Pheromoans featured in our Top 50 New Bands of 2013 list earlier in the year, and they continue to be ones to watch, following their well-received 4th full length album Does This Guy Stack Up? with the enigmatic and inventive Art Mist EP.

Pheromoans are an experimental 6 piece from South East England comprised of Russell Walker, The Octogram, Dan Bolger, Alex Garran, and James Tranmer. They are known for their off-kilter, sparse rhythms and deadpan DIY style, which has given them the ‘avant garage’ tag.

The Art Mist EP’s lead track “Art Mist” feels like a revolutionist statement, an eerie jagged dissonance of plectrum twang recalling The Virgin Prunes and Swell Maps. It’s down-tuned and doomy, with a deliberately measured metronomic drumming pattern like a slow march to your own execution.

“Prince Anne” is a short, sparse little shuffle full of sarcastic wit and dark humour, a bored denunciation of life in the UK with a bouncy, jerky bass pluck and some woodwind blows.

Just when you think you’ve witnessed the full spectrum of what Pheromoans are capable of, side B throws “My Wild Irish Dream” in your face, a chaotic, metallic drone of keyboard warbles and echo treated vocals.

There is a creative experimental looseness to the previous two songs, and while always interesting and rewarding, the EP is definitely book-ended with the strongest tracks, and the ones which seem to have a more focused identity (“Art Mist” and the minimal yet melodic “Beazer Homes Again”).

Within four pretty varied offerings, this EP effectively shows off the band’s dynamic, channeling their disenchantment with modern English life into great lurching rhythms and fragmented grooves. The sound is new, yet rooted in the familiarity of the UK post-punk style, so that there’s nothing the more casual or out of touch listener might be overly put off by. Pheromoans are not standoffishly arty or clever, either, and there’s a nice erratic shamble and primitivism to the compositions – I’m sure they would have been John Peel favourites.

Get your copy of the Art Mist EP here.

Pheromoans are on Facebook and MySpace.

All words by Carrie Quartly, you can read more of her writing on the site here.

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John Cooper Clarke
The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen
20th May 2013

‘The Bard of Salford’ John Cooper Clarke arrived on stage, still stick thin with drain pipe trousers and frizzy hair, apart from age he hasn’t changed much in looks and style since I first saw him about 30 years ago.

First up was a poem about the guest list; rattling off a list of names in a quick fire Manc accent, and saying to crowd if yours name not here you have to pay, every one started to laugh..

A very big percentage of the show is stand up comedy, topics included, golf, Alzheimer’s, STI’s not being called VD any more; this one especially had the crowd in fits of laughter.

In between the jokes we got poetry, what most people had come for ‘Beasley Street” and ‘Evidently Chicken Town” which was used on the end of The Sopranos episode being one of the nights highlights.
The thing about a John Cooper Clarke gig is you piss yourself laughing and come away ecstatic but can’t remember all the jokes you were told.

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Russian Anarchy in the UK: ‘Sons Without Fathers’ at the Arcola Theatre, London, in co-production with the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.

Helena Kaut-Howsen directs a striking, strangely discordant production of Chekhov’s first play ‘Plotonov’. Translated and adapted by Kaut-Howsen from a lost script only found after Chekhov’s death the drama has been titled ‘Sons Without Fathers’ and reduced from 5 hours to a shorter allegory for the psyche of a lost generation. There’s a real sense of displacement of characters all at sea and without purpose. The production has a contemporary setting and futuristic brutalist metallic background, clashing with a cluttered domestic interior, and a thrash metal Balkan nightclub sound design (Paul Bull with Original Motifs composition by Boleslaw Rawski) against which the dialogue is at times blurred – suggestive of the characters not quite being able to communicate, not quite getting one another. The title and themes of the play highlight a modern pre-occupation: If a strong figurehead is the role-model for a young man – what happens when he is not there? Be that in a literal or emotional sense.

The men in the play drink or ‘go feral’ in the forest, dream of running away and blame someone else for their troubles. They act caddishly to the women and fail to live up to expectations. Yet provincial school teacher Platonov (a convincing delivery from Jack Laskey), serial philanderer and the worst of them all is adored by the women in the play. Themes that run through the drama include alcoholism, boredom, despair, and the misapprehension that a love affair can somehow lift the characters out of a void and give them new life. Osip the ‘wild man in the forest’ in a colourful portrait by Mark Jax, is supposedly the darkest character but seems to be the one with the most integrity. All the male characters are perhaps aspects of the playwright himself from youthful idealist, to jaded lost soul, to country doctor and hopeless philanderer.

