Biggest influencers on music thread

[walrus]

Another love of mine, Motown. I think it’s a shame how it’s become lost in a way. Now if you have heard Motown you have heard James jamerson. Talk about an influential musician he was pretty much the bass of Motown and damn this man could play. Influenced countless bass players including Jaco. Here are some highlights of his playing

[NoSavingByTheBell]

@Spicoli didn't know about southern California but damn that is some big time mix of stuff. Just curious because most of that stuff I also like as well, when you say New Wave are you talking about Gary Newman in cars and stuff like Devo and The b-52s and flock of seagulls? Because I was in a band when that stuff came out and we had to do all of those tunes you know rock lobster and I ran I ran so far away

[SlimTrae]

Little Richard. On Occasion Prince wore very similar attire, did similar acts on piano. Inspired many blues singers to go up tempo. Without him not sure if Prince would have worn blouses and pants with glitter buttons and whatnots, even the hairdo.




Wes Montgomery- so the story goes his wife didnt like him playing all night, so to quiet his studies he let the guitar pick go and went by thumb which allowed him to strike 2 notes just different octave- at the same time.
His playing in Octaves IMO revultionized how guitarists played. There would be no George Benson, no Norman Brown, none of these contemporary jazz guitar players would base their playing on octaves -if it werent for Wes Montgomery!

James Brown- From Soul, to R&B to creating a sound called Funk. Michael Jackson, Morris Day, Prince, they all imitated him as a kid.
Without James there would be NO FUNK GENRE!
No cameo, no Ohio Players no Parliament, No Bootsy, none of that!!

James is the Greatest of influencers. His dance moves caused a generation of dancers. His bass player Bootsy -took that and expanded Funk through the God of Funk George Clinton...without James? No George & funk as he was playing acid rock music.

Larry Graham of Sly & Family Stone- was hailed as the 1st bassist to pluck, snap and or thump the strings. Since him Stanly Clark, Marcus Miller, Stewart Hamm, none of these thumping geniuses would have existed had it not been for Larry. No Brothers Johnson with Get the funk out my face, Stomp- his bass playing was centered around thumping -to which Quincy Jones used for many projects including Michael Jackson songs like Get on the Floor.

Eddie Van Halen. I think he started the finger tapping. After him tap-mania took over!!! The era of shredders came to be.


Prince- I did a thread on great influencers and showed about a dozen artists that came as a direct of either Prince producing, writing, composing for artists who best hits were a result of Prince. Sinead O'conner biggest hit- written by Prince. Chaka Khan resurgence from 70s to 80s was due to a song he wrote. There would be no Morris Day & The Time to which there would have been no Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis who wrote EVERY HIT for Janet Jackson.


Michael Jackson- His moves were definitely his own- as with James Brown...whereas Prince stole moves from James & Lil Richard. MJ got his moves from street corner, to dancers from Soul Train- but what made him the BIG Influence- was pre MJ, music videos were just that: A band, singer group being filmed singing. Mike took that to another level- I think it was based on Elvis Presly movie Jail House Rock - as Eddie Murphy joked -he was a bad actor- so he sang his dialogue! Well MJ took that idea and turned his music videos into a production. scenes, coreography.
He is the reason 200 dancers are always on stage with whatever the big act is from madonna to MC Hammer to Beyonce to Usher...they all got to have 3 thousand dancers on stage LOL! Michael Jackson did that.


Metallica- Now there were quite a few metal bands before, but these guys survived the change from heavy metal to grundge. Their extended riffs IMO today can be heard in many a great acts post 90s till today. Whereas IMO, bands like Black Sabbath era- most of the 70s acts molded their own style. Cream, Doors, none of these were cookie cutter acts. But Post Metallica, I heard Metallica cookie cutter wannabe bands!!


