Great bands that influenced a lot of shit

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This one is a bit more difficult for me to pick. I am sure a lot of you guys would answer The Beatles, but I absolutely love anything that manages to sound like them, so obviously, no. Not at all.

Kraftwerk have inspired a lot of shit, but also a lot of truly great stuff. I guess my closest call will have to be Jackson Five, considering they were the blueprint for New Edition, who were again the blueprint for New Kids On The Block, who were the blueprint for....

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 2 October 2003 08:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nirvana. I think if Kurt Cobain had lived to hear his long-term influence, then maybe he would have killed himself.

Damian (Damian), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Orange Juice.

The Smiths.

flowersdie (flowersdie), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jimi Hendrix.

Nick Drake.

Belle and Sebastian.

And currently...
Radiohead.

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Chuck Berry for influencing every white rock act that followed.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nirvana is a good call. Radiohead is not, obviously...

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

As in "Radiohead are not great"?

Actually, I have to admit, I only really like Kid A.

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Radiohead are great, or at least they were up to and including "OK Computer". And bands like Travis and Coldplay are even better!

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sarcasm, Greir?

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 2 October 2003 09:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

Motorhead?

tipustiger, Thursday, 2 October 2003 11:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

NWA

Ess, Thursday, 2 October 2003 12:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Rage Against The Machine
Faith No More

Jay Kid (Jay K), Thursday, 2 October 2003 14:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

Partidge Family

gage o (gage o), Thursday, 2 October 2003 14:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Partridge Family

gage o (gage o), Thursday, 2 October 2003 14:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

but they were horrible spelerz.

gage o (gage o), Thursday, 2 October 2003 14:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
New Order
NWA
Nirvana
TLC

Vincent Vern, Thursday, 2 October 2003 14:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

There are so many horribly lame attempting-so-hard-to-be-like Mr. Bungle sub-bungular bands out there that I often fear people don't give Mr. Bungle a proper chance based on having heard the SHIT they've inspired (my own bands included).

nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 2 October 2003 14:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

Beat Happening comes immediately to mind.

Ernest P. (ernestp), Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

PAVEMENT

brains (cerybut), Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Beach Boys

adaml (adaml), Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Velvet Underground

Stephen Boyle (SBoyle), Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

i STRONGLY second brains' choice. every fucking local opening band i see at this point has a malkmus wannabe lead singer.

Felcher (Felcher), Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hasn't almost every great band inspired tons of shit?

Burr (Burr), Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ramones, ofcourse.

draino, Thursday, 2 October 2003 17:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pavement is the Fall, Jr. They are the problem! (Having said that, I really like them.)

Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 2 October 2003 18:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

bah! Pvmnt is no Fll.
That's not a knock against either of them though. I just don't see Pvmnt as being all that Fll-like.

Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 2 October 2003 18:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

They're somewhat Fall-like in the early years but not very MES-like. At least not when they're good.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 2 October 2003 18:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hasn't almost every great band inspired tons of shit?

All of them, every single one.

Now for a real (impossible?) challenge: Name one that hasn't.

Ben Dot (1977), Friday, 3 October 2003 00:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

>Hasn't almost every great band inspired tons of shit?
All of them, every single one.
Now for a real (impossible?) challenge: Name one that hasn't.<

clone defects, electric six, deadly snakes, a.r.e. weapons, junior senior. okay, that's cheating, right? i mean, give them time. (and probably they've inspired some shitty bands i don't even know about.)

actually, there are some great bands who've probably never inspired ANYBODY (crack the sky? babe ruth? well, actually babe ruth inspired everybody since who's done a version of "the mexican," so never mind.) i'm sure there are bigger ones, though, that i'm forgetting.

chuck, Friday, 3 October 2003 00:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

Midi Maxi and Efti, the band who made one of the best albums of the '90s (Frank Kogan might say it was THEE best album of the '90s), have never influenced any horrible shit that I'm aware of, either.

chuck, Friday, 3 October 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nirvana, Deftones, Faith no more, Alice in Chains, Helmet, Ramones, Clash, Minor Threat, Pixies, Maiden, Judas Priest,

Cacaman Flores, Friday, 3 October 2003 04:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hasn't almost every great band inspired tons of shit?

All of them, every single one.

Now for a real (impossible?) challenge: Name one that hasn't.


Yello. They have a unique style which they've maintained for more than twenty years, and yet I haven't heard any other artist that would've clearly been inspired by them.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 3 October 2003 09:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers (for sufficiently limited values of great).

actually, there are some great bands who've probably never inspired ANYBODY

If the Afghan Whigs have inspired anyone, good or bad, I'd like to hear about it.

j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 3 October 2003 12:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

The only band I can think of that is even remotely influenced by The Incredible String Band is Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, and they are great, so maybe that is a good answer?

