u/Agreeable_Duck8997

​

I already made a long post about the immense influence exerted by Kraftwerk on Brazilian funk, which is one of the most popular Brazilian musical genres, especially since 2005, when it experienced worldwide dissemination mainly through M.I.A. and Diplo:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kraftwerk/s/bF7H5dGR0a

​It’s really important to have read the post above to understand what I’m going to talk about here. So, here goes.

Hermano Vianna, is a Brazilian anthropologist, music researcher, and television screenwriter, recognized with the Cultural Merit Order honor by the Brazilian government. Author of very important works, such as the first historical and anthropological book about Brazilian funk and a very important book about samba.

Now I bring this statement that Hermano Vianna made in 2020 about Kraftwerk:

"Kraftwerk to me is the best creation of modern art (and since I like modern art more than any other art, I can state: it is the best creation of art), including literature, painting, performance, theater, dance, and everything else. I will never tire of listening to their records. I saw two of their shows (with Florian & Ralf): a masterclass in everything that is good, performed impeccably. Nothing in Kraftwerk is makeshift. Their work does not admit improvisation, the precarious, or the crude. Every sound and every beat is perfect. Every event is calculated to the millimeter, nothing out of place. The quality of the result is so sublime that it cannot contain itself: it ends up spreading to all corners, elevating everything else (hip hop, techno, house, David Bowie…). I also like a lot of crude things. But something crude that follows some aspect of Kraftwerk's lessons is much better."

https://hermanovianna.wordpress.com/2020/05/10/kraftwerk-de-palafita/

It is also worth mentioning a statement by Hermano about another Brazilian musical genre that is also one of the most popular in this land where I was born, tecnobrega. In 2003, the researcher said:

"Tecnobrega looks like a makeshift Kraftwerk, produced under equatorial heat by people who listened to a lot of carimbó, cumbia, zouk, and Renato e Seus Blue Caps."

https://www.bregapop.com/historia/321-hermano-vianna/52-tecnobrega-a-musica-paralela-hermano-vianna

Check out one of the tecnobrega hits, "Bole Rebole", it is almost entirely a cover of "Das Model", made by Los Bregas:

https://youtu.be/a\_HtLGbMdqA?si=mLTzz\_2hoygCiztn

Later on, a large part of tecnobrega and Brazilian funk began to share even more elements, in a way, of course, that Kraftwerk's influence in the country has been growing more and more, and not just in these two genres.

In 2013, one of the biggest popularizers of tecnobrega, Gang do Eletro—led by DJ Waldo Squash, who a year earlier made official remixes for the Pet Shop Boys—released the song "Electro Robot", a "sincere tribute to the work of the giants Kraftwerk":

https://musicainstantanea.com.br/disco-gang-do-eletro-gang-do-eletro/

In 2016, the Pet Shop Boys released the song "Twenty-something", featuring a direct influence from tecnobrega, which was widely recognized by DJs here in Brazil:

https://musica.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2016/04/11/pet-shop-boys-lanca-tecnobrega-e-dj-afirma-da-para-tocar-na-aparelhagem.htm?app=uol-generic&plataforma=ipad&cmpid=copiaecola

It’s also worth mentioning that one of Brazil's most respected contemporary culture portals, created in 2016, is called 'Music Non Stop' (a reference to the Kraftwerk track), and here is an excellent post from the site about the band:

https://musicnonstop.uol.com.br/13-provas-da-gigantesca-importancia-do-kraftwerk-para-a-musica/

​In recent times, many Brazilian music critics and journalists have been arguing that Kraftwerk is the most influential band in history, or at least as influential as The Beatles. Even British outlets like The Guardian and the BBC, for example, have been asserting since the early 2010s that Kraftwerk is the most influential band of all time, a point I fully agree with.

What do you guys think? Either way, one of the points I find most relevant in all this is that when many people talk about musical influence, they are completely unaware of what musical genres have been most popular in non-Anglo-Saxon countries.

