The Velvet Underground vs The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones

Daft Slice 1986

Daft Slice 1986

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Jun 3, 2012
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Who do you guys think were more influential? Who do you guys like more, and why? I know guys like Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson were the beginning of it all, but lets try to keep this between these 3 bands.

I think all three are amazing bands, but being partial to honkey tonk and blues, I like the Stones the most out of all three. The Velvet Underground would be second for me because of their gritty and messy they sound. They had the guts to do something unlike anybody else. I have every Beatles album, and I'm a big fan, but if I could only listen to one of the three for the rest of my life ...the Beatles deff. wouldn't be my choice.

I think the Beatles, out of the 3, were the most influential to pop music. I think the VU had influence on more genres I.e. hard rock/punk/metal/alternative.
 
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The Beatles were the most infuential early on, they were the tip of the spear; but I prefer the Stones as the 'world's greatest rock and roll band'.
 
For me the (old) Rolling Stones top the three choices with their real rock n roll sound, still a Beatles fan but suffer from bug burn out. :D

Velvet Underground never did anything for me. As for someone with the guts to do something unlike anybody else, I'd be stepping outside the list with J.H. & SRV.
 
Oh man! I still have the original Velvets 'banana' album on vinyl. That record still sounds Avant Garde today. Venus in furs is a masterpiece. Have every Stones record and some of the early ones in "Mono", so yea Stones were great. I saw them live in '72', they played a lot off of exile plus their classics. A great show. The beatles hype gets to me sometimes with the 'Greatest band ever' rants. They were one great band among so many . They made some great stuff but they made a lot of fluff too. I'll go with the Rolling Stones and everything up to and encluding Exile on Main Street...
 
Out of the three i would pick the Rolling Stones. I know Bob Dylan was very inspirational to many bands. I like rock music from all decades.
 
Velvet Underground was more of the street arts scene. Lou Reed etc. Less market driven.

The Beatles, well what can you say. Probably the most influential pop group ever. But they were definitely a different genre, as were the Stones.

The Stones were more of the hard rockers of the era. Still heavily commercial but they attracted a different audience than the Beatles or velvet Underground.

IMO ymmv
 
I like the Stones the most out of those, although I like the Beatles just fine too. I don't know too much about the Velvet Underground but I do like Lou Reed. I think that they broke up before I was really listening to music. The Stones were together throughout the 70's and their "new" music got me listening to their 60's stuff. The Beatles were just impossible to miss even though I don't know if they were still pounding out the hits in the 70's.
 
For sheer influential-ness, definitely the Stones. VU were fantastic, but I don't think they influenced anywhere near as many as the Stones did.

I never liked the Beatles. Still can't listen to them. And don't get me started on "Paul McCartney and Wings".....
 
I loved the Beatles songwriting and hated the Beatles vocal sound. The Stones and VU were just OK for me. Definitely would have to step outside the list to get to my favorite bands/artists of that period.
 
My all time favorite band would be the Rolling Stones. They took their musical influences from wherever they could but they were mostly influenced by American blues players. Their showmanship has affected almost every band in some way. The Beatles influenced pop music and crooners more than rock and roll. I have never really listened to the Velvet Underground but I have read that Lou Reed was a big hero to other musicians.
 
Man! At last a thread worth a response. First, the Stones - Arguably the worlds greatest rock n roll band. However they never truly escaped their early influences. Keith's guitar riffs are still deeply rooted in nascent Delta Blues. The true argument is between the Beatles and VU. Could be an argument without end. VU's tempo and structure spawned punk, new wave(whatever that may be) and to a certain extent heavy metal. IMO you have to give the nod to the Beatles. NO band has escaped the influence the Beatles have on lyric formation and song writing. Just to throw something in the mix: Most influential album - Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
 
Frankly, I'd say that Les Paul is the most important name in Rock and Roll. 2nd, I'd say Jim Marshall. Without these 2 men, and their innovations, the greatest minds of Rock and Roll wouldn't have had the tools to make the wonderful music that we enjoy decades later.
 
VU did push the boundaries. :eek:

[video=youtube;L15nOAhBSII]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L15nOAhBSII[/video]

I love the Stones but Aerosmith out-uglied them. ;) :p :thumbup:

DC...:D
 
+1 Les Paul's the godfather.

[video=youtube;S8O5wZAd2z4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8O5wZAd2z4[/video]
 
[video=youtube;cCY-pMMzv68]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCY-pMMzv68[/video]
 
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Not that i am a fan but what about Elvis (1954)? With out him rock would not exist. The Beatles (1962) and the Stones (1963) were years later.
 
Love all 3 of those bands, for me: Beatles, Stones and then VU in that order. As to who was more influential, hard to say.
 
The Beatles, no question. The old joke about the Velvet Underground is that they sold very few records, but everyone who bought one of their records started a band as a result. With that said, The one time that i will ALWAYS change the channel on my Sirius radio is when they play that 20 plus minute session of sonic water boarding "Sister Ray" What garbage!!!!! They were influential as far as what future l;ive shows would look like, but that was Warhol who came up with those ideas.
As for the Stones, the made some GREAT music, especially during the Mick Taylor period, but how many bands did they REALLY influence to the same degree as the Beatles or other bands like Zep or even Van Halen? Even when you talk about bands like The Faces, were they really copying the Stones or just building on what the Small Faces and the Jeff Beck Group had done? As much praise as he gets, how many guitar players actually wanted to sound like Keef compared to say Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Page, Van Halen, SRV, etc?
 
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