Continuing in the same vein, Chekhov’s women, rather than rounded portraits, each seem to symbolise an aspect of womanhood. Sasha, PlatoAnov’s wife is young, blindly naïve, propping up the failings of her father, her brother and her husband. Amy McAllister gives a sensitive and touching performance. Susie Trayling is comic and powerful as Anna Petrovna, the wealthy good looking widow chasing a thrill to occupy the void in her life. Jade Williams is Maria Grekova the school teacher whose feminist idealism is rendered meaningless by her inability to resist Platonov. Marianne Oldham who played Yelena in Uncle Vanya at the Arcola last year also directed by Kaut-Howsen, returns here as Sophia with china doll fragility, creating a powerful underlying sense of an emotionally and psychologically troubled soul. Tom Canton gives a subtle performance as her husband Sergei a wealthy young man with no particular purpose in life.

Economic issues shadow all the characters’ lives from the threadbare Nikolai Triletsky (Simon Scardifield) a country doctor who commands no financial status, to Anna Petrovna, selling off assets and Sasha nourishing her family on cabbage soup. Young student Vengerovich stands aside, as an idealist, a Jewish man, a critic, yet he exists on his fathers’ ‘new wealth’ and teeters on the edge attempting to tap into the world the other characters inhabit.

There is a strong sense of Chekhov trapping his characters and us the audience, in this desperate place. The production’s eclectic influences range from moments that evoke Shakespeare to those that place Chekhov as a forefather to Samuel Beckett. Inevitably somehow, being Chekhov the night ends with a gun shot.

Runs until June 15

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Bearded Theory Festival 2013
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
17-19th May 2013

Having just returned from the Bearded Theory Festival it seems difficult to comprehend that this year’s event was in fact only the 6th occasion it has been held; such is the level of organisation and diversity of both music and on-site activities you would be forgiven for (wrongly) assuming that the festival had been running for many, many years and was neatly cocooned under a huge multi-national corporate banner.

Bearded Theory has in its short existence captured the true spirit of a UK music festival where musical diversity is encouraged along with community and comradeship; this is down to the small but truly dedicated team of organisers who have repeatedly shunned the safe meal ticket offered by drinks manufacturers and the like.

Instead Bearded Theory self funds from ticket sales; as such festival goers are offered bands from all genres regardless of PR campaigns and alleged critical release schedules…2013 was to be no different.

Once again set within the grounds of the magnificent Kedleston Hall, the main stage and arena back dropped by a lake and ornate waterfall; the setting is idyllic and not sullied by the usual array of enormo flags advising you to guzzle shite lager and dial people cheap rate in far flung countries of the world.

Five stages are carefully arranged, each connected by an array of market stalls which are interspersed by a huge range of free activities on offer for children both big and small which included wood carving, potters wheels, zorbing, drum workshops, and busking points where, if you felt brave enough, you could compete with the listed bands.

We arrive on Friday and set up base camp with the sounds of Liverpool’s The Hummingbirds wafting across from the Main Stage, I’d seen them a week or so previously at the launch of The Liverpool Music Awards within the city’s Town Hall. Their jangly guitar indie-pop is not really my thing, but certainly provides acceptable accompaniment as we hastily set up the tent…one eye on the darkening sky – the forecast had suggested rain on both the Friday and Saturday.

Apparently The National Trust had shrunk the festival footprint this year, which added to the ‘village’ type atmosphere, all the usual stages are present; Magical Sounds Dance Tent which despite the early hour is banging out tunes rarely heard before 4am in most venues; Tornado Town is busy – might have something to do with the fact it’s entirely covered; despite the overcast weather all the stalls are busy, the huge Angel Fields children’s area is a hive of activity, when suddenly the excited squeals of the pin-balling kids is drowned out by the Magners-fuelled mayhem that is once more Neds Atomic Dustbin. The crowd, no doubt similarly fuelled by Magners, respond accordingly, the majority of the hits are belted out Kill Your Television, Happy, Trust and Stuck – what’s with all the single word titles?