“The Velvet Underground were a big revelation. I realised, ‘Oh, look at the subject of their songs: There’s a tune and a melody, but the sound is either completely abrasive or really pretty’. They swing from one extreme to the other [...] No surprise I was a big fan [of Lou Red], and his music, with and without the Velvets, was a big influence on myself and Talking Heads. He came to see us at CBGB numerous times, and I remember three of us going to visit him at his Upper East Side (!) apartment after one of our very early gigs there. His work and that of the Velvets was a big reason I moved to NY and I don’t think I’m alone there. We wanted to be in a city that nurtured and fed that kind of talent.” - David Byrne.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-byrne-velvet-underground-songwriting-lesson/

Hermano Vianna, is a Brazilian anthropologist, music researcher, and television screenwriter, recognized with the Cultural Merit Order honor by the Brazilian government.

Author of very important works, such as the first historical and anthropological book about Brazilian funk and a very important book about samba.

In the photo, he is in the center, and the mentioned books are being held, one by DJ Marlboro (one of the main pioneers of Brazilian funk) and the other by Walter Alfaiate, one of the greatest names in samba.

I already made a long post here about the immense influence exerted by Kraftwerk on Brazilian funk, which is one of the most popular Brazilian musical genres, especially since 2005, when it experienced worldwide dissemination mainly through M.I.A. and Diplo:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kraftwerk/s/bF7H5dGR0a

Now I bring this statement that Hermano Vianna made in 2020 about Kraftwerk:

"Kraftwerk to me is the best creation of modern art (and since I like modern art more than any other art, I can state: it is the best creation of art), including literature, painting, performance, theater, dance, and everything else. I will never tire of listening to their records. I saw two of their shows (with Florian & Ralf): a masterclass in everything that is good, performed impeccably. Nothing in Kraftwerk is makeshift. Their work does not admit improvisation, the precarious, or the crude. Every sound and every beat is perfect. Every event is calculated to the millimeter, nothing out of place. The quality of the result is so sublime that it cannot contain itself: it ends up spreading to all corners, elevating everything else (hip hop, techno, house, David Bowie…). I also like a lot of crude things. But something crude that follows some aspect of Kraftwerk's lessons is much better."

https://hermanovianna.wordpress.com/2020/05/10/kraftwerk-de-palafita/

It is also worth mentioning a statement by Hermano about another Brazilian musical genre that is also one of the most popular in this land where I was born, tecnobrega. In 2003, the researcher said:

"Tecnobrega looks like a makeshift Kraftwerk, produced under equatorial heat by people who listened to a lot of carimbó, cumbia, zouk, and Renato e Seus Blue Caps."

https://www.bregapop.com/historia/321-hermano-vianna/52-tecnobrega-a-musica-paralela-hermano-vianna

Check out one of the tecnobrega hits, "Bole Rebole", it is almost entirely a cover of "Das Model", made by Los Bregas:

https://youtu.be/a_HtLGbMdqA?si=mLTzz_2hoygCiztn

Later on, a large part of tecnobrega and Brazilian funk began to share even more elements, in a way, of course, that Kraftwerk's influence in the country has been growing more and more, and not just in these two genres.

In 2013, one of the biggest popularizers of tecnobrega, Gang do Eletro—led by DJ Waldo Squash, who a year earlier made official remixes for the Pet Shop Boys—released the song "Electro Robot", a "sincere tribute to the work of the giants Kraftwerk":

https://musicainstantanea.com.br/disco-gang-do-eletro-gang-do-eletro/

In 2016, the Pet Shop Boys released the song "Twenty-something", featuring a direct influence from tecnobrega, which was widely recognized by DJs here in Brazil:

https://musica.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2016/04/11/pet-shop-boys-lanca-tecnobrega-e-dj-afirma-da-para-tocar-na-aparelhagem.htm?app=uol-generic&plataforma=ipad&cmpid=copiaecola

It’s also worth mentioning that one of Brazil's most respected contemporary culture portals, created in 2016, is called "Music Non Stop," and it recognizes and explains why Kraftwerk is the most influential band of all time:

https://musicnonstop.uol.com.br/13-provas-da-gigantesca-importancia-do-kraftwerk-para-a-musica/

For reasons like everything I mentioned here, alongside a huge number of other Brazilians—including many music critics, curators, researchers, producers, DJs, and musicians—I consider Kraftwerk to be solidifying its position as truly the most influential band in history.

