If you were asked to save any band/artist of the modern music era what would it be?
Imagine yo get to Jupiter and it turns out to be a whole civilization and you can give them the discography of just one band or artist, the one you think has been the most important since the past century, the one that represents our world's music, which would that be?

             > Iszil

Edit: Think objectively; try to ignore your tastes.

two words
Pink Floyd

edit:
I think Pink Floyd really does describe everything about our lives, even if you dont listen to them or have never heard them, each album really "describes" or does an "ode" to life or whatever you wanna call it. also their music is really cool and "spacey" so for some dudes on jupiter I think theyd love it.

three words
Emerson, Lake & Palmer

This is a great question!! The Kunadiun NAILED IT.!!!  Pink Floyd. No doubt about it.  The Floyd's music is eternal.  They span generations, smash conceptual barriers, blend rock music, psychedelia, orchestral music, blues, searing guitar solos and phenomenal meaningful lyrics into a sound that cannot be denied. 
From the early experimental albums with Syd Barrett like Umaguma and Atom Heart Mother through the Roger Waters era's "The Wall", "Animals" and "Dark Side of the Moon" to the David Gilmour headed "Division Bell" album,  they have crafted possibly the greatest body of work any group has ever recorded.  I could not attempt to list the amazing list of songs by name as there are just too many!!
Of course, we'd also have to mention "The Beatles" as a 2nd answer to this question but I think Floyd has a bigger, better, cooler body of work and the Aliens on Jupiter would like Floyd much more....Skunk

I couldn't have described it better myself there skunk!! You really described it in a way I couldn't have. pink floyd. epicness that lasts forever and describes forever.

The Beatles will always be the band that most influenced in what came after. There's nothing new after them.

            > Iszil

even if the beatles did somehow "influence" pink floyd, they werent that great. if you were to introduce a band to a new planet or a new person or whatever you should try and get a band that has styles and influences from everywhere and that the lyrics can be "referred" to no matter what year it is. and if pink floyd was influenced by the beatles then it would be good to have them as the sole band to "ressurect" or give the discography of them because it brings the best of the beatles to their own style. and bam. you got a band that is timeless through the ages.

not saying the beatles arent great or were very important in rock history but if the floyd were influenced by them you might as well take the floyd

You can't say The Beatles weren't that great. They are for sure the biggest band ever.
PF is a psychedelic progressive rock band. The Beatles has not definable style; they are all the styles.
If you say TB weren't that great is probably because you haven't listened to all their stuff. I have... and have listened all PF's stuff, EL&P's stuff and all the important bands of the past century and I'm pretty sure nothing equals The Beatles. I think Queen could be a better contestant; they were almost as big as the Beatles.
Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not talking about tastes because I love all the bands previously mentioned but I'm trying to think bigger than just that.
I think I committed a mistake when I said "the one that represents our world". I meant the one that represents our world's music (changed that already).

            > Iszil

I was thinking Queen too, because of the amount of musical energy, diversity and emotion.

But I agree with The Beatles, simply because they were a first and that if you were to put them on a different planet the likelihood that 'aliens' would start forming bands and coming up with something similar to the 60 is very big....
The Rolling Stones also came to mind, because of the magnitude of their following compared to their 'down to earth' R&R attitude......has anyone ever played to more people at one time then the Rolling Stones?

Pink Floyd on the other hand, unfortunately for me, have started to turn sour as I grow older, mainly The Wall. Why? Well, I've started to realize that it's a little bit Biblical in that so many people are influenced by some 'poor buggers' fucked up childhood...from another era completely, and just like the Bible, too many people give them some immense spiritual value while 'god' , 'life' and 'learning' are yours and now not someone elses from another time.

Unlike Iz I see lyrics and the word as being very important, it's just that we sussed out how to 'bring the word' with music and then the Beatles came along and screaming girlies and tv made sure that Media was born.

But the bigger question though Iz is where does Led Zeppelin fit into this cosmic picture.
Without Led zeppelin you wouldn't have even ask the question.

 

The Beatles were an awesome group its true. Zeppelin and Queen too. But, a band like Pink Floyd writes epic songs that have content that touch on all aspects of the human condition.  They sing of relationships, love, money, politics, friendship, time, birth, death, dogs, pigs, war and peace.  From the psychedelia brit pop of the sixties, they evolved their music decade by decade evoking the feeling and the issues of the day from the post WWII depression of the 60's and early 70's (The Wall, Animals, Dark Side of the Moon) through the cold war fears of the late 70's early 80's (The Wall and The Final Cut) to the evolved views of relationships and life of the 90's (Momentary Lapse of Reason, Division Bell) . Everything about their music describes human beings and their existence in their own very unique way.  As far as Floyd being influenced by the Beatles, both bands equally influenced each other. They started around the same time but Floyd long outlived the Beatles. Early Floyd was reminiscent of the Beatles and later Beatles songs were heavily influenced by Pink Floyd. Shine on!

again, couldnt have said it better myself

I've always said I don't care much about lyrics. for me they are just a tool for the singer not to sing "la la laaaa" all along the song.
Here you are missing the point. We are talking about music here, not poetry. And, by the way, outsiders don't know enlgish so anything you show them will sound "blah blah blah" but the music language is universal. Is that language I'm trying to focus. You still care to much about the message of the music. I guess you should be reading instead of listening. If I want to feel touched with words I read, something I love to do. If I want to feel touched with music I listen to it.
I'm pretty sure most of people don't agree about that. Probably most of you are thinking "what the hell is he talking about!" but then I just clarify that is music that we are talking about. If you want them to know about our culture then let's give them some books (that would actually start another thread).
The magic of music is that you don't need any language to make it work. I started listening to The Beatles when I was 6 and had no clue what they were talking about but I didn't care. And they weren't a "learned taste"; I found a tape lost at home and loved them. My parents didn't even listened to them. That's music; not the words, not the textual message. It's the effect that melodies, rhythms, sounds produce in you.
Anyway, I think you gave to much importance to the Jupiter part of my question. I was just trying to ask what's the biggest band ever... don't care much about E.T life at this moment.

             > Iszil

well thats the thing...music is being touched by words AND the instrumentation. its not just about the lyrics and its not just about the music. when you listen to the music, its not like you are reading a book but a certain message is going across. and if you dont care about your whole jupiter thing then who the crap cares what the heck language its in??? people all over the world of different languages love the beatles, and love pink floyd. it doesnt matter...id like to think pink floyd's music transcends national barriers. (or the beatles or whatever floats your boat).

good lyrics can make a mediocre musical song, brilliant. good instrumentation can make a mediocre lyric into a brilliant song. and we are NOT talking about poetry, nor was poetry ever brought up. lyrics are an intergral part of a song, and as lyrics could technically be a poem, they are complimented or encased with the huge rush of instrumentation and musical experience.

now completely put aside your whole "i dont care much for lyrics" thing, and look at what you say about being touched by the music. pink floyds musical skill (i think) far surpasses that of the beatles. the music by pink floyd is amazing and is totally mesmerizing and touching

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