Elton John doesn't belong in that list. He's one of the all time greats whether you like him or not and easily in the top 100 influential artists.

I would list that under "inspire" not influence. I know I am kinda defining my own terms here but I don't see much of what they did as anything particularly new or special.. just popular. the Beach Boys on the other hand actually create new sounds... so did Phil Spector for that matter.

I agree with you that they influenced music in the way you are defining it... for sure. I am just trying to take the conversation more into the realm of actual changes to how the music is structured or played. I guess I should change the term to INNOVATE.. I don't see either as big innovators but the bands I listed were.

If you don't like great music then screw you :cuss:

The way I see it, to divide up younger generations of music-listeners there are 2 main groups. Those who are well-versed and well-listened in the rich history of what I will call "modern music" (beginning roughly in the mid 50's) and those who simply pick out a big name i.e. the Beatles and say they're the greatest ever.

The former category is increasingly diminishing as high school and college aged kids ignore the influences in favor of "popular music" of today. That is not to say there is not a large audience who still appreciate "classic rock." Almost without exception, those who are musicians themselves pay homage to their influences and acknowledge them as invaluable. For example, I was watching an old rerun of Bonaroo (or some other music festival) on the Paladia network on DirecTV in which they showed the end of a Katy Perry concert. Imagine my surprise when the outro came along, the band played none other than the intro to Rush's Cygnus X-1, definitely one of their more obscure early pieces. I would almost guarantee no one in the audience knew that the piece the band was playing was anything more than some random riff.

But overall, if those who appreciate music and have listened to many different bands and come to the conclusion that, in their opinion, the Beatles are "the greatest of all time," I have no problem with that. It's when they haven't listened to anything but saw the movie "Across the Universe" and made that decision that irks me. (I ran into someone a while back who thought those were all original pieces from the movie, and when showed the originals, opined that the remakes were all superior)

Its only through discussion and the exchange of ideas, such as here, where we can begin to educate younger audiences on where their modern music comes from.

without Elvis, would rock be the show it is today though? I know how influential the Beatles are they did pretty much start the whole thing. It's a tough one.

I'll disagree about The Beatles there. Their early stuff was literally just pop fodder but their later stuff... Sgt. Peppers, I Am The Walrus etc was pretty ground breaking.

In all honesty, I respect the man. He is a legend. I only put him to keep the gay theme going.

Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson

Agreed.

I want you dead

I believe MJ's estate still owns it but I could be wrong. Someone can correct me if they know better.

Elvis Pressley did not write any of his songs. The Beatles wrote almost all of their songs. Elvis music career went on hold while he was in the army and again when he went into movies. While he did have music from those movies, he wasn't recording in the studio. I really don't think he had a big influence on popular music after returning to the stage in 1969.

The Beatles were so popular they had to stop touring. Their songs entered more into the consciousness. They wrote songs with more meaning. Elvis tried to get into that late in his career but I think with little success.

lol gotcha

It was their innovation that changed the direction of music.

A song like "She's Leaving Home" was groundbreaking and introduced the idea that musical instruments just making noise is music.

Now it's all just ****ing noise.

Why are you even posting in here... you don't even like music.





:p