Mine so far are these:

1900s: An Impossible Balancing Feat (1902 - Georges Méliès)

​1910s: A Dog's Life (1918 - Charles Chaplin)

​1920s: Sherlock Jr. (1924 - Buster Keaton)

​1930s: City Lights (1931 - Charles Chaplin)

​1940s: Rope (1948 - Alfred Hitchcock)

​1950s: Umberto D. (1952 - Vittorio De Sica)

​1960s: Keeper of Promises (1962 - Anselmo Duarte)

​1970s: Mirror (1975 - Andrei Tarkovsky)

​1980s: Possession (1981 - Andrzej Żuławski)

​1990s: Central Station (1998 - Walter Salles) and Audition (1999 - Takashi Miike). I couldn't narrow it down to just one here.

​2000s: Dancer in the Dark (2000 - Lars von Trier)

​2010s: I, Daniel Blake (2016 - Ken Loach)

​2020s: Perfect Days (2023 - Wim Wenders)

"One influence of hers that is not surprising is Kraftwerk. For Mark Pytlik’s biography on her, Björk: Wow and Flutter, she told him: 'If I were to say who influenced me most, I would say people like Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Mark Bell.' It’s safe to say that without Kraftwerk, a lot of Björk’s most exciting work, including her early no-wave inspired work, would not have come to fruition."

Excerpt from the article "From Björk to Joy Division: 5 artists who wouldn’t exist without Kraftwerk", published by Far Out.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/five-artists-who-wouldnt-exist-without-kraftwerk-bjork-joy-division/

Edit: I'll take the opportunity to also share my humble "'partial genealogical tree' of electronic music, featuring 133 tracks released between 1939 (John Cage) and 2024 (Floating Points)":

https://www.reddit.com/r/DaftPunk/s/9aDkTZ3BSR

​Obviously, it includes Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Björk and dozens of other highly innovative and influential artists.

Here’s the direct link to the Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4h0vWsJFY0igsHXIqFuZ7A?si=porivG3PQQaYhSu6l6uJBA&utm_source=copy-link&pi=7NlqHoxgRwqZG

Mark Bell, whether as part of LFO or as a collaborator of Björk, could certainly be on the list as well. But the reason I'm not adding more tracks is, besides what I've already mentioned in the original post, because I've already shared the list quite a bit stating that I wouldn't be adding any more tracks; and if I were to add tracks recommended by one more colleague, I'd have to be "fair" and add tracks recommended by many others who also made good recommendations. The list would lose its round number of 133 tracks and it would almost never end.

"Quando ouvi Pixies pela primeira vez me identifiquei tanto com aquela banda que deveria ter feito parte dela — ou pelo menos uma banda cover. [...] [Quando compus 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'] eu estava tentando fazer a cançao pop definitiva. Basicamente, eu estava tentando copiar os Pixies, confesso [risos]. [...] Usamos o senso de dinâmica deles, com músicas começando lentas e calmas e depois ficando barulhentas e pesadas." - Kurt Cobain.

https://whiplash.net/materias/news\_689/364612-nirvana.html

​"Era tão necessário naquela época que alguém incorporasse elementos do punk excêntrico e esquisito no pop adocicado. Isso [o álbum Surfer Rosa, do Pixies] influenciou toda uma geração de bandas, que depois influenciou toda uma geração [...] Provavelmente foi o que deixou o Steve Albini mais famoso por sua produção também. O Nirvana sempre fez questão de que todo mundo soubesse que a gente estava apenas copiando o Pixies." "O álbum perfeito. Esse disco [Surfer Rosa], provavelmente já ouvi umas 10.000 vezes, e ainda amo. Eu ainda conseguiria ouvir todo dia." - Dave Grohl.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/dave-grohl-10-favourite-albums-ever/

https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/dave-grohl-pixies-surfer-rosa-perfect-record-1236288682/

