I’ll qoute a very influential, non-American artist by the name of John Lennon:
“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.”
I was going to say him or Little Richard. I can’t listen to early Beatles without thinking of Little Richard.
22 posts into the thread, and no one’s mentioned Brian Wilson?
Seriously?
Charlie Parker.
Little Richard has turned himself into such a cartoon that he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for helping to birth rock and roll. But once upon a time, he was a helluva performer, and was hugely influential.
Here’s a live performance of “Lucille” about 10 years past Little Richard’s prime.
And as for early rock and roll influences, let’s not forget Big Mama Thornton, here performing “Hound Dog”.
Before Elvis made millions, the rockabilly stars and blues singers that preceded him invented the rock and roll genre. Artists such as Hank Williams and Carl Perkins fused blues and country with a backbeat rhythm and popularized what was otherwise known as “Negro” music in polite company.
I think you’re all underestimating a little guy by the name of Bo Diddley. I guarantee that most of the named artists in this thread, and many more, have not only heard of him, but emulated his music, style and rhythm as well. He seems to have been the first to do something new with rock-and-roll, as opposed to just ripping off the old blues and country musicians.
I saw Run DMC mentiond, but haven’t seen NWA mentioned yet. They had so much influence as a group, with the expolosion of hard-core hip hop, and later so much as indivduals - particularly Dr. Dre who had so much influence on the modern hip-hop sound.
“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry”
John Lennon
Oh, sorry Mr. Plankton, didnt see your post.
While I agree that Chuck Berry is #1 all-time if that is what Lennon meant, I am a little surprised that neither Lennon nor anyone else mentioned Buddy Holly.
One of the most influential people of all time was Ahmet Ertegun the founder of Atlantic Records and the man responsible (I think) for creating the first R & R (actually more R & B) record with strings, “There Goes My Baby” by the Drifters.
A couple other major influences were Phil Spector, Berry Gordy and the Isley Brothers.
I really can’t agree with this on logical grounds, because “pop” is short for “popular.” It is by definition “what people like”; that’s why they go buy it.
Professional music critics like to act like what’s popular isn’t good, but this is really an attempt to justify their own egos and tastes.
This brings up a good point: the OP asked what were the most influential, not what was the most popular, or good. But the two really aren seperable. Were The Ramones more influential than Elvis? Were the New York Dolls as influential as Michael Jackson (love him or hate him)? How could they be, when the entire country heard the latter performers, and only a cult following ever heard the former? Sure, a lot of groups SAY they were influenced by The Ramones; that doesn’t mean any went out and emulated them.
If we look at the genres and broad sub-genres of American music, it’s easy to see who really influenced the course of events, because up to the late 1990s only by getting played on the radio or MTV was a band or performer going to get heard, which is pretty important to influencing music in a broad way. So, as for the most influential, I’d pick:
**Elvis ** - popularized basic rock and roll, and the template for pop stardom
The Eagles - helped found a billion country-rock bands, for which I hate them.
Michael Jackson - invented the music video as an art form; popularized choreographed mass dancing we still see today
**Run DMC ** - took rap mainstream; (NWA belongs to a *sub-genre * of rap)
Nirvana - popularized a sub-genre that still influences mainstream rock today
If there’s a big time-gap between Elvis and The Eagles, it’s because The Beatles belong in there, but they weren’t Americans.
First of all, I think you’re crazy if you can say with a straight face that Eminem ever could outsell Elvis. Mr. Presley is one of the highest selling artists of all time in any genre or medium. Eminem is a niche performer with limited appeal.
If you are comparing Elvis to Eminem in any other way than in how they followed a musical vision to stardom, than I’ve missed your point. Eminem’s music has little in common with that of Elvis. English and German are not the same language just because they have a common ancestor.
And comparing the New York Dolls to Aerosmith (in both bands’ prime) kind of makes my point for me. Nobody bought tickets to see Aerosmith because they thought they would be like the New York Dolls. They bought tickets to see the band that wrote and performed “Walk this Way,” and “Dream On,” etc., i.e., better songs than anything the Dolls ever did. Kids all over the country picked up guitars to be like Joe Perry, not Sylvain Sylvain. Who Joe Perry himself picked up a guitar to emulate is not the point.
Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Elvis
Bob Dylan
Beach Boys
Velvet Underground
The Doors
Jimi Hendrix
MC5
Gram Parsons
New York Dolls
Ramones
REM
Ummm, so’s Elvis 
Early British rock owes a lot to The Isley Brothers who toured Britain with the Beatles in 1962.
What I came in to say.
The Carter Family were the original “popular music” and the genesis for the whole “country” music scene that later evolved into rockabilly/rock & roll.
Huh - didn’t realize the VU and Stooges and the new York Dolls and the Ramones were “new” musical styles.
And anyway, you’re wrong. You may not like the music, but to deny that any of these artists weren’t influential is pure ignorance. Maybe you have some examples of who was doing it better elsewhere in regards to The Velvet Underground or The Stooges that you’d like to share. Certainly both of those artists have “influenced the development of rock music through their own works, but molded and shaped generations of musicians as well”, whether you care to admit it or not (let me point out that they both started in the 60s, just like your beloved Dylan, who influenced music and musicians in ways that made rock/pop music far crappier than the Ramones or the Dolls). If you don’t think punk/post-punk/new wave had an enormous impact on popular music - an impact that’s still being felt - you either don’t know your rock history or you’ve got pretty severe tunnel vision.
Who Joe Perry picked to emulate is the point. It is the OP. The OP was what are the musical influences, not who is more popular.
SSG Schwartz