The real question should have been: What are the most important bands/acts in R-n-R history? Bands or people that flat out changed music for the better creating a major turning point in music history and were major influences for all who followed.
Elvis:
The King, hard to argue this one, responsible for great changes both musically and socially
The Beatles:
smartly threw in the towel before becoming a mockery of what they once were, they brought the attitude that would later become the foundation of punk rock, and provided the blueprints for great song writing for later generations.
The Beach Boys:
Without a doubt, one of the most talented groups ever. The harmonies and multiple time changes in songs like Good Vibrations are still beyond the scope most musicians today. They may sound like a simplistic party band, but the truth couldn't be farther. They pretty much provided life support for Rock N' Roll at the time when it was trying to find it's place in the world.
Jimi Hendrix:
proving you can be bad ass musician with nothing but desire. Although I'm not much of a fan, you can't deny his important mark in the business, and how much he still lends to acts of today.
Ramones:
completely re-inventing Rock 'N Rock by simply breaking it down to the basics and shattering your senses for 25 straight years, never once bending to what was popular while jump-starting some of modern music's greatest acts - Springsteen and U2 directly (Bono is the one who pushed MTV to give them the Lifetime Achievement Award right after Joey died). Like the Beach Boys, while they sounded simplistic (they pretty much were) they had a complexity that is still difficult to duplicate by the great majority of acts today. Nearly everyone else in the past 15-20 years can claim them as major influences in everything from simplistic musical style, to sound, to attitude. If you're a fan of Rock 'N Roll, Punk, or any of their bastard sub-genres, you owe The Ramones your thanks.
R.I.P. Joey, Dee Dee, and Johnny
Run D.M.C.
Say What? You heard me - the first band to legitimize Rap in the mainstream, to firmly cement it's place on the map, and to fuse it with Rock 'N Rock with their timeless collaboration with Aerosmith and Walk this Way. They are to Rap what the Ramones are to punk.
The Beastie Boys:
20 years later, and these 3 white Jewish boys from NYC are still one of the most influential rap groups in the business. True fusion of rock and rap, and to this day some of their early stuff still sounds way ahead of it's time. Love 'em or hate 'em, they are one of the more important bands of the past 40 years.
Guns 'n Roses:
Appetite for Destruction is flat out one of the greatest Rock N' Roll albums, bar none. Every song is a winner, and they run the gamut in sounds and styles both musically and vocally. Music in the 80's was in dire need of this band, and we're all better because of them. Too bad Axl's head imploded and every album afterwards was another step into oblivion. He is now that mocking shell of what he used to be, and the epitome of what happens when rock stars are allowed to keep going way past their prime. Slash, on the other hand - still one of the most amazing guitarists on the planet, blues or other wise.
Nirvana:
They were not the greatest by far, heck they weren't even the best when they were big, but they came at the perfect time in musical history. Music was at a low point, almost as bad as it is today, when they first threw up the teen angst anthem of Spells Like Teen Spirit. They single-handedly brought a lot of obscure bands into the limelight and made them acceptable to the mainstream. Bands that people like me thrashed to on our skateboards were suddenly prominent on every radio station and mainstream outlets like MTV and the likes. Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Mighty Mighty Bostones, Jane's Addiction - it didn't matter that they were from different genres, or that some were around for more than a decade in the under-ground scenes - it was a collective attitude that was boiling over and was finally brought to a head the first time Kurt's vocal chords screamed in that half sarcastic boredom-induced lashing out as their sophomore effort went from obscure to the top of the Top 40 charts.
The odd thing is that for the first time it was a good thing for these bands to be popular, it was acceptable for your favorite band to be heard on the local Top 40 station. The clubs here in NY were full of what would otherwise be a clashing of culture with punks, metal-heads, dirtbags, goths, and even a few jocks thrown into a giant mosh pit and loving every second of it. People from different generations heard the calling, people who liked different styles of music began branching out, bands began working together to morph and blur genre lines, giant multi band tours like Lalapalooza were taking center stage, mixing heavy hitters with local legends and letting everyone have there moment. And what classic Rock N' Roll story would be complete without a tragic end? Folks, this band was the very definition of Rock N' Roll without even realizing it. They kicked the crap out of everyone every time they geared up, validated every emotional outcry you could have had, and left nobody felling cheated in the end.
Nothing since Nirvana has had any noticeable effect on music's sound nor it's direction, and folks - we are in some dire need of a good musical ass-kicking with the sad state of music these days.
"You stay classy, San Diego"
