Names to Know in Music


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    This page is part of the "Names to Know" project.

    The groundbreaking, the influential, the seminal... but not necessarily the most famous people in the music industry, in any and all styles and genres of music.

    These people are the genre definers, the Trope Makers, the people that other musicians and people in the music industry look to for inspiration.

    For works to know in music, see Music of Note.

    Groups

    I was talking to Lou Reed the other day, and he said that the first Velvet Underground record sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years. Yet, that was an enormously important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band! So I console myself in thinking that some things generate their rewards in second-hand ways.
    —Brian Eno
    • AC/DC - The most popular band in hard rock/heavy metal (Back in Black is the second biggest-selling album in history, after Michael Jackson's Thriller).
    • The Beatles - The most popular group of the British Invasion, the "Fab Four" still get airplay a half-century after they broke up.
    • Bill Haley & His Comets - The first Rock and Roll group to chart a hit, legitimizing the entire Rock genre.
    • The Boswell Sisters
    • Buzzcocks - the punk band that showed punk didn't have to be political
    • The Chemical Brothers - Helped popularize the big beat genre.
    • Daft Punk - They put French House into the mainstream.
    • Dave Matthews Band - the first group to have seven studio albums in a row debut at Number One on the Billboard 200 chart.
    • Depeche Mode
    • The Everly Brothers
    • The Grateful Dead - They were spending their lives on tour before it was cool.
    • Joy Division - Pioneers of the Post-punk movement.
    • King Crimson - Their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King had a major influence on Progressive Rock.
    • Kraftwerk - They pioneered and popularized Electronic Music.
    • Led Zeppelin - Three Words: "Stairway to Heaven"
    • Merzbow - The foremost act in the Japanese noise genre.
    • The Mills Brothers
    • Ministry - The most prominent band to ever blend industrial music and hard rock.
    • My Bloody Valentine - the first big "shoegazing" group
    • Nirvana - The "grunge" group.
    • Pink Floyd - The Psychedelic Rock group.
    • The Prodigy
    • The Ramones - The first Punk Rock group.
    • Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Popularizers of rock music on the bagpipes.
    • R.E.M. - The first name in "alternative rock."
    • The Rolling Stones - The "bad boys" of the British Invasion.
    • Rush - Canada's greatest rock group (unless you think The Tragically Hip is). The literate great Canadian band.
    • Santana
    • Sex Pistols - Had a huge influence on punk and popular music as a whole.
    • Skinny Puppy - The most influential group in the current wave of industrial music.
    • Tangerine Dream - Also pioneers of electronic music.
    • The Three Tenors - Turned high culture into pop culture.
    • Throbbing Gristle - The band who originated the term "industrial music" (coined by their friend Monte Cazazza for their label Industrial Records, which he released some music on).
    • The Tragically Hip - Canada's greatest rock group (unless you think Rush is). The socially-aware great Canadian band.
    • U2 - Possibly Ireland's greatest rock group, definitely their most successful.
    • Velvet Underground - Late 60's/early 70's proto-punk/art rock.
    • The Wailers - Outside of Jamaica, the best-known Reggae group ever.
    • The Who - The third of the big three British Invasion groups, and the one that inspired (but didn't play) Punk Rock.
    • The Yardbirds - Another British Invasion group, best-known nowadays for some of their members: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Keith Moon.

    Band Leaders

    They didn't front a steady group, but their sound came from more than the individual performers.

    • Herb Alpert
    • Louis Armstrong
    • Count Basie
    • Cab Calloway
    • Hoagy Carmichael
    • Jimmy Dorsey
    • Tommy Dorsey, the Sentimental Gentleman of Swing
    • Duke Ellington
    • Woody Herman
    • Glenn Miller
    • Harry James
    • Buddy Rich
    • Artie Shaw

    Singers

    Rappers

    They've got the rhymes and the rhythm, but they aren't known for melody.

    Clarinetists

    • Benny Goodman - The "King of Swing" made jazz respectable.
    • Jimmy Dorsey
    • Woody Herman
    • Artie Shaw

    Cornetists

    • Bix Beiderbecke

    Drummers

    • Tony Allen (Fela Kuti)
    • Ginger Baker (Cream)
    • Hal Blaine
    • John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)
    • Terry Bozzio
    • Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson)
    • Clem Burke (Blondie)
    • Danny Carey (Tool)
    • Billy Cobham
    • Vinnie Colaiuta
    • Phil Collins
    • Dale Crover (Melvins)
    • Sly Dunbar
    • Steve Gadd
    • Jim Gordon
    • Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)
    • Elvin Jones
    • Manu Katché
    • Jim Keltner
    • Gene Krupa
    • Keith LeBlanc
    • Keith Moon
    • Ian Paice (Deep Purple)
    • Neil Peart (Rush)
    • Tommy Ramone (Ramones)
    • Buddy Rich
    • Max Roach
    • Bill Stevenson (The Descendents, Black Flag)
    • Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown)
    • Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (The Roots)
    • Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones)
    • Max Weinberg

