan". Many drummers started playing because of Ringo.

 

i'm actually a pretty big fan of the stones, and mick jagger "borrowed" most of what he did from other artists. tina turner, for instance, was a big influence on him.

in terms of songwriting... jagger's probably underrated in that department, imo, but keith was just as instrumental (pun intended) in the stones' success, if not moreso. listen to some of jagger's solo stuff and it's pretty ordinary, familiar. keith actually turned in some great solo work in the late 80's.

i mean, any band that's been around for 40 years is going to influence someone; it's simply not possible to last that long and make no impact. but the stones really didn't bring a lot to the table; they copped their sound, sometimes their songs, from other artists and rode trends, in leiu of creating them.

great, great band, especially in the late 60's, early 70's when they rose to the challenge of succeeding the beatles, but...

 

I agree that this thread is asking an impossible question. I voted for the Beatles because they were truly revolutionaries.

Maybe Led Zeppelin and The Who, etc. are better musicians, but chances are they along with everyone else was influenced by the Beatles somehow.

My biggest gripe is how in the world could you have put Aerosmith on this list? Goddang...forget influential...try "overrated". To have them as one of your choices over a band like a Pink Floyd is insane, IMO.

 

Of course the answer to the question is the Beatles.

However, the tentacles of Velvet Underground influence continue to amaze me. I finally broke down and got 2001's media darlings -- otherwise known as the Strokes -- CD last week. Really like the CD, but, as I listened to it I heard the Velvet's influence on every song.

34 years later, if Velvet Underground and Nico had come out today, it would be the top album of the year and hailed as fresh and innovative. That's pretty amazing, if you ask me.

 

there is no question it's the beatles. they influenced everything. it doesn't matter that so and so can play better than george or ringo sucks compared to john bonham. these were the perfect bandmates for john and paul. just because you can play a monster guitar riff or a killer drum solo doesn't mean you stick it in everything.

also led zeppelin is my favorite band ever, but Ric is right, they owe a hell of alot to the great african american bluesman before them. but they did use that sound and take it to another level. also outselling someone in concerts has absolutely nothing to do with influence, not to say that zeppelin didn't influence a hell of alot of bands.

as for aerosmith, they are indeed the most overrated band ever. has joe perry ever come up with an original riff? maybe 2 or 3.

 

Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground!!!!!!

The Velvet Underground was the first band that made me say, Wow, now that's different.

They completely influenced how I wrote and played!

Oh, is this about influencing rock and roll or us personally?

If it's rock and roll, then I'd say...(excuse me while I drift back 35 years...)...the Beatles...only because every garage band knew a Beatle song.

RR