My favourite would be Queen

truly talented musicians/academics.

I like the fact that they mastered so many genres instead of doing the same shit for years.

Norman Cook - a.k.a. Fatboy Slim - is the artist I have consistently followed and supported more than any other.

For his sheer quantity of great tunes no-one else comes close for my personal tastes.

I have lots of favorites, but the all time is Bjork. She conveys emotion in a way that makes my skin crawl.

I have a list but at the top, is of course, the one and only...Prince! I just LOVE that man, I wanna take him home with me and have him follow me around all day like on those Starbucks commercials singing to me and making me swoon with his ability to play every existing intrument...particularly the guitar, of course...

Next in line...

-Nirvana
-Blink-182
-Pink Floyd
-Led Zepplin
-Liz Phair
-Jet
-Nine Inch Nails
-Lenny Kravitz
-No Doubt

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is the best band of all time because everyone of their songs sounds good.

Peter Gabriel is the greatest singer of all time because of his voice and his amazing renditions of Red Rain and In Your Eyes.

I am so diversified in what I like that I can't narrow it down to one artist/band or even one genre of music, but here are a few of my faves:

Prince - by far my most favorite
Lenny Kravitz
Usher
Kiss
Guns n Roses
Chicago
The Beatles
Seal
DC Talk
Michael Tait
Newsboys
The Eagles
Dixie Chicks
Cypress Hill
Bone Thug n Harmony

And the list could go on.

As far as bands of my time go.... PEARL JAM hands down....my favorite band of all time would have to be Pink Floyd. Queen and Yes definitely hold a special place in my heart as well....Freddy Mercury = The best vocalist of all time period no exceptions what so ever. And for just plain ol good ol rock Bad Company fit that bill quite well for me.

Asta!!

Favorite Musician: John Scofield. He's simply the best guitarist in the world IMO, fresh, inventive, original and influenctial in the Jazz, Fusion, Jam band scene.

Favorite Band: I guess you almost need to break it into a genre thing even though I hate that word. I'll go with Led Zepplin

Hmmmm....tough choice.

Top 3 would have to be:

Rob Zombie - kick ass & campy all rolled into one. What's not to love?

Rammstein - awesome fusion of heavy N. Amer guitar and European gothic/classical metal. Live shows are a blast!

Static X - energetic songs, good use of sampling, heavy guitars. Evil disco at it's best!

Definitely Smashing Pumpkins, though Pink Floyd and the Kinks are way, way up there.

I would have to say 'Tool'. Incredibly musical band. I love the odd meters, changing time signatures, melodic vocals, syncopation and incredible lyrics. Their videos rock too :thumbsup:

I tried, I really did, to come up with short list but I cant, I like too many artists.

Mike Patton

I'm not one of those blind fanatics who immediately loves everything he touches, but so far everything he's created has been awesome. Everything is unique. Every Faith No More album is different from one another, every Mr. Bungle album is different from one another, etc.. He's not attached to any ONE style other than whatever the hell he feels like.

Mr. Bungle - Totally experimental stuff. You can't even put into words what their music is like.

Faith No More - Everyone knows them (or should, anyway). Angel Dust is by far one of the best albums I've ever heard in my LIFE.

Fantomas - First CD was good for a few listens, but the Director's Cut was awesome. Covers of movie themes! Delirium Cordia was some incredibly creepy stuff.

Tomahawk - One of his more "normal" projects. A few songs are merely okay, but overall great stuff.

Lovage - Dan the Automator + Mike Patton + Jennifer Charles = sex.

Dillinger Escape Plan = craziness - insanity!

My favorite would have to be Pink Floyd (during the Roger Waters Era) and Roger Waters. I think that the lyrics written by Waters can convey a sense of how I am feeling, and with my background in social services, how I could relate to my youthful clients. I can find phrases and words in the lyrics that you would never think would be in a song (i.e. creeping malaise, myriad, etc). Waters method of listing (Brain Damage and Every Strangers Eyes, for example) tend to give a reference point to a lot of emotions.

HOOBASTANK!

I just went to their concert :) And got a severe case of over-exhaustion!!

Pink Floyd

In their prime decade (the 70's), music was as much about the band's image as the music itself (eg Ziggy Stardust, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, KISS, etc.) Floyd was never about the band members. During the 70's, they could walk down the street and never be recognized because for the most part, they weren't photographed for their albums and kept the stage show big and flashy, taking the focus away from the individuals on stage (and they still do.....no big jumbotron's with closeups of the band members).

Plus you have the magical combination of Roger Waters' songwriting and David Gilmour's musicianship. Individually, neither has been as successful as they were together, and with the jazz influences of Rick Wright (and the competent drumming of Nick Mason...he he he) they created some of the most amazing music of all time.

Unfortunately, starting with "The Wall", it started becoming about Roger Waters, which is why the band failed in the end.