"Kurt era um grande admirador de Albini. Lembro-me de estar em uma van de turnê em 1989, e Kurt estava ouvindo Pixies. Ele apontou e disse: 'Isso será o som da nossa próxima empreitada!' Ele tinha esse desejo de trabalhar com Steve há muito tempo." - Krist Novoselic.

https://www.teoriacultural.com.br/post/krist-novoselic-reflete-sobre-os-30-anos-de-in-utero-e-o-uso-de-ia-para-lan%C3%A7ar-m%C3%BAsicas-do-nirvana

Todas essas declarações não significam que o som do Nirvana não fosse original. Era, sim, muito original. Mas o objetivo deste post é mostrar uma parte do legado gigantesco do Pixies.

The full list (the link at the end features his comments on each album):

1. Paris 1919 — John Cale

2. Marquee Moon — Television

3. Neu! — Neu!

4. Drumming — Steve Reich

5. Tago Mago — Can

6. Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) — Brian Eno

7. No. 1 in Heaven — Sparks

8. Pawn Hearts — Van der Graaf Generator

9. Bitter Tea — The Fiery Furnaces

10. They Say I'm Different — Betty Davis

11. Sound of Silver — LCD Soundsystem

12. Trans-Europe Express — Kraftwerk

13. Endtroducing..... — DJ Shadow

 

https://thequietus.com/interviews/bakers-dozen/joy-division-new-order-stephen-morris-interview-favourite-records/

Já li todos os poemas escritos por ele e acho um escritor incrível. A obra musical dele também é excelente e eu recomendo muito, apesar de eu ainda não ter ouvido tudo. Vale ouvir, por exemplo, "Valeu", "Verdura" e "Se Houver Céu".

"Se houver céu depois da terra

E nessa estrela eterna primavera

Pudera, tomara que a vida quisera

Que a gente se encontrará

Pra outra vida fica nosso amor mais louco

Fica tudo mais bonito

Fica a dita que faltou por pouco

Se houver céu

Como nessa vida não há

A gente se achou, bichinha

E a gente se encontrará"

"Even we've been influenced by the Velvet Underground. No, really. I'll tell you exactly what we pinched from. Y'know 'Stray Cat Blues' [from the Rolling Stones' 1968 album Beggars Banquet]? The whole sound and the way it's paced, we pinched from the first Velvet Underground album. Y'know, the sound on 'Heroin.' Honest to God, we did!" - Mick Jagger, 1977.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/a-birthday-salute-to-mick-jagger-75-years-of-sympathy-for-the-devil-703726/

In 2024, Keith Richards recorded a version of I'm Waiting for the Man for the album "The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed" and stated, "To me, Lou stood out. The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL MUSIC! I miss him and his dog."

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/keith-richards-lou-reed-im-waiting-for-the-man-cover/

This photo of Keith in the post was taken by Patti Hansen and posted on his official Instagram.

​An excerpt from the synopsis:

"Kaleidoscopic culture critic Chuck Klosterman rewrites the history of reality in an 'ingenious' (Kirkus Reviews) work of speculative fiction based on a question that has never been considered or (in all likelihood) even asked: What if The Beatles had only developed a cult following while the Velvet Underground emerged as the most popular band in the world?"

The book, "Rock*: A Mainstream Alternative History of Alternative Mainstream Music", will be released in September, and it seems both very interesting and funny. I’m really looking forward to reading it.

​I’m going to share some of the critics' reviews from the book's Amazon page:

"Gather round, rock fans, and enjoy…a poke at both the sneering condescension of the music snob and the dubious enthusiasms of the music-listening public. Astonishing here is the steadiness of Klosterman’s hand: Even rock nerds will find themselves googling to learn whether some reported bit of rock excess is the author’s invention or actually happened…. Ingenious. Hilarious.”

