Most famous music artist of all time?

[JDalla]

1) Beatles
2) Elive
3) MJ
4) Coldplay
5) 50 Cent
6) Frank Sinatra
7) Kanye West
8) Madonna
9) Black Eyed Peas
10) Britney Spears

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
Who are the historically most famous artist that has influenced people the most.


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this is really two completly different questions:

Who was/is the most influential musician or group ever? (i take this to mean, 'who had the greatest effect on the way music is made, thought about, performed, and enjoyed?', not 'who changed the world with their music the most' or 'who had the most influence on modern music?')

and,

who was the most famous (as in, well known and recognized) musician ever?

i think your response is to the second question, and i think you're close to correct, though i think you're being a tad eurocentric. more people probably know ravi shankar than even michael jackson, for example, and i'd bet that there's some chinese and/or latin performers that have touched many more people than their american rock and roll counterparts.

also, bach and bethoven are probably far more well known, worldwide than the beatles or elvis, probably because their stuff's been out for hundreds of years.




the first question... wait for it...

[LegendofLink]

yea, i think there are 2 questions being asked, as for who does the world recognize most, and i think you're talking about the world, all i know is that before coming to america from kenya, i knew who bob marley and MJ were, but did not know about the beatles and had no clue of elvis. that is to say nothing bad about either, but i think location matters, an answer that may be right in america or europe wouldn't be the case for say africa or asia. As ridiculous as it is in this day in age, i think pretty much everyone from like 9ish years old to twenties and thirties would know who a 50 cent or eminem is because they are marketed around the world so hard. I was in kenya couple years ago and you cannot go far w/o seeing a 50 cent shirt, poster or product bearing his name or image.

[luckyjimm]

No-one mentioned Jimi Hendrix yet?

If we're talking solo performers then obviously in no particular order it's:

Bob Marley
Jimi Hendrix
Madonna
Michael Jackson
Elvis Presley
Bob Dylan

Not sure about including Lennon/McCartney because they're better known for songs created in a band, not as solo artists.

Bjork's pretty big - she sang at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, you don't get a bigger gig than that.

[luckyjimm]

50 Cent isn't so big in the UK. He gets bad reviews, too.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
all i know is that before coming to america from kenya, i knew who bob marley and MJ were, but did not know about the beatles and had no clue of elvis

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that is really intresting to hear. i would have thought that the beatles global marketing machine would be at least as good as MJ's. huh.

i wouldn't be shocked if the most recognized musician worldwide turned out to be some american idol product, david hasselhoff, or another douche like that? i googled, but didn't have the patience to dig up a good answer.

for our context, USA 2007, i agree with the OP, probably the beatles, MJ, and elvis, in no particular order.

[bholdr]

Who was/is the most influential musician or group ever?

pythagoras.

not. even. close.

[luckyjimm]

Post deleted by Nick B.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
Bob Marley
Jimi Hendrix
Madonna
Michael Jackson
Elvis Presley
Bob Dylan



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good list... i see dylan as having a HUGE effect on the sucess/development of the beatles, Jimi, and rock as we know it. he was kind of the anti-elvis, no?

also, Bob M had a largely unrecognized worldwide appeal, but he wasn't a strictly individual performer like michael jackson or madonna... he had a great band, and he came up with peter tosh and bunny wailer (who each had a hand in writing/creating most of what became Bob's later hits).

[TheNoodleMan]

thanks for ruining the thread by not putting any spaces in your crappy post. ban plz