My early years were seriously molded by what my mom listened to.... A very few of whom are Lennon, Plant, Bowie, Dr. John, Rickie Lee Jones, and still one of my favorites, Queen. The very first song I knew all the words to was "Fat Bottomed Girl" and my mother tells several anecdotes of diapered baby me dancing like a fiend to the amazing sounds of Freddie Mercury.

I was a teenager in the 80s. Huey Lewis and the News was my first concert. The very first cassette tape I bought with my own money was Men At Work and a-ha. The sounds of 80s pop are a big part of what made my musical tastes what they are. Not to mention hair metal, and early speed metal. I remember seeing Megadeth with Warlock (Doro Pesche *droolz*) and Sanctuary.

Thanks to my mom's seriously ecclectic tastes in music, I find that I don't have a single favorite kind. There is not a single genre of music that I can't find at least one song I like.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral - This was the first CD I ever bought and got me into the whole industrial/heavy metal stuff
Nirvana - In Utero - Lead me into rock music in general.
Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy - Made me appriciate electronic music.
Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom - This album made me start looking for all sorts of just "different" music rather than stuff played on the radio and MTV back in the day.

Of course, there is also Johnny Cash, etc. and the fact my mom listened to all sorts of music when I was young so I like almost all music with the exception of the new pop stuff.

Smashing Pumpkins

For me personally the list would look like this.

Pink Floydundefinedundefined

They are what I listened to first when I came out from under my mother and fathers thumb.

Also were

Van Halen (NOT Hagar)
Led Zep
Black Sabbath
The Cure
NIRVANA....

chad smith of rhcp and mitch mitchell of the experience have influenced me the most in my playing.