....who your 5 most influential bands are and why. It doesn't have to be relating to the particular instrument you play, just.....inspirational, I suppose, as far as your sound and your art! I'll get things started. I play the drums and do vocals, by the way. 1. Darkthrone(Black Metal). Dark, savage, cold, minimal. Their early work evokes feeling of evil and power; their lo-fi, low production value approach makes for trashy, beautiful art. My main project has a similar sound and tone. Kudos also for being a 2 piece band. More members, more problems! 2. The Hollies('60's Pop Rock). I'm a huge sucker for not only instrumental proficiency, but vocal harmonies. The Hollies have both to spare. Truly innovative bass work(Bernie Calvert), excellent drum work(Bobby Elliot), good riffs(Tony Hicks) and beautiful harmonies(by Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash, later replaced by Terry Sylvester). Love it. 3. Dinosaur, Jr(Alt Rock). Heavy when you need it, softer when you don't. Goofy, serious, fascinating, ecclectic, mesmerizing. J. Mascis is a phenomenal guitar player, drummer, bassist and vocalist. Also, a dick, apparently. These guys tour with their original lineup, I saw them in '08 and it was life changing. 4. Weezer(Alt Rock). Although their later works don't sit well with me, this bands early work has had a great amount of influence for me. Riffs. More Riffs. Tight, lean drumming. Slightly dark. Brilliant. 5.Burzum(Black/Ambient Black Metal). The best one man band ever. The sole band member is a total douche, murderer, poser and extremist. Unfortunately, he makes some of the most ambient, droning Black Metal ever created. Also lo-fi production, the music is....different somehow. It's hard to explain. Hit the bong, kill the lights and listen. You?
I can't pick five groups, there are too many "most influental bands"... Are you insane, krieg? I need to talk about at least 200 bands to give my history as a music fan justice! But I'll give it a try: (Edit: I play e-bass (I am good!) and e-guitar. (average skills...)) Queensrÿche: I was in my early teens when I first listened to their "Operation: Mindcrime:"-album, and it blew me away. I learned English thx to the lyrics... This was a perfect album to join the world of Heavy Metal. Queensrÿche started as a typical eighties poser band with an eunuch as a singer, but their lyrics were always above average and as musicians, they were class A. Just listen to these guitars! Thank you, my older brother! I still listen to them and forgive everybody who knows them just because of their cheesy smash hit "Silent Lucidity". The bassist Eddie Jackson tought me how to play on the four strings. The Sisters of Mercy: This band brought me to Goth in the early nineties and were the reason I followed the Goth Metal scene since I was ten years old, although the Sisters never had anything to do with "Metal". They were not the first Goth band, the Fields and others were before them. But their "First and last and always"-album got me hooked with its melancholy and self pity sickness. They were a huge influence for all the European Goth Metal which came later. Simple riffs, the awesome vocals of Andrew Eldritch and a drum machine created what is the standard for Goth until today. Darkness! Anathema: They were part of the "Peaceville Three" with Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. They started as a brutal Doom band in the early nineties, but evolved over time and became a postrock band. I love every album of these guys. Every single song. Every single note. To see them live again last December after a long break was a great experience. Tool: I really think that this band is the most important group of the last 20 years. They remain an underground band, even though they sell millions of records. Heavily influenced by the early Stoner Rock scene, they created their own style. Prog Metal? Esoterical Rock? Or just weird shit? They are Tool and they are just great! Maynard is one of the most talented singers and poets of the modern rock world. Tool create an atmosphere which is unmatched, and you can recognise a song of them after three seconds. Black Sabbath (with Ozzy): They started it all. Nuff said. No Sabbath would mean no Saint Vitus, no Trouble, no Candlemass, no Tiamat, no everything. Early Sabbath created a demonic vibe which is unmatched until today. They remain the real demons of rock. They are the root of all evil.
Bands? I currently learn to play songs by ear by: Old Blind Dogs - fast fiddling! Massenet - too lazy to find sheet music Sigur Rós - orchestration! Legião Urbana - who else is going to play this on a viola? Andrew Bird - need loop pedal
Tough call, being a classical musician. Bach, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Mahler, Grainger, Gershwin, Holst, Vaughn Williams, Hovhanness, Sparke, Reed, Ticheli would all be influences. On the non-classical side, I'd go with the Pat Metheny Group, Nightwish, Led Zepplin, Beatles, Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel to name a few.
1) The Dead Milkmen 2) Atom and his Package 3) "Weird Al" Yankovic 4) The Aquabats 5) The Dead Kennedys I'd love to include some of the stranger stuff I listen to, but purely influential is this stuff. I love me some Wu Tang/ODB, Laserdance, and Daft Punk, but the stuff I feel really bleeds into my music is the punk, goofy, and partially socially awkward stuff. I also like real sounding music where the person's personality is completely transparent and unmasked, which is the case with these 5 I feel.
I'm not in a band, but if I were, I'd want to be in...the Band. Three lead singers making every song sound distinctive, instrument switching, literate lyrics, rock solid backbeat. Other than Robbie Robertson's ego, that's about as perfect as it gets.