Dave Matthews Band

I dont really know why I love them so much. I just do. I saw them three times this summer. In Charlotte, in Raleigh, and in Atlanta.

^ Thats prolly why. I hear they put on a terrific live show.

Asta!!

It depends on the genre and I like too much to narrow it down to one band:

Grindcore: Cephalic Carnage/The Dillinger Escape Plan
Alt/Prog: Tool/ Five Pointe O
Death: DEATH!!/ Vital Remains- Deicide/ Impaled- Exhumed
Black Metal - Anaal Nathrakh/ Psycroptic
Hard Core: Norma Jean/ Bleeding Through/ The Haunted

It'd be tedious to get into each band but I'll just highlight a few: bands like Norma Jean, Tool, Five Pointe O all play music with emotion that's about something. I just love music that's about living for more than what's normally dealt.

I like the rest either because it's either good music to hate females/the world to or it's hilarious.

They'll all probably be different next week.

favorite band changes too often

i guess my favorite label is ninja tune though

NIN, Dave Matthews, A Perfect Circle/Tool, Deftones, Usher, R Kelly, and Ginuwine

All time is difficult....favorite for awhile is www.easternstandardtime.com. I'm just a sucker for good horns.

I think all time though, the one band i'll never grow out of is Operation Ivy. I'm 30 and have been listening to them since i was 15. Punk Rock gets no better. No matter who you like, nothing describes music better than:
[Sound system gonna bring me back up, one thing that i can depend on]
"Try to describe to the limit of my ability:
Its there for a second
Then it's given up what it used to be
Contained in my music somehow more than just sound
This inspiration coming and twisting things around
Because you always know that its gonna have to go
You always know that you'll be back in the cold.
Point of depatrure sublimated in a song
Its always coming to give me that hope for just a second
Then its gone but!
[Chorus] Sound system gonna bring me back up...one thing that i can depend on[Chorus]
Static pulse inside of music bringing us escape
Its always temporary changing nothing in its wake
Just a second where were leaving all this shit behind
Just a second but its leaving just this much in mind:
To resist despair that second makes you see
To resist despair because you cant change everything
To resist despair in this world is what it is to be free
[Chorus]
Wake up turn my box on
Bust the shade let the sun in
times getting tougher bout time to start runnin
Box in my hand music by my side
Skanking to the rhythm of the music by my side"

http://www.plyrics.com/o/operationivy.html

I just love 'em. Musically and lyrically. They almost make me want to be liberal, not quite...but almost.

uncle tupelo
 

i used to live around the corner from a now late,lamented rock bar in chicago called lounge ax. i'd just wander in there a few nights a week to see if i could catch any interesting new bands.

one night these guys from downstate were there. a 3-piece, none of them looked older than 25. they had a definite twang, which was anathema to me. i HATED country music. i was getting ready to leave when they hit the first chorus. grossly overdriven gibson sg thru a marshall at earsplitting volume. they were using the pixies formula on a country progression......soft, minor chord, almost lullaby-like verse, then just blast the chorus. awesome. later, they covered "brand new cadillac" for an encore. i was hooked.

they've long since split, wilco & son volt are/were good spin off bands, but none of the new stuff hits me like that little band of hilljacks that played something twangy that didn't make me throw up.

Two actually:

Melissa Etheridge: Truth and a lot of talent. She writes nearly all of her stuff top to bottom. She brings me down to earth and gets me in touch with reality. (Ohh, and I am straight, just so you know). Not every fan of hers is Gay/Les. Although you might get that impression if you went to a concert. Odd.

Jimmy Buffett: Another talented person who writes from the heart and has the ability to tell incredible stories in a few lines. Quite a wordsmith. He takes me away from everything when reality is too much to handle at the moment. They call is escapism. I call it good music.

There are a few others out there that I like, but generally I like to listen to talented musicians. Those who write and compose their own stuff and play many instruments. I just cannot stand no-talent posers who can't play live. I think that is a good judge of talent is how well they do live. If it sounds nothing like the recording then they usually are covering something up with too much processing/effects or post production.

Avril..I don't know why.

Also:
blind melon
gnr
the trews
jimmy swift band

Mine would be Enuff Z'nuff

Donnie Vie to me is an incredible musician and writes songs that speak to me so well it hurts. There will never be another band like them for me

Radiohead and Sigur-Rós

both because of the many layers of sounds in every song they make

rh - because they always manage to improve themselves and are not sticked to the same style over and over...although they are still able to make a great and simple song (like "gagging order" b-side of hail to the thief)

sigur-rós: well...I always thought that music as any expresion of art needs to comunicate feelings, that you can make your own...and for me sigur-rós is just that ...like the soundtrack of my life ...


and of course The Beatles (I'm going to steal my father's vinyl LPs), Tchaikovsky and Brahms

I gotta agree with the NIN peeps, but can't choose them as my fav. That spot is reserved for Rammstein. Most people only know them as that German band that did "Du Hast". Well it's awesome that people recognize them, but I wish it could be for all of their work. And as for extreme, just give "Buch Dich" (bend down), "Küss mich (Fellfrosch)" (kiss me furry-frog[slang for vagina]), "Der Meister" (the master), and the latest "extreme" song "Mein Teil" (my tool[slang for penis]) a try.

