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Post by gwlee7 on Aug 7, 2021 16:02:49 GMT -6
I can't really answer the question as posed. I have more than 3 major influences just from my folk period, when I was learning guitar. Heck, I have major influences going back to early childhood. I know it’s hard but I am honestly interested in what music you were into as a kid or what helped you decide that making or being involved in music in some way was what you wanted to do. I bet all of us could list scores of influences.
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Post by popmann on Aug 7, 2021 18:20:01 GMT -6
I can't fathom what three artists...but, in the spirit of playing along, there was a year...1996...I had put the finishing pieces into my home MIDI studio after the room I worked in closed...and was struggling to find "my sound" as a solo artist, having always been in bands...playing RAWK...but being a kid who liked pop and soul music more than rawk. And along came three ALBUMS...that helped me find my way:
Richard Page: Shelter Me Valerie Carter: The Way It Is Paul Carrack : Blue Views
(Then) over 40 boomer artists with new record deals...realizing they were past the age of "cool" and just making THEIR best records...for them.
I think if you listen to those records...and think about contextually what was popular in 1996 music...you'll see what set me on the road to where I live today.
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Post by teejay on Aug 7, 2021 19:38:26 GMT -6
As a singer only...(I know; more than three) Formative years: - Sweet Comfort Band - Keith Green - Rich Mullins (great to see him mentioned by the other mark williams) Church singing years: - Steve Green - Russ Taff Performance years: - 4Him - Bebo Norman
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Post by Vincent R. on Aug 7, 2021 19:44:23 GMT -6
As a singer only...(I know; more than three) Formative years: - Sweet Comfort Band - Keith Green - Rich Mullins (great to see him mentioned by the other mark williams ) Church singing years: - Steve Green - Russ Taff Performance years: - 4Him - Bebo Norman I do love Steve Green.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Aug 7, 2021 20:51:31 GMT -6
First, Johnny Cash. I went to many tapings of the Kraft Music Hall shows. NBC studios was 4 blocks from me in Brooklyn, and they would let regulars from the neighborhood in to fill any empty seats. I became friendly with the producer, Dwight Hemion and he invited me to hang backstage where the frenzied television crews were coordinating the acts and cuing cameras, etc, It was amazing and classic. I met many popular stars of the day, but Johnny Cash stood out. We chatted for around fifteen minutes as we walked around the stage and hung by orchestra pit together. As Bob Dylan said, Johnny Cash was the North Star. Somehow he could take your measure without saying a word. He acknowledged my musicianship with intuitive insight and I felt accepted and blessed to be a part of something potentially deep enough to heal a soul, point the way to the light, and help you remember what happiness is. I was 14. As a singer/songwriter, I always strive to find the truth within what I've written and hopefully express it in a way others will feel. Mr. Cash was the inspiration for that, and no one has ever done it better.
As a young musician, Steve Winwood was my model of a what being true musician looked like, and I tried to be like that, a musician before being a rock star. But as a lifelong inspiration, I guess I'd have to say the Jagger/Richards songwriting team. The courage and sheer brilliance of their writing is easy to overlook because of the image and stardom, but it's there, and if you try to write at that level, you realize just how high they reached. It's like trying to climb to the top of Everest. It can be done, but it's rare and extremely difficult.
Last, Ludwig Van Beethoven. Something so deep is stirred within me when I hear his work, i can almost feel something like what the man felt, and it's heartbreaking and heaven's own pure genius expressed on earth.
Now that I've mentioned the top three, feel I should thank those who continue to inspire. Hank Williams, The Beatles, The N.Y.Dolls, Mark Knopfler, Ryan Adams. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few.
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Post by mike on Aug 8, 2021 9:10:05 GMT -6
I couldn’t do 3 if I tried but I’d agree with those that said the first one is easy being the Beatles. For me that's because of their prolific songwriting, melodies and evolving production values that repeatedly flew in the face of convention (instead of repeating the same record/sound because the last one made money & was successful).. which changed where pop music was at the time and where it was going more than once.
And I’d fall into the same camp as those who named Petty, Rich Mullins, The Who, U2, CSN&Y, Steelers Wheel, Simon etc. etc. of too many to mention. ...but would add DC Talk also.
For Jazz Vocalists it’d be Diana Krall and Melody Gardot, but it’s the people who contributed to the production values, arrangements and engineering on those records I appreciate as much as the performance.
