very generally, they represent good luck in japan. in china different numbers of fish, including koi, represent different kinds of luck i.e. 9 koi or 9 fish, means good financial luck.

In Japan, the symbolism of koi fish depends on their color.

• Yamabuki: The gold fish represents (of course) gold, wealth and prosperity.

• Ogon: The platinum colored fish represents the fulfillment of wealth in the form of success in business.

• Kumonryu: A midnight black colored fish that is named after a Japanese dragon of transformation - and this fish is said to bring about change in life circumstances.

• Kohoku: A white and red fish (known as a "cap" fish with white body and a red mark on its head) believed to encourage advancement in career.

• Kuchibeni: Also white and red (known as a "lipstick" fish with a white body and red markings around the mouth) said to inspire long lasting, loving relationships.

This list represents only a small list of people, but are those who are regarded in the industry as being key contributors to the industry as a whole.

1. Leonard and Phil Chess (Chess Records, Chicago) - No other label besides Chess fundamentally changed the music industry forever. The Chess brothers didn't care about skin color in the racially segregated industry in the 50's - they cared about sound, and produced some the best artists and tunes of the era that opened up the doors that eventually broke down segregated airplay (then called "race music"). The movie "Cadillac Records" is loosely based on the influence that Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon made on the industry as a whole.

2. Muddy Waters - is considered the father of "Chicago Blues", and was the first major influence on early rock, blues and R&B musicians. Before Waters (real name McKinley Morganfield), blues had not been electrified. The Rolling Stones took their name from his song, "Rollin' Stone". Waters, along with Little Walter Jacobs, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett) and Willie Dixon, formed the core of Chess Records in Chicago during the 50's, and their songs are still covered by rock, hip-hop and blues bands even today.

3. Chuck Berry - Berry was the first black musician to essentially integrate what was then a segregated music industry in the '50's. DJ Alan Freed, famously known for coining the term "Rock and Roll", was the first to play Berry's music on what was considered an all-white radio station. Berry's music resonated with everyone - he sung about girls, cars, school and love, the staples of songs then and since. The rest is Rock and Roll history.

4. Johnny Cash - Most people associate Cash with Country, but when he started he was one of Rock's original pioneers, along with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison. His music and lyrics influenced and resonated with succeeding generations of rock, blues and country musicians and fans alike, up until his death a couple of years ago.

5. Elvis Presley - Like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, Elvis was from Mississippi, and he frequented the black clubs of the area even though they were segregated. He became a breakout star by being a white who sounded black. In the segregated 50's, white music companies weren't yet ready to start backing black musicians as headliners like Chuck Berry, but Sam Phillips and Sun Records changed that with Elvis. Once Elvis brought his style of rock and blues to the masses (with covers of Muddy Waters' standards and other black authored songs), it opened up the airwaves for further integration.

6. Sam Phillips (Sun Records) - It was Phillips who signed Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis and helped change electric blues into Rock and Roll. Elvis' singing style changed when he started acting - he was never the same again as he was in those early years.

7. Buddy Holly - Holly was instrumental (no pun intended) in further solidifying the electric guitar for Rock. His melodies and style of play influenced numerous major bands of the era, and his influence is still evident 50 years after he died. His songs are still covered today.

8. The Beatles - February 1964 the Beatles arrived in America. They were the first mega-band, touring sold out stadiums and large venues. Heavily influenced by Buddy Holly (the Beatles named their band after Holly's band the Crickets), they led the "British Invasion" that changed the American music landscape from 50's doo-wop into solid rock and blues, heavily influencing musicians of their time and succeeding generations with both their music and lyrics. Their songs are still covered today.

9. The Who - The Who took rock performances to a new level, making concerts a show rather than just a performance. Every shock band has copied Pete Townshend smashing his guitar onstage. Jimi Hendrix took it a step further, burning, instead of smashing, his Fender Stratocaster onstage.

10. The Temptations - Motown's arguably biggest R & B group, their choreography was forever matched by succeeding groups. "My Girl", "Just My Imagination", "Papa was a Rolling Stone" and others are tunes that never get old and have become part of the cultural identity of America.

11. Jimi Hendrix - It was Hendrix that took electric Rock/Blues to a whole new level, creating sounds not believed possible for a guitar. Few guitarists have matched his versatility - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robin Trower are 2 that come to mind. He is considered the #1 Rock guitarist of all time to this date.

12. Pink Floyd - Pink Floyd's arrangements with percussion and other non-traditional rock instruments on their recordings, along with David Gilmour's unmatchable lead guitar (Gilmour's "Comfortably Numb" is ranked the #1 lead guitar solo of all time - see it on YouTube), changed the way rock bands wrote and recorded their music. Albums didn't have to be just a collection of songs - they could be songs that made up an entire story. It was Pink Floyd that turned Rock into Rock Opera, and made concerts into shows.

