I’ll see your Stevie Ray Vaughn, and I’ll raise you one David Gilmoure (GB) and a Mark Knopfler (GB) 
I beg to differ. The Who were hugely innovative and influential. Neither punk nor grunge could have existed without the Who. People often forget this, but the Who pioneered the use of synthesizers. This may be good or bad depending on your point of view, but judging from the popularity of synthesizers today it was certainly influential. John Entwistle’s revolutionary bass work also should not be underestimated.
I wouldn’t ever call Stevie Ray Vaughn a second teamer, may the guitar gods strike down anyone who would suggest such sacriledge…
Since I am here in sunny Canada I can sit on the fence and watch this debate… we Canadians have our fair share of talent as well and I spent quite a while last night giving a course in Canadian Music Appreciation to one of my southern friends… he was blown away as he had never heard The Tragicaly Hip or Wide Mouth Mason…
I said I would be back with the results of the radio contest… they just finished playing The Wall in it’s entirety which means that it was voted the greatest rock album by the fair citizens of Edmonton. It came down to Pink Floyd and The Eagles “Hotel California”.
This is one of those debates that merely comes down to personal preferences, the planet is full of incredible musicians and the greatest band might be one you haven’t even heard yet…
I am now listening to the Guess Who’s “American Woman” and I would put them up against anyone… Canada rocks with the best of them…
Nit to pick:
the Clash were great and all, but they followed the Ramones’ footsteps.
Another nit to pick from earlier on: The Talking Heads are certainly an American band, but David Byrne was born in Scotland.
Let’s not get carried away. The Zombies were probably the first band to make use of the synthesizer, and were arguably far more influential on New Wave acts than The Who. Let’s not forget The Doors, either, in this department. I stand by my earlier statement that The Who is an overrated band.
And Coldfire, I’ll see your David Gilmoure and Mark Knopfler, and raise you one Duane Allman(Macon, Georgia) and one Brian Setzer(Long Island). 
The one thing I will concede to the Brits is their very impressive per capita production of rock stars. The British are a very imitative race!
And the Zombies included one Colin Blunstone from er… where was it now
Jethro Tull is hardly an imitation of anyone.
Who got to Black Sabbath territory first?
Any US act that Pink Floyd copied?
The nation that gave the world rap accuses others of imitation, I love that!!
Without the sampler US music would have been dead and buried long ago, as it is it just digs up the graves of past glory 
Alice Cooper
I dunno… A lot of their stuff sounds kinda Doors-y, with some added orchestration…
Of course, this entire debate skips a very important fact, by its very nature: Rush are from Canada. So to make it a draw: US and UK rock are both inferior to Canadian Rock
There’s also my latest love, The Tea Party - Canuck as well. And I’m Dutch, so one COULD argue I’m the only impartial poster in this thread, eh?
Pshaw!
We can beat Canada with 49 states tied behind our back!
Just from my own state of Georgia we have:
[ul]
[li]R.E.M.[/li][li]Little Richard[/li][li]Ray Charles[/li][li]The Allman Brothers[/li][li]The B52s[/li][li]James Brown[/li][li]The Black Crowes[/li][li]The Indigo Girls[/li][/ul]
I’d continue, but I felt I was beginning to stretch the point with that last entry…
Pink Floyd??? DOORS’y???
So far, I think we can conclude that the US musicians were the most influential in the 50’s and the Brits in the 60’s.
The 70’s were obviously dominated by the Swedish group ABBA and the 80’s by the Irish group U2.
The 90’s? Hmmm…I’m stumped.
Yeah, lyrically. They have that same sort of dreamy/druggy thing going on as well.
Sorry butIMHO Pink Floyd and Doors are totally differant.
ref who got to Black Sabbath territory first.
Alice Cooper was there as the Spiders in 1965 but nobody knew about it until 1971 by which time Black Sabbath were already into their third album and had burned themselves into the public consciousness.
Sabbath were formed in 1968 but they were playing together under differant names long before that. Earth was one but there were earlier ones.
