What band or artiste has influenced your life most?
 

Music affects us all, and for some of us hearing that one song or album or band can change our lives completely. So it was with me and Marillion: this band opened up whole new vistas of imagination I had never before envisioned, and every album was a journey of discovery.
So what music artiste(s) would you say influenced your life (in a positive or negative, but hopefully positive) way, and how?

Stabbing Westward opened my mind to new styles of music way early in my youth. They influenced me to want to expand my taste in music and look past the radio.

It's hard to find Stabbing Westward fans nowadays. I used to obsess over them when I was way young as well.

Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea changed my life the most. Its track progression and eclectic lyrics changed the way I write, read, and experience entertainment. This is why I obsess over it :P

Iron Maiden-Live After Death. It created a friendship that is now 22 years old and set me on my musical path.

Thelonius Monk.
Made me play the piano 20 times more as a kid, and still does to this day.

Probably Ray Charles, Van Morrison and Led Zeppelin

My parents Ray Charles records got me into music

and Morrison and Zeppelin are two of my earliest influences and still in my top five, probably 1 and 2.

Morrison is amazing.
I assisted for an engineer who recorded his most recent. - Keep It Simple...

Probably Radiohead. I had a hard time delving into bands that did things different before I listened to Radiohead. Now I'll give most anything an honest listen.

Probably Fall Out Boy, reason being that they did alot of covers and as I listened to their covers and other bands' covers of songs, I had to listen to the original songs and really liked them so it broadened my taste immensely.

The Sex Pistols, the first band that just hit me as being fresh, timeless and had a proper X factor feel to it. I've found better bands as times gone on but they properly started it really.

Nirvana introduced me to some of the worst music ever and I continued to listen to it religiously for ten years thereafter. I've since renounced my ties to shitty alternative rock but it's what I grew up on.

The Clash. First punk band I ever liked, and I still love them to this day.

The Stooges & The Rolling Stones saved me from a life of boring extended guitar solos and rubbish dungeon & dragon lyrics.

One of Nick Cave or Elvis Costello - if I didn't listen to their music religiously when I was doing my A-levels, I'd never have started writing (which, however good or bad it is, is still a very important part of my life these days).

Musically David Bowie started me off in the right direction a fair few years ago now

Sounds cliché, but The Beatles. First time I listened to them - I mean really listened to them - it basically changed my life.

what were those bands? Sorry this is a bit off topic...

Sum 41 influenced my life a bit too, as they introduced me into the punk genre, and I still listen to Sum 41 to this day, they are my favorite band

I may or may not have been in possession of shit like this in the past :o:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l99/urbanH/17445.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l99/urbanH/20442.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l99/urbanH/51428.jpg

1980s red hot chili peppers. from them i got into jimi hendrix, eric dolphy, and the P-Funk.

all 4 of those artists have greatly influenced my approach and method to playing music.

I like all of those you cheeky fecker

Pink Floyd easy...
at some point their music had a complete emotional control over me...
I can gladly say,that I still worship them,but I gained control...
I know...I sound like a former alcoholic.

Me too...when I bought London Calling (only about a year ago unfortunately, wish I'd found it sooner), I knew that my music taste was changed forever. I loved the album from front to back and listened to it obsessively for a while, and then went on to buy the other Clash albums. I can thank the Clash for getting me into reggae (other than Bob Marley's "Legend"), some ska, along with lots of other punk bands.

And to think, I bought it cause I liked the album cover. I mean, I knew it was supposed to be a great album but I didn't know anything other than Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay, which aren't even on it.

Most recently, The Cure. They got me into post-rock which got me to post-punk, which got me into The Smiths.

what is post-rock and post-punk? what do the smiths sounds like?

as far as i can tell the bulk of 'post' genres are new names for modern examples of old styles by people who don't want to associate themselves with older terms like prog, alternative, or new wave (the initial use of the terms, not the marketing versions).

Your illogic impresses me.

Thank you, it took me awhile to figure it out myself.

Post-rock = (often, but not limited to) Film-soundtrackish music like Explosions In The Sky and stuff.

Post-punk = Joy Division, Bunnymen, and arguably The Cure.

:)

As much as I love music, since I have no idea about modern classification of genres, i have no choice but to consider myself a newbie of music. :(

I don't know what prog is...

You make it sound boring.

Tobias, you remind me of myself when i joined. Stay here two months and you'll learn a ton about music.

I'm no expert on post-punk, this is just going by what I've heard.

prog is short for progressive. it was to the 70s what 'alternative' was to the 90s. an offshoot of the popular rock music of its day.

for the most part prog bands feature lots of technically proficient musicians bordering on virtuosity, long drawn out songs that feature far more components than simple verse / chorus / verse tunes, and lots of instrumental bits.

Hmmmm which bands might he be referring to.

that's why I joined...lol

like Tool?

Two bands. Suffocation and Mercyful Fate. Suffocation just due to the fact that they were the first death metal band i ever listened to and they will always be in my top list of bands. Its funny that Pierced From Within was released in 93 and ever since bands have been trying to top it in terms of aggression, brutality, and heaviness, but no band can touch it. Mercyful Fate has King Diamond on vocals. That statement alone should be enough for every fan of music in general to love Mercyful Fate. People say his vocals are silly or exaggerated but in my eyes, and millions of other metalheads' eyes, his vocals are downright haunting. The King along with Shermann and Denner on guitar combine for two of the greatest heavy metal records ever made: Don't Break the Oath and Melissa.

Yes, Tool are most definitely progressive.
But keep in mind there are many different sub-genres of progressive music that range from early stuff right up to today and often have quite different sounds.

Modern Progressive rock is not progressive...a blanket statement I know, but they all sound the same: same chord progressions, pretentious lyrics, same production, same guitar sounds etc.
The difference between say the butterfly effect and tool is negligible.
Where has the diversity gone?
(sorry shishedo)

I don't care what anyone says about this. The Donnas have influenced me so much, and I have become a much better musician since listening to them. I started playing more and writing more, also playing better and writing better. If it weren't for them I would still be in the same position I was two years ago.

Tool was interesting in a way up til' after Aenima at the very least. The ball began to roll downhill after that.

Anyway, if I had to give a band or two credit for influencing me the most early on, I would have to give props to either The Alan Parsons Project or Pink Floyd. :)

Are you kidding? I see worlds of difference between Tool and The Butterfly Effect in their lyrics, musicality, themes, everything. I can understand what you're saying about The Butterfly Effect, but in my opinion I think Tool are definitely progressive. It's kind-of elitist to say that modern progressive music is not really progressive...