Fenxy

Just an observation. It's quite interesting to see that classical music does not seem to play a role here at all. In fact, this is all very one-sided. There's more to music than pop, grunge, jazz and whatever.

Just a thought. ;)

I completely agree with deus62.
I've had this conversations about Dream Theater quite a few times some of my friends really like them but even they have to admit that Dream Theater is nothing more than technical ability. I need more from music.

Most influential artists (of what I listen to)?
Sonic Youth
Deftones - pay no mind to all the crap music that bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit made trying to copy Adrenaline.
Radiohead
...and all the other obvious ones like the Beatles that have already been mentioned.

The Clash and Green Day have influenced new bands a bit.

I'm actually really surprised to be the first person to mention The Pixies or Bob Dylan.

Nick Drake and The Beatles

i agree with olli...no one mentioned radiohead? come on u guys

adding on..
in my opinion, most influential would include

-beatles, radiohead, rolling stones, bob dylan, bob marley, lauryn hill, sigur ros, john mayer

the brothers johnson
steely dan
george duke
stevie ray vaughn
rick james

late, i know, but I'll have to add Prince to the list - especially on the new R&B crowd.

@Oli,

I am very disappointed too. Radiohead. How could 3 people vote Radiohead?!

Oh, and I'll up the Beatles too.

A lot of these mentioned are going back further than 25 years.

I'd like to agree that Kurt Kobain did a lot to shape the current poprock industry. He proved you could be a rock star despite being an ass and having no talent. And he spawned a thousand copy cats. Damn him.

The Beatles were very influential... but died 27 years ago. I don't think they qualify here. Remember people, 25 years ago was in the early 80's!

From then I would have to say:

U2
David Bowie
Queen (may be a stretch with the time line.)

And let's not forget the women since I'm limited to five

Cindy Lauper
Madonna

As an aside I'd put in Trent Reznor as he's essentially created multiple genres over the course of his career. It's a subset when looking at the overall pop music industry but, bears mentioning.

Oh, and of course, the most influential song of the quarter century.

Well, "the past 25 years" stops at 1982. So I'd say Nirvana. U2. The Ramones. Depeche Mode. Duran Duran. A few others that I can't think of right now.

Goin out on a limb and throwing out my votes..

Jimi Hendrix
The Grateful Dead
Jefferson Airplane
John Coltrane
Miles Davis
Bob Marley
Neil Young
The Rolling Stones
Little Feat
The Beatles
Elvis
Bob Dylan
Eric Clapton
Led Zeppelin
The Doors
David Bowie
The Talking Heads

sheesh, I suppose I could go on and on...but these are the ones that strike me as having influenced progressive music and new genres.

Bon Jovi and U2. Best songs of the 80s and 90s.

There's more to music than pop, grunge, jazz and whatever.

WHAT?!?!?

And yeah, Madonna would definitely qualify as an influence. Then again we shouldn't overlook the women that put together Lilith Fair. Where would Fiest be today without Sara McLaughlan.

25 years?

The Smiths
The Pixies
Metallica

My Additions to the List:

The Pixies
They Might Be Giants
The Kinks
The Clash
Big Audio Dynamite
R.E.M.

MIne is:
1. Beatles

Well, the past 25 years only takes us back to 1983. But I have to cheat this question to give props to the King of Influence, Bob Marley. Marley, in my eyes, tops all charts, and being the most influential artist is certainly no exception.
Bob influenced peace and equality. He provoked the world to see past the shades of our skin and to recognize the bindings of brotherhood.
U2 hits up my second place, influencing artists of all kinds to fight the war on hunger, to participate in charities that raised millions of dollars countries suffering from poverty. They spread their word of unity, hope, unconditional love, and peace to most countries. They are legendary.
Then there is Nirvana. I'm sure I don't have to go into much detail here. They introduced grunge music into this world, a genre that will never get old, never lose touch or popularity. His music reinvented depression as an erotic tragedy. When he killed himself, several fans followed that tragic path. His music still gets turned up and listeners from all over lose themselves in his lyrics and in his power when it seeps into our speakers every now and then these days.

I'm shocked that only one person has mentioned Michael Jackson. And to add some more hip-hip to the mix, I'd say KRS-ONE, Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre (already mentioned).

Good question. Influential musicians of the past 25 years...

- Andrés Segovia
- Miles Davis
- Frank Zappa
- Ella Fitzgerald

There are certainly others. Those come to my head first.