Musical Impact is how other artists, their peers, respond to this artists work. Clapton introducing Marley to a wider audience doesn't impact Clapton's musical impact whatsoever. It would impact Marley's because Clapton for one was clearly impressed by it.

As for Cultural Impact, you could give Clapton some credit for widening the appeal of blues, but that was mostly through his earlier stops, not his solo work. He still incorporated blues into it, there were later generations who may have come upon it because of that, but the major impact in that regard came before he went solo.

Clapton as a solo artist, like a lot of big names who'd made their reps while in an earlier band, like Lennon as well, was still garnering interest as a result of their earlier work, which is why artists going solo have a slightly tougher time leaving an impact, simply because the greatest impact any artist has usually comes from the period you are first breaking into the consciousness of the world.

I have Clapton as the #2 greatest guitarist of all time. Clapton had several eras and of course the most important is his Cream/Yardbirds era that influenced heavy metal and hard rock: Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, etc, all the way up to Van Halen and Slash, among many others (he also influenced more “genres” during that era, like jam bands).

IMO his second most important era is his early 70´s era that includes Layla, Eric Clapton and 461 Ocean Boulevar. His style of playing on those albums was different from his Cream years and during this era he influenced a lot of great guitarists and artists like SRV, Robert Cray, The Allman Brothers (after Duane Allman era), Santana (after his classic era), Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bonamassa, Warren Haynes, etc.

A great example of his post-Cream influence is Dire Straits:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ-JyAGUsys[/youtube]

That does not sound at all like Cream, but it sounds like Clapton.

Clapton influence is still huge this day with newer artists like John Mayer, Derek Trucks and the previously mentioned Gary Clark Jr.

IMO Clapton´s musical impact is huge and never ending. For example, listen to Prince playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifp_SVrlurY[/youtube]

You say that as if it is some kind of universally known definition.

In reality, that is YOUR and only YOUR definition of "musical impact."

And even if your definition was an accepted part of an artist's legacy, how exactly do you think that it can possible be measured with any degree of accuracy?

What makes you think that you can guage how well other artists responded to the work of Little Richard and the work of The Who and know who scores higher in this (totally fabricated) category?

Clapton vs Neil Young

Popularity: Clapton > Young
Influence: Clapton = Young
Musical impact: Clapton = Young
Cultural impact. Clapton = Young

Clapton vs The Byrds

Popularity: Clapton > The Byrds
Influence: Clapton = The Byrds
Musical impact: Clapton = The Byrds
Cultural impact. Clapton = The Byrds

Freddy King had records on the mainstream pop chart before Clapton ever recorded. He had a top 30 pop chart hit in 1961. He did not need Eric fucking Clapton to introduce him to mainstream audiences.

Bruce: Do you really think that a guy like me would know Freddie King thanks to a top 30 hit of 1961?

All my Blues knowladge is thanks to Clapton, and that IMO is HUGE cultural impact.

We can't allow your musical ignorance to boost Eric Clapton.

I was born in 1957, but I discovered blues through the real thing, not through white immitators.

It's a disgrace that these great blues peformers need to be validated by some white rock and roller before some people think that they matter.

The fact that you discovered all of this stuff because of Eric Clapton says much more about your own lack of initiative and musical curiosity than it says about anything that Clapton deserves some sort of credit for.

why? most of what we call "pop" (like MJ, Madonna, Britney, Timberlake, etc) is a natural evolution of R&B. the only difference is marketing. record companies market modern R&B like Destiny's Child and Aliyah towards black audiences, while Britney and Timberlake get marketed towards white audiences. its the same basic music. where do you think "pop" originated from? all Michael Jackson's influences were Motown acts. "pop" wasn't created out of thin-air. MJ is an evolution of Stevie Wonder. Timberlake came from MJ. and honestly, it wasn't that big of a stylistic switch imo. even with the influences of disco and then later on electronic music, i still hear a lot of early 70s R&B in the music of modern "pop" acts. the only difference is it seems to be toned down a bit. the name R&B just got changed to "pop" to market it towards white kids.

And here we go again with that black vs white shit.

I never said they needed validation. I never said that Clapton had some influence on them. All I´m saying is that Clapton helped a lot of us blues-ignorants to discover the amazing world of blues (and to a lesser digree reggae). That is a fact and Clapton should get major cultural/musical impact.

I believe that there is no way in hell that Clapton's solo carreer was as influential as The Byrds.

It's called setting criteria, which can be anything the editor chooses it to be, objective or subjective. Once the criteria is in place the editor, to the best of their ability, attempts to figure out who does better and by how much than someone else and those debating the list then have to also use those criteria when discussing it, because that's what the entire rankings are based on. There are no numerical equations that can be thoroughly proven though to make it suitable for your tastes, so I'd suggest not discussing any list which uses criteria if it bothers you so much. There's plenty of criteria I disagree with, including on some of your lists, but I don't venture over there to complain about it. I understand that it's the criteria that you, as the editor, chose and respect that (even if it's totally fabricated), and I just assume you have enough integrity to figure it as properly as you can and post the results. Are you saying there's some reason I should not assume that and instead see some giant criteria-based conspiracy to get the Drifters, or whoever you want, artificially high on your lists? If so, tell me and I'll call the music website police and report you

I said tie. But you are right, influence goes to The Byrds but still I think they should be really close.

Again....

What makes you think that you can guage how well other artists responded to the work of Little Richard and the work of The Who and know who scores higher in this category?

How could you possibly know how Dale Hawkins, Charlie Feathers, Charlie Gracie and Jerry Butler reacted to Little Richard vs. how Gerry and the Pacemakers, Gene Pitney, the Four Tops and Lulu reacted to The Who?

influence within the guitar world obviously goes to Clapton, but overall Neil crushes him in influence. Neil is severely underrated as a major influence throughout alternative rock, partially because he recorded so many different styles that grew in later decades. his particular brand of garage rock was the foundation of grunge (i would say no other pre-grunge artist had as much influence on grunge as Neil, both musically and more importantly on the style/culture of it, and you can tell how much of an impact he had by looking directly at grunge's two major faces: Cobain, who quoted Neil in his suicide note, and Vedder, who has toured and recorded with Neil often over the last two decades). his sloppy, minimalist guitar work is all over late 80s college alt rock like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. as well as early 00s bands like The White Stripes. his country rock is basically the blueprint for today's alt country scene, most notably on Will Oldham's projects.

and his musical impact was so large that it extended out to non-rock genres. while Clapton was indebted to the blues artists of the past without really contributed anything new to the blues himself, Neil Young directly influenced the outlaw country scene that dominated the 70s (Waylon Jennings being the most vocal Neil fan).