In honor of Black History Month, the ALL staff decided to run a piece highlighting the most influential black musicians of all time. Influence is a strange concept. Is an artist influential musically? Socially? Culturally?

The artists that made this list did so because, in my opinion, they were influential in a way that transcended genre, society or race. There is no “black music” idea here. Just good, real music.

These artists transcended the confines of genres. They brought something to music and society that was original, innovative and influential. A case could be made for a number of artists not included on this list, but these artists are ones that I felt had the most universal, widespread and long-lasting influence on the music community.

Jimi Hendrix

He took what Chuck Berry did for rock guitar, fed it acid and set it on fire. He was a a bluesy incarnation of the psychedelic era. Hendrix was a wizard on the fret board with an affinity for distortion and feedback who tops pretty much any list that has ever included the words “top,” “guitarist” and “history.”

He graced the world with a few short years of groundbreaking sounds and techniques and left a boundary-defying impact that will be everlasting.

Tracks to check out: “Voodoo Child,” “Hey Joe,” “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Michael Jackson

From a young Motown legend to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson was an entertainer who will likely never know an equal. He moonwalked into the American consciousness armed with the most infectious pop grooves and the most stellar dance moves ever seen.

Regardless of any of his well-known controversies, Jackson will forever be an institution of pop music and he set a standard that will never be met again.

Tracks to check out: “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” “Dirty Diana”

Public Enemy

“Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me … straight-up racist, that sucker was, simple and plain. Motherfuck him and John Wayne.”

If you weren’t listening before, you were listening after those lyrics to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”

Public Enemy was a manifestation of uplifting mental power in the social climate of the 1980s. The music had a pulsating energy that was unmatched, and Chuck D., the formidable “Hard Rhymer,” flowed like a string of artillery shells.

Tracks to check out: “Fight the Power,” “Night of the Living Baseheads,” “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”

Chuck Berry

John Lennon once said, “If you were to give rock ‘n’ roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’ ” If you can find a more apt description, I’d like to hear it.

Chuck Berry was singularly responsible for the concept “rock guitar” existing. From the mainstream R&B-influenced sounds of The Who to the aggression of groups like The MC5 and Mot”rhead to the freewheeling sounds of the Grateful Dead, Chuck Berry and his three-chord precedent have laid a permanent foundation for rock ‘n’ roll.

Tracks to check out: “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybelline,” “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man”

Bob Marley

What Bob Marley did for music was bigger than music itself. Peace is a fashionable topic in popular music, but very few practice what they preach like Marley.

In 1976, an attempt was made by politically-motivated assassins on Marley’s life, and he was shot multiple times. Two days later, he performed at a “Smile Jamaica” concert. In 1978, he joined the leaders of Jamaica’s two warring political groups on stage. His uplifting influence knows no bounds, and reaches far beyond music.

Tracks to check out: “Small Axe,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Redemption Song”

Miles Davis

Some of his earliest recorded sessions from the 1940s and ’50s were released as “Birth of the Cool.” We could leave it at that and say all that needs said about the career of Miles Davis. He took jazz places it had never been.

His album “Kind of Blue” is debatably the best-selling jazz record of all-time, with the only other contestant being his own “Bitches Brew,” which later electrified the genre.

Tracks to check out: “Venus de Milo,” “Flamenco Sketches,” “Bitches Brew”

James Brown

He was “Soul Brother Number One,” the “Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” and the “Godfather of Soul.” James Brown was one of the most electrifying performers in the history of modern music.

He was a force unlike any other when he performed. He was instrumental in the popularization of soul music and the birth of funk, and his influence can be heard clearly in hip-hop .

Tracks to check out: “Get Up (I Feel like Being a) Sex Machine,” “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” “Funky President (People It’s Bad)”

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin had the single most powerful voice in music. She was a force for empowerment and passion. She was the first woman to ever be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 and sang at the inauguration of Barack Obama.

She has a powerhouse set of pipes and more Grammys (21) than most artists could ever fathom, as well as an iconic status as both a staple of soul and a voice for female empowerment.

Tracks to check out: “Respect,” “Chain of Fools,” “The House that Jack Built”

Robert Johnson

He is the real-life ghost of the Mississippi Delta, and the king of Delta blues. If Chuck Berry deserves the title “father of rock ‘n’ roll,” then Robert Johnson was its long-lost granddaddy.

Robert Johnson was alive for 27 short years when he passed in 1938. His legacy is enshrouded in legend, the most famous being that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for having unprecedented blues guitar skills.

Tracks to check out: “Cross Road Blues,” “Terraplane Blues,” “Come on in My Kitchen”

Bad Brains

Bad Brains were four D.C. jazz-fusion musicians who discovered punk rock. Soon after, they found spiritual direction in the form of Rastafari, and a new interest in the closely-associated reggae music.

The technicality of the jazz-rooted musicianship combine with juxtaposition the ferocity of hardcore and the serenity of stripped-down reggae, Bad Brains created a new form of sonic assault. A copy of their first album features a sticker with this quote from Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch: “The most important hardcore/punk album of all time.”

Tracks to check out: “Banned in D.C.” “I” “The Meek”