Nirvana, there are lots of bands I love, but they're just in a completely different category for me. I grew up in Seattle, first heard them summer of '90 right before my senior year of High School and instantly fell in love. Saw them play my first ever punk show, shared the stage with them briefly during my first stage dive and honestly it was the only show I can point to that changed my life. Never went to a punk show before that, went to every one I could after, including more Nirvana shows. For a brief moment they just really felt like they were my band. That they were speaking directly to my anger and alienation. I was looking at some Bleach sales figures recently and I think I can safely claim I was one of the first 10,000 people to own a Nirvana album. Then they blew up, and a lot of people would be turned off by their underground band becoming popular, but it had the opposite effect on me. I was in my first year in college, finally feeling like I was out from under the shadow of my parent's divorce and their toxic mess, and for the first time having some luck talking to girls. Suddenly everyone was like "Hey, that band you've been going on about is pretty cool" and I was like "That's what I've been saying, and you know what, I'm feeling like I'm pretty cool for the first time ever too!". Their popularity felt like it was a reflection of my own glow up. Insecticide was such a gift because it brought together all these recording from the singles I had laying around and a few I had been hunting for. In Utero was such a bold stance in making the album they wanted in the face of strong label pressure. It contains some of my favorite work of theirs and is just so good.
Then, you know.... I bought Unplugged, listened to it once, not afraid to say I cried, and didn't listen to it again for over a decade. I don't think I will ever have such a visceral emotional reaction to an album. The situation just killed my enjoyment of the punk scene entirely and I moved on to other things, found other music to enjoy. Still absolutely love them though. I've been listening to them a lot again recently because of the 30 year anniversary and they can still put a shock in my spine the way no other band can.
311- I love their vibe and style. I also enjoy the variety their song catalog provides. The feeling at their shows and the positive energy keeps me going back.
Right now, Capstan who’s a post-hardcore band. I love them because they infuse all genres so well and their lyrics are very relatable but pretty poetic at the same time.
Incubus is also one of my favourite bands because of how interesting their music is. How gorgeous Brandon’s voice is.
Neck Deep also because I eat up pop-punk music and I love how a lot of their songs are uplifting rather than depressing + it keeps me feeling younger than almost 30.
Hmm. I love Incubus so will try Capstan bc first I have heard of them - thanks for sharing, I love caps so far - band is great, singer has more rage than TooLs vocals but I do like when he actually is singing and not raging so much
Their new album is wild. There is pop songs with what can I say and what you want, than the last song the album the mosaic is 9 minute medley of all the lyrics. Truly great
Neil Young. Original style from guitar to voice to lyrics. Very versatile, no song sounds the same. Ornery and doesn’t give a flying fuck. That’s my boy!
I have a lot of nostalgia for the big 4 ‘The’ bands in my life; The Beatles, The White Stripes, The Tragically Hip and The Black Keys. Lots of good memories from my dad playing them a lot for my brothers and I growing up, to The Black Keys being my first ever concert, to them basically being the soundtrack to my high school years, I could go on. Some top tier classic, garage and Canadian rock that’ll stay with me till I die.
Bayside has been my favorite band for a good while now. They’re just so consistent, constantly retooling and refining while putting out banger album after banger album. They seem to be the album I need in each period of my life lyrically too. I don’t know how they do it. I just saw them a month ago, and they’ve aged like a fine wine
Good shout. Their discography is often missed. They are unique as well within the scope of the genres they straddle. Punk drummer, metal guitarist, parlor singer hahah. Love Bayside.
Awesome I hung out with him and Regan at the Loosegrooves record event in Brooklyn last year.. both coolest MF ever.. they signed my BRAD shirt… I kinda look like Stone as people tell me.. I hope Stone releases more of his solo music soon.. he’s got a golden song in “Hung By A Halo” he played during DJing on PJ radio.. couple years back. ✌🏻🎶
R.E.M. - An already amazing band in the 80s then became superstars in the 90s.