They, like NIN, have done a lot for electronic and industrial music. They also put the German music scene on stage for the world to see. Bands like OOMPH!, In Extremo, Stahlhammer, and Megaherz would not have the international fan base they do if not for R+.

P.S. - Check out the new videos from Rammstein: Mein Teil and Amerika

i go through spells where i'll have a band i listen to so much more than any other and ever since i finally checked out uncle tupelo more than a year ago, i've been hooked. i'm 30, so i actually would've had a chance to catch them play at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA during my 1st year or possibly the beginning of my 2nd year at UGA but I don't really remember hearing the name back then (92-93), even though their great acoustic disc "March 16-20 1992" was recorded in Athens. I'm now kicking myself for not checking these guys out sooner. While I think Wilco and Son Volt have put out some great stuff, I can't help but think of what might've been if Jay Farrar & Jeff Tweedy didn't part company in '94. While they both are completely different songwriters with vastly different singing styles, I really love pretty much everything they've done.

In no order:

Radiohead
Rage Against The Machine
Led Zeppelin
The Doors
Weezer

counting crows - duritz's lyrics can stand on their own as pure poetry. they've often got a catchy and soulful melodic delivery that has spawned countless imitations.

weezer - they're a bit like blink182 in that they combine a bouncy cheerful punk sound with a decent dose of melancholy at times. most punk groups wear on my after a while because of a constant and repetitive sound... but weezer has a variety and complexity of delivery that have kept their music in my rotations since the first time i heard buddy holly.

Bjork. I cannot get enough of her music she has such an unique voice and her lyrics are beautiful. I also respect and admire Tori Amos, Radiohead, and Neil Young.

a lot of my faves (i don't have one) are folk-based- the lyrics are what move me most and I enjoy singing the songs, I have a jazzy/folk style voice.

Jewel, Norah Jones, David Gray, Ella Fitzgerald and also a former local band who I really miss- Sky Cries Mary.

Tool. I love them, their music is so fucking incredible, its unlike anything I've/you've ever heard. All of the band member's individual talents all flow together eerily perfect, their music is almost hypnotic in a way. I can easily pop in some of Tool's excellent albums and zone out everything in the world, and just sit there for hours listening, wait, not just listening, but understanding their music/lyrics, over and over again. Their music is so powerful and filled with emotion.

Other bands/artists I could listen to for hours are: Tom Petty, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, Blue Öyster Cult, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, The Smashing Pumpkins, Black Sabbath, The Doors, & Lynyrd Skynyrd.

glassjaw is hands down my all-time favorite. Each one of their songs has so much emotion, it's incredible. Their guitar lines are unconventional enough to remain unique in a genre where just about nothing is. there isn't a single song of theirs that i don't love for one reason or another (this includes each and every demo song they have ever released... i have literally heard every song that they have EVER recorded, in each version, since their infancy)

at the drive-in and the mars volta are also up there, for utterly unique music and overwhelming energy.

every time i die and norma jean also make my list because their music makes me want to actually leave my seat and dance around like a crazy idiot. It inspires so much energy in me, it's awesome.

I go through periods in which I will listen to just one artist. At one time it was Dylan, at other times it was Joe Satriani (yep, guitar player here). Right now my "artist I can't get enough of" is Peter Gabriel. Bought his entire catalog (including the movie soundtracks he did). Fascinating. His music is fun and well constructed musically. Peter draws the easily crossed line between being progressive and being fun to listen to (many modern prog rockers sound like they are playing nothing but scales over and over-not fun. I do that when I'm warming up, I don't need to listen to someone else doing it).

The only thing that will probably break my Gabriel kick now is that it'll be years before he releases another album. Great music, but the guy's a slow worker.

Children of bodom
Lots of people don't like them if they hear them, but thats cause the majority of music is based on image, vocals and lyrics these days. Bodom are one of the few bands that actually have real talent, along with some of my other favourites, like dream theatre, iced earth, iron maiden and blind guardian(among others)

I can narrow it down to two:

Great White
Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio

I could explain why, if only I had half their writing talents.

My all-time favorite band is Beulah. They only released 4 albums and called it quits this year. In my ears, they wrote and performed perfect pop songs. If you like the indie pop sound and haven't heard them, I highly suggest trying to download at least one of their songs. "Emma Blowgun's Last Stand" would be a good introduction to them.

Jeepers, I think I burn through too much stuff to have favorites anymore.

I guess I'd have to go with anything touched by Tom Waits, Nick Cave, or David Eugene Edwards.

That doesn't paint a very diversified picture of my tastes in music, but it really opens up in the top 20 - I promise. :)