All of which suitably prepares the crowd for the arrival of New Model Army, as they step out onto the Main Stage, a sea of arms opens to welcome them, the same sea resplendent in a 1000+ NMA t-shirts. One of the great festival bands they tear through their 60 minute set, special mention to Justin Sullivan who introduces Today Is A Good Day by pointing out that Margaret Thatcher died on his birthday and remarking “sometimes you do get what you want”. It wasn’t just Justin, the crowd tonight got what they wanted, and got it by the skip-full.

Didn’t really fancy Reverend & The Makers so took a wander around, the Magical Sounds tent is literally bouncing, it’s as if someone had transported Manumission to a Derbyshire field but forgot to tell the punters. For those foolish enough the helter-skelter and carousel are ensuring that all that cider, burgers and other ingredients are suitably whisked to provide visuals throughout the night…at which point we retire to bed.

Saturday morning; it clearly rained overnight though the ground looks to have stood up well to the onslaught, though the prediction is for more rain. Once breakfast is defeated, a battle plan is drawn up; there might only be five stages but a level of planning is required to avoid those clashes. I circle Bootscraper who are set to appear at Tornado Town, having loved their self-titled 2012 debut album (buy it at TNS Records) I was delighted that their maelstrom of mandolin and banjo effortlessly transfers to the live stage; gypsy punk/aggro-folk music at its very best!

Ruts DC are on the Main Stage, playing as a four-piece minus second vocalist Molara who was bottled at a gig only a week or so back, despite this Ruts DC are tight and unleash a deep bass driven groove across the entire arena, Leigh’s guitar countering the dub vibes. It’s a festival so we get the hits Staring At The Rude Boys and Babylon’s Burning but we also get Jah War and a couple from the current album Rhythm Collision Vol 2 the entire set a blend of the bands punk roots and modern clean digital dub.

Reggae was clearly the theme for Saturday afternoon as Macka B takes to the stage to deliver his gravel voiced exultations to Jah; smooth flowing political British reggae drawing from both his current Change The World album to the previous 2008 released ‘More Knowledge’.

I manage to catch a couple of tracks by Frenzy, I recall seeing them couple of times back in the ’80’s rockabilly hey-day; they might not have the quiffs anymore but they certainly have the songs, slap bass-fuelled rock n’ roll. Citizen Fish are over on the Main Stage, their brass driven anarcho rants get the front rows skanking though no-one can hope to keep up with Dick as he hurls himself around the stage bellowing anti-everything diatribes.

Back to Tornado Town, complete with inflatable storm clouds and lightning bolts suspended from the roof, and to witness one of the weirdest bands of the weekend, the oddly named Tankus The Henge. Centre stage an upright piano literally with whistles attached; hammering away on the keys whilst bellowing into an old Bakelite telephone is a bloke who seems to have come dressed a la Gene Wilder whilst filming the original Willy Wonka (the wardrobe assistant was possibly a goth); whilst trying to formulate some sort of understanding I realise that said piano is also a smoke machine; things are getting very weird.

We return to base camp, fire up the Campingaz stove and after 15mins serve up a pretty decent chilli…courtesy of Stagg (other manufacturers are available) and the invention of boil-in-the bag rice, all the while The Quireboys are entertaining the crowds on the Main Stage…again not my thing so dinner came at an ideal moment.

Suitably refreshed its back to Tornado Town for the dirty rock & roll peddled by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons; Pussycat taunting the audience with her salacious approach to get amongst them. On stage The Johnsons hammer out their hook driven grimey rock n’ roll, all of which suitably built the expectation for the headliners Asian Dub Foundation; I had never seen them live before.

I own a couple of their albums so that’s a pretty shameful admission I know…it really has been my loss. Asian Dub Foundation took Bearded Theory by the scruff of its neck, dressed it down and taught it to DANCE; their mix of hip-hop, sub industrial guitar squall, drum & bass and even bhangra had the entire festival bouncing. Nathan on flute was incredible; at one point playing both flute and beat-boxing simultaneously – how can flute be so cool; how can it be the same instrument and yet be so far from James Galway – stunning.

