Since most of us are probably tired of talking politics (lord knows I am), I thought I'd do something a little lighter. In the modern era of music, who do you think are the most important (not necessarily best, but most important) musicians or groups? By modern era, I'm saying post WWII because before that, only the true audiophiles would know some obscure blues musician who had 582 unreleased songs, each around 51 seconds long. 
I'm going to say #1 is Elvis Aaron Presley. I know it's obvious, but I wonder how the trajectory of music would have changed if he didn't come around at that exact time. He made it ok for white people to like black music, and he influenced John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and loads of other acts. Without him, do the Beatles happen? Without the Beatles, does the rest of the British invasion happen?
The other one is a little less obvious. I'm going with Black Sabbath. If you aren't a fan of heavy metal, you probably won't agree with this. But almost every heavy metal group in the last 40 years has been influenced by Sabbath. It's hard to think one genre of music where one band or person has had so much influence.
I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks and who your choices are.
I'm going to say #1 is Elvis Aaron Presley. I know it's obvious, but I wonder how the trajectory of music would have changed if he didn't come around at that exact time. He made it ok for white people to like black music, and he influenced John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and loads of other acts. Without him, do the Beatles happen? Without the Beatles, does the rest of the British invasion happen?
The other one is a little less obvious. I'm going with Black Sabbath. If you aren't a fan of heavy metal, you probably won't agree with this. But almost every heavy metal group in the last 40 years has been influenced by Sabbath. It's hard to think one genre of music where one band or person has had so much influence.
I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks and who your choices are.
