Gene Vincent
During the time of The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and the Temptations, Gene Vincent was also in the biz. Originally he wanted to be in the U.S. Navy, but had a driving accident which completely shattered one of his legs. He was said to have tooken up guitar while in the hospital and come up with "Be Bop a Lu La" (Later found out that the song was bought from a man by Gene's record company for $25)
Anyways! The pose of holding the mike and swinging the mike's stand... came from Gene, as did the leather suit idea. After Vincent's best friend, Eddie Cochran, died in an accident, Gene's career pretty went down the hole. Gene was said to be obsessed with Cochran's death. During his career's downward spiral, other people helped him. He was mentioned as an influence in some Beatles records, he became drinking buddies with Jim Morrison and was going to go on tour using the Doors as his band but due to scheduling conflicts, he used Alice Cooper's Band (Gene's normal band were The Blue Caps).
Matt Freeman has been the bassist of all time favorites of the punk scene; Operation Ivy and Rancid. Freeman began playing nothing bass lines in Op. Ivy, and by the time Rancid became, Freeman could play like a mofo. Freeman has been Rancid's bassist for ten years (http://www.activebass.com/artists/artist.asp?i=402). Matt and Tim Armstron (in both Rancid and Op Ivy) met when there were about 5 years old *1971*... talk about friends for a long time. 1987 the duo started Operation Ivy, and in 1990 Matt joined the band MDC (http://www.xtrememusician.com/info/artists/profiles/1247.html).
The Funk Brothers are the men who made Motown exist. Oh yes, oh yes. They would hang out at Hitsville U.S.A. every single day, work with the biggest motown acts. Diana Ross, The FourTops, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Platters. You name it, they've probably created all the musical magic behind those oh so great lyrics. Keyboards - Joe Hunter, Earl Van Dyke, Popcorn Wylie Guitars - Robert White, Eddie Willis, Joe Messina, Larry Veeder, Dave Hamilton Bass - James Jamerson, Clarence Isabell Drums - Benny Benjamin, Richard "Pistol" Allen, George McGregor, Clifford Mack Percussion - Jack Ashford, Eddie "Bongo" Brown Vibes - Jack Ashford, Dave Hamilton, James Gittens Trumpets - Herbie Williams, John "Little John" Wilson, Marcus Belgrave, Russell Conway, Johnny Trudell Saxophones- Hank Crosby, Andrew "Mike" Toney, Norris Patterson, Thomas "Beans" Bowles, Teddy Buckner, Ronnie Wakefield, Lefty Edwards, Eli Fontaine, Ernie Rodgers Trombone - Bob Cousar, George Bohanon, Paul Riser
All these people are so far beyond being a rock 'n roll hero, that i would classify them as Gods of any music. As you probably know, Motown comes off of jazz and others; and everything builds off of what Motown did. Although, some music builds off of the Motown that these Gods created so easily. Every day, they'd walk into the building and they'd create the last popular music with mass amounts of musical talent (http://www.history-of-rock.com/funk_brothers.htm).
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