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Originally Posted by BB_Eye
Autechre probably shaped what experimental techno is today so they would probably be my choice. Likewise Aphex Twin for experimental drum n' bass. Afrika Bambaata immediately spring to mind as a great 1980's electro act.
Of course there are countless obscure and no-name artists in the dance genre that pushed it forward and came up with new innovations, but I don't know enough about it for me to name them. What you often get are some very talented musicians whose material winds up on compilations.
Of course if we are going to talk about electronic music in general as Stu mentioned Kraftwerk and Brian Eno, you have to go back even further to 20th century composers who pioneered electronic music such as Stockhausen (someone Aphex Twin often cited as his hero although the feeling wasn't mutual), Varese, Ligeti and Xenakis and early Moog synthesiser music.
It goes without saying Faithless and Fatboy Slim are awful candidates. The Prodigy were probably not huge innovators, but they probably perfected late 80's rave music with their debut album released years after the rave movement died down.
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Afrika Bambaata is a great choice. He also had an enormous influence on Hip Hop.
I think Faithless and Fatboy Slim are fine candidates within their respective genres. Fatboy perfected big beat before The Prodigy ever lost their kiddie rave shackles. Ditto with The Crystal Method. I'm not putting him up with Kraftwerk for overall electronic inventiveness but within his genre, and perhaps as my reaction to The Prodigy being #1, he was somewhat of a pioneer. Moreso than Liam Howlett anyway.
Faithless are an incredibly unique act who do much to dispell the myth electrophobes regularly espouse that all dance music is repetetive, unmelodic, unemotive, easily made computerized drivel. You won't find much other acts with a synthstress master of creating catchy hooks and beats, a Buddhist rapper, and Dido's brother producing them. Faithless are probably the best thing to come out of the 90's dance explosion of bedroom producers. And the reaction they still get live is phenomenal and ever increasing. Still producing fresh material, too.