Warner Brothers would have gone bankrupt and fallen by the wayside back in the '20s had it not been for Rin Tin Tin.
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Posted on 10/14/2005 5:38:44 PM PDT by Pharmboy
The Beatles were singled out on Friday as the most influential entertainers of the past 100 years, beating out the likes of Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin and Mickey Mouse, according to a survey conducted by show business newspaper Variety.
Behind the Fab Four's first-place finish, were in alphabetical order: jazz pioneer Louis Armstrong, television comedienne Lucille Ball, movie legends Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, cartoon hero Mickey Mouse and singers Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Variety said the Beatles were named "Icons of the Century" because they were the entertainment personalities who made the biggest impact on the industry and the world in the past 100 years.
The newspaper published a list of 100 entertainers from all branches of show business, including actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians, television presenters, animals, comedians and cartoon characters. Among other names on the list were Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash and Lassie.
The winners were chosen by Variety editors based on polling of entertainment industry professionals and Variety staff and by online voting by the public on variety.com.
Among the criteria for selection were a performer's commercial, creative, political and social impact and even whether their image was presented -- like James Dean's -- on a t-shirt.
The list was to be published in Variety's Sunday issue to celebrate the paper's 100th anniversary. "It seemed only natural to celebrate 100 of the people who gave us something to talk about," said Steven Gaydos, the paper's executive editor.
Eat your heart out !!!
The Beatles were cute for a while - the teenyboppers loved them - but most influential? C'mon don't be stuck on stupid.
One could make the arguement that Walt was included because of his creation, Mickey Mouse, but it does seem to be somewhat of a snub.
Warner Brothers would have gone bankrupt and fallen by the wayside back in the '20s had it not been for Rin Tin Tin.
Predictable, BUT where's Bob Dylan??
Since most of the WW II generation is passing, its not surprising to see a sixties act on top.
That won't be the case fifty years from now, but who really cares?
Not meaning to argue and Son House is my personal blues favorite but blues were not the only component of rock and roll.
There is most definitely Appalachin Folk, traditional Country and Western, Gospel and Minstrel and Blues all rolled together.
Delta blues really seriously influenced 60s harder edge rock bands....they took it and ran well with it.
It's a shame so few of the early giants....Johnson, House or Patton ever had any decent recordings done. All of Johnson's stuff was done on junk recording equipment. I don't think Patton (who started as a minstrel in my opinion) ever had access to decent technology either.
Son House did courtesy if Alan Lomax Sr whom we all owe bigtime or we would have almost nothing on the early greats.
The latter giants like Muddy and Wolf or Hopkins had some well recorded stuff.
I have an old copy of a Son House dead letter recording originally made on a piece of thick metal ...I forget what they call it. It's from the early 20s and at an evening church social in Indianola Miss....you can hear the old steam train coming by while it's recorded.
anyhow...sorry for the rant...Sat morning meandering...sometimes I think folks like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, the Carter Family, Bob Wills and others from the mixed aforementioned genres are forgotten about as major influences on early rock and roll as well....the blues masters not withstanding.
I plead ignorance about Jazz....I know some the names, that's all
Martin Scorsese: “What’s that called?”
Helm (smiling): “Rock ’n’ roll.”
Scorsese (laughing): "Yes rock 'n' roll, of course."
Ole Levon could've added a few more types of music to that list as well -- gospel, R&B, etc.
Levon was speaking of Memphis, of course.
It was a strange time. It was an innocent period of time which later degenerated into the various experimentations of drugs and hinduism. John went the way of the marxist for everyone except himself...he was a very wealthy capitalist. Paul and George went back to the vitality of the music, though I do not believe it was ever as good as with the Beatle mix. Ringo...well what can you say about Ringo. He remains relaxed and taking it a day at a time.
I have every vinyl LP they ever put out. I still listen to them. I love the 'crackle' of the LP on the stereo. Go back and listen to them sometime when nostalgia gets under your skin.
As much as I like Chuck he is one of the MOST bitter humans I ever met. HATES any music that isn't his..
And without Charlie Christian (a jazzman who played behind Benny Goodman)there's no electric guitar. Without Les Paul there's maybe no r&r electric guitar.
In the forties there was no R&B, it was Race Music and it evolved in places that were just brushed by the blues (especially Tulsa - a true hotbed and LA). A different kind of Blues evolved in Chicago that had a jazzier feel than the music coming out of the Delta. There was what we now call country that grew out of Scots/Irish hard times music. There was Jazz that had multiple styles based primarily on the part of the country where it was being played.
And, there was radio. The AM band reached everywhere and everybody heard everything. Then white guys started playing like black guys and the vice was versa. There is no "father of Rock and Roll". There are too many who can make that claim with some degree of truth. The only fully accurate statement that can be made is that it is American...just like Tap dancing which evolved on the streets of NYC where displaced blacks from the south Cake-walked on one side of the street and Irish refugees from the potato famine jigged on the other.
Rubber Soul is one of two that were remixed from the original 4-track tapes in 1987 (Help was the other one). The remaining albums were just re-EQ'd from the analog master tapes made in the '60s. I've always thought the "new" mix on "Nowhere Man" had a little too much Paul, but that may just be my ears.
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