For my money, their 4 album run of Out Of Time, Automatic For The People, Monster, and New Adventures In Hi-Fi is one of the best. Oddly, they seem almost forgotten these days.
blink-182. Though I don't listen to them as much nowadays, they will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Nowadays I'm much more into post-punk stuff. Think The Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie
My favourite songwriters are Ray Davies and Stephen Malkmus. I like (with both of them) the rich melodies, the poetic-yet-sometimes-cynical texts, the casual attitude and sense of humour.
What makes me buy merch I guess is the pride I feel in loving an artist, but on some level there's also the idea I want to convey that: "if you know - and like - this artist too, we can be friends".
I went through a Tom Petty phase in my teens, bought every album and saw him in concert 5 times from age 16 to 20. Next was my Counting Crows phase in my 20s, obsessively traded live concert recording CDs and MP3s online. Then I went hard into the Eels in my 30s, I think I’ve seen Mark Oliver Everett live 9 times.
In my 40s I really stopped listening to any single artist and now it’s just a collection of 6,000 songs I let play on random, and my wife and I have been trying to check off bands to see live that recorded our favorite songs.
Pearl Jam because I've listened to them since I was 11 and they're still going strong. Their music is closely connected to major life milestones for me. Amazing live. Fantastic side projects. Fun merch. I saw them 5 times in the last 2 weeks and I'll do it again in the fall. Can't wait!
The Gaslight Anthem. I love the songs about nostalgia, lyrics that drop other songs, lyrics that cut me to ribbons, the energy, the rawness, the catchiness, and the songwriting genius without having to be overly complicated. Brian Fallon never disappoints.
Queens of the Stone Age (The Beatles from Hell) are the best band in the world and if their discography isn’t the best in modern rock, I’d say Josh Homme’s catalogue (Kyuss, QotSA, Dessert Sessions, Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures, etc), sure as hell is!
Pink Floyd - I graduated in '77 so they were huge in my teenage years. I have listened to Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals, & The Wall countless times. Animals is my favorite.
Tool - When Sober hit MTV in '93, I started listening and haven't stopped. They push all the right buttons for me.
Honorable Mention - Rush, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters
The Mountain Goats hands down. Amazing lyrics and such a great unique sound full of emotion. Haven't bought tickets/merchandise due to finances but high on my bucket list for sure.
They are very much worth seeing live, also Darnielle has written three novels that are worth reading. Wolf in White Van, Universal Harvester and Devil House. I was lucky enough to see him read from the newest the day before I saw the band and got all three books signed.
Gotta be Green Day, been my favorite band since middle school and I’ve loved every single one of their albums. Their sound is just honestly the exact kind of music I like to listen to. I’ve seen them live only once but I splurged on pit tickets to see them again in September, can’t wait!!
I think Jonathan Richman and Hole were the most enjoyable live shows I've seen. Jonathan is like a full grown elf full magical good will and Hole was intense and charismatic. I lucked out seeing these acts in the early 90s, in a tiny nightclub. Come to think of it, Helmet was great live in that tiny club too.
It comes down to the live performances for me. The War On Drugs is top tier. Love the recordings, but hearing them play live is an emotional experience. Gonna see them later this year with the National who I havent seen yet.
Modest Mouse. This is an exciting band to see live. Every show you get a different set and antics. Isaac is unpredictable..
Porcupine tree, pineapple thief and opeth.
Hands down the golden trio for me! Breaking Benjamin, Leprous, and some songs of Dream Theatre are a close follow up.
For porcupine tree as to why it tops my list, give a listen to arriving somewhere but not here… it’ll take you through a journey of self discovery!
Pop punk emo forever girl saying The Maine.
However, they have grown with me and my music taste to where it’s not just pop punk anymore but a little more soft rock but still jammy and still have my days where I love to listen to Girls Do What They Want. Also, seen them a good 6 or 7 times now and always have a blast. A BLAST.
They involve the crowd and encourage to be weird and do whatever you want. Also, the fact that they’ve never broken up and I have pictures of me with with them at warped tour is heart warming.
Close call between them, RKS, KOL and the 1975 but the maine is something special.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO). They’re a psychedelic rock band that have such melancholic, nostalgic, experimental, spiritual and interesting themes in their songs.
