Re: Biggest influencers on music thread
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.
Last edited by SlimTrae; 01-23-2021 at 11:27 AM.
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