Important Acts

It's already been mentioned, but I think there's a lot of truth to the notion that many of the most influential artists at the time won't be the ones remembered.

I'm thinking of someone like Sarah McLaughlin, for instance. For the 90s her influence was massive and felt in so much of women led pop of the decade. But she's not maintained as prominent a place in the current zeitgeist.

And does important have to mean good? There were bands and trends in music that were massively influential, but they're not the ones we'd probably like to see remembered. Think of bands like Creed and Nickelback and how much they impacted the sound of mainstream rock radio for years. I'd say bands like Imagine Dragons and Awolnation wouldn't exist without them. But I don't personally care for maintaining any of their influence in the institutional history of music because I'm biased against them. Still maybe worth trying to discuss in an unbiased way.
 
Kris said:
I don’t think any rock band from the 90s is really going to stand the test of time except maybe Nirvana. The 90s continued the shift of the 80s towards electronic music and added hip-hop/spoken word. It’s been the dominant music for almost 30 years.
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It's certainly not the dominant music anymore, but people will still be listening to and making rock music in the years to come. They'll still be finding and digging Radiohead and Wilco records.
 
bettim84 said:
I think the OP is asking us to brainstorm acts from the 90s through present (which is more challenging since we don’t have the benefit of hindsight yet).

In my previous post I listed the more obvious artists that came to mind (Kendrick, Radiohead, Taylor Swift, Björk). Now let’s try a few others, specifically from the rock realm.

Phish technically formed in the early 80s but per their Wiki page didn’t start performing outside of New England until the end of that decade. I’m willing to bend the rules a bit to include them in the “important” list, because they’re arguably the biggest cult act of the last 30 years. Incidentally, they’re another act I’m not a huge fan of (though I did see them live back in 2004 and had a blast… I think).

Tool might make the cut, for weirdly similar reasons to Phish (they’re kind of a cult act that does not rely on airplay).

How about Deftones? Sneakily influential.

Sleater-Kinney? Never as popular as their critical acclaim would indicate, but they were definitely a force until the embarrassing Janet departure.

Tame Impala? The emphasis on vibes over riffs/tunes has all but taken over modern rock music, and they’re pretty representative of that shift.
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You mention Deftones (who fucking rule) but they would point to: Hum.
thequietus.com

The Quietus | Features | Baker's Dozen | Bakers Dozen: Deftones' Chino Moreno Chooses His Top 13 Albums

Today we give Deftones Chino Moreno the Bakers Dozen treatment, asking for his thirteen favourite albums, and finding out why he loves them
thequietus.com thequietus.com
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Guided By Voices in terms of Lo-Fi music and super short songs. The first time I heard GBV I hated it because it sounded like shit and the best songs were too short, now those are two of the reason I love it. Also, have a VU effect in that they inspired tons of band over the past 20+ years.
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djdavedk said:
What about the arc of The Beastie Boys?
I know Licensed to Ill has some cringe looking back, but their evolution after that was impressive.
There won't be another hip-hop/rap album like Paul's Boutique again unless it's underground/unlicensed.
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I think bands like these are much easier because they started in the 80s and have that advantage. It's tougher to think of bands that first dropped albums in the 90s and since.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
It's certainly not the dominant music anymore, but people will still be listening to and making rock music in the years to come. They'll still be finding and digging Radiohead and Wilco records.
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I think Rock & Roll’s decline will follow a similar tract as Jazz but on a much larger scale since Rock was way more popular at its peak.
 
I cannot believe that I had to reach page 3 of the thread and not have any mention of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Their influence on the music world is still felt until today and they transcend boundaries, not only in genre but in language and geography.

I'd argue The Smiths also play into this. Have you ever seen the influence that Morrisey and Johnny Marr have in Latin America? Huge. But I guess they pull a lot from the Velvet Underground, Bowie, and T. Rex.
 
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
VU started it in '67. The Jesus And Mary Chain doubled it with Psychocandy in '85, then My Bloody Valentine set it on fire and pushed it off a cliff with Loveless in 1991.

They're still talked about and revered today and they only released 3 records in 25 years. I think they'll remain in the conversation along with VU. My JAMC boys, I love 'em and they're worthy (every record they released was different), but they're a distant 3rd.

MBV made such a polarizing record in the 90's they'll remain in the mix for decades.
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Without VU we don't get Courtney Barnett today. Lou Reed's legacy remains.
e.s. said:
I guess you need to define “ important,” then. As much as I love Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament / Funkadelic, I’d argue more people know who Prince is. I doubt the average person could name a single George Clinton song, but they all know “Purple Rain.”
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I learned about George Clinton through We Want The Funk and I've never looked back.
Lee Newman said:
We can define that together. I don't think popularity needs to be a part of the equation though. Look up at @Yer Ol' Uncle D's post. It is nigh impossible to equate VU's importance to music to their popularity. Velvet Underground & Nico only hit gold status after the 90s. Popularity can certainly play into the conversation though. Like I said, Prince certainly has a lot of pros in his column, but I'm biased and would rather the community as a whole place him. I'll argue to the hilt that Sly and Clinton are indeed important though. You don't get Prince without them.
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But Prince made us look back and learn. A lot.
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
I think it's mostly a matter of generational context. While us old bastards know how much is lifted/reworked/sampled/influenced/covered from music created decades before, to the generation present when it's cranked out, it's new and fresh and exciting.