― Kirkus Reviews

"[Chuck Klosterman] rewrites the story of American rock in this explosive, funhouse-mirror alternative history…. Klosterman’s Nabokovesque framing of this false history is drenched in irony and tongue-in-cheek reversals of music history. It’s also a master class of subtle worldbuilding, with Klosterman slowly, tantalizingly rendering an alien cultural landscape in vignettes ranging from the absurd to the macabre. Beyond its irreverence and humor, the narrative raises timely questions about culture, critiquing the fickleness of the media market and its 'common sense' judgments about art, which Klosterman implies are always just a historical accident or two away from being reversed, and challenging readers to question their own tastes. This twisted, ironic tribute will delight, surprise, and provoke rock fans.”

― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"I grew up with Kraftwerk. The first track I owned was ‘Tour De France’. It was my favourite electro track. Another one was ‘Clear’ by Cybertron. Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter were all in there as well. I hated most things with singing on or anything with a song structure. I just wanted the beats and there was loads of them about. It was ubiquitous. At the time you either bought a Street Sounds album or you were listening to Stu Allen on the radio. Manchester was a bit of an island for American dance music full stop. There were obviously scenes in other places, but here we used to get exposed to that culture all the time. When I moved to Sheffield a few years later I found that they had been not into hip hop at all, but funk and reggae. It was so different from Manchester and not that far away. It was like another dimension.

[...]

Originally, when I was younger, I would be editing tracks from other peoples cassettes using the pause button. People talk about the warmth of analogue but I think warmth is a strange concept. I would like someone to explain the concept to me! I tend not to inherent descriptive terms I can’t understand. That term warmth is a little bit weird if it does exist. I once heard Kraftwerk described as cold, but they are anything but. Kraftwerk are not just funky, their sound is amazing – like a weird, rotating, magic puzzle box from the future. Just an amazing most pristine, perfect sound. Just beautiful."

It is worth reading the entire interview with Sean:

https://thequietus.com/interviews/autechre-interview-oversteps/

Frank Black considered Sally Can't Dance one of his three favorite albums of all time and commented:

"I like a lot of Lou Reed’s records but before I got into him, I heard this record in my college dorm, courtesy of [Pixies guitarist] Joey Santiago. I knew that I liked the record but when I got into listening to it again, some years ago, I realised: I know the record really well. I really like the production and sound of it. It’s very toppy and it’s got some really good sounds. It’s very thin, 70s rock radio production.

I’ve never really met Lou. I mean, I’ve been in the room with him on a number of occasions on tour and hanging out in the same breakfast rooms, but they’re situations when you don’t want to bother someone. I don’t remember the Quietus interview where the guy compared me to Lou Reed, but right now if someone wanted to mention me and Lou Reed in the same breath, it’d be a huge compliment. He’s obviously one of my rock & roll heroes."

https://thequietus.com/interviews/bakers-dozen/frank-black-favourite-albums-the-pixies/3/

"There’s the sample in ‘Risingson’, which, once you notice it, you can’t not hear. Yet, it’s so easy to listen to the song without even hearing the glaringly obvious sample because it is blended in so well.

​The song features vocal samples from The Velvet Underground’s ‘I Found A Reason’, which first appeared on their 1970 album Loaded. The tender track from the experimental pioneers sees Lou Reed sing heartwarming lyrics like 'I found a reason to keep livin’/ Oh, and the reason dear is you.' Massive Attack inserted Reed’s delivery of 'I found a reason' between the last 'Toy-like people make me boy-like' part and the first 'Dream on…' at the end of the track. The 'Ba-ba-ba-ba' sections are also cut up and manipulated, with these sections playing behind verses throughout the song.

​It’s a very clever sample that blends so well into the song that many Velvet Underground fans have listened to ‘Risingson’ without hearing the sample. Despite Massive Attack’s smart use of sampling on Mezzanine, difficulties securing rights for the samples in ‘Exchange’ led them to step away from the technique for their next album, 100th Window."