    Guitarists

    There are only two kinds of rock guitarists: Jeff Beck and everyone else.
    —"Mio Akiyama", K-On!
    See also: Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists"
    • Chet Atkins - Mr. Guitar invented the "Nashville sound"
    • Jeff Beck
    • Adrian Belew
    • Chuck Berry
    • Ritchie Blackmore
    • Liona Boyd
    • Eric Clapton
    • Dick Dale - juiced up the old song "Misirlou" and invented Surf Rock
    • Bo Diddley
    • Robert Fripp
    • Jimi Hendrix
    • Buddy Holly - first successful modern singer to sing about love (instead of lust), first successful modern singer-songwriter, first popularizer of the Fender Stratocaster
    • Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
    • Robert Johnson
    • B.B. King
    • Pat Metheny
    • Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine)
    • Jimmy Page
    • Les Paul
    • Carl Perkins
    • Vernon Reid (Living Colour)
    • Django Reinhardt - The seminal jazz guitarist.
    • Carlos Santana
    • Snakefinger (aka Philip Lithman)
    • Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3)
    • Steve Vai
    • Eddie Van Halen
    • T-Bone Walker - pioneered the guitar solo
    • Muddy Waters - brought "Delta slide" into the mainstream
    • Wah Wah Watson (aka Melvin Ragin) - master of the wah wah pedal
    • Angus Young (AC/DC)
    • Frank Zappa

    Bassists

    • Jack Bruce (Cream)
    • Stanley Clarke
    • Les Claypool (Primus)
    • Bootsy Collins
    • Donald "Duck" Dunn
    • Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Melvins)
    • Bernard Edwards (Chic)
    • John Entwistle (The Who)
    • Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
    • Larry Graham (Sly and the Family Stone)
    • Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order)
    • James Jamerson
    • Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher)
    • John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
    • Mick Karn (Japan)
    • Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead)
    • Mark King (Level 42)
    • Bill Laswell
    • Geddy Lee
    • Tony Levin
    • Charles Mingus
    • Jaco Pastorius
    • Robbie Shakespeare
    • Chris Squire (Yes)
    • Sting
    • Mike Watt
    • Doug Wimbish
    • Rob Wright (NoMeansNo)

    Harpists

    Pianists and Keyboardists

    • Tori Amos
    • Count Basie (William James "Count" Basie)
    • Bix Beiderbecke
    • Victor Borge
    • John Cale (Velvet Underground, solo)
    • Wendy/Walter Carlos
    • Hoagy Carmichael
    • Ray Charles
    • Nat King Cole
    • Burton Cummings (The Guess Who, solo)
    • Rick Davies (Supertramp)
    • Dr. John
    • George Duke
    • Duke Ellington
    • Keith Emerson
    • Glenn Gould
    • Herbie Hancock
    • Jools Holland (Squeeze, solo)
    • Jean-Michel Jarre
    • Billy Joel
    • Elton John
    • Booker T. Jones
    • Howard Jones
    • Scott Joplin
    • Michael Kaeshammer
    • Jerry Lee Lewis
    • Liberace - "Mr. Showmanship" proved you could make a fortune playing the piano
    • Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
    • Manfred Mann
    • Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
    • Sarah McLachlan - also the founder of Lilith Fair, which broke down barriers keeping female musicians out of the spotlight
    • Freddie Mercury (Queen)
    • Patrick Moraz (The Moody Blues, Yes)
    • Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello)
    • Oscar Peterson
    • Allen Ravenstine (Pere Ubu)
    • Leon Russell
    • Ian Underwood (Frank Zappa)
    • Rick Wakeman (Yes, solo)
    • Fats Waller - turned Harlem Stride into modern Jazz Piano
    • Stevie Wonder
    • Bernie Worrell
    • Warren Zevon

    Saxophonists

    • Jimmy Dorsey
    • Woody Herman

    Trumpeters

    Trombonists

    • Tommy Dorsey
    • Glenn Miller

    Violinists

    DJs

    • A-Trak
    • Afrika Bambaataa - Influenced the development of Hip Hop in the 1980s.
    • Carl Cox
    • DJ Babu (Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples)
    • DJ Jazzy Jeff
    • DJ Kool Herc - Helped originate Hip Hop in the 1970s
    • DJ Krush
    • DJ Premier
    • DJ Q-Bert
    • DXT aka Grandmixer D.ST - First brought scratching to the mainstream on Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" (although the World Famous Supreme Team came close with Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals").
    • Grand Wizard Theodore - Widely acknowledged as the inventor of scratching
    • Grandmaster Flash
    • Invisibl Skratch Pikls
    • Kid Koala
    • Larry Levan
    • Mix Master Mike
    • Pete Tong

    Composers

    Producers

    The people behind the scenes, known for helping the people listed above to shine. (Some of them are also known as performers in their own right; these people are listed in the sections above.)

    See also Record Producer.

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