Many folks don't know Elvis 'Hound Dog' was originally done by Big Mama Thornton.

Many folks don't know The Rolling Stones 'The Last Time' was originally done by Bobby Womack.

Many folks don't know Steve Miller 'Jet Airliner' was originally done by Paul Pena.

Many folks don't know Talking Heads 'Take Me To The River' was originally done by Al Green.

Many folks don't know they've heard The Winstons 'Amen, Brother' sampled thousands of time in modern music.

Everything old becomes new and the music keeps propagating itself.
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Nirvana taught us about the Meat Puppets. At some point we have to look at the bands that bring all this music knowledge forward.

The Amen break is quintessential to drum n' bass. The Funky Drummer break taken from James Brown is quintessential to hip hop. James Brown in his own right belongs to the list of important acts.
bettim84 said:
I have dropped the ball on keeping up with new music over the past few years, so this is a challenging conversation for me. It’s also hard to evaluate how much what matters in the present moment will matter decades down the road. But let’s give it a try.

Hip hop has been a major cultural force for decades and is now far more relevant than rock music in contemporary culture, so we should be able to single out a couple of standout artists who are likely to signify this shift. Given his cultural acclaim and sheer skill, I think it’s safe to say that Kendrick Lamar’s body of work in the 2010s is and will continue to be regarded as “important,” because it is very likely that future generations will go back and revisit albums like GKMC and TPAB.

Taylor Swift is massively important not just because of her body of work but also because of the whole agency narrative (re-recording her albums for IP reasons). I think at this point she has transcended the “popular at the time but ultimately irrelevant” threshold (e.g. I dunno, Carly Simon) and will likely remain a reference point for the types of paths that future artists may choose to follow throughout their careers.

Radiohead is arguably the last great classic rock band. If they care enough about their brand, you can see how they may maintain a high level of popularity even after they break up (which may have already happened). I’m not sure we can say that they’re particularly influential, but I think their sound is unique and powerful enough that future fans of rock music will want to revisit their catalogue more than, I dunno, the Foo Fighters’ (to name a far more popular but vastly inferior act).

I should add that none of the artists I listed above rank among my personal favorites. I’m not much of a hip hop fan, have limited patience for Taylor Swift, and am rarely in the mood for Radiohead.

One artist who is a personal favorite (even though I don’t really like most of her 21st-century output) and who probably belongs in this conversation is Björk. She fits neatly into the kooky/unique female songwriter canon; the 90s version of Kate Bush. I think it is likely that her first four or five albums will continue to be regarded as timeless classics, and I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if people (myself included) positively reevaluate her later work as well.

Notably, most of my favorite artists don’t make the cut for the “important” club. My favorite artists of the 2010s were probably Beach House, Father John Misty, and Grimes; maaaaybe Grimes can crack the conversation as a self-made, micro-popstar but that remains to be seen. As for the 2000s, I rank Spoon and Ladytron very highly, but can’t make a strong argument for either as a culturally important act. Going back to my favorites from the 90s, I think Nirvana definitely belongs, but others like Wilco, PJ Harvey, or Belle and Sebastian are less obvious.

[I gotta get to work so I’ll stop here]
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I keep up with NPR. All Songs Considered helps being fresh on new bands, new releases, new artists to be on the look out.
Lee Newman said:
I think it should be a mixture of both. Popularity is important. However, it can't be the end all either.
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Popularity helps bring up the music that's buried deep. Would people know Son House without Jack White. Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside without the Black Keys? We need entry point.
wokeupnew said:
Influential acts Since the 90s:

(there's more, this is just what I got off the top of my head)
  • Pavement
  • My Bloody Valentine
  • Slowdive
  • Bjork
  • PJ Harvey
  • Fiona Apple
  • Neutral Milk Hotel
  • Yo La Tengo
  • Red House Painters
  • Wilco (and/or Uncle Tupalo)
  • Beck
  • Spiritualized (and/or Spacemen 3)
  • Stars of the Lid
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor
  • Explosions in the Sky
  • Avalanches
  • Boards of Canada
  • Belle & Sebastian
  • Rilo Kiley
  • Converge
  • Cap'n Jazz
  • American Football
  • Animal Collective
  • Sleater-Kinney
  • The Strokes
  • Interpol
  • Sleigh Bells
  • Washed Out
  • Oasis
  • Blur
  • Radiohead
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Alanis Morissete needs to be up there. Madonna too. Without Maverick Records (Madonna's label) we don't get Alanis. Without Madonna we don't get 90's pop. No Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. We don't get anything without Michael Jackson either.
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The “revival” part is where I am debating. Because bands like The Strokes and Interpol and The White Stripes are all critically acclaimed and relatively popular and thusly highly influential. I can think of so many band that that were going to be “the next Strokes” but none of it was necessarily new or innovative. They were trendsetters in their era but is that enough?
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The book Meet Me In the Bathroom by Elizabeth Goodman touches on this. The Killers, Kings of Leon, the Yeah Yeah Yeah are all also part of that revival in the early 2000s.
Thackeraye said:
Bikini Kill as the poster band for Riot Grrl?