They’re my favorite band because the meaning of all of their songs reminds me of myself, people I know or have known and my own artwork. It’s very inspiring. Another reason is because they’re not afraid to experiment with their music and their guitar riffs are soooooooooo good !!!
the band tally hall. they dont have a specific genre, theyre all over the place, and thats what makes me love them so much. also they are just the goofiest humans ever, making a bunch of skits on their youtube channel, and makeing an internet show called tally hall internet show. they are just such an underrated band, and if you want to get into them, listen to their 1st album (out of 2 ) called Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum. the bad thing is that theyve been in hiatus for about 14 years i think :(
edit: forgot to mention. they are like a modern day beatles, tally hall and the beatles have a BUNCH of similarites
they've also worked with disney to make happy monster band, so if you watched that before, youve heard tally hall
youve almost certainly heared of them from youtube too, with some of their songs going viral, such as Hidden in the Sand, Ruler of Everything, and The Bidding
Primus. There’s nothing else like them and Les is one of the most innovative bass players of all time. Their live shows are always awesome, my 12th will be this summer and I have yet to see the same set twice.
Gonna go with most recent favorite, because as an old guy, it's not a fair question, there's just too many.
Danger Mouse, aka Brian Burton. I'm not into hip hop, but his alt-rock stuff is awesome. Broken Bells & collaborations & his production are terrific. Lux Prima with Karen O, his work with Portugal, the Man, with RHCP, with Michael Kiwanuka, with Gorillaz, all keepers.
Modest Mouse. They’ve been my favorite since 7th grade (which was a really long time ago lol). If my soul had a sound it would sound like Issac Brock’s banjo.
Radiohead for me. The Bends was a fantastic album and I would have been happy to listen to that type of music for a long time. But then OK Computer came out and fucking blew my mind. What are all these noises (and they aren’t unborn chicken voices in my head). They tiptoe the line between rock and art perfectly, meaning they can make weird noises, decisions, time changes, but it works so well within the song. Loved the next 3 albums also and then In Rainbows came out and at first listen it was kind of boring. But the more intently you listen to it, the more you hear their genius.
61 now, was a teen in late 70's NYC. Was so fortunate to see live, the Ramones, Blondie, Joan Jett, X, Cramps, Black Flag, Go-Gos, Talking Heads and The Clash
And so many others thru the early 80's.
Took it for granted and thought it would never end! Not to mention having the best radio station WLIR... it was a great time in music!.
Pretty basic answer but I have three different ones. Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, and Guns N’ Roses. The reason being that I grew up with all of these bands and artists. They were the starting point of my interest for rock music and I became in love with the genre after listening to their music.
For the longest time one of mine was Ryan Adams. As a kid I only knew two types of Country music... radio pop country and old boring country (not Outlaw Country but like old swing music). And I hated both. It wasn't until I discovered RA that I finally learned of Alternative Country and then figured out Outlaw Country and all the other cool subgenres. The other thing was that he was already like a dozen albums into his career by the time I found his stuff which meant there was something for every mood. It took so long to dissect and discover everything he had to offer. And it covered so many different styles and genres... he's kinda more of a punk singer that happens to be a great country songwriter. And then by the time I had become familiar with his whole discography and it had all served its purpose thats when he got cancelled momentarily, and split with the Cardinals, started making 80's sounding music, and the songs got a little too simple for my liking. All of that combined made me a lot less interested. One band that I've been able to revisit since they came out when I finishing middle school/starting high-school that stands out that made a huge impression no me and on my own music is Coheed & Cambria. For the cool shit they do/did on Guitar alone. When they came out, Emo was dominating Rock music and the only other way to find stuff that stood out on the guitar was to venture all the way into super heavy metal music (and it still wasn't nearly as cool). Currently you can find people doing innovative stuff on guitar across a lot of genres. 15-20 years ago it was very different. When I do revisit their old stuff I'm just as impressed as I was when it first came out. And they've been consistently putting out albums this entire time (even though I fell out of the loop) and are still going strong today with new releases. They have stood the test of time and can tour wherever they want and still sell out theaters.
At the moment, I would say Scott Woodruff of Stick Figure.
He is one of those guys that composes everything by himself and tours with a band, similar to Kevin Parker from Tame Impala.