Woke reasonably early Sunday morning – to bright sunshine!! At midday the main arena was cleared for the arrival of the Kedleston Knights, who entertained the kids with their medieval jousting, seems to be a lot of people wearing beards…ah yes, its Bearded Theory and each year they attempt to beat their own World Record for the most number of false beards worn collectively; no-one from Guinness is introduced to verify this attempt, but we do get Beards an Australian band who all have…surely I don’t need to spell it out, what’s more they sing about…see you’re ahead of me now!!!

Beards select Robot Beard as the winner of the Best Beard competition, except Robot Beard is in fact two robots, can it get better than two robots in a field dancing to a band who sing songs entitled You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man and rouse the crowd to chant “the Kings Of Leon are shit”

The glorious sunshine bathing the entire site encourages people to put out rugs and deck chairs as they watch Ezio on the Main Stage, it’s all pretty chilled – a perfect festival atmosphere; then Goldblade arrive.

Now I have to declare my allegiance, many will know of my involvement with the band, but despite this it is fair to say that within minutes Goldblade have captured Bearded Theory. The crowd go mental, the first mosh pit of the weekend; frontman John Robb descends from the stage and hollers from the crash barrier, within three songs he’s stripped to the waist as Goldblade deliver the punk mayhem we have come to expect, mixing well known favourites Fighting In The Dancehall with This Is War and Someone Stole My Brain from the new The Terror Of Modern Life album (which was set for release the following morning). Robb has the crowd in his hand, arms raised, fists clenched – the crowd, now a mob singing along, an energised rabble collectively testifying their belief in the ‘Power Of Rock n’ Roll’

We stumble across impromptu ‘flash-mob’ style sets from Drum Machine a 30-piece batala influenced drum group, Ferocious Dog are rumoured to be doing ‘secret gigs’ – so secret in fact we fail to catch them; we even find a stall selling Horse Jerky under the banner Hunglikahorse!!

Some forty minutes later and John Robb is back on stage, this time with Goldblade guitarist Brother Pete as they join The Farm for a rendition of the Clash’s Janie Jones; Robb was the compere for the Justice Tour package and as the tour progressed he became the vocalist for this old Clash number.

The Farm set is perfectly timed, the sun is setting, the vibes are getting loose, arms flail to their funky rolling rhythms.

Stiff Little Fingers were up next – difficult job, following Goldblade and preceding The Levellers, but Jake Burns & Co. have been at this for long enough not to be phased, and deliver a near perfect festival set; which then left us with a dilemma – head to Tornado Town for Gallon Drunk who I missed on their last UK tour or The Levellers.

Well, it was the culmination of a festival and The Levellers are arguably THE festival band so they got our vote; we were not to be disappointed.

The Levellers are sublime, they pace their set perfectly building towards the finale, the huge crowd were excited for Goldblade – they have gone into overdrive, a celebration of community, an understanding that this festival brings people to together regardless of the bands performing, and The Levellers fully understand this. They are sound tracking the celebration as opposed to being the focus and it’s within this humility that The Levellers have justifiably become the biggest band outside the mainstream music industry.

So Bearded Theory 2013 came to a close, frankly another triumph, without doubt this is one of the friendliest festivals in the UK calendar, perfectly sized and with an openness to the music it offers that is reciprocated by its audience; already looking forward to 2014.

Bearded Theory Festival 2014 – Tickets are on sale now.

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It marks the end of an era on Twitter when for a few years ago anything went and people seemed to be able to say anything they wanted about anyone else.

For quite some time it’s been astonishing what people could get away with online and there was a feeling that the internet was somehow going to be different – beyond the law and full of half truths and rumour that passed as fact. A digital gossip site in many ways, with the kind of things getting flashed up that no-one else could ever get away with.

For a long time Twitter had been a space where people could say what they wanted and it had broken many stories in recent years, far ahead of the print media who had to hold back for fear of getting sued.

People genuinely believed they could say what they wanted, that it was just a glorified pub conversation and that Twitter did not have the same sort of power as the press. Many times I have heard people say that they could say what they liked on Twitter and that there was no law governing it – and up until now this seemed true.

Is decision a good thing? Or a curtailment of freedoms? Should people be able to say what they want on the internet or should there be some sort of control or is this the start of some sort of censorship of the online world?

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Barely in existence for a year Pylo are creating quite a buzz with their idiosyncratic and atmospheric sound.

Their debut single, Enemies, is to be released on June 24th and is a collision of the current trad indie/folk but with enough of a twist of post rock noise to make it far more interesting.

