In your opinion, what bands changed the way music was made, and why? Who do you think gave the most to the music industry? Who are the most revolutionary bands in history?

No fighting

Definitely the Beatles. They just re-wrote the book. Incredible musicians,songwriters and performers. They went from 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' to 'Sgt Peppers' in four short years. That is a massive progression.

It isn't a question. It is also, not an opinion, you're asking for. It is a constitutional fact; The Beatles.

Haha yes I agree, The Beatles were the biggest step forward in music, ever.

I was wondering if anyone had any others?

I guess you could say bands like Floyd..Queen..Zeppelin..Hendrix..The Who..Rolling stones as all being revolutionary in there own rights and ways (along with others). Lord knows they have all inspired musicians for years and years, and will continue to do so!

And of course, The Fab Four.

I would agree with all of the above but I would also give a nod 2 Johhny Cash an dElvis they both particapated in creating modern rock and roll

Definately the Beatles, but you've got to give credit to Elvis for bringing RockNRoll more into the mainstream.

Beatles
PInk Floyd
Marvin Gaye
Metallica
Nirvana

Elvis - (Made a transition between blues and newer rock)
Chuck Berry - (He IS 50's rock)
The Beatles - (You don't need a reason, they're the Beatles)
Pink Floyd - (Redefined the live rock show, Ability to create atmospheres with sound)
Led Zeppelin - (Music that defines the word rock)
Queen - (Rock music with good singing voices , Rock-Opera)
ELO - (Created Orchestra-Rock, mixed 50's rock with 70's rock)


There are others, but I don't know them that well.

Elvis- Brought us out of the jitterbug
The Beatles- Nuff said
Led Zeppelin- Started heavy meatal
David Bowie- Made Rock a Theatrical performance
Elton John- Made Rock availible to a whole new sub-generation
Bee Gee's- Disco in a word

Chuck Berry - one of the inventors of rock and roll.

Elvis Prestly - the king

Beattles - more hits, revolutionary worldwide

Pink Floyd - soulful rock

Queen - intelligent rock

IMO, all of the above plus Frank Zappa

Nirvana deffiently changed modern rock.

Nirvanna. Yes definitly. New age grudge rock that is. Tis Rock nevertheless.


- the man who sold the world>>><<<< that's my favorite by my man Kurt.

Revolutionary is the operative word here, right?

Well, then we have to go way back. Way back to Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Les Paul, et al... then move to Bob Dylan (who revolutioned the Electric sound), The Beatles (who revolutionized studio sound production via George Martin), and The Grateful Dead (who revolutionized live performance sound/experience and MIDI technology). This bring us to the late 80s/early 90s... can't say I've come across anything remotely resembling "Revolutionary" since then.

-mkl

Not sure about revolutionizing the industry, but when we speak of bands that left some immortal music behind them, it is definitely Pink Floyd (Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish U Where Here, Animals, The Wall) Also The Doors was just immense.

I'm going with my man Alice Cooper for making shows interesting and for etc. which I won't state because it'll just start a fight.

wasn't alice the first person to create an on stage persona? I could be wrong and mixing him up with someone else... but still.

Well he was the first to do a lot of things. He wasn't called Alice Cooper at first-that was just the band name but everyone called him Alice so he finally changed his name to Alice. And yes he is a totally different person on stage as Alice than he is as Vince. He revolutionized a lot of things in music and musical theatrics. He's an excellent lyricist and singer as well which people tend to overlook due to all the theatrics.

But all that just because I love him!

Radiohead....transcend all genre classification.


I think Black Sabbath are VER important....the first real metal band...not Zeppelin.

I totally knew you were gonna say that, TFG

The Who, I believe they were the first step towards punk.

hhhmm,did korn really do anything?

For Heavy Metal/Hard Rock, I'd say Van Halen.
.
.
Guitarist were talented of course, but rather "samey" and dime a dozen. He single handedly rewrote and raised the bar all at the same time and set a new standard for playing...no one has done that since me thinks....

I`d say the sexpistols

There are so many, but if I had to choose one group/performer I'd say Jimi Hendrix Experience**The Band of Gypsies. The influence he has had on music as a whole(especially when it comes to guitar, regardless of genre) is immeasurable. Not only from a guitarist point of view, but the attitude and creativity that went along with that. I think most guitarists that came after were either influenced consciously or subconsciously, at the least Jimi has revolutionized the way guitar music is approached and heard, and especially played. Its amazing that after 40 years his influence still exists.
Of course there are the bands mentioned in earlier posts I'd agree with too. Led Zepp, Beatles, Frank Zappa, etc.

Nah man I think it's The Who. They weren't the first punk band, they were the first step towards it.

Am I that predictable SC?

