he had more Japanese imitators than all five

and he probably influenced Marlon Brando's mumbled baritone monotonal delivery

All im saying is popularity and influence are connected. Nobody can be influential if their music isn't being listened to.

I don't think anyone has claimed otherwise. What I'm saying, however, is that being more popular doesn't automatically mean that one is more influential. For example, Pat Boone was the second most popular artist of the 50s (after Elvis), but I think you'd be hard-pressed to say he was more influential than Chuck Berry, who was much less popular.

That's true. I hear ya.

Good point and totally agree.

I can't help but feel The Beatles are disgustingly overrated. I've heard Revolver and Sgt. Pepper and although catchy, I find them both bland. They aren't that interesting or good in terms of rock.

It seems to me that it's been said so much that they are the best band of all time that people these days just believe it. I can name about 5 bands I think make better music and I only started listening to rock music about a year ago.

One of Hendrix's biggest childhood hero's was Elvis...

As well as t-bone walker. And considering t-bone was the father of electric blues, you could easily cite him as one of the most influential rock artist, because as we all know, electric blues was the foundation of rock n roll.

Surely Hendrix?

Maybe that's the reason you think that way about Beatles.

Back on the topic, let's accept that Elvis and Chuck Berry aren't on that list, because they aren't "rock" but "rock n' roll". Otherwise, the battle would be between the two of them. They are much more influential than any of the artists mentioned (James Brown isn't "rock", too, but so isn't Bob Dylan, so I think JB should be on the list, too).

So, if we accept that this is only about "rock" artists influencing the "rock" genre, we immediately exclude some of the options. For example Dylan (his influences spread from political movements to the birth of the hippie movement, and so on, not that much for the rock music itself), Hendrix (he was more influential for the metal genre), and so forth. Even The Beatles, because (although I may be attacked) they had as much influence on the pop music as on the rock music itself. So, between the choices left, I'd choose The Who, because their biggest influence was on pure "rock" bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen.
Another topic is that each one accepts differently terms like "rock", "hard rock", "rock n' roll" and so on, so excuse me if you got me wrong about something.

I don't think there's anyway to prove who actually was the most influential of all time. It's all but impossible to know those kind of statistics is it not? Fun to discuss and hear opinions and all, but I don't think just one could be agreed upon with any kind of concrete numbers to support it. At the end of the day it remains just a matter of opinion imo.