Important Acts

Neil Young has to make the list when you look at how many 90's to current acts point to him as a source / inspiration. Not only musically, but as a way to approach 'the muse' and where it takes you, even if it's in the ditch.

Who has come around since the 90's that is a 'important act' in terms of being groundbreaking and culturally important is a great question. Radiohead, Bjork, Uncle Tupelo are good choices.

IMO it does sense to include folks like Prince who take art forms pioneered by (at the time) lesser known artists and elevate them - and bring attention to the genre as a whole. Meaning would Sly and Clinton still be considered a legacy / important act if someone like Prince didn't elevate them to a wider audience?
 
wokeupnew said:
Big Star!
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jamieanderson1968 said:
Was just thinking about Big Star. Highly derivative , and almost universally ignored at the time. But by late 80s and early 90s they were some of the main musical dna of a lot of college rock and indie pop bands.
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That was the first band I thought of when I saw this thread earlier. I was trying to think how I would formulate it because I'm never good at conveying these things. They added a slight punk/rough edge, before punk was a thing, to the power pop of bands like the Raspberries. And became the framework for the left of the dial in the 80's and everything that evolved from it.
 
wokeupnew said:
Big Star!
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imtheocean said:
Neil Young has to make the list
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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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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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You got some explaining to do!
 
Turbo said:
How about The White Stripes and the whole garage rock revival then?
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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?
 
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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I don't know... but I think so? I mean, it's not like their brand of garage rock was the same as before even if it was similar and inspired by it. There was a certain modernization of the sound I'd say. I have a hard time deciding what's important or not. My instinct says that at least some of those bands you mentioned (White Stripes, Strokes) are important acts for having spearheaded a music style of their era.
 
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.
 
Turbo said:
I don't know... but I think so? I mean, it's not like their brand of garage rock was the same as before even if it was similar and inspired by it. There was a certain modernization of the sound I'd say. I have a hard time deciding what's important or not. My instinct says that at least some of those bands you mentioned (White Stripes, Strokes) are important acts for having spearheaded a music style of their era.
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Yeah, I would tend to agree. I think I am likely being extra critical because they are some of my favorite groups and I don’t want to come off as bias. I am trying to be objective in my evaluation.
 
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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Potishead and Massive Attack are even more important if you consider that they laid the groundwork for The Weeknd's House of Balloons and what ended up evolving into trap.
 
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