Most influential bands EVER

my 5:

The Band
Creedence Clearwater Revival
The Rolling Stones
The Byrds
The E Street Band

Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin
The Small Faces
U2
The Beach Boys

The Band certainly Robbie Robertson created his "own" sound on guitar and his own songwriting style.
CCR....Tell me a band out today that incorporates their "sound" .
The Byrds ? I can only think of R.E.M.

Just to amend No Genesis post Peter Gabriel....

Zeppelin and the Stones certainly

The Small Faces ...maybe
But U2 the only band I can think of that they have influenced
is maybe ColdPlay.

The Beach Boys....way over-rated

Just a short list of bands and singers influenced by The Band, CCR and The Byrds:

Ryan Adams, Dave Alvin, bruce Springsteen, Dan Bern, Blasters, Blue Mountain, Neal Casal, Counting Crows, The Del Fuegos, Joe D'Urso, Steve Forbert, Freewheelers, Gin Blossom, Golden Smog, Kevin Gordon, grant Lee Buffalo, John Hiatt, The Hold Steady, Jayhawks, Jesse Malin, Jono Manson, Marah, Maria McKee & Lone Justice, James McMurtry, john Mellencamp, Elliott Murphy, Willie Nile, Tom Petty, Jason Reed, Matthew Ryan, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Wallflowers, Whiskeytown, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Pete Yorn....

The Beatles

Joy division / New order - Pioneers of the indie rock scene in Britain - inspired everyone from Oasis to the Manics

Sex pistols - set benchmarks for rock rebbelion.

Pink Floyd - Thinking man's rock. Inspired Radiohead as someone said before

Rolling Stones - along with CCR I believe they have the most influence on some of the brilliant americana that has emerged in the past 10-15 years

I don't see the Sex Pistols as a postive influence, first not
enuff in terms of material and second they certainly acted like a bunch of jerks most of the time.
The Clash, I think were way more influential

The Grateful Dead have had very limited influence. If you are talking about the country rock movement then the Byrds have probably been the most influenial. The likes of Poco, Buffalo Springfield Wilco and Neil Young and the Dead themsleves have all been influenced and inspired by them.

Led Zep were simply the most popular of a batch of heavy metal bandss that included Purple and Sabbath that emerged during the late 60s. The band that influenced them and subsequent eneratiosn were The Yardbirds.

I would put Velvet Undergound in any list as without them there would be no punk, No Radiohead and no Talking Heads. Infact I would put the Velvets way ahead of Floyd in terms of influence.

No list could be complete without Kraftwerk. They invented electronic rock and have influenced the likes of Bowie, Joy Division, New Order, Depeche Mode, Human League and numerous others.

Yeah I guess for great artists the Clash will always claim more influence. Thier musicianship and song writing was far superior to the pistols
. But for every great bands there are hundreds wannabe losers that come along just wanting the sex drugs & rock n roll that the Pistols personafied. Just look at the Libertines, Towers of London etc. one reason why I think the Pistols influenced many is purely because of their ability to be rock gods whilst being mainly talentless. Sid Vicious couldn't even play bass until he joined the band, I'm sure they have caused a lot of kids to pick up a guitar, bass, drums etc (though these days they'd probably pick them up on thier playstation n play rock band instead!)

The Grateful Dead have had very limited influence. If you are talking about the country rock movement then the Byrds have probably been the most influenial. The likes of Poco, Buffalo Springfield Wilco and Neil Young and the Dead themsleves have all been influenced and inspired by them.

Led Zep were simply the most popular of a batch of heavy metal bandss that included Purple and Sabbath that emerged during the late 60s. The band that influenced them and subsequent eneratiosn were The Yardbirds.

I would put Velvet Undergound in any list as without them there would be no punk, No Radiohead and no Talking Heads. Infact I would put the Velvets way ahead of Floyd in terms of influence.

No list could be complete without Kraftwerk. They invented electronic rock and have influenced the likes of Bowie, Joy Division, New Order, Depeche Mode, Human League and numerous others.

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Sorry but I don't really hear electronic rock on the radio anywhere nowadays. And DM is by far the most influential in that group and that is really just cause they are still making records. Just Kraftwerk MADE their mark, but to me in a limited
way. Just watch DM 101 and you can see how big they were.

P.S. The Dead ? without them no Phish and DMB, I hate both acts
however they would have to be the biggest tour acts in the last ten years easily.Also the Dead were great songwriters and singers something that is overlooked when thinking about them.

You yourself said that it is about influence and not sales. Read any interview with Depeche Mode and they always cite their biggest influence as Kraftwerk. You can't simply base influence on whether someone is still making records today - when was the last time the Dead, Floyd, Zep or the Beatles made a new record!



Yes and without The Byrds there would be no Dead. Again we are talking major influences here. I can't argue with you about Phish and DMB being the biggest tour acts over the last 10 years as I can't find any figures. Where did you find yours??? They may both be big in the States but outside they are 2nd division.

If you are talking about radio play then the biggest influence is arguably Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. They may have not invented hip hop but they were the first to bring it to a wide audience, easily the most significant musical movement over the last 10 years.

Beatles
Clash
Dead
Stones
Zeppelin

Steps
Girls Aloud
Boyzone
Westlife
S Club 7

The Cherry Top Thread Killer

Who are these bands, some Euro-fag trash ?

beatles
velvet underground
pavement
pixies
clash

Why is this in Open All Night?

Is there any Bruce content here?