​https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-velvet-underground-sample-massive-attacks-risingson/

For those who are interested, ​I also highly recommend checking out Massive Attack's great cover of I Found a Reason ( https://youtu.be/YPe2dQNww7I?si=LZ\_r6ej8FgSj\_idK ) and my post about VU's great influence on electronic music starting from the late '60s ( https://www.reddit.com/r/EDM/s/THCe1lR3Va ).

In his list of 10 favorite albums, compiled in 2024, he included White Light/White Heat and commented: “The first album is, of course, fantastic but it was the band’s second album that really grabbed me, [...] There was an intensity about it that I had never experienced before. It’s as good as a record gets.”

The full list:

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND — "White Light/White Heat"

Isaac Hayes — "Hot Buttered Soul"

Miriam Makeba — "Miriam Makeba"

Various Artists — "Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical (The Original Broadway Cast Recording)"

Ted Nugent — "Ted Nugent"

THE STOOGES — "Fun House"

THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE — "Are You Experienced"

THE DOORS — "Strange Days"

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY — "Prayers on Fire"

BLACK SABBATH — "Master of Reality"

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/henry-rollins-favourite-albums/

"MD: Aside from the war, German music was also a big influence for you. Do you still remember the day when you first heard Kraftwerk?

BS: I remember that I didn’t like Kraftwerk the first time I heard them. Next to my grandfather a strange lad was living, his name was Philip. He was really nice, but his parents kept him locked up. Bad things were happening behind closed doors. I remember I would ring the bell, and his mother wouldn’t open the door—she’d tell me that Philip had headache or something and couldn’t meet me. On one of the rare occasions we actually met, Philip played Autobahn for me. And I remember that I was missing the guitars in the song. I simply didn’t get it. A couple of years later, I fell in love with Trans-Europe Express, though. I thought that album was harmonically extremely rich. I especially liked the sound of the Mellotron. I was very aware of the importance of sound in general, so when I’d listen to a rock record, it wasn’t just about the melodies or the arrangement—but also about the guitar sound. And Trans-Europe Express just sounded great—like a dark electronic soup. I didn’t miss the guitars for a single moment.

MD: Legend has it that you wrote ‘Blue Monday’ with the intention of composing a song played entirely by machines. That’s a very Kraftwerkian approach.

BS: There’s an element of Kraftwerk in it, for sure[...]"

Source: https://www.electronicbeats.net/max-dax-interviews-bernard-sumner

"He is still an ardent fan of pioneers all the same, with Rotten picking out Kraftwerk’s The Man Machine from 1978, adding: 'I met one of the members of Kraftwerk last year and was very surprised – they weren’t at all how I imagined them from looking at the album covers. They were in what I would call Beach Boys shirts. In an odd, twisted way they were saying I had an influence on them. I didn’t believe it for a second but I’ll take it.

I loved anything by them. Their cold, emotionless way of presenting a pop song was always entertaining to me, so novel and so deadpan and cynical and kind of heartwarming. So ahead of its time.'"

Source:

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-lydons-12-favourite-albums-of-all-time/

"No artist on our list had a bigger influence on the inspirational figure of David Bowie than Lou Reed. not only did his band, The Velvet Underground, entirely embolden the very nature of Bowie’s dramatic rise to rock god stardom, but their bountiful friendship would inspire one another as they grew into their new status.

When Bowie first heard Velvet Underground and Nico, the singer became privy to the genius of Lou Reed fairly quickly and played a pivotal role in bringing Reed’s music to a greater audience. As Ziggy Stardust, Bowie performed cover versions of ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ and ‘White Light/White Heat’. Upon hearing of Reed’s death, Bowie would comment, 'He was a master'.

