The blues was where rock 'n' roll came from, of course, and is due its credit for that. But, as a lifelong fan of music I feel that it was, in many instances, a starting point from which better things evolved. Just as, the original Rock Around The Clock style works, which inspired the Beatles, can't hold a candle to stuff like Strawberry Fields Forever, musically. Although, in terms of raw emotion it could be argued that it's the other way around.
Better 'blues' things, would include the magnificent Bobby Bland, much copied by Rod Stewart and even covered by Whitesnake! That smoothing out of the original roughness on Bland's most commercial works (which I appreciate is what many fans liked in the first place) is among my favourite stuff in the soul/blues area. Ditto the earlier works of Scott Walker, and the career of Paul Carrack, to name but two of the best.
Right now, I'm listening to 18 by Moby, which cherry picked the blues, added to it, and ended up being fantastic. Some people don't like when an artiste does that, but to me the blues, like all music, is akin to a river; it moves on. As soon as it stands still, it stagnates.