Portishead and/or Massive Attack for triphop.

I’d say Screamadelica is influential rather than Primal Scream being influential.

Let me think about this a bit more. Thinking about bands that changed or created new genres, rather than just good/great/popular.
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Daft Punk should also be there as a band that pushes forward the art of sampling. The Prodigy too to some degree.
Hemotep said:
It's already been mentioned, but I think there's a lot of truth to the notion that many of the most influential artists at the time won't be the ones remembered.

I'm thinking of someone like Sarah McLaughlin, for instance. For the 90s her influence was massive and felt in so much of women led pop of the decade. But she's not maintained as prominent a place in the current zeitgeist.

And does important have to mean good? There were bands and trends in music that were massively influential, but they're not the ones we'd probably like to see remembered. Think of bands like Creed and Nickelback and how much they impacted the sound of mainstream rock radio for years. I'd say bands like Imagine Dragons and Awolnation wouldn't exist without them. But I don't personally care for maintaining any of their influence in the institutional history of music because I'm biased against them. Still maybe worth trying to discuss in an unbiased way.
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Korn, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot pushed Nü Metal.
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Guided By Voices in terms of Lo-Fi music and super short songs. The first time I heard GBV I hated it because it sounded like shit and the best songs were too short, now those are two of the reason I love it. Also, have a VU effect in that they inspired tons of band over the past 20+ years.
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Again what keeps bringing me back to this forum. Who are GBV?! New rabbit hole to go in.
 
YoHabloEspanol said:
Again what keeps bringing me back to this forum. Who are GBV?! New rabbit hole to go in.
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Guided By Voices are Dayton, OH’s preeminent Lo-Fi Rock band.

Their story is pretty interesting. Bob Pollard was a middle school teacher in his early 30’s who would record and get drunk with his friends in his basement for fun. They would record songs that are deeply indebted to 60s Brit Invasion Pop but most of their songs feel half finished (though the half that they finished was usually the best part) they developed a bit of a cult following and slowly grew more and more popular (largely driven by their epic live shows where Bob would play local bars like he was fronting The Rolling Stones. They would put out Bee Thousand where they kinda broke out in Alt/Indie circles Matador would rerelease it and they would spend the next decade releasing albums at a lightning quick speed. The original lineup would eventually all be replaced then rehired then replaced again. They even put out an album on a a major that was produced by Ric Ocasek.

They have released an intimidating amount of music at this point but I would say their run from Propeller Through Mag Earwig! Would be the best place to start exploring album wise.

I also have a decent GBV Spotify mix if you are interested…
 
Eminem. His importance in music/pop culture/hip hop is tremendous. His commercial success is one we hadn't seen since MJ (maybe Madonna/Mariah Carey you could argue there). He led the last good music era of MTV, or as I think of it as the TRL era. Him and maybe the Nu metal bands came in and changed the huge boy band/Britney/Christina pop of the late 90s, and brought hip hop to center stage. He reinvigorated Dr. Dre's career, brought 50 Cent up bringing Gangsta rap back to the mainstream.

As with the previous mention of Elvis' career, his skin tone had most definitely helped him reach a wider audience. But in Eminems case, he wasn't stealing anything away. He has his own unique style, and well respected among a lot of his hip hop peers. A chameleon of rap who can go from machine gun fast rapping, to angry rapping, to emotional rapping, to almost any kind of style. And was able to keep up with the best in hip hop for most of his career.
 
Joe Mac said:
I’m going to throw out The La’s for the quietly influential. They formed a crucial bridge in the DNA strand between The Stone Roses and what became humongous a couple of years later. Their sole album is pretty much perfect too.

Also as I said in the conversation in the discussion meaty pizza thread, like them or loathe them, you can’t overlook oasis. Highly unoriginal and increasingly derivative to declining returns as their career moved on but Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory are far more influential in terms of influencing a generation of brits to pick up guitars and form bands than any other, and by quite a distance.
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There's definitely importance in Oasis. They were the only one in the 90s brit rock movement that really made it big in the states. I, and probably many people discovered a lot of better bands through Oasis. Blur is the obvious one. They were the "Song 2" band until reading about their competition with Oasis for the biggest British band at the time. I don't think a lot of casual listeners knew much about Damon and Blur until Gorillaz came.
 
YoHabloEspanol said:
I cannot believe that I had to reach page 3 of the thread and not have any mention of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Their influence on the music world is still felt until today and they transcend boundaries, not only in genre but in language and geography.

I'd argue The Smiths also play into this. Have you ever seen the influence that Morrisey and Johnny Marr have in Latin America? Huge. But I guess they pull a lot from the Velvet Underground, Bowie, and T. Rex.
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@Lee Newman is asking about 90s and beyond artists.
 
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