And as My POP would say:
The Temptations. Before them, singing groups could sing their arse off, but when the Temptations got their day- dance steps became a HUGE part of the act. Before them they stood in a tight circle and either snapped their finger in time or swayed one way.
After them...for about a decade every R&B act started off as "THE" The Dramatics, The Spinners, The Floaters. Everyone had to have a DEEP bass singer, a falsetto in between.
And they all had to have a dance routine.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

West Montgomery to me stands out in that list just a bit more significantly than the others but all are definitely major influencers

[Spicoli]

@Spicoli didn't know about southern California but damn that is some big time mix of stuff. Just curious because most of that stuff I also like as well, when you say New Wave are you talking about Gary Newman in cars and stuff like Devo and The b-52s and flock of seagulls? Because I was in a band when that stuff came out and we had to do all of those tunes you know rock lobster and I ran I ran so far away

Newman was good and The Cars and Devo were big. Men at Work, The Fixx, Psychedelic Furs, Talking Heads, The Cure..Bananarama. Original Babies on Fire by Brian Eno . Never big on B 52s but there was a re up party house every weekend that and Violent Femmes was literally all they played.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

@Spicoli didn't know about southern California but damn that is some big time mix of stuff. Just curious because most of that stuff I also like as well, when you say New Wave are you talking about Gary Newman in cars and stuff like Devo and The b-52s and flock of seagulls? Because I was in a band when that stuff came out and we had to do all of those tunes you know rock lobster and I ran I ran so far away

Newman was good and The Cars and Devo were big. Men at Work, The Fixx, Psychedelic Furs, Talking Heads, The Cure..Bananarama. Original Babies on Fire by Brian Eno . Never big on B 52s but there was a re up party house every weekend that and Violent Femmes was literally all they played.

Yep all those bands were big and I remember every one of them

[walrus]

Can’t forget this dude. When he performed it the first time he was booed and called Judas. Went on to be an anthem. This dude influenced so many and has been writing and performing for 6 decades. You go see his shows there are people 15-78 there. He touches everyone

[SlimTrae]

@Spicoli didn't know about southern California but damn that is some big time mix of stuff. Just curious because most of that stuff I also like as well, when you say New Wave are you talking about Gary Newman in cars and stuff like Devo and The b-52s and flock of seagulls? Because I was in a band when that stuff came out and we had to do all of those tunes you know rock lobster and I ran I ran so far away

Newman was good and The Cars and Devo were big. Men at Work, The Fixx, Psychedelic Furs, Talking Heads, The Cure..Bananarama. Original Babies on Fire by Brian Eno . Never big on B 52s but there was a re up party house every weekend that and Violent Femmes was literally all they played.

Yep all those bands were big and I remember every one of them

You played in a band? What instrument? IMO, you on stage would've been a hellatious drummer. I wonder under the costume if this is really you playing mellow, then u watched some kid walk by with their parent who had on a Biden T shirt around 30 seconds into clip ! Shame on you!




@NoSavingByTheBell true identity revealed!! Moonlight drumming at local festivals @ykdadamaja @Beanz @Master @Spicoli

[NoSavingByTheBell]

@Spicoli didn't know about southern California but damn that is some big time mix of stuff. Just curious because most of that stuff I also like as well, when you say New Wave are you talking about Gary Newman in cars and stuff like Devo and The b-52s and flock of seagulls? Because I was in a band when that stuff came out and we had to do all of those tunes you know rock lobster and I ran I ran so far away

Newman was good and The Cars and Devo were big. Men at Work, The Fixx, Psychedelic Furs, Talking Heads, The Cure..Bananarama. Original Babies on Fire by Brian Eno . Never big on B 52s but there was a re up party house every weekend that and Violent Femmes was literally all they played.

Yep all those bands were big and I remember every one of them

You played in a band? What instrument? IMO, you on stage would've been a hellatious drummer. I wonder under the costume if this is really you playing mellow, then u watched some kid walk by with their parent who had on a Biden T shirt around 30 seconds into clip ! Shame on you!




