No Beatles references here.

Here are my top ten in no order

Nirvana
Pixies
Radiohead
U2
Radiohead
Metallica
Oasis
Pearl Jam
Stone Roses
R.E.M

+ Blur
- Pearl Jam

Not a bad list, but you've completely ignored hip-hop and electronic music. Whether you like those genres or not, you have to admit their influence.

And I'm not sure Radiohead has been so influential that they deserve two mentions. Perhaps get rid of one Radiohead and Oasis, and include Public Enemy and the Chemical Brothers. I'm not a big fan of the Chemical Brothers, but they are leaders in their genre.

I would also agree that Pearl Jam didn't influence too many people; most of those people were also influenced to a biggest extent by Nirvana. So, Midaso's modified list is pretty good to me.

Husker Du
Pixies
Neutral Milk Hotel
My Bloody valentine
Rheostatics
R.E.M
Radiohead
Oasis
Sonic Youth

But I would still think that bands from the 60's and 70's like (The beatles, Led Zepplin, Joy Division, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Rolling Stones and The Velvet undergournd

Some of those are the most acclaimed ones, but i think not the most influential. I don't see Oasis and U2 as very influential bands (despite liking U2).


Some of the most influential ones in the rock department (altough i don't like a couple of them):

Pixies
Husker Du
Nirvana
REM
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Rage Againts the Machine
Metallica

The vast majority of Husker Du's influential music (and REM's too) happened more than 20 years ago. If you are going to include them, then you need to include The Replacements as well. They may be Nirvana's biggest influence.

Nirvana's biggest influences are THE PIXIES, and THE BEATLES.

Sure they didnt get as grunging as they did from constantly listening to pixies and the beatles. But Cobain always sited those bands as being the ones that he wanted to sound like.

Pavement was very influencial as well. They Maybe the god fathers of indie rock

OK. Take out "Nirvana" in my sentence and insert "Grunge Rock."

Let's think about what's influenced TODAY'S music in the past 20 years...

Weezer
Rites of Spring
At the Drive In
Death Cab For Cutie

Metallica
Pantera
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Korn

Dave Matthews Band
Phish

B.I.G.
Tupac
Wu-Tang Clan
Tribe Called Quest
Jay-Z
Eminem
Atmosphere

R.Kelly
Mariah Carey
Alicia Keys

Sonic Youth
Jesus and Mary Chain
Galaxy 500
Neutral Milk Hotel
Pavement

Most influential over popular music:

Nirvana
Metallica
U2
REM
Oasis (In the UK)
The Smiths

Most influential over less known good music:
Pixies
Sonic Youth
Husker Du
Radiohead

I think John's got the right idea.

But...Atmosphere?!!?

Atmosphere is the king of the whole emo-rap movement which is incredibly huge these days and even has found it's way into the mainstream. I didn't even think twice about putting him on the list even though I'm not a huge fan. He might not have been the first, but he gave the genre it's name.

Massive Attack, anyone?

Geez, I wasn't aware of this emo-rap thing (and I think I'll keep it that way), but just out of curiosity, who are some of these emo-rappers?

Well, it does have a very Minnesotan background with Atmosphere, Brother Ali, P.O.S. Others: Aesop Rock, Sage Francis. Some people even throw Linkin Park into the conversation. A whole lot of other groups that don't have much of a name but big followings in their respective cities as well. It's definitely a culture especially here in Mpls. I don't get into it much though.

You could also call it "white rap" although that's not really the case or "hipster-hop" which makes a lot of sense. A lot of people don't like the term emo-rap because it is suggesting that other rap isn't emotional and some even claim the term is racist...

I wasn't even thinking about rap.

Public Enemy obviously.

Then there's Dr Dre who invented the obsessively market-driven rap album, which cares less about the music and the message and more just about franchising itself.

And if you count bands that influenced a lot of really bad music...

Madonna (Not crappy herself, but everybody who she influenced is)
New Kids On The Block
Staind
Linkin Park
Korn

My list is rock music based. I acknowledge that outside sources like rap has influenced rock music but I am concentrating on rock music which is not as popular as rap music.

I forgot Madonna on my list although most of her influence came in the 80's. But, she is still very influential to today's music for sure. The work she puts out now (and for the last 10 years) is more influenced than influential though.

Public Enemy barely fits into the last 20 years and although I'm not an expert I would say the 90's icons and early 00's radio stars have more to say about today's hip-hop than Public Enemy does. But, Public Enemy and NWA gave birth to 90's hardcore so I guess they belong in the conversation. They're just one more generation removed and heard less in today's music.

No one mentioned Slint so far. I think they've been very influential, along with Talk Talk, on the following post-rock wave

Radiohead NO DOUBT

Radiohead…time is slowly revealing this to be a fact…If you are at all familiar with the new alternative/indie music of today, you’ll realize that it’s Radiohead’s fused rock & progressive/electronic style which has paved the direction that todays alternative/indie genre has taken …Nirvana was nowhere near as creatively risky as Radiohead were, in-fact it’s that very aspect of Radiohead, which makes them more similar to the Beatles and IMO the most relevant group of the last 20 years...period.

The list reveals a strong Beatles influence to those naysayers like Moonbeam and Stephan. There is a decent influence on this list by the Velvet Underground. Other than those two I don't think the 50's and 60's influence is that strong IMO.

Nay.

Last 25 years? The Smiths
Pretty much every British rock band since 1982 has been influenced by them
Last 20 years? Nirvana - no doubt
Radiohead? Where would they be without Nirvana and Jeff Buckley?

Same Place. Though they probably would have gotten there quicker.