Look at music history, who was the most influential/inspiring musicians? Options

[*Statistik*]

Rock: Ricki Hendrix
Soul: Luther Vandross
Rap/Hip-Hop: Tupac Shakur
Pop: Madonna (had to be honest)

list for every four of those genres.

[*Zatanna*]

Hmm. I actually like the catagories Statistik listed. If we were to go into every influental/inspiring musician in the history of history, we'd be here for a very long time. I mean seriously, you could go back to Mozart, back to the Greeks and even further back in history.

I'll intrepret the question as sort of a - who in modern history, or the 20th Centry are the most influential/inspiring musicians and for ease, I'll use the catagories given.

Rock: The Beatles - They had the most electic range and really tested out bounderies
Soul: This is a stretch, and probably not considered soul, more blues, but BB King. Several musicians, including contemporary artists are inspired by him. He is the real "King" in my opinion.
Rap/Hip-Hop: Run DMC. I grow up in an era when rap wasn't considered mainstream quite yet. These guys were real. They seemed real at least. And they were FUN! I loved these guys.
Pop: Madonna - You cannot deny that she was the epitome of the Princess of Pop. But every Princess needs a Prince. And that would be Michael Jackson. I still listen to The Wall and Thriller and enjoy every minute of it.