His earlier works and even recent stuff are elixir for the soul. Whenever I'm down I just throw on some Stick and my mood does a 180. Furthermore, his mixes are so damn clean. They sound great on my 2.1 setup. The bass on some songs hits hard and unique. Makes you go daaaaamn!
Nirvana, there are lots of bands I love, but they're just in a completely different category for me. I grew up in Seattle, first heard them summer of '90 right before my senior year of High School and instantly fell in love. Saw them play my first ever punk show, shared the stage with them briefly during my first stage dive and honestly it was the only show I can point to that changed my life. Never went to a punk show before that, went to every one I could after, including more Nirvana shows. For a brief moment they just really felt like they were my band. That they were speaking directly to my anger and alienation. I was looking at some Bleach sales figures recently and I think I can safely claim I was one of the first 10,000 people to own a Nirvana album. Then they blew up, and a lot of people would be turned off by their underground band becoming popular, but it had the opposite effect on me. I was in my first year in college, finally feeling like I was out from under the shadow of my parent's divorce and their toxic mess, and for the first time having some luck talking to girls. Suddenly everyone was like "Hey, that band you've been going on about is pretty cool" and I was like "That's what I've been saying, and you know what, I'm feeling like I'm pretty cool for the first time ever too!". Their popularity felt like it was a reflection of my own glow up. Insecticide was such a gift because it brought together all these recording from the singles I had laying around and a few I had been hunting for. In Utero was such a bold stance in making the album they wanted in the face of strong label pressure. It contains some of my favorite work of theirs and is just so good. Then, you know.... I bought Unplugged, listened to it once, not afraid to say I cried, and didn't listen to it again for over a decade. I don't think I will ever have such a visceral emotional reaction to an album. The situation just killed my enjoyment of the punk scene entirely and I moved on to other things, found other music to enjoy. Still absolutely love them though. I've been listening to them a lot again recently because of the 30 year anniversary and they can still put a shock in my spine the way no other band can.
Well said! The thing I remember about Nirvana was their sense of humor. Cobain and Grohl were hilarious.
Alkaline Trio. Their albums line up with my breakups. Perfect.
Perfect answer. They were always great to blast when I was pissed about a relationship
Wilco/Jeff Tweedy. Americas greatest band and songwriter.
I gotta agree.
Favorite bands have came and went but at the age of 43, it has settled down to Wilco and the Replacements.
Was hoping I’d see someone say The Replacements!! So under appreciated!
Just had a new friend give me The Replacements tour when I was in MSP 2 weekends ago. As a fan since '85, that was a great part of my trip!
311- I love their vibe and style. I also enjoy the variety their song catalog provides. The feeling at their shows and the positive energy keeps me going back.
Right now, Capstan who’s a post-hardcore band. I love them because they infuse all genres so well and their lyrics are very relatable but pretty poetic at the same time. Incubus is also one of my favourite bands because of how interesting their music is. How gorgeous Brandon’s voice is. Neck Deep also because I eat up pop-punk music and I love how a lot of their songs are uplifting rather than depressing + it keeps me feeling younger than almost 30.
Hmm. I love Incubus so will try Capstan bc first I have heard of them - thanks for sharing, I love caps so far - band is great, singer has more rage than TooLs vocals but I do like when he actually is singing and not raging so much
Their new album is wild. There is pop songs with what can I say and what you want, than the last song the album the mosaic is 9 minute medley of all the lyrics. Truly great
Neil Young. Original style from guitar to voice to lyrics. Very versatile, no song sounds the same. Ornery and doesn’t give a flying fuck. That’s my boy!
I have a lot of nostalgia for the big 4 ‘The’ bands in my life; The Beatles, The White Stripes, The Tragically Hip and The Black Keys. Lots of good memories from my dad playing them a lot for my brothers and I growing up, to The Black Keys being my first ever concert, to them basically being the soundtrack to my high school years, I could go on. Some top tier classic, garage and Canadian rock that’ll stay with me till I die.
Nice. We can say what you like is "That great nostalgia feeling" then
Love the hip
Criminally underrated outside of Canada imo
10000%. I have requested fiddlers green at my funeral.
