Of couse we all know it's Tenacious D.

But right after that, my pick is Led Zeppelin.

I don't know of a single Rock Band since the late 70's that had not been heavily influenced by them.

What band would you pick?

Ya.. easy pick that is...

Led Zep is awesome.

As are The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Moody Blues, Deep Purple, Queen.. etc. etc..

Sorry, going to have to go with the Grateful Dead on this one. Innovators, explorers, They could rock, but were also fearless, inventing and going places no band ever had. With thousands watching. Not every show was great, but every show was further.

Well if you want to describe innovation; why not go back to Bob Dylan?

Sorry....when I want to ROCK......it's AC/DC.
Groundbraking....no.
Innovating.......no.
Biatchin......oh yes!

The Rolling Stones

I will add Rush . . . because no matter what you think, they matter.

Pink Floyd

I figured you for The "Nuge" for sure!

Oh yeah, I like uncle Ted, but he is not anywhere near the level of the bands being mentioned in this thread. I hate to say it, but most of the Nuge's material hasn't stood the test of time.

Depending on my mood, Metallica can be my favorite too.

The Beatles.

I agree 150% with this.
The most influential rock band in history.
They where a big influence on "The Electric Light Orchestra" (ELO) which is my favorite band of all time.

The one and only:



QUEEN

Beatles, at least for importance. No other rock band will ever matter as much as they did/do. Just like Shakespeare for theater, they are THE practitioner of their art in terms of cultural significance.

I agree with peppergomez, it was The Beatles.

If they had never progressed beyond their "A Hard Days Night" and "Help" period, they'd at least be remembered for Beatlemania and for starring in some advant garde, feature length rock movies. But then after 1966 they retired from touring and performing live concerts and really explored studio production as a form of artistic expression, and then we've got full orchestrations, sound collages, exotic instruments like sitars, tapes played backwards, multitrack recording, and eventually a conceptual rock opera. Their work was immediately influential on Hendrix and others; their success in America paved the way for other English bands like the Rolling Stones; their legacy inspired next-generation bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. There is even a rumor that it was John Lennon who challenged Dylan to go electric in 1965.

I like a little Cream with my music, aye, 'tis a strange brew



Thier music was at a crossroads


and they brought a lot of sunshine in to your love


Jack Bruce and Roger Glover were my insperation to take up the Bass and play in a band

The Funk Brothers .....more gold records than Elvis , the Beatles and the Stones combined

I too like the Beatles very much, and I agree their musical experiments during the early 70's paved the way for most of our contemporary music (their use of oriental instruments heavily influenced Led Zeppelin, for example). Yet I would not classify their music as "rock". IMO "pop" would be the better description.

IMO Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd (maybe early Aerosmith as well) greatly influenced what rock music "should sound like" for the coming decades.

Of course it's highly subjective where one draws the line between "Pop" and "Rock" but I would certainly classify the second half of the Beatles career as rock. By second half I mean everything they did between "Revolver" and "Abbey Road".

Part of the problem is how "Pop" is defined. "Pop" naturally comes from the word "popular" so if you go that route then most certainly groups like Led Zep and Pink Floyd would be "pop" since for the most part, they were mainstream bands. Some people think of "Pop" as easy listening or "soft" rock and that can get murky too since both Pink Floyd and Led Zep had plenty of their own "soft" rock sounding songs.