And I’d have to say George Martin and Al Schmitt as engineer/producers that are in my view artists in their own right.
It would be interesting to see a thread of what are some of your favorite song/artist/bands that were 1 hit or 1 album wonders? - in some cases those recordings may have influenced some of us almost as much as our big 3, 10 or 20 did.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 8, 2021 10:32:00 GMT -6
I should have included live performances. James Cleveland tops the list.
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Post by johneppstein on Aug 8, 2021 12:20:46 GMT -6
I can't really answer the question as posed. I have more than 3 major influences just from my folk period, when I was learning guitar. Heck, I have major influences going back to early childhood. I know it’s hard but I am honestly interested in what music you were into as a kid or what helped you decide that making or being involved in music in some way was what you wanted to do. I bet all of us could list scores of influences. Even as a kid it would be a lot more than 3. The earliest whose names I remember were Elvis and Gene Vincent, but I'm sure that Eddie Cochran and Bill Haley were in there too. And a lot of older country guys whos influence I absorbed without actually knowing who most were (at the time). A camp counselor who played Kingston Trio songs on a tenor guitar was a major influence in my starting to play. That brought me into folk music and Josh White, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Dylan, Baez, the whole shebang. Folk introduced me to the blues Lighnin' Hopkings, Muddy, Wolf, etc. John Hammond Jr. was a big influence.
Around that time the Beatles hit and brought The Stones with them, plus all the blues influenced Brit bands. Then Butterfield broke.
Actually a major influence (for just one meeting) was The Kingsmen's Mike Mitchell, who said "What guitar break in Louie, Louie? I play it different every night!" (Before that everyone I knew tried to learn solos note for note. Mitchell gave me the doorway to improvising.)
Around that time the music scene in Norman, Oklahoma was booming. Among local players who were big influences were banjo savant Alan Munde and Mike "Slim" Ritchie, the latter owning the guitar shop where all the "freakier" musicians in town hung out.
That brings us up to around 1966.
Influences after that point in time were many and varied.
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Post by M57 on Aug 8, 2021 12:41:32 GMT -6
Limiting to 3 is impossible. There's just no such thing as "most" influential. It's all one melting pot. To complicate things more, I'm not sure that the music I like the most is what has influenced me the most. I like a lot of music that is nowhere near what I can play/write, or would even want to. For instance, I've recently been inspired by some of Jacob Collier's work. I'd sell my soul to possess a fraction of his skills, but of course he's too young to have had any influence on me in my more formative years.
OK, I'll pick three musicians who epitomize genres or skill-sets, but that doesn't mean they were any more or less influential for me personally than their peers - who of course I feel compelled to mention ;P
Players/Composers/Arrangers: I would put the likes of Steely Dan, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorious, Pat Metheny, Santana, J.S. Bach, Gene Puerling, Burt Bacharach, and Stravinsky in this camp. But I'm going with Lyle Mays.
Singer/Songwriter: Eagles, CSN ..and sometimes even Y, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, Kate Bush, Elton John, Kenny Logins, and The Story, but I only get two illustrative picks, so: James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
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Post by lpedrum on Aug 8, 2021 16:20:46 GMT -6
As others have mentioned it's too difficult to limit inspiration to three. But recently here are some things that really get to me: SEPTURA--English brass group that's incredibly soulful. I'm amazed by their dynamics and intonation. GENE CLARK--Even though I'm a child of the Sixties I never fully realized Gene Clark's genius till recently. This song Polly slays me. THE DOVERS--In 1965 at the height of jangle rock The Dovers recorded a handful of poorly mixed/mastered sides and never broke through. But in spite of the recording quality I still love them and wonder what they could have become if signed to Capitol or Columbia. (click on the names for Youtube vids)
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Post by Martin John Butler on Aug 8, 2021 17:27:30 GMT -6
The thing about picking three influences is you have to really think about it. Just going ahead and naming a dozen musicians defeats the purpose of the post.
In my post, I left out David Bowie, Roxy Music, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, and so many other hugely influential musicians. But the three top choices I mentioned, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones (really the writing of Mick & Keith), and Ludwig Van Beethoven are still my guiding lights.