The band are playing Dot To Dot  festival this weekend and are on tour…

• 24.05 – Manchester – Dot To Dot
• 25.05 – Bristol – Dot To Dot
• 26.05 – Nottingham – Dot To Dot
• 31.05 – London – Koko ( Club NME Main Stage )
• 13.06 – Bath – Moles
• 20.07 – Oxford – Truck Festival
• 02.08 – Camp Bestival – tbc
• 03.08 – Derby – Y Not Festival
• 24.08 – York – Galtres Festival
• 31.08 – Surrey – Weyfest

Here’s video for the single Enemies.

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Sleeping with Sirens
Ritz, Manchester
23 May 2013

Post-hardcore band Sleeping With Sirens got a sold out Ritz in Manchester moshing and singing along – we give you the low down and an early heads up that if you missed this one they’re back in the autumn for more. 

Sleeping With Sirens are a difficult band to pin down to one specific genre. One minute, they’re screaming and thrashing about like nobody’s business with their angst-ridden ‘With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear’ type songs, but then they’re doing an entire EP of melodic and beautiful, if ever so slightly soppy, covers of their own songs.

It might be down to singer Kellin Quinn’s impressive vocal range which, when put to full use, makes the band able to do such a range of music (my mum, my plus one for the evening,heard one of their songs and she asked me if it was Paramore!). But whatever it is, people like it enough that they managed to sell out tonight’s show at the Ritz several months ago.

After a warm welcome by friendly New England-based openers Our Last Night came The Word Alive (originally fronted by Craig Mabbit of Escape The Fate, although he’s since been replaced with Tyler Smith of In Fear And Faith) with their intense and aggressive brand of metalcore, an interesting choice of support for a band that once said they’re ‘not heavy’.

They were undoubtedly enthusiastic and got the crowd going, but seemed to be a little bit uncomfortable onstage despite their raucous reception and how easily they whipped up the crowd. Because of this, they tended to resort to quite choreographed-looking dance moves at various points in the songs; it was distracting when trying to focus on what was, overall, actually some pretty good and interesting music performed by some talented artists. Thankfully ‘the moves’ faded somewhat throughout the set as they got more into it, to give way to some actual rocking out.

The pretty boys of post-hardcore, getting in straight away with musings on why British girls are so much prettier than American girls, and how the boys in the crowd were on the losing side against Kellin and Co’s’ ‘sexy foreign accents’, Sleeping With Sirens eventually emerged, confident and raring to go.

They launched into a powerful performance of These Things I’ve Done, slightly marred by the microphone not working properly for part of it. It pointed out quite clearly that they’re not necessarily as soft as they might look, and they just kept growing from there, with the vengeful SWS classic A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son being dedicated to “everyone whose mother or father weren’t there for them . . . who’ve had to raise their brothers and sisters because their parents didn’t care,” preceded by Kellin’s dark references to his own father, the inspiration for the song.

Sticking to fan favourites that wouldn’t fail to get even the newest of fans going, and throwing their absolute best into it – and their best is a hell of a lot more than a lot of bands out there – SWS blazed through With Ears To See . . ., If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn and others, interspersed by Kellin’s brief disappearance into the crowd “for a nervous pee” (I’m not sure anyone really understood what he was going on about).

There was an abrupt break from the heavier stuff mid-set for a more chilled out section, with just Kellin and guitarist Jesse Lawson performing the gloomy Don’t Fall Asleep At The Hel, and the more pepped-up Don’t You Forget About Me from their 2012 If You Were A Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack.

It was a welcome break from the thrashing about involved in the other songs, but perhaps wrongly timed as the crowd had just getting into their stride and, though they still had their hearts fully in it, seemed to be lagging a little at the sudden return to fast and crazy. Everyone soldiered on though, spurred on by the excellent performance, and Kellin instigating the crowd-surfing by reminding the crowd that it would be an excellent end to the evening to have shaken his hand.

Either Sleeping With Sirens really know how to work a crowd, or Manchester is full of very excitable people, but they had the crowd dancing and singing back the lyrics so loud that, by the time they finished with the rebellious Do It Now, Remember It Later, my voice was so hoarse that it has been involuntarily crackling between the deep lows and piercing highs of Quinn’s singing all night, although in a much less appealing way.