13. The Rolling Stones - The Stones, heavily influenced by Muddy Waters (they took their name from one of his songs, and recorded with him at Chess Records), took blues and formed it into a rock and blues style that still sells out crowds many decades later.

14. Eric Clapton - Few guitarists have taken blues and shaped it into so many versatile rock and blues songs with so many bands and as a solo artist. From soft ballads to soaring rock anthems, there are few artists like Clapton for sheer versatility on guitar.

15. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin forever changed the radio landscape in America when they arrived in the early 70's. With Robert Plant's soaring voice and Jimmy Page's unbelievable guitar playing, Zeppelin is credited with changing American FM radio. At the time they arrived, most stations were Top 40 formats on AM radio stations that played only singles. There were few FM stations in the country. When Zeppelin arrived, demand for their albums and radio airplay was so great that FM stations began playing their entire albums uninterrupted. Other stations followed, and the rest is history.

16. Berry Gordy (Motown Records) - Gordy, record producer/writer and head of Motown, was responsible for changing R & B in the 60's and the music industry forever. Signing groups such as the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Mary Wells and the Jackson 5, Gordy's Motown dominated the R & B landscape for many years.

17. Phil Spector - Though recently convicted of murder at 69, Spector was a pioneering record producer, known for his "Wall of Sound" production technique. He was responsible for the sound of many 60's era girl groups, and also for producing the Beatles' Academy Award and Grammy winning "Let It Be" album (Original Song Score for the film and Best Original Score, respectively). He is probably best known for co-writing and producing the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", which was the song with the most airplay in the 20th Century.

18. John Michael "Ozzy" & Sharon Osbourne - Ozzy's music lyrics and singing, along with his shock style, was the forerunner of today's Metal bands. Like the Who did in the 60's, Ozzy took rock concerts to new heights of spectacle. Biting the head off a dove in a room full of music executives raised his publicity to new levels - you can't buy that kind of publicity. Ozzy is to Metal what Robert Plant is to Rock.

Sharon Osbourne, daughter of music executive Don Arden, learned the business from her father well and took over Ozzy's management when he was fired from Black Sabbath in '79. She singlehandedly revived his career and made him a viable solo artist with lasting influence. When her request to Lollapalooza organizers to allow Ozzy a spot was denied (they said Ozzy was too uncool, if you can believe that) she decided to form Ozzfest, and it has produced some of the best Metal bands since its inception. In addition to Ozzy, she also has her own management company which represents the Smashing Pumpkins, Motorhead, Gary Moore, Coal Chamber and others.

19. Duane Allman - Allman, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1971, and the Allman Brothers band, are largely responsible for creating the face of Southern Rock. Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special, Molly Hatchet and other Southern Rock bands all trace their influences to Duane Allman's improv leads and his "Coricidin Bottle" slide guitar playing. He is considered the second greatest rock guitarist behind Jimi Hendrix.

20. Eddie Van Halen - Van Halen's contributions to Rock guitar and the music industry as a whole via his influence cannot be overstated. It was Van Halen who popularized techniques like Tapping, and used innovative tuning and tone to forever change Rock music. As David Lee Roth once remarked, "Van Halen made history".

21. Michael Jackson - Though he was star as a kid in the Jackson 5, it was in the late 70's and 80's that Jackson really hit his stride and made his mark on the industry. Working with Quincy Jones, Jackson's style and choreography onstage, along with his sheer singing power and charisma, won legions of fans across the globe. His innovations in choreography are perhaps his most lasting influence - it is hard to find any solo artist today that doesn't have some type of Jackson influence in their stage routine.

22. Ahmet Ertegun - Turkish-born Ertegun was arguably one of, if not the most, influential producers and record executives the industry has ever known. Co-founder of Atlantic Records, and Chairman of the Rock & Roll Music Hall of Fame, Ertegun was instrumental in the careers of Ray Charles, the Coasters, the Drifters, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, Kid Rock, and others. It was Ertegun who first heard Led Zeppelin's demo and recognized that they would be a smash in the U.S., and quickly signed them to Atlantic.

23. Alan Freed - DJ Alan Freed, who popularized the term "Rock & Roll" and heavily played black musicians like Chuck Berry on air (when segregated stations ruled), influenced the industry by breaking down segregation and racial barriers then in place in the industry. Though the establishment was able to end his career with the payola scandal, they could not stop what he had started. Chess Records brought electric blues and R&B to the forefront of music - Freed brought it to the masses as Rock & Roll. Though he died at 43 a broke and discouraged man, he is considered today to be one of the single biggest pioneering influences on the industry as a whole.

24. Dick Clark - The "Eternal Teenager", Clark's American Bandstand brought both white and black music acts to the masses via TV every week. No other TV show before the launch of MTV had such a lasting impact on the industry.