Ziggy Stardust’s ‘Queen Bitch’ is an obvious tribute to Lou Reed’s style of songwriting, channelling Lou Reed’s indelible eye for street life. At Bowie’s last concert as the alien, Ziggy Stardust, at the Hammersmith Odeon, right before breaking into a Reed song, Bowie introduced Reed as the 'greatest and most important underground songwriter currently working on the scene'

As time went on, Bowie would continuously lean on the cantankerous Reed as a faithful walking stick to aid his journey on the rock and roll path."

The full list: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-10-favourite-songwriters/

​

When discussing his decision to include The Velvet Underground, Bowie said: “Brought back from New York by a former manager of mine, Ken Pitt. Pitt had done some kind of work as a PR man that had brought him into contact with the Factory. Warhol had given him this coverless test pressing (I still have it, no label, just a small sticker with Warhol’s name on it) and said, ‘You like weird stuff—see what you think of this’. What I ‘thought of this’ was that here was the best band in the world. In December of that year, my band Buzz broke up, but not without my demanding we play ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ as one of the encore songs at our last gig.”

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowies-25-favourite-albums/

FULL LIST:

​The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground and Nico

​The Last Poets – The Last Poets

​Shipbuilding – Robert Wyatt

​The Fabulous Little Richard – Little Richard

​Music for 18 Musicians – Steve Reich

​Tupelo Blues – John Lee Hooker

​Blues, Rags and Hollers – Koerner, Ray and Glover

​The Apollo Theatre Presents: In Person! The James Brown Show – James Brown

​Forces of Victory – Linton Kwesi Johnson

​The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere: Music Played on National Instruments – Various Artists

​Banana Moon – Daevid Allen

​Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris – Cast Album

​The Electrosoniks: Electronic Music – Tom Dissevelt

​The 5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion – The Incredible String Band

​Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman – Tucker Zimmerman

​Four Last Songs (Strauss) – Gundula Janowitz

​The Ascension – Glenn Branca

​The Madcap Laughs – Syd Barrett

​Black Angels – George Crumb

​Funky Kingston – Toots & The Maytals

​Delusion of the Fury – Harry

​Oh Yeah – Charles Mingus

​Le Sacre du Printemps – Igor Stravinsky

​The Fugs – The Fugs

​The Glory of the Human Voice – Florence Foster Jenkins

​

​This post is not intended to provoke or foster unproductive debates; it is simply a reflection on the concept of musical influence, intended to be in line with the theme of this sub.

​Well, it is well-known that many people argue that because The Beatles were the first band to achieve global mainstream commercial success by writing their own repertoire, all subsequent bands that achieved worldwide success while writing their own songs were musically influenced by Lennon, Paul, George, and Ringo. However, this view confuses the influence exerted on the artistic field with the influence exerted on the dynamics of the music industry.

​I hope that an analogy with cinema can help illustrate this distinction. Suppose that, in 2010, I am a film director and I observe the growing public interest in the found footage subgenre, following the immense box-office success of Paranormal Activity (2007). Wanting to capitalize on this consumer interest, I decide to direct a film in that subgenre, but I seek aesthetic and technical inspiration entirely from Cannibal Holocaust (1980) - filming in a forest, for example, rather than a house. If my film becomes a box-office success because the audience wants to feel something similar to what they experienced with Paranormal Activity, it does not change the fact that, artistically, I was not influenced by the 2007 film, even though I commercially benefited from the market gap it fostered.

​Similarly, suppose that in 1968 I have a rock band and release a globally successful album with original compositions, drawing musical inspiration only from La Monte Young, Bo Diddley, and Ornette Coleman. There is no musical influence from The Beatles on my album. The commercial success of the Liverpool quartet may have drawn a lot of new audiences to my work, but the music itself was not influenced by them.

Although these things I am talking about may sound obvious to many, they are not to others.

​These perceptions are among the various factors that lead me to conclude that, musically, artists like The Velvet Underground, James Brown, and Kraftwerk are far more influential than The Beatles. But of course, I don't claim to possess the absolute truth, and I respect those who hold a different opinion on the matter.