The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or who ? ( or even the Who ? )

Thanks for leaving the joke Javan64, I had heard that one somewhere before. Of course any fanatic Beatles supporter would have been quite upset back when that joke first came out. Sad to see that there are of course only two of the Fab-four left now.

I'd prefer a bullet to cancer, any old day!

Hmmm thats a deep subject to go into. Reminds me of some of the early scenes in the first " Grumpy Old Men " movie with Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathau where they are talking about the demise of one of their friends.

Which singer had the most influence ? beatles - rolling stones - clapton - and many other bands/singers, all publicly agree that their inspiration evolved from the blues - gospel trained  Elvis Presley .

 Elvis was a performer with a great voice and good looks.

Thanks for leaving a post Froghollow. Well what can one say about the King that has not been said before ? Mister Presley was such an icon that there must be several thousand Elvis impersonators out there making a living off his fame. Most of the acts that were popular before the Beatles hit the USA faded away quickly but Elvis stayed on as the King. Long live the KING !!!

Elvis Presley?  "That'll be the day!"

John Lennon said "Before Elvis there was nothing."

Bob Dylan is clearly a song writer whose lyrics are complex and topical. He is a poet, and judging  from the number and stature of contemporary artists that recorded his songs, he was very influencial on music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WbKBKima4Q

The greatest cover of a Dylan song.

I agree , Hess, but I'm still looking. When the greatest guitar player ever records your music, you know you have something.

Thanks everyone for all of the recent posts. In some of the earlier posts here we had brought out the fact that the roots of Rock & Roll go right back to the Blues. One point of interest that I have heard a few times in the past is a question about Buddy Holly. Some people have brought forward the idea that if Buddy Holly had not passed away in that plane crash ( " The Day The Music Died " ) he would very likely have had more success than Elvis Presley. Buddy Holly did very well in his all too short career so I guess it is a fair question.   

Love the jangling huge guitars on this one!

Back to music, I'm not sure what is meant by the best "act" of all time. If this means the best stage show, I don't have an answer for that one. I grew up in the 1960s and was a professonal musician for 9 years. In my opinion, the greatest rock music was made by Jimi Hendrix. Have a listen to "Electric Ladyland", and see what you think. Hendrix was truly a musical genius, and was clearly more gifted than anyone else in rock music to date.

Just to clarify: when I said "back to music", this is because the previous two posts were regarding hockey from the 1960s. Not trying to imply that Buddy Holly didn't make music.

 I agree that Hendrix was a great artist and he showed the world that the guitar can be a rock weapon. He had great songs, my favorite two are all "All Along The Watch Tower" and "Hey Joe". He checked out early so others were there to to follow and come up with the "Acts" that are historic.