Musical Genre Influences

[HarleyQuinn]

I'm always fascinated by influences on bands and artists so I figured it would be a good idea to try and get a more comprehensive look at the "evolution" of genres. Maybe some of us can find artists/albums we had never heard about before.

Grunge Genre
*Album: The Beatles - Meet the Beatles! [1964]. Influenced the pop side of the genre and specifically Cobain on the song "About A Girl"
*Album: The Sex Pistols - Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols [1977]. Really a prototype for the slowed pop/punk aspect of the genre.
*Album: Flipper - Generic Flipper [1982]. The song "Sex Bomb" is constantly referenced as a huge influence.
*Album: Bad Brains - Rock For Light [1983]. Understated influence on the genre in terms of the hardcore punk aspect.
*Album: Black Flag - My War [1984]. Probably most notable for the slow down from punk from their prior album Damaged.
*Album: Green River - Dry As a Bone [1986]. Credited usually as the "first" grunge band to hit the scene.
*Album: Sub Pop 100 [1986]. Incredibly influential compilation record that generally is unknown.
*Album: Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium [1987]. Did a cover of "Mexican Radio" and Krist Novaselic mentioned Nirvana listened to them on one side of a tape prior to their recording of the album Bleach.
*Album: The Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments [1987]. Really married the sludge metal/punk aspect of what the genre would come to be known for. The song "Eye Flys" was a particular influence.
*Album: Pixies - Surfer Rosa [1988]. A very, very well known influence on Nirvana and its raw sound was a big influence on the genre.
*Album: Beat Happening/Screaming Trees EP [1988]. Notable for a pop highlight with "Polly Pereguin" as the song.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I was talking about something like this with some friends. Has there ever been a band whose influence is so strong yet have only had one studio album like The Sex Pistols? They have a bunch of live albums, imports and bootlegs, but they only have 1 studio album, and they've influenced more than some bands/groups with many albums.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I was talking about something like this with some friends. Has there ever been a band whose influence is so strong yet have only had one studio album like The Sex Pistols? They have a bunch of live albums, imports and bootlegs, but they only have 1 studio album, and they've influenced more than some bands/groups with many albums.

I always find it interesting because The Sex Pistols really weren't that fast (most tend to associate Ramones style speed as punk e.g. the hardcore punk scene that went for 1:00-2:00 length songs with insane speed). I think the Sex Pistols did several things...

1: The vocals of Johnny Rotten were absolutely memorable and could probably be listed as "the" voice of what a punk should be.
2: The songs were pretty slow in comparison to most punk albums. Even The Clash at the time seemed to play at faster tempos.
3: The songs were hooky/catchy as hell. Songs like "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy In the UK" had memorable riffs with the riff to "Pretty Vacant" being the most memorable probably.
4: The recording of the album is pretty raw and the songs themselves are pretty heavy sounding compared to later punk.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I think the bigger deal with the Sex Pistols was their persona of "I don't give a fuck" more than anything else. The Ramones and the Clash influenced the musical aspect, the Sex Pistols influenced the look and the attitude that punk would ultimately become best known for.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I think the bigger deal with the Sex Pistols was their persona of "I don't give a fuck" more than anything else. The Ramones and the Clash influenced the musical aspect, the Sex Pistols influenced the look and the attitude that punk would ultimately become best known for.

I agree. It's funny to hear people argue about punk and who was the real influence, the British punk or American punk. I think that both were huge parts of the movement.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

If we begin talking about which country contributed the better albums, I'm going with America, but it was the Brits who laid the heavy groundwork and developed its "fuck the world" attitude.

 

[Precious Roy]

I think the bigger deal with the Sex Pistols was their persona of "I don't give a fuck" more than anything else. The Ramones and the Clash influenced the musical aspect, the Sex Pistols influenced the look and the attitude that punk would ultimately become best known for.

I agree. It's funny to hear people argue about punk and who was the real influence, the British punk or American punk. I think that both were huge parts of the movement.

yeah

who influenced the sex pistols?

I think The Stooges were a big influence on punk, but who influenced them? they were into R&B and shit

who influenced R&B

you can break down the roots of anything

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

It all comes down to the most influential musical artist of all time...

Mel Brooks - How Music Was Invented

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I think The Stooges were a big influence on punk, but who influenced them? they were into R&B and shit

I thought this was an interesting question as I've never heard anybody think along these lines but I figured I'd take a stab at it. I know you were going for a more conventional genre x led to genre y led to genre z post but thought it'd be interesting to try and trace some bit of a lineage.

* The Yardbirds - Five Live Yardbirds [1964] - See tracks like "Smokestack Lightning"
* The Kinks - The Kink Kontroversy [1965] - See tracks like "Till the End of the Day"
* The Who - The Who Sings My Generation [1965] - See tracks like "The Good's Gone"
* The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet [1968] See tracks like "Street Fighting Man" and "Stray Cat Blues"

MC5 was also in the Detroit area during the time of The Stooges.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

The Stooges' biggest influence was the fuckload of smack that Iggy was shooting into his veins.

Second biggest was Detroit garage rock.