Bigger Rock Influence

I've said it before on here: Ace's solo on "Rock and Roll All Nite" caused more kids to pick up guitars in the 70s than anyone this side of Eddie Van Halen.

 

Yeah, I believe The Clash's impact on music history is criminally overrated.

 

I am a huge Clash fan but the Pistols and Ramones would be far bigger influences.

 

The thread is "bigger" rock influence, not "biggest" rock influence.

It's not a bad pairing. Very different bands; both very influential in different corners of the rock universe.

I'd probably go with Zep, but could argue in favor of the Clash as well.

 

Black Sabbath

 

YankeeFan - if the only choices were Zep or The Clash, the vote would be for Zep. But when "other" is listed, then it opens the conversation up to every other rock act.

 

Lonnie Donegan, UK's King of Skiffle, should be mentioned. A good number of the Brittish pop and rock stars who came of age in the 50s and 60s started out playing skiffle. The Beatles, Who, Zeppelin, Hollies, Stones, Van Morison, CSN(&Y), Jackson Browne all evolved from skiffle. Many of the folk artists that inspired Dylan either played skiffle or were influenced by it.

Some quotes from Donegan's Wiki page:

"He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man." — Paul McCartney

"He really was at the very cornerstone of English blues and rock." — Brian May.[2]

"I wanted to be Elvis Presley when I grew up, I knew that. But the man who really made me feel like I could actually go out and do it was a chap by the name of Lonnie Donegan." — Roger Daltrey

"Remember, Lonnie Donegan started it for you." — Jack White's acceptance speech at the Brit Awards.

 

Your mom.

 

I wanted to be a writer, once upon a time.

 

How far back do we want to go? Could throw in Woody Guthrie. Influenced Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Bob Wills, Wilco, Neil Young and countless others who shaped modern rock music.

 

And yet, I've never wanted kill mah self.

 

You have to look at Dylan, Hendrix, the Who, Nirvana, Ramones and a few others. Zepplin is always touted as the icon, but there are plenty who did things with music and recording that paved the way for a lot of artists.