Important Acts

Kris said:
k.d. lang was probably first since her first album was in 1984. She was a queer artist making country music in 1984! She eventually moved to different genres and I would guess that the reception she got on country radio was part of that.

The Indigo Girls were nominated for a best new artist Grammy for their first album.

It’s funny to now think that Melissa Etheridge “came out” on her forth album. I think it’s more of a non-event these days because of IG, kd, and Melissa and others like Andy Bell of Erasure.


This made me think of Sparks and Momus. I have to write them up now.
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God damn, Sparks! Yes! I just watched that documentary on them, and it was so compelling, just loved it!
 
Kris said:
k.d. lang was probably first since her first album was in 1984. She was a queer artist making country music in 1984! She eventually moved to different genres and I would guess that the reception she got on country radio was part of that.

The Indigo Girls were nominated for a best new artist Grammy for their first album.

It’s funny to now think that Melissa Etheridge “came out” on her forth album. I think it’s more of a non-event these days because of IG, kd, and Melissa and others like Andy Bell of Erasure.


This made me think of Sparks and Momus. I have to write them up now.
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Gah, I totally forgot about k.d. lang! My memory is crap these days, but absolutely. Although I'm more of a fan of the other two musically, kd was definitely influential musically and culturally.
 
What about Lady Gaga? It's possible I'm just biased considering she started taking off right around the time I was getting old enough to pay attention to pop culture, but I feel like she was pretty influential in shaping the landscape of popular music going into the 2010s.

Lil Wayne is another one that comes to mind, a lot of his impact can still be heard in the sound and style of hip-hop today, and even seen in the fashion too. While Kanye or T-Pain are usually credited with pioneering auto-tune in popular rap, I feel like Wayne's vocal style and delivery paved the way for artists like Future and Young Thug (obviously your mileage may vary on whether that's a good or bad influence to have, but influence is influence nonetheless). I mean, one of Kendrick's earliest mixtapes was basically a tribute to Wayne's Tha Carter series.
 
waruv said:
I think these threads are fun when the takes are hot, so here's some hotter takes. Here's a few I think match the topic that I don't think were mentioned (if so, I apologize) - I would also second Kathleen Hanna/Bikini Kill, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and Beyonce - the latter three at least are absolute no doubters to me.

Usher

I think he’s the single biggest influence on the way pop music changed in the 2000s – at worst Top 3 in my view.

Leading into the 2000s, I think pop music was in a very weird spot. We were coming off the wave of very traditional young, sexy pop music combined with a splash of R&B and adult contemporary ballads. A peek at the #1 singles of 2000 is quite fun – there’s a run of pop princess Christina, sad boy pop Savage Garden, Mariah Carey, Lonestar, and Destiny’s Child. The shift begins a year later as R&B and hip-hop begin to show up way more often in more prominent radio spots, and Usher was at the helm of that with songs like U Remind Me, U Got It Bad, and U Don’t Have To Call – radio accessible R&B/hip hop infused music that could be played anywhere but broke out of the typical pop constructs a lot of musicians who wanted to be on mainstream radio got put into. You then began to see the shift – the biggest songs in the country weren’t bubblegum pop but rather radio-friendly rap and jams (except for the annual American Idol record). Then Yeah! Happened in 2004 when Usher was pretty much the only person on Radio – four number one singles in a year spanning 28 weeks with every song around him getting a little bit harder, a little big edgier, and even forcing some of the pop landscape to follow him (I don’t believe you get Hollaback Girl Gwen or Promiscuous Nelly Furtado without the Usher shift in market for instance). I think we're just recently starting to get out of the Usher realm in terms of pop music but the influences are all still there in some aspects - does The Weeknd have the pathway he has without Usher? I don't feel like he does.

Missy Elliott

There's a glass ceiling of sorts for women in a lot of genres. I think an entire segment of the hip-hop game is open due to the efforts Missy made behind the mic and at the soundboard. Queen Latifah preceded her of course but she had those undeniable, all-timer singles and actively worked with other talented women in the rap and R&B spheres to make their work better.

Outkast:

When I look at the popular music sphere today - you have substantial elements of artists who combine pop, R&B, hip-hop, and dance dominating the charts. They can take form in hugely different forms - I'd argue Harry Styles and Doja Cat do all of it and they are exceedingly different artists. Outkast was a pioneer in combining a slew of different elements (hip-hop, funk, jazz, pop) into music that was critically acclaimed and widely loved. They were essential, I think, in moving hip-hop beyond what it was in the mid-90s and even early 2000s and establishing that sweet spot for the genre in terms of the general music population

Rihanna:

Outside of being one of the five or so biggest pop stars of the past 30 years or so (imo), she's one of the most prominent in pioneering musicians utilizing different revenue streams. This obviously isn't new in itself - musicians have been used to promote and star in movies and side projects forever, but she owned it in a way that few have. Like many of the above she was a bridge artist that brought upon our current pop atmosphere, but you see a ton of prominent artists who own their merchandising and product production and media elements today in a way that wasn't done nearly as frequently before Rihanna took ownership on her end. Speaking of which...Kanye West. I can't stand the dude really...but any thread of important acts of the last 30 years has to include him from both a production and a promotional point of view.
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I second all of these.

