Many musicians are standing on the shoulders of giants and took cues from their idols, be it instrumental or in their songwriting and/or arrangements. What clear examples can you name? Here are my suggestions:
Keith Richards is the greatest student of Chuck Berry.
J. Mascis/Neil Young
Dave Grohl/Bob Mould
Tom Morello/Jimi Hendrix
Prince/Sly Stone
Stevie Ray Vaugh/Albert King
John Bonham/Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich
Tom Petty/Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan/Woody Guthrie
The Bangles/The Beatles.
All good ones, and that’s one I also had in mind, but forgot to mention.
The Bangles are a little iffy, while their main influence was the Beatles, there is probably another band that might qualify as the Beatles greatest student. ELO might take that honor.
Let me add:
Heart/Led Zeppelin
Well, of course the Beatles maybe had the most disciples, also Badfinger or Big Star come to mind.
That one is tough, not sure who should wear the mantle.
Adding:
Rush/Yes they makes no bones about it and are the biggest reason Yes finally made it into the Rock & Roll HOF.
Billy Joel/Paul McCartney.
Béla Bartók/?? (Benny Goodman, Chick Corea, Frank Zappa, …)
And Squeeze.
I think ELO was the most successful of the Beatles inspired bands, though the Bangles were pretty successful too.
Steve Vai / Zappa? Or perhaps Steve Vai / Joe Satriani.
Pretty much every bluegrass banjo player at some point in their career/Earl Scruggs
I don’t mean to be facetious. I am completely serious.
I think the second one more. Satriani literally taught Steve Vai. Which is all kinds of cool.
The hard part is deciding who was the greatest student though.
How about Béla Fleck/Earl Scruggs
I’m going to add a weird one:
Arlo Guthrie/Pete Seeger/Woodie Guthrie.
Indeed. For me, probably J.D. Crowe. But it could be Bill Emerson, Alan Munde, or a few others. Myself, I rarely have an absolute favorite of anything, so my opinion might change fairly often.
Carl Czerny & Co. in: “The Most Astonishing Musical Family Tree in History”
Paul Simon has said there wouldn’t have been a Simon & Garfunkel were it not for the Everly Brothers.
I can see absolutely see that, but I would have rather thought of Billy Joel/Elton John. Or is even Elton John/Paul McCartney valid, and they are all cut from the same cloth?
I see Joel and John as basically the same generation; both are disciples of St. Paul.
Johnny Marr is literally the greatest student of Billy Duffy.
Yes, Billy Duffy of The Cult taught Johnny Marr of The Smiths (who I consider the greatest living rock/pop guitarist) to play guitar.
No offense to those guys, but Billy Bragg is the greatest student of Woody Guthrie. Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter, agrees with me.