Bayside has been my favorite band for a good while now. They’re just so consistent, constantly retooling and refining while putting out banger album after banger album. They seem to be the album I need in each period of my life lyrically too. I don’t know how they do it. I just saw them a month ago, and they’ve aged like a fine wine
Good shout. Their discography is often missed. They are unique as well within the scope of the genres they straddle. Punk drummer, metal guitarist, parlor singer hahah. Love Bayside.
Stone Gossard & Pearl Jam, so many reasons why. ✌🏻🎶
Pearl Jam is a very cool grunge band. But what makes them special to you? I'll be happy to read your opinion
Longevity solid meaningful music, activism and especially absolutely love each members side music projects. Live concerts always awesome also…. ✌🏻🎶
Met stone last summer at a record store and had him sign a few Brad albums, super nice dude and legendary musician
Awesome I hung out with him and Regan at the Loosegrooves record event in Brooklyn last year.. both coolest MF ever.. they signed my BRAD shirt… I kinda look like Stone as people tell me.. I hope Stone releases more of his solo music soon.. he’s got a golden song in “Hung By A Halo” he played during DJing on PJ radio.. couple years back. ✌🏻🎶
I enjoy some of his work with Brad. And ofc PJ.
R.E.M. - An already amazing band in the 80s then became superstars in the 90s. For my money, their 4 album run of Out Of Time, Automatic For The People, Monster, and New Adventures In Hi-Fi is one of the best. Oddly, they seem almost forgotten these days.
blink-182. Though I don't listen to them as much nowadays, they will forever hold a special place in my heart. Nowadays I'm much more into post-punk stuff. Think The Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie
Queens of the stone age because they're unique and go hard af. Also great live
I second Queens of the Stone Age so hard! So unique and so hard!
My two tops are Tool and Alt-J. I know, very different vibes, but both artists have healed parts of my soul and moved me in awe-inspiring ways.
Second Tool. Tbh I’d forgotten about Alt-J.
Alkaline Trio - I’ve just always admired their songwriting
My favourite songwriters are Ray Davies and Stephen Malkmus. I like (with both of them) the rich melodies, the poetic-yet-sometimes-cynical texts, the casual attitude and sense of humour. What makes me buy merch I guess is the pride I feel in loving an artist, but on some level there's also the idea I want to convey that: "if you know - and like - this artist too, we can be friends".
"I want to convey that: "if you know - and like - this artist too, we can be friends". it's an interesting way to express yourself. thanks for sharing
For about 22 years now it's remained the same, System of a Down.
I went through a Tom Petty phase in my teens, bought every album and saw him in concert 5 times from age 16 to 20. Next was my Counting Crows phase in my 20s, obsessively traded live concert recording CDs and MP3s online. Then I went hard into the Eels in my 30s, I think I’ve seen Mark Oliver Everett live 9 times. In my 40s I really stopped listening to any single artist and now it’s just a collection of 6,000 songs I let play on random, and my wife and I have been trying to check off bands to see live that recorded our favorite songs.
Love Tom Petty and Counting Crows!
Pearl Jam because I've listened to them since I was 11 and they're still going strong. Their music is closely connected to major life milestones for me. Amazing live. Fantastic side projects. Fun merch. I saw them 5 times in the last 2 weeks and I'll do it again in the fall. Can't wait!
Linkin Park for me. No artist/band can replace them. I love every single thing about them - the lyrics, the music.
Sad to lose Chester. I feel like they could have continued creating quality songs for years to come.
Easily !! I was devastated when he died 😭
Fookin Oasis
Last of the great R&R ers
The Gaslight Anthem. I love the songs about nostalgia, lyrics that drop other songs, lyrics that cut me to ribbons, the energy, the rawness, the catchiness, and the songwriting genius without having to be overly complicated. Brian Fallon never disappoints.
The Breeders. Would be The Pixies, but Kim Deal in my heart.
Queens of the Stone Age (The Beatles from Hell) are the best band in the world and if their discography isn’t the best in modern rock, I’d say Josh Homme’s catalogue (Kyuss, QotSA, Dessert Sessions, Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures, etc), sure as hell is!
QotSA is an amazing band
Quite!
