@bob806 said:

Sign of the Southern Cross is pretty good.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

Yusuf Islam went full Retard especially around the time that he supported the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

@the-gipper said:

Interesting to note here: Only Madonna and U2 had careers where their "new music" ratings put them in the Top 5 in 3 different decades. Not Elvis/Sinatra/Stones/Bing or anyone else did that.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

Better.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

I'll defend absolutely your right to hate Nirvana and absolutely respect that it's not your cup of tea, I fully understand that, but to say you hate the band without ever hearing their music is ridiculous. Perhaps you mean you hate their influence, or the grunge culture in general?

@the-cysko-kid said:

Well, per this, Prince tops both of them.

1900s Billy Murray Harry MacDonough Haydn Quartet Byron G Harlan Arthur Collins

1910s Peerless Quartet American Quartet Prince's Orchestra Arthur Collins & Byron G Harlan John McCormack 1920s Paul Whiteman Al Jolson Ben Selvin Bessie Smith Marion Harris

1930s Bing Crosby Guy Lombardo Duke Ellington Louis Armstrong Tommy Dorsey

1940s Bing Crosby Glenn Miller Frank Sinatra Jimmy Dorsey Harry James

1950s Elvis Presley Frank Sinatra Nat King Cole Miles Davis Perry Como

1960s The Beatles Elvis Presley The Rolling Stones Bob Dylan The Beach Boys

1970s Elton John The Rolling Stones Pink Floyd Abba Led Zeppelin

1980s Prince Madonna U2 Michael Jackson Bruce Springsteen

1990s Mariah Carey Madonna Celine Dion REM U2

2000s Eminem Madonna Britney Spears Coldplay U2

Above are the Top 5 selling artists of each decade since the 1900 decade...for what its worth.

(That Bill Murray sure gets around, no?)

By the way...I understand these sales deal with new releases. e.g. The Beatles sold in the 2000s more than anyone but Eminem....but they were all "older released songs" not really new stuff.

@the-cysko-kid said:

WSS

50's - Elvis - difficult to disagree
60's - Rolling Stones
70's - Abba
80's - Iron Maiden
90's - Generic Boyband like Backstreet Boys

Which might be what they think of for a given era. And of course it differs country to country as well.

As for Metallica defining heavy metal, it depends which decade of heavy metal you're talking about. Starting out with Led Zep and Sabbath, onto NWOBHM bands like Maiden and Motorhead, who were defining heavy metal decades before Metallica came in to existence. No doubting that they were among the biggest of their time, though.

50's - Elvis

60's - Beatles

70's - ? Maybe led zepplin, I guess. Maybe somebody like the bee-gees.

80's - Michael Jackson

90's - Nirvana

00's -?

10's -?

Black Sabbath have influenced many acts including Iron Maiden,^[159] Slayer,^[7] Metallica,^[7] Nirvana,^[160]Korn,^[7] Mayhem,^[7] Venom,^[7] Judas Priest,^[161] Guns N' Roses,^[161] Soundgarden,^[162] Body Count,^[163] Alice in Chains,^[164] Anthrax,^[165] Disturbed,^[166] Death,^[7] Opeth,^[167] Pantera,^[7] Megadeth,^[168] The Smashing Pumpkins,^[169] Slipknot,^[170] Foo Fighters,^[171] Fear Factory,^[172] Candlemass,^[173] Godsmack,^[174] and Van Halen.^[175] Two gold selling tribute albums have been released, Nativity in Black Volume 1 & 2, including covers by Sepultura, White Zombie, Type O Negative, Faith No More, Machine Head, Primus, Raven Lord,System of a Down, and Monster Magnet.^[176]

Lamb of God's Chris Adler said: "If anybody who plays heavy metal says that they weren't influenced by Black Sabbath's music, then I think that they're lying to you. I think all heavy metal music was, in some way, influenced by what Black Sabbath did."

@the-cysko-kid said:

Yes, I honestly would, and yes, by the time Ozzfests rolled around Ozzy was well past his prime, so I understand your anti-Ozzy take.

My opinion won't change, I think Sabbath & Zeppelin defined heavy metal.Like I pointed out earlier, critics say that too. The 7 albums Sabbath cut with Ozzy before they broke up (Ozzy's fault) are among my favorites. The album "Paranoid" defines heavy metal all by itself, IMHO.

WSS- I won't comment on the rap stuff, because its not my cup of tea.

Peace, out.

WSS

Nirvana released its first single, "Love Buzz", in November 1988 on the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop.^[19] The following month, the band began recording its debut album, Bleach, with local producer Jack Endino.^[20]Bleach was highly influenced by the heavy dirge-rock of the Melvins and Mudhoney, 1980s punk rock, and the 1970s heavy metal of Black Sabbath. Novoselic said in a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone that the band had played a tape in their van while on tour that had an album by The Smithereens on one side and an album by the black metal band Celtic Frost on the other, and noted that the combination probably played an influence as well.^[21] The money for the recording sessions for Bleach, listed as $606.17 on the album sleeve, was supplied by Jason Everman, who was subsequently brought into the band as the second guitarist. Though Everman did not actually play on the album, he received a credit on Bleach because, according to Novoselic, they "wanted to make him feel more at home in the band".^[22] Just prior to the album's release, Nirvana insisted on signing an extended contract with Sub Pop, making the band the first to do so with the label.^[23]

^{^^from Wikipedia Cysco...for what it's worth}