Last Culturally Impactful Musician

Ban deez wrote:

The problem is you guys are cranky old men who don't actually know anything new.

This happens to every generation.

+1.

Billie Eilish is culturally impactful, but probably not to people like OP.

Coevett wrote:

99% of the reason why young males entered the music industry was to get girls.

With the Internet and social media it became near impossible for a pop star to have sex with a groupie - she would brag about it on Twitter the next day.

Now #MeToo and cancel culture has put the final nail in the coffin of the music industry.

It's the reason pop is increasingly dominated by women. There will never be another truly great band.

Culture in general is dying in the rest. We will produce about as many great bands, movies, writers, artists in the next 50 years as Pakistan has in the last 50.

If you have sex with a pop star or otherwise famous person, you have to sign an NDA. Billie Eilish even made a song about it. So that's why I don't brag about all the celebrities I've slept with. I'm simply not allowed to

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

Ban deez wrote:

The problem is you guys are cranky old men who don't actually know anything new.

This happens to every generation.

+1.

Billie Eilish is culturally impactful, but probably not to people like OP.

I'm the OP. Not surprisingly I'm in my 40s white and male.

Billie Eilish is a fine musician. Yes, I knew who she was before this thread and recognize a few of her songs. I think she even pops up on one of my Pandora stations. (Yeah Yeah Yeahs= female lead singer= algortithm matching)

I also like Kid Cudi and can give Kanye his due from a prodution and promotion standpoint . That said, Kanye's best work is from 15 years ago and Kid Cudi is going on a decade. However, to me, Drake's music is insufferable nothingness that makes LL Cool J look like Nat King Cole in terms of authenticity.

But even if we're talking about hip hop, I honestly beleve that NWA, Snoop, Bone Thugs and Harmony will stand the test of time better than anything that has come out over the past decade. Maybe I'm wrong. In fact, I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to hear something new and feel like, "Man, this is really cool, everybody is going to like this..."

Maybe that doesn't happen as you get older but I'll try to keep my ears open.

You might like Kendrick Lamar? GKMC and TPAB are two of the most critically and commercially successful albums of the past decade, so it's at least worth a shot.

I'm not confident in saying Kanye's best stuff is from 15 years ago. MBDTF is seen by plenty of people to be his best album and/or the best album of the decade. 808s was incredibly influential to today's musical landscape, and plenty of people only know and adore his newer stuff.

I'll agree that Drake isn't that good. He has a few songs that I really enjoy, but half a dozen songs in a career spanning over a decade and 10+ albums/mixtapes and hundreds of songs isn't very impressive. Still, he has been very culturally significant for a decade+ now.

seattle prattle wrote:

Kurt Cobain was the last culturally impactful musician.

IF there is some pop star since then that is impactful, it is not in a culture I I reside in.

The top five culturally impactful musical act of all time would be:

The Beatles (i.e.: Magical Mystery Tour)

Jimi Hendrix (i.e.: Are You Experienced?)

The Clash (i.e: London's Calling)

The Sex Pistols

Nirvana

The Beatles were the most culturally impactful band by far, with several distinct derivations, to their credit.

What about Elvis and Run DMC?

There are also bands that are more influential (to musicians or the evolution of music) than to pop culture. The Rolling Stones are more important than the Beatles. The Ramones are more important than the Sex Pistols or The Clash. The Replacements and Husker Du are more important than Nirvana. (Nirvana’s members essentially recognized they were a Husker Du ripoff.)

I interpreted the question as Which bands had the greatest impact on culture at large?

WIth that in mind, I will admit that Bob Dylan totally slipped my memory, and I don't see how you could really omit him from the list.

As for Elvis, that was a little before my time, frankly, and while you would have to pretty clueless to not understand his impact, I really wondered if perhaps Chuck Berry would have been more culturally impactful at that time. Again, I just wasn't around then so I didn't venture there. But I did just go and read up on a music site where they compare the two in terms of their influence, and there is a real debate, truth be told. But it did seem like a fair percentage of those felt that Elvis was more impactful culturally and Chuck was perhaps more influential musically (in terms of influencing subsequent bands and the direction rock would take). So, yeah, I could see Elvis being added to the list.

