Influences, memories and great musicians

The greatest influence on POP music

  • Total voters
    71
Colin Cunliffe

Colin Cunliffe

Aug 26, 2019
163
305
4,866
West Wales
#1
Just been watching catch up TV on the BBC iPlayer.

Documentaries about Buddy Holl(e)y, BB King.

Such talent, dedication and what an influence they had over the musicians that followed including myself. Here I am a rubbish BG holder trying to play along to tracks that these guys just knocked out.

I was also amazed at the sound from such old gear and recording techniques.

Amazingly Buddy is still played so many years after his early demise...

So who did it for you - that is YOU (as well as maybe your generation)?
 
#9
One of my favorite memories was of course, seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time. But what I really remember was the next day at school. I was in 5th grade at the time and that place was absolutely buzzing! It's like it all came alive in a new way. It also inspired tons of kids (who never gave thought of learning an instrument) to want to learn and within a few years neighbor bands were everywhere.

Back in the summers of '69 through '71 bands used to play 2 nights a week in the evenings at the high schools in my area. There were always at least 2 bands per evening playing there and it was a very exciting thing back then. It was at one of those schools were I met the guys who's band I would join. They also had concerts at a larger venue on a regular basis. One band who played there was the Amboy Dukes who's guitar player was Ted Nugent. Their bass player was Greg Arama (RIP) and was a monster player. Huge influence on me back then. The Frost with Dick Wagner was another band who played there as well as Bob Seger. The bands who played there all had records out. So to us kids this was the big time! Saw them all for $1.25 per show!!

It was so fresh and so loud in that place. No light shows and no special effects. Just guitars, cords, amps and these guys playing their butts off! I remember stages filled with Fender amps back then. Twin Reverbs, Bassmans and Dual Showmans were the kings of the day.

For a young kid like me who was learning to play that was probably the most influential and memorable time in my life. Seemed like anything was possible. Really miss those days.
 
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#10
I've noticed a recurring theme in many of the music documentaries I've watched over the years: Rock and pop musicians citing classical influences. One hears a lot of stuff like: "I confess – I stole that lick from Bach" or "Well, that verse was partially inspired by a Dvorak melody."

So, who did it for me? I'm going to thank all those Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Disney Silly Symphonies cartoons that I watched on television as a young child.

 
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#12
Most of the bands listed are not pop nor did they influence pop. The Beatles are clearly the most influential band of all time. Almost every rock and pop band who came after them lists The Beatles as a major influence.
 
#14
garp said:
So, who did it for me? I'm going to thank all those Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Disney Silly Symphonies cartoons that I watched on television as a young child.
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Love it. Especially the older ones (mostly in black and white) from the 30s are just seeping with Swing. Music permeated their very core, which is a bit unsurprising since the "gimmick" of the early sound cartoons (think Steamboat Willie) was the breathtaking synchronization of sound to picture. But nonetheless, those cartoons just swung very hard.
 
#15
Ostie said:
Jools knows his way around a KB and often sits in with bands on “Later....With Jools Holland”
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I am completely familiar with Jools and his talent, going all the way back to his time in Squeeze, and I always look forward to catching his TV show. I was poking fun at the way the OP misspelled his name as “Juuls” (maybe it was autocorrect, maybe the OP was making a joke himself),and making a pun based on the ‘Juul’ vaping paraphenalia, and the old expression that a musician playing well was ‘smoking’. Unrelated, I thought it was a little weird that he was on that list; even though, yes, he is a fantastic musician, played with all sorts of people, and has a high profile doing his show, he’s not a household name influencer/mover and shaker like all the other acts were.
 
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#16
El Güero said:
Hendrix as a POP influence? Blasphemy!
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Sure he was. While the term ‘pop’ can be interpreted many ways in different eras, in the UK, when he emerged, he was considered a ‘pop’ performer. The term ‘rock’ really wasn’t in use then, and in general, those in the UK use terms in funny, quaint ways mostly unknown to those in the US(the OP is from Wales). “British Invasion”(well, to us)bands were always referred to as “beat groups”. Well into the 70’s, punk rock bands were featured on the “Top of the Pops” TV show in Britain. Hendrix influenced a lot of people, changed the course of guitar playing for everyone. All you have to do is listen to the infamous solo at the end of The Carpenter’s “Goodbye To Love”. Many of their fans thought that it was blasphemous.
 
#17
garp said:
I've noticed a recurring theme in many of the music documentaries I've watched over the years: Rock and pop musicians citing classical influences. One hears a lot of stuff like: "I confess – I stole that lick from Bach" or "Well, that verse was partially inspired by a Dvorak melody."

So, who did it for me? I'm going to thank all those Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Disney Silly Symphonies cartoons that I watched on television as a young child.

Click to expand...

It was Mozart not Rachmaninoff.
 
#19
I went with the Beatles & Hendrix. The Beatles are an obvious choice, but the reason I chose Hendrix is because he jerked the wheel and steered Pop music over in the “heavy” lane that gave rise to a lot of bands we may have never seen otherwise. He also influenced a lot of his contemporaries to write and perform music they might have avoided had they not seen the success Hendrix was having with heavier rock.

For those that think Hendrix was not “Pop”, either didn’t live through the time his music was in the rotation on Pop radio stations, or they don’t understand that “Pop”is not a specific music genre, but is a music style that changes with time. Zeppelin, Sabbath, Cream, Pink Floyd, Grand Funk, Steppenwolf, etc. were also Pop music artists at one time. Obviously that time has passed, but it did happen....
 
#20
Voted carrots because you don't have anybody from New Orleans in your poll. NOLA was the crucible for all American music, from jazz to blues to rock and everything that came out of them. I'd put Louis Armstrong ahead of everybody on that list, along with dozens of African American artists who inspired the acts listed.
 
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