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 3 October 2003 12:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Now for a real (impossible?) challenge: Name one that hasn't. "

Bruce Haack

A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 3 October 2003 14:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

I always assumed that Yello influenced some later continental European electro-pop-dance stuff, like Italian fuzzdance and Belgian newbeat, and maybe some of Sven Vath's pre-techno-techno stuff like 16 Beat and the Off, and maybe some other weird Euro-sounding stuff from Mexico to Japan (all of which IS pretty great, by the way), but maybe I'm wrong. And I've definitely heard indie bands (or at least indie songs) in the past couple years that reminded me of Afghan Whigs, though I can't necessarily remember what they are right now. And the first time I heard Dismemberment Plan, "The Ice of Boston," they reminded of Afghan Whigs, and there's a song on Deadly Snakes' new album that reminds me of Afghan Whigs, though I forget which one.

chuck, Friday, 3 October 2003 15:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yello most definitely influenced Fluke. Not that Fluke were bad, but anyway. They do have followers.

Also, AMG list Cosmic Baby and Carl Craig as Yello's musical followers, although I don't know if that is anything to go by.

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 3 October 2003 18:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

NIN

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 3 October 2003 19:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

Fluke are great! I never made the connection from Yello to them, but now that Geir mentions it, it makes perfect sense to me, oddly enough.

chuck, Friday, 3 October 2003 19:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dr Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, as an extension of The Muppets' music.

Great band. Who have they influenced that are shit?

That they are are a piss-take rip-off only makes this argument stronger.

Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Friday, 3 October 2003 23:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Gram Parsons and Big Star. Bad alt-country is such a pile of shit.

Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose), Friday, 3 October 2003 23:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

I have yet to hear any really bad alt.country.

Although the best alt.country acts are the ones that have now left country behind more or less completely, such as Wilco and Jayhawks :-)

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 4 October 2003 00:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

ALL alt.country is a pile of shit, almost.

chuck, Saturday, 4 October 2003 00:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

In terms of Thrill Jockey/Chicago-ish post-rock, most is listenable, but hardly great. So: any bad bands influenced by Tortoise? Although they're not 'great' so that might be slightly tangenital.

Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Saturday, 4 October 2003 19:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

No bands are very influenced by Tortoise, but I would say several post rock bands are slightly influenced by them

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 4 October 2003 21:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

...perhaps that explains the whole 'it's pretty good' vibe to Chicago post-rock.

Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Sunday, 5 October 2003 13:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

R.E.M.?

Can we blame them as much as Nirvana unplugged for some of those tepid US 'alternative' bands of the 90's? *shudder*

Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Sunday, 5 October 2003 20:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yello most definitely influenced Fluke. Not that Fluke were bad, but anyway. They do have followers.

Sure there are a lot of artists who give credit to Yello, but I've yet to hear any who'd sound like them. I'm not that familiar with Fluke, but the few singles I've heard don't sound like Yello at all.

Also, AMG list Cosmic Baby and Carl Craig as Yello's musical followers, although I don't know if that is anything to go by.

It isn't. Both Cosmic and and Craig are Yello fans, and they both took part on the "Hands on Yello" remix LP, but their own music is very different.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 6 October 2003 08:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

>>Sure there are a lot of artists who give credit to Yello, but I've yet to hear any who'd sound like them<<

But that's this thread's whole point! The bands "influenced" by the Velvet Underground or Led Zep or the Stones don't really "sound" like them, either. I mean, that's part of WHY great stuff can lead to shit!

chuck, Monday, 6 October 2003 15:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

I have to say Dead Can Dance for inspiring bands like Deep Forest, Enigma, Delerium, and influencing tons of shit Goth bands.

Seb

Seb, Monday, 6 October 2003 18:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

But that's this thread's whole point! The bands "influenced" by the Velvet Underground or Led Zep or the Stones don't really "sound" like them, either.

How are they "influenced" by them, then? I mean, hearing someone's music but not taking any hints whatsoever from it is hardly "influence". I always thought "influence" meant borrowing some tricks form other musicians, even if they're mutated along the way. If any artist you've ever liked or respected can be counted as your "influence", the whole word kinda loses it's sense, no?

Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 08:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm not that familiar with Fluke, but the few singles I've heard don't sound like Yello at all.

The one that featured Boris Blank on guest vocals (don't remember which one it was now) most certainly did. :-)

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 08:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

I can't believe no-one mentioned The Residents!

adaml (adaml), Tuesday, 21 October 2003 06:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Van Halen is the answer

Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Tuesday, 21 October 2003 17:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

six months pass...
horse; horse is good.

jacko pie, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 17:47 (twenty years ago) link

"Nirvana, Deftones, Faith no more, Alice in Chains, Helmet, Ramones, Clash, Minor Threat, Pixies, Maiden, Judas Priest, "

"NIN"

OTM. I'd also add to that list Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Metallica, and Slayer.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 18:02 (twenty years ago) link


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