Influence is sometimes, and I would say, at it's best, invisible or very subtle, nothing more boring than hearing some band talk about how band xyz, "influenced them" when they sound like a carbon copy of xyz, when I hear blatant influence in someone's music, I usally see it as someone who hasn't found their own voice yet. Hendrix said Dylan was a big influence on him, and besides doing covers of Dylan's songs, I don't think the average person listens to Hendrix and say's Wow he sounds just like Bob Dylan, could a Pop band influence the people in a hard rock band, sure, imitation is one thing, influence is totally another, If you don't like the Beatles or think they are over-rated, fine, but to deny the huge influence they have had on rock music is a little like saying the Roman Empire had no influence on Europe............