I dunno if 2Pac & Biggie have been mentioned, but I feel they fit in this conversation. Kendrick Lamar definitely and (this may be a hot take) The Weeknd as well.
 
waruv said:
I think these threads are fun when the takes are hot, so here's some hotter takes. Here's a few I think match the topic that I don't think were mentioned (if so, I apologize) - I would also second Kathleen Hanna/Bikini Kill, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and Beyonce - the latter three at least are absolute no doubters to me.

Usher

I think he’s the single biggest influence on the way pop music changed in the 2000s – at worst Top 3 in my view.

Leading into the 2000s, I think pop music was in a very weird spot. We were coming off the wave of very traditional young, sexy pop music combined with a splash of R&B and adult contemporary ballads. A peek at the #1 singles of 2000 is quite fun – there’s a run of pop princess Christina, sad boy pop Savage Garden, Mariah Carey, Lonestar, and Destiny’s Child. The shift begins a year later as R&B and hip-hop begin to show up way more often in more prominent radio spots, and Usher was at the helm of that with songs like U Remind Me, U Got It Bad, and U Don’t Have To Call – radio accessible R&B/hip hop infused music that could be played anywhere but broke out of the typical pop constructs a lot of musicians who wanted to be on mainstream radio got put into. You then began to see the shift – the biggest songs in the country weren’t bubblegum pop but rather radio-friendly rap and jams (except for the annual American Idol record). Then Yeah! Happened in 2004 when Usher was pretty much the only person on Radio – four number one singles in a year spanning 28 weeks with every song around him getting a little bit harder, a little big edgier, and even forcing some of the pop landscape to follow him (I don’t believe you get Hollaback Girl Gwen or Promiscuous Nelly Furtado without the Usher shift in market for instance). I think we're just recently starting to get out of the Usher realm in terms of pop music but the influences are all still there in some aspects - does The Weeknd have the pathway he has without Usher? I don't feel like he does.

Missy Elliott

There's a glass ceiling of sorts for women in a lot of genres. I think an entire segment of the hip-hop game is open due to the efforts Missy made behind the mic and at the soundboard. Queen Latifah preceded her of course but she had those undeniable, all-timer singles and actively worked with other talented women in the rap and R&B spheres to make their work better.

Outkast:

When I look at the popular music sphere today - you have substantial elements of artists who combine pop, R&B, hip-hop, and dance dominating the charts. They can take form in hugely different forms - I'd argue Harry Styles and Doja Cat do all of it and they are exceedingly different artists. Outkast was a pioneer in combining a slew of different elements (hip-hop, funk, jazz, pop) into music that was critically acclaimed and widely loved. They were essential, I think, in moving hip-hop beyond what it was in the mid-90s and even early 2000s and establishing that sweet spot for the genre in terms of the general music population

Rihanna:

Outside of being one of the five or so biggest pop stars of the past 30 years or so (imo), she's one of the most prominent in pioneering musicians utilizing different revenue streams. This obviously isn't new in itself - musicians have been used to promote and star in movies and side projects forever, but she owned it in a way that few have. Like many of the above she was a bridge artist that brought upon our current pop atmosphere, but you see a ton of prominent artists who own their merchandising and product production and media elements today in a way that wasn't done nearly as frequently before Rihanna took ownership on her end. Speaking of which...Kanye West. I can't stand the dude really...but any thread of important acts of the last 30 years has to include him from both a production and a promotional point of view.
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Without Usher we don't get Justin Bieber. We can agree or disagree on the music Bieber does, but he was a powerhouse in pop music in the 00's. I trully believe we don't get K-pop without Bieber. Or the other Justin, Timberlake. After NSYNC he grabs Missy Elliot's producer Timbaland. And we know Timbaland really shaped the musical landscape. The torch is passed when Timbalands cousin, Pharrell Williams (and the Neptunes) start a great producing career.

Lauryn Hill should also be mentioned. Missy and Lauryn shaped and inspired a whole generation of female artists.

Also, there is an element in popular culture about reggaeton that cannot be ignored. Sure it has its origins in hip hop and trap. But Latinx artists have made it their own. And now we have English speaking artists crossing over into the Latin market through reggaeton. I mean, there was a time where you could not escape Daddy Yankee's Gasolina. And we don't get Bad Bunny perfoming at the Grammys without it.
 
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