I can understand not liking Savatage but Victims of Deception is classic thrash. :(

Slightly embarassing, but I guess the most influential for me must've been The Beatles, Paul McCartney (with or without Wings), U2, ABBA, Pink Floyd (particularly The Wall) and a little Johnny Cash .. This is most of the music I started listening to when I was a kid, music owned by my older siblings and parents.

When I became a teenager, I was quite embarassed about that and rebelled against it by getting more into punk and metal, but now that I'm older, I'm even more embarassed by the bands I listened to then, so .. there you go.

Pink Floyd is easily my biggest influence. Not only is Gilmour the reason I play the guitar, but when I heard Wish You Were Here (the album) for the first time, it more or less changed my life. I was going through a lot at that time, and probably partly because of all that, it was a really ground-breaking experience for me. I didn't know music could be as good as that until I heard that record. Floyd is probably the biggest reason why I'm involved with music.

Music in general has influenced my life a great deal, but if I had to pick one artist, it'd definitely be Staind. A friend of mine got me into them when I was 15 (I was a late bloomer, haha) and it just felt like the music was made for me. I still listen to them all the time.

hah its kind of lame, but when i was younger (11 or 12) my friend gave me a Linkin Park CD to listen to. while it's not really my cup of tea anymore, i really liked them after hearing them for the first time. they kind of brought me into the rock/metal genres, so in that way they were pretty influential for me.

Probably the most influential for me were Van Halen and Queen. The first time I heard Brian May play guitar, I really got interested in rock/metal. I heard EVH shortly after.

U2 ... been a favorite for a long time and I have been inspired by their depth of material and ability to keep challenging themselves. Love Edge's guitar playing too ...

For me it was Alice Cooper. His music is timeless, his style unique, his shows are over the top and he's still down to earth and has a 2 handycap! LOL I'm Eighteen is still my favorite song to this day. It's a timeless song, that no matter how old I get, still is relavant to my life. Welcome to My Nightmare is, IMO, the greatest album ever written. He is a great role model for kids. What more can you say?

Look at all the bands out there today who owe tribute back to him, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Mudvayne, and any other band that put on some makeup, stepped out there, and scared the crap outta society!

The Veils and Led Zeppelin

The Veils because they make such powerful music and because the day I listened to "Vicious Traditions" for the first time, I fell in love with music. And there are some pretty emotional memories connected to a lot of songs by Led Zeppelin, especially to "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".

I'd have to say Tool because they sort of took me out of my 12 year old Green Day/ The Killers/ Linkin Park sort of mindset and introduced me to more metal and grittier music which I practically live on now. They also affected the way I look at music and art in general. I'm into more "cosmic" art and stuff now too like Alex Grey who designed a lot of Tools artwork.
I have to admit I still have a soft spot in my heart for Green Day because they helped me through grade 6-7 (and somewhat 8) which were some of the hardest years of my 15 year old life.