Names to Know in Music

'NOTE: THIS PAGE IS STILL A DRAFT. PLEASE ADD EXPLANATIONS WHY THESE PEOPLE ARE ON THE LIST, NEW ENTRIES, AND NEW SECTIONS.'

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.

An incomplete list. Feel free to add more. (((possibly from w:Category:Lists of musicians by instrument))) NEEDS MORE NON-ROCK ENTRIES.

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 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.
 * Led Zeppelin - Three Words: "Stairway to Heaven"
 * My Bloody Valentine - the first big "shoegazing" group
 * Nirvana - The "grunge" group.
 * Pink Floyd - The Psychedelic Rock group.
 * 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.
 * Sex Pistols - Had a huge influence on punk and popular music as a whole.
 * The Three Tenors - Turned high culture into pop culture.
 * 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.

Electronic groups

 * The Chemical Brothers - Helped popularize the big beat genre.
 * Daft Punk - They put French House into the mainstream.
 * Depeche Mode
 * Kraftwerk - They pioneered and popularized Electronic Music.
 * Merzbow - The foremost act in the Japanese noise genre.
 * Ministry - The most prominent band to ever blend industrial music and hard rock.
 * The Prodigy
 * Skinny Puppy - The most influential group in the current wave of industrial music.
 * Tangerine Dream - Also pioneers of electronic music.
 * 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).

Clarinetists

 * Benny Goodman - The "King of Swing" made jazz respectable.

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!


 * Jeff Beck
 * Adrian Belew
 * Chuck Berry
 * Ritchie Blackmore
 * Liona Boyd
 * Eric Clapton
 * Bo Diddley
 * Robert Fripp
 * Jimi Hendrix
 * Buddy Holly
 * Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
 * Robert Johnson
 * Pat Metheny
 * Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine)
 * Jimmy Page
 * Les Paul
 * Vernon Reid (Living Colour)
 * Django Reinhardt - The seminal jazz guitarist.
 * Snakefinger (aka Philip Lithman)
 * Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3)
 * Steve Vai
 * Eddie Van Halen
 * 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)
 * Mike Watt
 * Doug Wimbish
 * Rob Wright (NoMeansNo)

Harpists

 * Loreena McKennitt

Pianists and Keyboardists

 * Tori Amos
 * Victor Borge
 * John Cale (Velvet Underground, solo)
 * Wendy/Walter Carlos
 * Ray Charles
 * Burton Cummings (The Guess Who, solo)
 * Rick Davies (Supertramp)
 * Dr. John
 * George Duke
 * Keith Emerson
 * Glenn Gould
 * Herbie Hancock
 * Jools Holland (Squeeze, solo)
 * Jean-Michel Jarre
 * Billy Joel
 * Elton John
 * Booker T. Jones
 * Howard Jones
 * 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)
 * Stevie Wonder
 * Bernie Worrell
 * Warren Zevon

Violinists

 * Natalie MacMaster
 * Lindsey Stirling

(((see also Lists of violinists)))

Singers

 * Gene Autry
 * Joan Baez - The female protest singer
 * Björk
 * David Bowie
 * James Brown
 * Kate Bush
 * Maria Callas
 * Cab Calloway
 * Johnny Cash
 * Leonard Cohen - "Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win Vocalist of the Year."
 * Elvis Costello
 * Bing Crosby
 * Gord Downie
 * Bob Dylan
 * Whitney Houston
 * Michael Jackson - Thriller is the biggest-selling album ever.
 * Al Jolson - Not just the star of the first talking picture, but also an accomplished singer.
 * Robert Johnson - An important influence to Blues.
 * Janis Joplin
 * John Lennon
 * Vera Lynn - The original and iconic Glamorous Wartime Singer.
 * Madonna
 * Bob Marley
 * Freddie Mercury
 * Joni Mitchell
 * Phil Ochs
 * Luciano Pavarotti
 * Elvis Presley
 * Prince - who really should also be listed in half of the other sections in this list
 * Frank Sinatra
 * Bruce Springsteen
 * Neil Young

Rappers

 * 50 Cent
 * Beastie Boys
 * Cypress Hill
 * De La Soul
 * Dr. Dre - Worked with many influential rappers, including 2Pac, Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
 * Eminem - The most important rapper around.
 * Gil Scott-Heron
 * Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
 * Ice Cube
 * Ice-T - Pioneer of Gangsta Rap
 * Jay-Z
 * Jurassic 5
 * Kanye West
 * Kendrick Lamar
 * The Last Poets - Considered the very first rap group.
 * Lil Wayne
 * LL Cool J
 * N.W.A.
 * Nas
 * The Notorious B.I.G.
 * OutKast
 * Public Enemy
 * Queen Latifah
 * Run DMC
 * Slick Rick
 * Snoop Dogg
 * The Sugarhill Gang
 * A Tribe Called Quest
 * Tupac Shakur
 * Wu-Tang Clan

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

 * Johann Sebastian Bach
 * John Barry
 * Ludwig van Beethoven
 * Irving Berlin
 * Elmer Bernstein
 * Leonard Bernstein
 * Johannes Brahms
 * Fryderyk Chopin
 * Aaron Copland
 * Claude Debussy
 * George Gershwin
 * Gilbert and Sullivan
 * Philip Glass
 * Joseph Haydn
 * Joe Hisaishi
 * Gustav Holst
 * Yoko Kanno
 * Lerner and Loewe
 * Franz Liszt
 * Henry Mancini
 * Felix Mendelssohn
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Rodgers and Hammerstein
 * Franz Schubert
 * Stephen Schwartz
 * Dmitri Shostakovich
 * Stephen Sondheim
 * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
 * Giuseppe Verdi
 * Antonio Vivaldi
 * Richard Wagner
 * Andrew Lloyd Webber
 * John Williams

Producers

 * Steve Albini
 * Butch Vig
 * Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton)
 * Sam Dickinson
 * Tom Dowd
 * Brian Eno
 * Berry Gordy
 * Martin Hannett
 * Trevor Horn
 * Jimmy Iovine
 * Quincy Jones
 * François Kevorkian
 * Robert John "Mutt" Lange
 * Daniel Lanois
 * John Leckie
 * Steve Lillywhite
 * Jeff Lynne
 * Arif Marden
 * George Martin
 * Joe Meek
 * Lee "Scratch" Perry
 * Sam Phillips
 * Nile Rodgers
 * Rick Rubin
 * Todd Rundgren
 * Phil Spector
 * Jim Steinman
 * Chris Thomas
 * King Tubby - Influenced the development of Dub music in the 1960s and 1970s
 * Jerry Wexler

Electronic music producers

 * Adrian Sherwood
 * Aphex Twin
 * Armin Van Buuren
 * Brian Eno - The Ambient artist.
 * Deadmau5
 * Diplo
 * Dr. Dre
 * Fatboy Slim - Helped popularize the Big Beat genre in the 1990s.
 * Frankie Knuckles - A pioneer of House Music during the 1980s.
 * J Dilla
 * James Murphy
 * Paul van Dyk
 * Richie Hawtin
 * Skrillex
 * Steve Aoki