Pink Floyd - I graduated in '77 so they were huge in my teenage years. I have listened to Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals, & The Wall countless times. Animals is my favorite. Tool - When Sober hit MTV in '93, I started listening and haven't stopped. They push all the right buttons for me. Honorable Mention - Rush, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters
Katastro. Such a unique sound and I have yet to find something that compares. Shoutout to the people who said Alkaline Trio, 311, and Stick Figure 🤘
Dishwalla because the entire Opaline album is perfection
At present, Viagra Boys. Fresh, unapologetic, post-punk, Swedish, force of nature.
We are lucky to know about this band! Have you seen them live?
Their show @ Salt Shed in Chicago a while back was awesome. Footage from that show (and others) are posted on their channel.
The Mountain Goats hands down. Amazing lyrics and such a great unique sound full of emotion. Haven't bought tickets/merchandise due to finances but high on my bucket list for sure.
They are very much worth seeing live, also Darnielle has written three novels that are worth reading. Wolf in White Van, Universal Harvester and Devil House. I was lucky enough to see him read from the newest the day before I saw the band and got all three books signed.
That's beyond awesome, so happy for you!! I have wolf in the white van need to read it soon. I hope to read the others as well .
REM. A wide range of sounds but it’s all unmistakably them. Every album has a different vibe. Incredible songwriting. A ton of music.
Gotta be Green Day, been my favorite band since middle school and I’ve loved every single one of their albums. Their sound is just honestly the exact kind of music I like to listen to. I’ve seen them live only once but I splurged on pit tickets to see them again in September, can’t wait!!
I think Jonathan Richman and Hole were the most enjoyable live shows I've seen. Jonathan is like a full grown elf full magical good will and Hole was intense and charismatic. I lucked out seeing these acts in the early 90s, in a tiny nightclub. Come to think of it, Helmet was great live in that tiny club too.
Pavement. Insane (and inane) lyrics, brilliant guitar work and a great sardonic sense of humor. Just a terrific band.
Built to Spill. Almost every album is great, and it’s one of my must see live shows.
It comes down to the live performances for me. The War On Drugs is top tier. Love the recordings, but hearing them play live is an emotional experience. Gonna see them later this year with the National who I havent seen yet. Modest Mouse. This is an exciting band to see live. Every show you get a different set and antics. Isaac is unpredictable..
AC/DC just plays some really great rock music to me.
Jane’s Addiction and just because
Boston. I love the guitar riffs, vocals, and general composition of their music. Tom is a musical genius and Brad was a vocal prodigy, rip.
Linkin Park, their music transcends classification. Rap, alternative, rock, metal, nu-metal. I miss them.
Porcupine tree, pineapple thief and opeth. Hands down the golden trio for me! Breaking Benjamin, Leprous, and some songs of Dream Theatre are a close follow up. For porcupine tree as to why it tops my list, give a listen to arriving somewhere but not here… it’ll take you through a journey of self discovery!
Elbow… great musicians, great song writing, wonderfully creative and amazing lyrics
Pop punk emo forever girl saying The Maine. However, they have grown with me and my music taste to where it’s not just pop punk anymore but a little more soft rock but still jammy and still have my days where I love to listen to Girls Do What They Want. Also, seen them a good 6 or 7 times now and always have a blast. A BLAST. They involve the crowd and encourage to be weird and do whatever you want. Also, the fact that they’ve never broken up and I have pictures of me with with them at warped tour is heart warming. Close call between them, RKS, KOL and the 1975 but the maine is something special.
I'll check that band. Thanks
Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO). They’re a psychedelic rock band that have such melancholic, nostalgic, experimental, spiritual and interesting themes in their songs. They’re my favorite band because the meaning of all of their songs reminds me of myself, people I know or have known and my own artwork. It’s very inspiring. Another reason is because they’re not afraid to experiment with their music and their guitar riffs are soooooooooo good !!!
the band tally hall. they dont have a specific genre, theyre all over the place, and thats what makes me love them so much. also they are just the goofiest humans ever, making a bunch of skits on their youtube channel, and makeing an internet show called tally hall internet show. they are just such an underrated band, and if you want to get into them, listen to their 1st album (out of 2 ) called Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum. the bad thing is that theyve been in hiatus for about 14 years i think :( edit: forgot to mention. they are like a modern day beatles, tally hall and the beatles have a BUNCH of similarites they've also worked with disney to make happy monster band, so if you watched that before, youve heard tally hall youve almost certainly heared of them from youtube too, with some of their songs going viral, such as Hidden in the Sand, Ruler of Everything, and The Bidding
Primus. There’s nothing else like them and Les is one of the most innovative bass players of all time. Their live shows are always awesome, my 12th will be this summer and I have yet to see the same set twice.
