# Your Mount Rushmore of American Music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966 "2013-09-04T04:33:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/1 "2013-09-04T04:33:11Z")
I’ve been chewing on this thought for a couple of weeks: Imagine that you have an opportunity to carve four faces on a mountain as a lasting memorial to American music. You can pick any four artists from any genres. You get to decide whether you want to base it on artistic achievement, commercial success, how influential he/she was. You can have any combination of genres, all from one if you want or spread it around and take one from four different genres. The only caveat is that they have to be individual musicians (not bands) and they have to be Americans (sorry all you British invasion types - get your own damned mountain :p). I’m inclined to mix genres and mostly go with artistic achievement and/or influence myself. As of tonight, I’d go with: Bob Dylan - Enormous body of work, probably had more of his songs covered than just about anybody else you can think of. Johnny Cash - The real deal in a genre that has forever had a procession of flavor of the month hat acts that come and go. Just got better with age, IMO. Miles Davis - When I think of sheer artistry in Jazz, I think of Davis and Coltrane. Alas, John Coltrane left us too early, but we have a huge catalog from Davis, who continually reinvented his sound and stayed fresh. If there’s any one musical artist from the 20th century that I’d bet people will still be listening to in 500 years, it would be Miles Davis. Ray Charles - The father of modern R&B. Try to imagine Stax and Motown without Ray Charles paving the way. There are some pretty deserving faces that aren’t getting carved in that mountain as well. I might be persuaded to change any one of those (well, maybe not Miles Davis), and could have a different opinion tomorrow. Hank Williams in place of Johnny Cash? Jimi Hendrix instead of Dylan? Does James Brown deserve to represent R&B over Ray Charles? Chuck Berry, anybody? Muddy Waters? Aretha Frankiln? Billie Holliday? Who do you choose to immortalize? Why? ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/2 "2013-09-04T05:19:54Z")
Charles Ives Elliott Carter Leonard Bernstein Aaron Copland ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/3 "2013-09-04T05:22:23Z")
Copland Cohan Presley Bernstein ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/4 "2013-09-04T05:46:34Z")
Duke Ellington Jimi Hendrix Frank Zappa Stephen Foster ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/5 "2013-09-04T06:02:56Z")
This is music written and/or performed by US-born (not Canadian) writers and/or singers? For all time? Mine is uncomfortably modern and no doubt unredeemably personal, but here we go: Robert Johnson - origin of the black blues, and so everything in US popular music after the 30s - whether it realises it or not. Chuck Berry - harbinger of both R&B and Rock’n’Roll Bob Dylan - reinvented folk for decades, and coalesced popular and protest streams Jimi Hendrix - goes without saying really > [@JohnT](#): > > Cohan Assuming you mean Leonard Cohen - not US but Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/6 "2013-09-04T06:07:56Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Assuming you mean Leonard Cohen - not US but Canadian. [George M. Cohan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M._Cohan) ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/7 "2013-09-04T09:45:59Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Robert Johnson - origin of the black blues… The blues existed at least a generation before Robert Johnson, probably a couple of generations. Johnson first recorded in 1936; blues recordings exist right back to start of the era of recorded music. There are plenty of 1920s blues recordings and they’re all copyright free so you can find them easily online. Some great stuff there. Robert Johnson was great, absolutely brilliant, but he did not invent the blues by any stretch of the imagination. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/8 "2013-09-04T11:35:54Z")
Second group: Stevie Wonder Brian Wilson Odetta John Coltrane Third group: James Brown Scott Joplin Woody Guthrie Leonard Bernstein (I know, cheating. Hey, there’s plenty of rock in the Black Hills!) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/9 "2013-09-04T11:40:18Z")
Miles Davis Bob Dylan Trey Anastasio J Mascis ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/10 "2013-09-04T11:46:11Z")
Elvis Robert Johnson Aaron Copland Les Paul ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/11 "2013-09-04T11:47:19Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > The blues existed at least a generation before Robert Johnson, probably a couple of generations. Johnson first recorded in 1936; blues recordings exist right back to start of the era of recorded music. There are plenty of 1920s blues recordings and they’re all copyright free so you can find them easily online. Some great stuff there. > > Robert Johnson was great, absolutely brilliant, but he did not invent the blues by any stretch of the imagination. And Elvis didnt invent rock and roll but he is the king. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/12 "2013-09-04T12:14:14Z")
Irving Berlin Aretha Franklin Elvis Presley Duke Ellington ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/13 "2013-09-04T12:36:30Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Assuming you mean Leonard Cohen - not US but Canadian. As **Ellis** noted, George M. Cohan, one that many call the father of the American musical. It was a toss-up between him and Louis Armstrong, and since I like Cohan better… well, he got the nod. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/14 "2013-09-04T13:13:00Z")
Louis Armstrong James Brown Elvis Presley Ray Charles ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/15 "2013-09-04T13:23:26Z")
Bob Dylan Elvis Presley Louis Armstrong John Philip Sousa Dylan is the best songwriter of all time, Presley gave birth to rock and roll, Armstrong revolutionized what can be done with an instrument, Sousa the best composer. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/16 "2013-09-04T13:28:57Z")
Scott Joplin Aaron Copland George M. Cohan Woodie Guthrie ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/17 "2013-09-04T13:30:22Z")
Bob Dylan George Gershwin Cole Porter Willie Dixon ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/18 "2013-09-04T13:39:01Z")
Elvis Chuck Berry Miles Davis Ray Charles ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/19 "2013-09-04T14:09:30Z")
Jimmie Rodgers Bill Monroe George Gershwin Stephen Foster ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966/20 "2013-09-04T14:31:52Z")
Elvis Presley - c’mon, you can’t have this and not have The King Bob Dylan - amazing songwriter. Johnny Cash - really should be Hank Williams, but longevity gets Cash the nod Miles Davis - OP said it better than I could Yes, it’s mid-to-late 20th Century exclusive. Sue me. 😉 I could see a separate Rushmore for Gershwin, Sousa, etc… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-mount-rushmore-of-american-music/667966.md?page=2)