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Post by the other mark williams on Aug 8, 2021 17:43:54 GMT -6
The thing about picking three influences is you have to really think about it. Just going ahead and naming a dozen musicians defeats the purpose of the post. In my post, I left out David Bowie, Roxy Music, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, and so many other hugely influential musicians. But the three top choices I mentioned, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones (really the writing of Mick & Keith), and Ludwig Van Beethoven are still my guiding lights. Yeah, agreed. This is one of the reasons I wish I hadn't listed 12 instead.
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Post by ab101 on Aug 8, 2021 19:10:42 GMT -6
Three is just not enough for me to be honest. For instance, in the classical line, I would need to mention Domenico Scarlatti and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky's Pathétique (Sixth Symphony) is known for the largest dynamic range from one note to the next: pppppp to ffff.
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Post by chessparov on Aug 8, 2021 22:57:02 GMT -6
Well 30 certainly wouldn't be enough for me, with songwriters like Laura Nyro, or Jimmy Webb... Chris
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Post by gwlee7 on Aug 9, 2021 5:21:25 GMT -6
The cool thing to me no matter how many people you list, is that it gives me a chance to know you just a little better.
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Post by mitchkricun on Aug 11, 2021 17:39:33 GMT -6
As a writer: Beatles Jellyfish Fountains of Wayne
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Post by geoff738 on Aug 11, 2021 21:27:53 GMT -6
The Kinks Jeff Beck Los Lobos
Cheers, Geoff
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Post by chessparov on Aug 12, 2021 14:42:20 GMT -6
One of my best friends, is good friends... With Los Lobos and The Mavericks. Eventually, he wants me to meet/hang out with them. That'd be awesome! Chris
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Post by delcampo on Aug 13, 2021 13:18:18 GMT -6
Nuts hard to pick 3.
Gustav Mahler John Prine Burt Bacharach
Apologies but cannot resist a tied for 4th, Ennio Morricone / Lee Hazlewood.
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Post by gwlee7 on Aug 13, 2021 15:52:53 GMT -6
Nuts hard to pick 3. Gustav Mahler John Prine Burt Bacharach Apologies but cannot resist a tied for 4th, Ennio Morricone / Lee Hazlewood. Burt Bacarach: what a great songwriting choice. I know him because I am huge Glen Campbell fan and Campbell sang some Bacharach tunes on his albums and, Bacharach was on Campbell’s TV show sometimes.
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Post by phdamage on Aug 13, 2021 16:53:24 GMT -6
Fugazi
Plenty of others out there for musical inspiration I draw from but they put out so much amazing music and had the politics and integrity to match. They set the bar for independent rock bands and are kind and generous humans to boot.
Not to mention, I saw them lots of times and would travel to the ends of the earth to see them perform again (though I’m sure it will never happen). No band before or since even came close to making me feel the same way.
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Post by Chad on Aug 13, 2021 17:41:18 GMT -6
The Beatles The Police / Sting U2 Tori Amos Crowded House George Michael
// I could go on and on... //
Matchbox Twenty / Rob Thomas Simon & Garfunkel The Indigo Girls The Cure Simple Minds The Call Tears for Fears INXS Larry Normam Phil Collins
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Post by ab101 on Aug 13, 2021 18:02:58 GMT -6
One of my best friends, is good friends... With Los Lobos and The Mavericks. Eventually, he wants me to meet/hang out with them. That'd be awesome! Chris I hope they have a good sense of humor and love pro audio jokes!
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Post by ab101 on Aug 13, 2021 18:07:03 GMT -6
Couple of Jeff Beck fans. Cool. I am too. Saw him in person about 1970 and it was unbelievably good. Trivia test - Who is the famous singer that sings "I Ain't Superstitious" on Jeff Beck's Truth? (please do not use google.) Sorry for being off-topic.
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Post by tkaitkai on Aug 13, 2021 18:16:58 GMT -6
Fugazi Plenty of others out there for musical inspiration I draw from but they put out so much amazing music and had the politics and integrity to match. They set the bar for independent rock bands and are kind and generous humans to boot. Not to mention, I saw them lots of times and would travel to the ends of the earth to see them perform again (though I’m sure it will never happen). No band before or since even came close to making me feel the same way. This is embarrassing to admit, but I never really got around to listening to Fugazi. I know I should, though. I was very into Rites Of Spring and Minor Threat when I was younger.
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