Run DMC? Ok, I guess. But I wouldn't know which one of the Rap/Hip hop genre to pick, so I'll take your word for it.

Ramones were not more impactful than the Clash or Sex Pistols. One could argue that there is no need to put both the Clash and The Sex Pistols on the list, either use one or the other, but I would definitely include one of these. And it wouldn't be the Ramones.

And while Husker Du and the Replacements are really influential for Nirvana, I would definitely discount Husker Du just because they were not as widely known as the other two. I honestly think a good case could be made both for The Replacements and Nirvana, and I say that because The Replacements were actually very popular and were ground breaking in the alternative music movement, and all the cultural accoutrements that went along with it, and Nirvana spun that off to a more Grunge oriented cultural movement. Again, I would definitely add The Replacements. And while I think Husker Du pre-dated Nirvana with virtually the same musical statement, it was Nirvana that popularized it culturally and within those generations of listeners.

Of course, this is debatable, but I tried to limit it to which ones influenced the larger culture, and not limit it to which ones influenced subsequent musical directions or other bands.

In terms of influence on music, there is;

Elvis Presley

The Rolling Stones

The Beatles

Bob Dylan

No one else is even close. If those four didn’t immediately come to mind, you shouldn’t even be posting in this thread.

Some artists/bands have stuck out from the crowd at various times - Sex Pistols, Clash, Nirvana, NWA, Dr. Dre, Marley, Kanye West, many more.

Some artist/bands have had long, brilliant careers and lasting impact - The Who, Bowie, Neil Young, Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Elton John, several more.

Some of the other artists/bands and characterizations mentioned in this thread - WTF are you guys on?

most people stop listening to new music around the age of 30 . something to keep in mind ITT

John Prine

Haven't seen anyone mention Taylor Swift but Taylor Swift.

He did have some beautiful songs.

brien evans wrote:

Haven't seen anyone mention Taylor Swift but Taylor Swift.

Yep.

Also hard to believe no one has mentioned Lady Gaga, Beyonce, or Katy Perry. If you asked me..."which modern musician has produced the largest number of instantly recognizable songs" (or songs that we'll still here 20-30 years from now), I think it would be one of them.

aadfasdf wrote:

brien evans wrote:

Haven't seen anyone mention Taylor Swift but Taylor Swift.

Yep.

Also hard to believe no one has mentioned Lady Gaga, Beyonce, or Katy Perry. If you asked me..."which modern musician has produced the largest number of instantly recognizable songs" (or songs that we'll still here 20-30 years from now), I think it would be one of them.

because they aren't musicians. They're just celebrities.

Mongacious wrote:

Some of the other artists/bands and characterizations mentioned in this thread - WTF are you guys on?

No dude, The Replacements are totally one of the 5 most influential musical acts of all time. Get with the program.

Ed Sheeran is another person who will go down as a 2010s icon

Mongacious wrote:

In terms of influence on music, there is;

Elvis Presley

The Rolling Stones

The Beatles

Bob Dylan

No one else is even close. If those four didn’t immediately come to mind, you shouldn’t even be posting in this thread.

Some artists/bands have stuck out from the crowd at various times - Sex Pistols, Clash, Nirvana, NWA, Dr. Dre, Marley, Kanye West, many more.

Some artist/bands have had long, brilliant careers and lasting impact - The Who, Bowie, Neil Young, Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Elton John, several more.

Some of the other artists/bands and characterizations mentioned in this thread - WTF are you guys on?

I really think you could reduce the list to Elvis and the Beatles. IMO no one since then has had anywhere near the level of cultural (US/Western/global) impact that they have. With due respect, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones did not have anywhere near the influence of Elvis/the Beatles at a societal level, and there have been other musical movements with significant cultural impact (rap/hip hop) but without any true catalytic pioneers.

easy roadie wrote:

I like the Dead's studio music and include them on the list of culturally impactful bands.

Their studio music had almost nothing to do with their cultural impact! It was the tours.

Tens of thousands of people left their entire lives behind to live in vans and follow them around. 100x that many bought into the counterculture revival that sprang up around them in the early 90s. They were megastars like no other at that time. They were gods. And that's why Jerry had to die.

Two Bobs - Dylan and Marley. They caused political movements.

David Guetta.