NWA....damn straight. That album's fucking amazing. I prefer dre's "The Chronic" a little more because I overlistened to straight outta compton; I know practically the whole thing off by heart. California's owns a good part of my rap taste.

As for Robert Johnson, I love his stuff. He really sets the mood in his music and has powerful lyrics. Well deserved place on this top 50!

I don't see why Fugazi or any hardcore bands are on there. Hardcore is a giant monster of mediocrity now but they should at least acknowledge the greats.

sounds like a good argument against this...

"Changed music" does not mean "made you, personally, happier about the direction music has been going." It means they changed music, for better or for worse, in any given category, from any given scene.

I know. I just don't care.

well there's no hardcore on there because hardcore never really took off outside the US of states, and the observer is a british newspaper.
they could site a zillion obscure/underground records that were pivotal in one way or another (and not just from the american rock underground of the 80s) but then they'd be alienating most of their readers, because obscure is music (that you/we are interested in) is totally irrelevant to the life of your average human.

Ahh. I didn't realize this was from the UK. That makes alot of sense.

Fucking brits.

nirvana should be in the top ten.

FUCK nirvana.

i dont care for nirvana much, and usually am dissapointed at them being at the top of lists but frankly, they were quite a bit more influential than marvin gaye

This list is not about being influential, it is about changing music. We had already heard the heavy shit that Nirvana had sown itself in when they broke through into the mainstream, but when Marvin Gaye came around, nobody had really heard anything similar to that.

but they influenced just about every rock band since and shifted popular music forever, gaye and some of the others on the list may have been original but they didnt create the same kind of rift

Jesus fucking Christ. Everyone GET OVER Nirvana.

How did Nirvana influence Jay-Z, Chik Chik Chik, The Strokes, Radiohead, The Mars Volta...etc.

Nirvana isn't really that huge of an influence to many. I'd say that Green Day was a bigger influence to come from the 90's than Nirvana (not that I'm a big Green Day fan).

i never said i was a fan of nirvana, in fact i dont care much for them much at all but their influence in undeniable.

Cliche much?

Not sure how much Nirvana influenced bands. They really just brought the grunge scene into the mainstream.

yeah, what the fuck happened to cultivating your own style?

No it's not. I'm denying their influence, because I just don't see it.

I'd say Rage Against the Machine was a much bigger influence on post-grunge rock. (Limp Biskit, Linkin Park, Korn, etc.)

Who exactly did Nirvana undeniably influence?

The Darkness?