@NoSavingByTheBell true identity revealed!! Moonlight drumming at local festivals @ykdadamaja @Beanz @Master @Spicoli

@SlimTrae I played lead guitar from the age of 14 starting with the songs by Kiss and Black Sabbath, then around 18 or 19 years old had a jazz fusion band with songs like the mahavishnu orchestra and return to forever. Always wanted to play the drums and I can't stop listening to Ginger Baker.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

whoever watches the first 3 minutes of this has their brains scrambled up and changed forever: I, of course, am immune.

[SlimTrae]

MC HAMMER

I thought it over a long time.

SugarHillGang was the 1st major group. they were nowhere near the 1st rap act. In fact our heroes of rap declared their making up words like dang diggy dang a dang a diddy..or a hip hop hibby to the hibidy hip...U get it! it was pure garbage to EVERY TOP GROUP, DUO doing parties and clubs. Problem was their manager had $ & connections..so when they got them on radio...the people, masses thought it was the shit! Grand Master stated it was awful- but we all had to reinvent our game because that was what the people wanted.

Kurtis Blow was the 1st major solo artist

Da Brat the first to go platinum

DJ Kool Herc had dancers during his break- they were the break boys...which eventually became known as breakdancing

Grandmaster Flash invented what DJs do today- mixing songs together.

Grandmaster's copartner little brother one day accidentally bumped record...- it didn't skip or scratch the needle slid...the young boy liked that sound and played wioth it...he became Wizard Theodore- who invented scratching to this day...every major DJ does it.
side note- "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash On the Wheels of Steel", the first record to only showcase turntablism.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five again!! By 1983 they changed the game. Once they were known, doing videos, they felt compelled to speak on their hood, their problems, so what would be called conscious rap- started- the song called The Message.

"It's like a jungle, sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under"
They backed that up with whitelines...people using coke to cope...


I wanted to give RUN DMC the credit- & big bro Russell Simmons who along with Rick Rubin formed Def Jam because RUN DMC was the 1st rap group to headline tours...they came out on stage with a HUGE PAIR OF ADIDAS SNEAKERS THE SIZE OF 2 CARS- IT WAS WILD!!!


So I think the greatest influence in rap music wasn't the best rapper. MC Hammer
B4 him it was just guys on stage rapping- but with Michael & Janet Jackson videos highlighting dancers- he felt he was as good or a better dancer.

When he did- according to Morris Day of the Time...his song 2legit toquit- fucked th game up Because it was a major #1 hit without musicians.
From then on- mostly R&B, rap were given stupid limited budgets to record albums. Hammer did his with beat machine, sampling machine and overdubs and makes tens to hundreds of millions.

Funk music died for a moment. Soul Music deemed for old folk and the young kids of the 1990s were fed digital algorythms for sound.
(Until the album called the Chronic by Dr.Dre who was a fan of funk-rap music was about beat machines and sampling. Dr. Dre started playing instruments in his songs-which revived music into rap music again.

Hammer was so inspirational, that rappers emulated them by having 300 hundred dancers on one stage!

Yes Michael & Janet inspired pop artists to have dancers, but Hammer did it for rappers. Hammer made it possible to sell a hundred million copies without using musicians.

Hammer IMO was/is the most influential rap artist ever.



comedians had a field day with MC hammer wannabes



@Spicoli @ykdadamaja who was the most influential rap artist/group/duo?

Without hammer? No Wacky D!!

[SlimTrae]

Hammer sold out everywhere.

On TV...it was an event..women loved this dude. And whenever he did Arsenio Hall show...he got top ratings!!

[SlimTrae]

a post ago I joked 300 hundred dancers on one stage....how many mofos in the video above??

[SlimTrae]

First rapper to do a world tour like this. Looking at all those dancers, easy to see how expensive it be to feed all those mofos, pay em.



A lot of rapper sell out shows, but none performed, none came close to doing it like Hammer, but boy o boy do they try.