What are your 5 most influential Artists?
 

Okay so I have a list of 5 artists who have completely changed my life through their music...and in my opinion are the best of the best.

5. Janis Joplin- her music style was amazing, and her voice was soul wrenching.

4. Kurt Cobain- he had to be on this list, his work with Nirvana changed the music scene forever. Had he not have died, Nirvana may not have been as big as they are now. And the guitar riff for "Smells like Teen Spirit" is one of the greatest.

3. Jim Morrison- he was incredible...thats all that needs to be said.

2. Joey Ramone- The ramones...an amazing band...and Joey has such a good heart how could he not be on this list.

1. Bob Marley- one of the greatest artists of all time, he had the ability to change the world and i truly believe that. Redemption Song is the greatest song ever written in my opinion.

Ok they are so many jimi hendrix jim morrison ian gillan of deep purple and of course his own band gillan kurt cobain nirvana

:drummer:

inluential artists
 

5-merle haggard-nothing much needs said about this genius, his words and music say it all. 4- hugh cornwell-incredibly very little is heard of him now, I was never a punk as such but he let me know that punk music can be fantastic, a great lyricist. 3-marty robbins, if you dont know much of him, just give him a try, my dad got me on to him and haggard and my dad puts him and haggard in the reverse order, but i dont, so there. 2-robbie kreiger, vastly underated and in my view in the same league as clapton, knopfler, harrison and page but i suppose the doors short carreer is a factor, the guy's immense, listen to L.A WOMAN. 1- THE ONE AND ONLY MR JAMES DOUGLAS MORRISON (POET) NUFF SAID.

I lol'd.

You know it's a rip off Louie Louie right?

1 Black Sabbath- this was one of the first bands i listened to and there just Heavy rock i loved it

2. Mike Patton- has a very good voice

3. KORN -

4 MF doom

5 Phillp anselmo

Holy crap I never noticed that but you're right! Never would have guessed... Did you find that out yourself? Also, I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Kurt Cobain dismissed that song as nothing more than a Pixies knock-off. (Although I still can't help but love the song).

It was unintentional though.

On topic:
5. Layne Staley
4. Brad Nowell
3. Ray Charles
2. Jesse Michaels
1. Kurt Cobain.

The following were responsible for launching me into their respective genres at various points in my life.

Descendents
Skinny Puppy
Aphex Twin
The Mars Volta
Metallica

isn't it a rip-off of Boston's More than a feeling?

1. Ween... brilliant
2. The Smiths/ Morrissey... tongue in cheek, sensitive, cool as a cucumber
3. The Cars... great sound, lyrics... very beatnik and very eighties
4. Laurie Anderson... original as hell
5. David Byrne... great lyricist, great showman, still making great music at 55 or whatever. My hero.

I mean, there are more... way more... but this is a start, yknow?

5) Howlin' wolf
4) Willie Nelson
3) Johnny Cash
2) SRV
1) Metallica

evan taubenfeld
hayley williams
josh farro
alex deleon
john o'callaghan
avril lavigne

in no order

jerry jeff walker
ani difranco
the allman brothers
stoney larue
neil young

as a guitarist/music in general
Clutch
Mastodon
Jimi Hendrix
RHCP
Frank Zappa

as a bassist
Jaco Pastorius
Flea
Dan Maines
Mike Dirnt
Charles Mingus

compositionally
Frank Zappa
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
Ian Anderson
John Coltrane
Charles Mingus

as you can see there's a few repeats

In reverse order...

5. Francesco Gucchini
Beautiful Piedmontian accent and very powerful lyrics. "Auschwitz" is a masterpiece both vocal and lyrical.

4. Mark Knopfler
Some of his songs are, to put it cliche-ic, entwined to my soul. I think "What it is" was the song that sparked my musical interest.

3. Andrea Bocelli
I was never really excited by Pavarotti, so why Bocelli? I think it is Bocelli's softer, more intimate voice that does it. "L'ultimo Re", "Canto della Terra" and Mille lunde mille onde" are among the favourites.

2. Bob Dylan
After Knopfler ignited my interest, and later passion, for music, Dylan made me pay attention to the lyrics. And for a long time I thought of Dylan as the ultimate master of lyrics, until I discovered...

1. Fabrizio de Andre
He changed the way I think about music, poetry, everything lyrical and musical. Had he written in English he would be world-famous. My inspiration number 1, 2 and 3.

In no real order...

David Bowie
Made me realise how shit nu metal and just about every other band I listened to at the time truly were.

New Order
My introduction to electronic music.

Steel Pulse
My introduction to the wonderful world of reggae.

Elvis Costello and Nick Cave
And I wouldn't be who I am today without the influences of these two.

1. Nirvana
2. The Beatles
3. The Rolling Stones
4. The Ramones
5. Bob Dylan

1. Iron Maiden
2. 10 000 Maniacs
3. Dire Straits
4. Bob Marley/Peter Tosh (began something out of this world)
5. The Clash

No particular order.