Yeah, "My Generation" is as punk as it gets.

I imagine you have heard : Dead Babies - Alice Cooper.

That song is Ubelievably Original.

Of course I have! And I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or serious so I'll just say that it is an original song about child neglect. It's awesome--deep meaningful lyrics with a shocking title, that's Alice!

Rage Against the Machine.

btw anyone listened to Neil Youngs new tune, Let Impeachment the President, any good?

Haha

Apparently that was the first ever punk song!

I havn't heard anything off of Young's new album, but I've been listening to the "Havest" album constantly.

I wasn't being sarcastic. It is off the album Killer. excellent song.

Okay then, I apologize! It is an excellent song! Some people would jump to conclusions when they saw a title like that without ever having listened to the song. I was just making sure you weren't one of those people!

overall,the beatles had the biggest impact.but i have to go with buddy holly and the crickets.they inspired the beatles.

I would have to say for the 90's and 2000's, Nirvana, Marylin Manson, NIN, Korn and Slipknot, NWA, Dr. Dre, Tupac. Some probably would disagree based on bias. Although not to the quality some pre-existing band, a revolutionary band would be one who changed the face of the music in the mainstream. All of these bands have done that. Nirvana, of course put grunge on the map. Which lead the way for band like Korn to start the Nu-metal age. And than Slipknot came in after to lay down the road for contemporary metal. Slipknot put metal back in the mainstream. Marlyin Manson and NIN of course of the contemporary version of Floyd and Ozzy in my opinion. The pushed the limits with new technologies and went against almost every ideology America had. They really changed the face of what is acceptable and what is not. And NWA, Dr. Dre, and Tupac changed radio forever. Although I am not big on Hip-hop R&B and rap, there is no doubt they put that style in the "MAINSTREAM!" You cant turn on the radio without listening to some sort of Rap. I definitely would say these band have or ever will have the same quality or impact as a Floyd or Beatles, but a revolution is a major change. And in the music industry, all these bands changed the face of music to drive it in a new direction.

I'd say NWA, U2, The Beatles, and Nirvana

I am a huge Nirvana fan but we can't credit that song to Cobain. Kurt covered it. It was written by David Bowie.

On a seperate note, Black Sabbath brought us a new kind of rock with their stoner sound with the downtuned guitars and repetitive riffs.

In jazz? Miles Davis, hands down. I don't care if Louis and Duke came before them; Miles was a significant part of EVERY stylistic development in jazz since bebop (and there are a hell of a lot of them).

I'm not gonna comment on rock in general, mainly because it's impossible to really get a good argument going (there's so many different perspectives!!!!!!!), and also because everybody else already put down their 3 cents.

In metal? Black Sabbath of course.

But for the most influential musician in the history of western music, I'd have to go with Beethoven. He was the first significant person in western music to really decide that music should NOT just be a nice backdrop for pompous rich imbeciles to sit around and drink wine and/or waltz to.
Oh, and he was probably the first cat to destroy instruments during a performance!!! Apparently he used to strike the piano so hard that he would require venues to have multiple "spare pianos" ready and waiting for him, due especially to breaking strings (pretty hard to do on a piano) and stuff like that.

The Beatles
Bob Marley
Queen
Led Zeppelin
Kiss
Elvis Presley
Alice Cooper
Black Sabbath
Van Halen
Iron Maiden
The Sex Pistols
The Clash

Just to name a few who changed rock... No Bob Marley isn't rock but I'm still recovering from 420 so I put him in there.

The Beatles, Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, Elvis, Nirvana and maybe Nine Inch Nails and Ministry.

Joy Division would definately have to be one of the post-modern ones. Unfortunatly, Ian Curtis died before the band could become commercially successful.

The Velvet Underground, Link Wray, Black Sabbath and the Stooges definitely deserve mentions here.

The Ramones and Sex Pistols. They brought the rawness and fury back into rock along with the attitude (see also the Punk rock movement), away from the complex guitar solo's that dominated the rock scene during the time.

In my lifetime:

Kate Bush
The Cure
Depeche Mode
Tori Amos
Nirvana
Radiohead

can't forget the likes of the Smiths or NIN , the Eurythmics

ah the Smiths. First concert I went to where people threw pork sausage on stage.

I can't believe that these guys haven't been mentioned as of yet...

Revolutionary mass marketing strategies maybe, nothing revolutionary about their music though.

But it's the total package that makes the band-any band..The Beatles music (and many others mentioned here) were not all that 'revolutionary', it was the total package they brought with them..While Kiss's music sucked..their stage show did not..They did set a standard there for a while.

Most revolutionary sound from a rock band was probably Devo..(who's bazaar total package didn't hurt them either..)

Not really anything Bowie didn't do before them.