Who Was Most Influential: Velvet Underground, Joy Division or MBV?

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All these bands seem kind of the same but from different era's, all working in some kind of underground and only really being truly cherished after they stopped existing (except maybe mbv). They are all talked about as being the starting point of a kind of music, but who was most influential? And who had the best influence?

― Ghost Client, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

VU by a huge margin, on both counts.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

yep

― b b, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

Why is Lou Reed so often referred to as the Godfather of Punk?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

seeing as how both joy division and mbv were influenced by vu, um, well, there you go.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

yep x2. no contest.

― erklie, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

― chad beck (chadly), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

In 2005: Joy Division

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

In 2005: Duran Duran

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

John Cage

― Christopher R. Weingarten (whineyg), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

the beatles

― rentboy (rentboy), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

*ducks*

― rentboy (rentboy), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

phil spector

― b b, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

VU-VU-VU

― space2k (space2k), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

VU of course

― rizzx (rizzx), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

I think I don't have any idea what "influential" means in this context.

― adam (adam), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

there is neither a joy division nor a my bloody valentine room at the hard rock cafe in atlanta. draw yr own conclusions.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

From a chronological point of view (the only one to consider in answering this question, honestly), it's the VU. Their heyday was 12 years before Joy Division, and almost 20 years before MBV. Thus, the VU had the opportunity to influence more bands (like Joy Division and MBV).

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

where is mark s to do his "influence does not exist!!" speech?

― geeta (geeta), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

VU in a landslide. But they were more influential than arguably any other group besides Beatles, Stones and depending on preference, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

who cares?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

what about the Carter Family?

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Louis Armstrong

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

velvet underground, definatly. too many people are getting joy division comparisons lately. or is that really just interpol...

― jonathan - stl (jonathan - stl), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

all three bands were equally influential. i counted the running time of all the tracks in my collection that sound like these artists, and it ran to 79 hours and 10 minutes exactly for each of them.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

teenage fanclub

― scg, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

Henry Cow you fuXors

― Masked Gazza, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

VU. I did see the great movie "24 Hour Party People" and loved it, but I have never, once in my life, listened to Joy Division, I mean I don't care, and amuse my friends by singing what I think that song, "Love Will Tear Us Apart," sounds like: slowed-down Bowie or something? Anthony Newley on downs? Just one of those things I never bothered with back in the '80s and now it's too late.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

My father once told me that when my mom was in high school all kinds of "weird" bands were popular there. "They used to have groups like the Velvet Underground play at her school and all that kind of weird stuff".

Best. School Dance. EVER.

― Cunga (Cunga), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:19 (twenty years ago)

i think there are more bands and individuals that sound like slowdive than mbv.

― keith m (keithmcl), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:38 (twenty years ago)

who is the least influential band of all time?

― toothy philanthropist, Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:49 (twenty years ago)

This is like "Who more infl, Beatles or Oasis?"

just cause there are more Oasisalike bands than Beatlesalike bands around right now...

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 07:14 (twenty years ago)

you are all right. vu have the advantage of having been around before the others. that question is unfair towards joy div and mbv. it would be better to look at something like relative influence. for example count the number of bands that have been influenced by each of the three and divide by the number of years each of the the three have been around.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 08:07 (twenty years ago)

Wow, I didn't realize rock criticism and mathematics could meet! Your equation is brilliant, Alex, you should patent it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 08:27 (twenty years ago)

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