MusicRoots
MusicRoots is a reference database of documented influence between musicians. Each entry records that one artist influenced another and cites the published source that says so: an interview, a memoir, an encyclopedia, a documentary.
The database currently holds 1241 artists, 3159 connections between them, and 3236 citations supporting those connections.
Where to start
The most connected artists in the database, each page listing who influenced them and whom they influenced in turn:
- The Beatles — 81 documented connections
- Bob Dylan — 51 documented connections
- Kraftwerk — 45 documented connections
- David Bowie — 43 documented connections
- James Brown — 42 documented connections
- The Velvet Underground — 41 documented connections
- Jimi Hendrix — 39 documented connections
- Black Sabbath — 37 documented connections
- Led Zeppelin — 35 documented connections
- Muddy Waters — 34 documented connections
- Ray Charles — 33 documented connections
- The Rolling Stones — 33 documented connections
- Johann Sebastian Bach — 30 documented connections
- Elvis Presley — 29 documented connections
- The Stooges — 28 documented connections
- Ramones — 27 documented connections
- Hank Williams — 26 documented connections
- The Beach Boys — 26 documented connections
- The Byrds — 26 documented connections
- Brian Eno — 25 documented connections
- Karlheinz Stockhausen — 25 documented connections
- Prince — 25 documented connections
- Sam Cooke — 25 documented connections
- Chuck Berry — 23 documented connections
- Claude Debussy — 23 documented connections
- John Coltrane — 23 documented connections
- Little Richard — 23 documented connections
- Ludwig van Beethoven — 23 documented connections
- Michael Jackson — 22 documented connections
- Igor Stravinsky — 21 documented connections
- Louis Armstrong — 21 documented connections
- Metallica — 21 documented connections
- Marvin Gaye — 20 documented connections
- Miles Davis — 20 documented connections
- Nirvana — 20 documented connections
- Beastie Boys — 19 documented connections
- Pink Floyd — 19 documented connections
- The Kinks — 19 documented connections
- The Who — 19 documented connections
- John Cage — 18 documented connections
- The Smiths — 18 documented connections
- Bob Marley — 17 documented connections
- Duke Ellington — 17 documented connections
- Joy Division — 17 documented connections
- Queen — 17 documented connections
- Stevie Wonder — 17 documented connections
- Creedence Clearwater Revival — 16 documented connections
- Depeche Mode — 16 documented connections
- Giorgio Moroder — 16 documented connections
- Maurice Ravel — 16 documented connections
- Otis Redding — 16 documented connections
- Parliament-Funkadelic — 16 documented connections
- Radiohead — 16 documented connections
- Richard Wagner — 16 documented connections
- Sly and the Family Stone — 16 documented connections
- The Cure — 16 documented connections
- B.B. King — 15 documented connections
- Frankie Knuckles — 15 documented connections
- Massive Attack — 15 documented connections
- My Bloody Valentine — 15 documented connections