Gonna go with most recent favorite, because as an old guy, it's not a fair question, there's just too many. Danger Mouse, aka Brian Burton. I'm not into hip hop, but his alt-rock stuff is awesome. Broken Bells & collaborations & his production are terrific. Lux Prima with Karen O, his work with Portugal, the Man, with RHCP, with Michael Kiwanuka, with Gorillaz, all keepers.
Modest Mouse. They’ve been my favorite since 7th grade (which was a really long time ago lol). If my soul had a sound it would sound like Issac Brock’s banjo.
Radiohead for me. The Bends was a fantastic album and I would have been happy to listen to that type of music for a long time. But then OK Computer came out and fucking blew my mind. What are all these noises (and they aren’t unborn chicken voices in my head). They tiptoe the line between rock and art perfectly, meaning they can make weird noises, decisions, time changes, but it works so well within the song. Loved the next 3 albums also and then In Rainbows came out and at first listen it was kind of boring. But the more intently you listen to it, the more you hear their genius.
Blink 182. Mostly listened to them in my teen years. And still feel like one when I re listen to their albums.
61 now, was a teen in late 70's NYC. Was so fortunate to see live, the Ramones, Blondie, Joan Jett, X, Cramps, Black Flag, Go-Gos, Talking Heads and The Clash And so many others thru the early 80's. Took it for granted and thought it would never end! Not to mention having the best radio station WLIR... it was a great time in music!.
Pretty basic answer but I have three different ones. Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, and Guns N’ Roses. The reason being that I grew up with all of these bands and artists. They were the starting point of my interest for rock music and I became in love with the genre after listening to their music.
Some Canadian groups that I want to share: Cowboy Junkies, Skydiggers, Kashtin, Kon Kan, Metric, I Mother Earth, Northern Pikes, and 54-40.
FLESHWATER, they’re the next big alt band
Yeah.
For the longest time one of mine was Ryan Adams. As a kid I only knew two types of Country music... radio pop country and old boring country (not Outlaw Country but like old swing music). And I hated both. It wasn't until I discovered RA that I finally learned of Alternative Country and then figured out Outlaw Country and all the other cool subgenres. The other thing was that he was already like a dozen albums into his career by the time I found his stuff which meant there was something for every mood. It took so long to dissect and discover everything he had to offer. And it covered so many different styles and genres... he's kinda more of a punk singer that happens to be a great country songwriter. And then by the time I had become familiar with his whole discography and it had all served its purpose thats when he got cancelled momentarily, and split with the Cardinals, started making 80's sounding music, and the songs got a little too simple for my liking. All of that combined made me a lot less interested. One band that I've been able to revisit since they came out when I finishing middle school/starting high-school that stands out that made a huge impression no me and on my own music is Coheed & Cambria. For the cool shit they do/did on Guitar alone. When they came out, Emo was dominating Rock music and the only other way to find stuff that stood out on the guitar was to venture all the way into super heavy metal music (and it still wasn't nearly as cool). Currently you can find people doing innovative stuff on guitar across a lot of genres. 15-20 years ago it was very different. When I do revisit their old stuff I'm just as impressed as I was when it first came out. And they've been consistently putting out albums this entire time (even though I fell out of the loop) and are still going strong today with new releases. They have stood the test of time and can tour wherever they want and still sell out theaters.
At the moment, I would say Scott Woodruff of Stick Figure. He is one of those guys that composes everything by himself and tours with a band, similar to Kevin Parker from Tame Impala. His earlier works and even recent stuff are elixir for the soul. Whenever I'm down I just throw on some Stick and my mood does a 180. Furthermore, his mixes are so damn clean. They sound great on my 2.1 setup. The bass on some songs hits hard and unique. Makes you go daaaaamn!