In the beginning of the twentieth century, the guitar had already proved itself a formidable instrument. Capable of self-harmonization and vocal accompaniment, the six-string acoustic had become a legend tracing back to the medieval period. However, with the prominence of brass sections in modern music, the guitar had met its match. In popular 1920's and '30's Hawaiian music, the guitar was a melody-based instrument played with a metal slide to amplify the sound. In a Jazz setting, the guitar was purely for rhythm: the volume of an acoustic instrument other than a piano could never outplay the cries of a full brass section, and the player had to resort to comping chords. The allure of combining technology with the guitar, however, was not far off at the time.

'All Along the Watchtower' The Jimi Hendrix Experience    

Original Artist: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's version of 'All Along the Watchtower' is pretty good -- in fact, it's the anchor of his 1967 album 'John Wesley Harding.' But it plays as almost a dusty blues on the singer-songwriter's back-to-basics LP. Jimi Hendrix completely re-imagines the song as a cosmic psychedelic freak-out and turns in one of his all-time best performances -- tougher, sharper and stranger than the original. Hendrix stole 'All Along the Watchtower' from Dylan less than a year after it came out and took total possession of it.

The beginnings of punk rock are often furiously debated. This is partially because everyone has different definition of punk rock, and partially because its foundation stones are found in several places. "Punk Rock" was originally used to describe the garage musicians of the '60's. Bands like the Sonics were starting up and playing out with no musical or vocal instruction, and often limited skill. Because they didn't know the rules of music, they were able to break the rules."Punk Rock" was originally used to describe the garage musicians of the '60's. Bands like the Sonics were starting up and playing out with no musical or vocal instruction, and often limited skill. Because they didn't know the rules of music, they were able to break the rules.

1. Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)

A surprising choice for the top spot. But the enigmatic tale has been reworked 131 times, by Joan Baez and Aretha Franklin among others.

2. Yesterday (The Beatles)

According to 'Guinness World Records' this song was covered seven million times in the 20th century. Official versions range from the sublime (Frank Sinatra) to the ridiculous (Wet Wet Wet and Boyz II Men).

Although Black Sabbath is the first band to actually be considered the first real band of the "Heavy Metal" genre of music, there are other influences on both them and the genre in general:

The Beatles recording of Helter Skelter (1968)
Cream (1966-1968)
Steppenwolf wrote the lyric "Heavy Metal Thunder"
Iron Butterfly - But they were more Acid Rock/Psychadelic than Metal
Led Zeppelin - Although they started out as the breakup of the Yardbirds (Jimmy Page owned the name), they were a blues band but heavier. The fact that they may have been considered a metal band came later.
But according to critics first heavy metal band is Blue Cheer with song Summertime Blues.

Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk music collective headed by George Clinton. It specialized in the style of music known as P Funk and performed under the names
Parliament and Funkadelic (two bands consisting of the same members, recording for different labels), but also in a score of offshoot groups and solo ventures.Recording under myriad names, this group had thirteen Top Ten hits in the U.S.R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits in the.R&B Charts. They were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.