Aphex Twin
Beck
The Beatles
Joy Division
Outkast

1- John Lennon
2- Bob Dylan
3- Roger Waters
4- Frank Zappa
5- Paul Simon

High five! I hope you stick around slimjim, we will be good friends! Take a look at Classic Country Albums thread in the album reviews section and see what you think.

Marvin Ga-ye
James Brown
Michael Jackson
Smokey Robinson
Sam Cooke
Nat King Cole

I know thats 6.

The Beatles
Madonna
Micheal Jackson
Elton John
David Bowie
Prince

5. Brian Wilson (Beach Boys)—Pure genius. What he was able to do sonically with a pair of two-tracks is absolutely astonishing.

4. Juan Garcia Esquivel—This guy was such a pioneer he almost makes Brian Wilson look like an amateur, and he was doing what he did almost a decade earlier!

3. Justin K. Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, Ice, Final, etc.)—Not only has he put out tons of great music but he help redefine how I approach music altogether.

2. Michael Gira (Swans, Angels of Light, etc.)—By all accounts he's a massive dickhead but he still makes some amazing unique music.

1. J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia, Wiseblood, etc.)—Easily the most influential person on me musically. I love this guy.

1. Jimi Hendrix - Did things with his guitar that blow minds today.
2. MF DOOM - Why I started listening to rap/hip-hop.
3. J. Mascis - Got me into noisy music, plus I love most everything he's done.
4. Ian McKaye - Responsible for my introduction to hardcore and Fugazi's really good.
5. Frank Zappa - Great music.

In no particular order...

Rory Gallagher - One of my all time favorite guitar players, hes very diverse
Jimi Hendrix - The man who got me into good music :)
Neil Young - I love everything he does acoustic & electric + his long instrumental breaks
Ben Harper - Great voice, greats song writer, great choice of talent
Stevie Ray Vaughan - I love his tone to bits

That's got the wrong cover for that song. More Than a Feeling was on the first album.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5014/11603119.jpg

1. John Frusciante
2. Utada Hikaru
3. Jimi Hendrix

That's all.

In no order...

1. Michael Jackson
2. Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits
3. John Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival
4. Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore's Night
5. Jim Morrison, The Doors

Lots more, but these are the best of the best IMHO.

My five most influential artists have got to be...

Peter Gabriel
David Bridie
The Church
REM
Genesis

Those are in no particular order of preference....

5. Freddie Mercury
4. Brian May
3. Mick Jagger
2. David Bowie
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUDHICgWnoc

John Frusciante
Tool
Bob Dylan
Robert Plant
Jim Morrison

Right now it's

Kurt Heasley: he can never really seem to stick with one sound or genre for more then one record and it's taught me to not set a limit for yourself when writing songs.

Spacemen 3: 2 chord songs can be the best, especially if they have loads of feedback in-between.

David Grubbs: His music helped me get into some more extreme avant-garde.

Sonic Boom: Shit guitarist, not really great at playing the keys but, somehow I think he's influential because of his influences... if that makes any sense.

Sun Ra: I don't know what I could say about this man, he has accomplished so much and gotten almost no recognition in the black community... if I had to write about anyone on black history month it would Sun Ra.

When I am more awake and I have more time on my hands I'll post decent reasonings why each of my favourite / most influential artists were chosen... just too darn tired tonight...

David Gilmour
Peter Green
Steve Hackett
Dave Mustaine
Marty Friedman

1. David Gilmour : maybe one of the best guitar players/song writers ive ever heard, the amount of emotion in his solos/songs are incredible.

2. James Hetfield : wrote almost all of metallicas riffs (my fav ever riff is either all of M.O.P or this one disgusting one in sanitarium. ) not to mention he has THE metal voice. its to incredible and will never be properly repeated.

3. Danny Carry (Of Tool) : his drumming is amazing, definitly expands your mind listening to all the crazy time signature changes and polyrythms he puts in his songs.

4. Robert Plant : this is how vocals are meant to be sung, his tone is weird and he has a very high pitched almost girl like voice but hes one of the best singers ive ever heard. his singing isnt just lyrics its actually a vocal solo.

5. Jimi Hendrix : So much emotion in his guitar work, its incredible.

interesting to read all these influences.

mine (in no particular order):

Madlib
Amon Tobin
Coki
St. Germain
Fela Kuti

there's way more really....

5. Michael Jackson - Truly one of my most favorite artists, I grew up listening to his music and I just truly loved his songs, he is one of the reasons I started loving music.

4. Taylor Swift - Haha I just love her vocals, I think she has a huge range which always caught my eye.

3. The Used - I love like ALL of there songs, I love there guitarist and there vocals are O.K.

2. Coheed and Cambria - AMAZING GUITAR, there the reason I started playing guitar.

1. Christopher Drew - Love it or hate it, I find him truly amazing. I enjoy all of his songs, cause they have a meaning to me.

I have only two. They are John Lennon and Madonna.