It is pretty unlikely that Sabbath were influenced by Cooper as he didn’t emerge until after they had hit the big time.
I would be surprised if Cooper can say the same as his breakthrough came after Sabbath’s and he must have seen what they were doing.
Possibly his success came about as a result of their pioneering work but that is not to say he would not have done so anyway.
Of course there were the Yardbirds who were around in 1965 and were having success.They were one step along the way.
Like many human endeavers it’s likely that heavy rock came about as a result of near independant parallel developments.
Check the following link for more
http://www.atmetal.com/history/part1.htmlUhhh. And don’t forget, the Who were vastly influenced by Link Wray. My god, where is everyone’s sense of music history. Link Wray was the first musician to poke wholesin his amplifier to get that fuzzy electric guitar sound. He pioneered distortion. Not to mention surf music, rockabilly, and punk. Where the fuck would we be without Link. And the best part is he’s still around. I went and saw him here in SF last year.
Yes, I know Link Wray (well, not personally), but would not have thought to mention him since he did not have the chart successes of the other bands mentioned. He certainly is an innovative artist, although it is important to note that there were many pioneers in the area of distortion. Dave Davies was poking holes in his amp with a knitting needle when he was just a teenager practicing in his mum’s front room. I don’t know if he came up with this idea before Link Wray, but I’m pretty sure he thought of it independently. Even Ray Davies says so.
Speaking of the Davies brothers, the Kinks get my vote for most underrated British Invasion band.
I can’t believe the Brits have totally blown past Yes and King Crimson as far as influence. I have always been partial to ELP myself. (Bonus points if you own anything by Atomic Rooster or The Nice)
For the US side, why has nobody mentioned Stevie Wonder? Too Motown? Also Michael Jackson owned the eighties. Disco was brutal, but it brought us some killer funk with Earth, Wind and Fire and the Ohio Players. Both of those bands had tremendous influence on popular music.
To address the subject of The Who, we need to quantify our criteria. But by any measurement listed (chart success, longevity, concert tickets sold, drummers killed, on stage assaults of Abby Hoffman) they reign supreme. The kids are alright. Additionally their two films essentially helped to pave the way for comercial music videos, but that’s a whole other argument.
The US started it, the UK refined it, then we reinvented the genre. Thats just the way it goes. Look at Madonna, she started out as being from Jersey, now she wants to be from London, you can have her.
BTW - Didn’t you used to be Procul Harum?
Well, Madonna’s obviously in town because of the weather.
Link Wray – excellent call and I’d definately agree a really major influence.
Yeah, the distinction between ‘influence’ ‘refinement’ ‘dead drummer’s’ (don’t we win that one ?) and ‘popularity’ is pretty blurred here. Other UK bands not mentioned:
Roxy Music
Genesis (not my taste but hey)
The Smith’s (the only ‘truly’ original band of the 80’s – maybe. Johnny Marr’s riff’s were damn excellent)
Stone Roses (for fusing genre’s)
Refinement bands…
PaulWeller/The Jam
Primal Scream
Portishead
Massive Attack
On The Who – I always liked the way they didn’t go down the clone-of-the-Rolling Stones-route. Would have been so easy to do. Townsend always kept the music and image distinct and I kind of admired him for that.
I think people sometimes under value the 70’s. To me it was the first time when music came at you from every direction. From Zeppelin to Abba from the Sex Pistols to Marvin Gaye (can’t believe you didn’t mention him) . The 70’s was the era popular music diversified and grew.
Actually, she’s from Bay City, Michigan, but your point is well-taken. London can have her. What is up with that bizarre accent she’s invented for herself?
As far as soul and R&B acts are concerned, there’s no question the US is absolutely dominant, but I was under the impression we were limiting this debate to rock.
I still say the Who is an overrated band. I would put the Kinks in my British top 5 before them. They were musically more creative, and more influential, though less commercially successful. Depends on your criteria I suppose.
The Smiths were true originals, as you say London_Calling. You might mention the Cure as well. (Hey wait…I’m making your argument for you…)