Norman Potting
Well-known member
Mick Green
No relevance whatsoever where his influences may or may not have come, even clowns like Bowie and heavy metal plagarists Zeppelin started somewhere but developed. At least Sir Paul injected his own insight, wit and pathos to leave his own hallmark.
Elvis Presley?
"before Elvis there was nothing" - John Lennon.
not quite so...before Elvis there was the blues and great black artists...the quest for racist America was to find a white man who could sing as well as the balck artists, and could be marketed to the white youths. Before these trail blazers there was nothing.
Exactly.
Sure Elvis was great, and shaped popular music, but before him and Buddy Holly there were the masters of jazz such as Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, but before them was Blues music from the Deep South. Without Blues, and then jazz you would have nothing.
Very much so, and on this basis I nominate Leadbelly as one of the earliest blues artists to be recorded and massively influential on all who followed
always about the guitar oriented music... what about the how gamut of House and its progeny?
Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Deerick May, Richie Hawtin, Gerald Simpson, Dr Alex Patterson, The Black Dog, Goldie, Richard James, Orbital: when will these and many others be recognised?
All goes back to Eno and Kraftwerk, and Mr Moog. As for Weller, I loved the Jam but it was nothing groundbreaking.
Cardiacs were a fusion of Beefheart, ska and pop. So they (obviously) get my vote.
No relevance whatsoever where his influences may or may not have come, even clowns like Bowie and heavy metal plagarists Zeppelin started somewhere but developed. At least Sir Paul injected his own insight, wit and pathos to leave his own hallmark.
Buddy Holly
The Everley Bros
Elvis
The Beatles
The Kinks
Marc Bolan
Queen
Kraftwork
Marc Weller
But the thread question is, who is the most influential.
None of the Jazz and Blues artists made a mainstream impact like Elvis did. It isn't that he was hugely original, or creatively or musically superior but his voice, attitude and performances in conjunction with the cultural social landscape, shaped where music was to go, and undoubtedly influenced Buddy Holly who saw Elvis perform, and went on to open for the King at various shows.
If there were successful strands of music such as jazz, gospel, blues etc. it was Elvis that bought it together, mushed it up and fired it across the globe.
Lennon was right in his statement, but he didn't mean there wasn't great music before Elvis, he meant that before Elvis there simply wasn't the platform. Music had the various components of gunpowder required to make a firework, however it was Elvis who bought them all together and lit the fuse.
I guess Brian Eno first came in to the public eye with Roxy Music very early 1970's - I would be happy to be corrected on that. But I have always thought that Roxy Music have never done anything better than their first album, which I think must be one of the best debut albums by anyone anywhere.
Elvis didn't write any of his music, just arranged it to suit his style. He was a singer, like Frank Sinatra, but just had much more of a stage presence.
I remember seeing Roxy Music perform live, on the Old Grey Whistle Test. The next day I went into HMV in Churchill Square to buy the record - "Poxy who?" was the helpful reply from the sales assistant.
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The answer IS The Beatles.
I'm struggling to think of someone LESS groundbreaking than Paul Weller.