>
> Blah blah Bob Dylan's the single most influential pop musician in the 20th century.
>Hands down.
>
> Not even close. Bob Dylan's more influential than Bing Crosby? Than Frank Sinatra?
>Than Louis Armstrong? Than Hank Williams? Than Jimmie Rodgers? Than Elvis Presley?
>
> He's definitely one of the top influences in popular music, no argument there. If
>you'd said "folk musician" or "rock musician" I might agree. But I would argue that
>any of the above are more influential to the development of American based popular mu
sic than Dylan.
>
This is fun stuff -- arguing over who's the most influential, etc. -- but
it ain't goin' nowhere. These sort of debates tend to unintentionally
diminish various "great ones" just by virture of negative-oriented
arguments. ... Cash isn't great because he's nowhere as blah, blah, blah.
And that pesky little factor, taste, gets in the way, too -- which is why
I'd come out of nowhere and declare that Dylan and the Beatles blow
freaking Elvis out of the freaking water, while Johnny Cash sits over on
the sidelines with that crooked grin of his, laughing at us assholes
arguing over this stuff. -- Terry Smith (who continues his lone holdout as
an Elvis agnostic)