I and many others were so exhausted that I was feeling actually dizzy by the end, and there’s a bruise forming on my hip from accidentally ending up too close to the mosh pit that seemed to disappear and reform every few seconds in a different part of the crowd – crazily enough, the parts nearer to where Kellin was standing.

They’re an excellent band when recorded, just as good and even more energetic live, and they know how to write an awesome song.

Luckily for you, they’re coming back to Manchester this October after releasing their new album, Feel, this June. I’d grab yourself a ticket while you still can, because even my mum said she enjoyed it!

Sleeping With Sirens; pretty-boy post-hardcore fun for all the family.

All words by Isobel Brierley.

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Colin Moulding from XTC has re-emerged from a long silence with a  vocal on a track by a band called Days between Stations.

For more information go the Days Between Stations website.

The track, The Man Who Died Two Times, is set to feature on new album In Extremis which also features artists including Rick Wakeman, Billy Sherwood, Peter Banks and Tony Levin.

Artwork for the album has been created by Paul Whitehead, known for his cover artwork for Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator.

In Extremis is the second album from LA prog duo Days Between Stations and has an intense and sepulchral mood.

You can hear a 30 second clip of The Man Who Died Two Times on the band’s website as well as previews of other tracks or buy the full album, released last week, at all the usual places.

The post The great Colin Moulding from XTC returns with guest vocal appeared first on Louder Than War.

Strummercamp is a great festival, celebrating the spirit of the late great Joe Strummer with a great line up.

This year with:

• TV Smith
• The Undertones
• The Men They Couldn’t Hang
• The Beat
• Spear Of Destiny
• Neville Staple
• The Three Johns and many others.

Check their website  for more details and where to get tickets from…

The post Strummercamp festival this weekend- great bill! tickets still available appeared first on Louder Than War.

We have just been handed a scientific report on the most influential band ever. Top scientists have poured over the data and facts and lots of fiction and come up with a list that no-one will agree with.

The list is about pop culture as a whole and not the tiny indie ghetto where the Velvet Underground are still referred to as the most important band ever because they invented being pasty-faced and wearing sunglasses as a kind of cool. The Stone Roses may have invented Britpop and were referred to as such as far back as 1988 but in terms of the whole world their influence is very local.

The real game changers were the musical forces that changed generations and sometimes invent whole new forms of music…

1. Elvis Presley

‘Before Elvis there was nothing ‘, John Lennon once said and it’s true because it’s hard to imagine a time before the golden hamburger that changed the world. Elvis shook his hips on American TV and caused the kind of cultural meltdown that is impossible to imagine now. Sure there was big stars before the unlikely named King burst onto the scene but they didn’t seem to be made out of this kind electricity.

2. The Beatles

It’s often be said that if you ever want to study a history of the sixties then listen to the Beatles back catalogue.

If Elvis created rock n roll The Beatles took it to another level, inventing the modern notion of the band.

The Beatles also kidded everyone that you could write your own songs which has been both a blessing and a curse in rock n roll.

3.The Rolling Stones

‘If you don’t like the Rolling Stones then you don’t like rock n roll’ the great sage John Cooper Clarke once told me. The band created the template for every wannabe rock n roll outlaw since they took the train out of Dartford in the early sixties.

A million bands rushed to the garage and attempted to grab that combination of blues, sex and sullen bad boy posturing and few succeeded. Even in the 21st century the Stones are still a key influence in the garages and rehearsal rooms.

4. James Brown

With his concrete bouffant and dance steps and machine like tight band James Brown virtually invented funk.

His songs are so meshed into culture that their deceptively simple genius is forgotten. Without JB would there have been funk and disco? He even influenced large swathes of rock music from the Stones to the Chili Peppers and his deceptively simple genius is crucial in the development of modern music.

5. Kraftwerk

Arguably the most influential band ever, Kraftwerk is a band who managed to invent not one but two genres of music.

The German half man, half machine had the most profound effect on popular culture in one of the strangest cultural shifts of all time when their Teutonic twinkling was picked up by hip black kids in the Bronx who understood das robots subtle funkiness and used it as a template to create techno and by extension hip hop.

Ten years later everyone was at it again when the band were used as the foundation for Techno and acid house – there can be few dancefloors not affected by this outfit.

6. Jimi Hendrix

It’s hard to imagine the impact Hendrix must have had when he turned up in the Summer of Love with his out-there image and stunning guitar playing.

Of course there had been lead guitarists before but no one had been a guitar hero and Jimi’s use of electricity influenced everyone from the Beatles to Prince. It was an effect so profound that all the pimply white youth at the time, who were itching to turn their guitar amps up like Eric Clapton, were acolytes of the genius of Hendrix and dominated early seventies rock without ever getting close to effortless brilliant of the master himself.

7. Black Sabbath

It could have been Led Zeppelin or it could have been Black Sabbath but somewhere between the two Brit bands a whole new kind of molten industry was forged.

Black Sabbath came up with the cultural DNA that laid the foundations for metal or rock or whatever you want to call it, with a dark and heavy bombastic riff loaded sound that came with a dark and melancholic atmosphere.

The seeds that were sown and grew into the true alternative music of these times, a worldwide culture that virtually dwarfs every other form.

8. Sex Pistols

These days the Clash get all the credit but as Mick Jones himself once remarked to me there would have been nothing without the Sex Pistols.

Like a mini Elvis they came out of vacuum and changed popular culture in a sleep walking late seventies UK.

There is a good argument that at the same time the Ramones impact was equally powerful, and indeed I have enjoyed this argument many times, but with the Pistols you get the added cultural baggage that was like a hammer blow to rock culture, creating the first generation gap in rock n roll.

If the Ramones musical ideas have been endlessly adopted by bands ever since then the Pistols just shade it with their overall cultural effect.

9. Madonna

For good or bad, there is rarely a modern pop star that has not taken their template from the squeaky dancer.

Madonna ruled the eighties – a decade where ambition far outstripped talent and created a whole new notion of the pop star for the video age.

10. David Bowie

Like the Beatles did in the sixties Bowie did the same in the seventies, mapping out a decade with his cultural shifts and ideas that lit the touch paper of several musical movements from glam to punk to post punk.

Where it went next was little to do with Bowie himself, who had already moved away into another place.

He also ‘invented’ bisexuality in a music scene that was yet to come out of its closet and he broke down all the last remaining barriers in pop culture and was key in introducing all manner of weird and wonderful music to his faithful droogs.

11. Bob Dylan

You can’t take Bobby D out of the equation – the tousle-haired one leapt out of the folk scene and grabbed a backing band and went all electric, causing a cultural meltdown and creating the notion of the rock poet with his complex riddle laden lyrics.

A whole slew of serious young men armed with guitars going all singer/songwriter has been the result – and not always a good thing.

12. Bob Marley

You only have to go to Africa to feel the international force of Bob Marley’s influence.

He may not have invented reggae but he took it to the world and opened the mainstream. Teased by some ska hits, to the wonderful possibilities of reggae culture and the amazing music that would pour out of the place – a relatively small island with a conveyor belt of great and varied music.

13. Joy Division/Bauhaus

This debate was touched on a couple of weeks ago when Bauhaus frontman, Peter Murphy told an interviewer that he felt his band were more influential than the Mancunian heroes.

Whilst it never looks right bigging yourself up he had a sort of point. Bauhaus, amongst a clutch of others laid the groundwork for the so called goth scene and were occupying the same moribund corner of music as the dark-hearted Mancs who pretty well inventing post punk at he same time.

14. Grandmaster Flash

Ok, not strictly the inventor a whole genre all by himself, the flash-man dressed in a series of outfits that would make Blackpool illuminations cringe and managed to get his name in the book of firsts with a series of hits that popularized the form in the first place.

Hip Hop is now one of the key musics in the world both musically and culturally and every backward wearing hat wannabe gangsta on the planet is deafening themselves to the thundering beat and the fistful of rhymes whilst copping the swagger from the form of music.

15. Ravi Shankar

It was not intentional but the late Indian sitar virtuoso created a mass interest in so called world music when he teamed up with the Beatles in the late sixties.

Ravi played the amazing ragas of classical India that captivated a whole new generation who saw them as tripped out masterpieces – certainly not the intention of the very strict player himself.

The newly wealthy youth of the sixties had discovered a whole new world outside the Anglo American axis, a whole new area of rich talent has been promoted or ripped off since then.

What do you think? Are these the most influential artists and bands? Tell us your thoughts below…

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