What are your favourite bands and why?

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The Kinks are one of my favourite bands, because they've recorded a lot of songs about London and England. They've also recorded the most gender bender songs out of all of the Classic Rock bands. I also have happy memories of hearing a lot of their songs on the radio including a cornucopia of their older songs as well.

The Who are one of my favourite bands is because they had a very masculine edge to their songs. Pete Townsend also has a strong connection with Jesus.

The Beatles are one of my favourite bands because they've broke many grounds in music. They were also the first male band to have what the GI generation thought was long hair for guys. I like their earlier songs from the Beatlemania era and their movies A Hard Day's Night, Help, Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine. The only movie of theirs that I wouldn't want to see is Let It Be. I want to remember the happy times they had together, not the time when they were going through their breakup.

The Rolling Stones are another band that I enjoy listening to. They have masculine edge to their songs. They're also the band out of my four favourites that have stuck together through thick and thin for over 50 years.

The Grateful Dead.

The Dead just played together for a really long time, and worked really hard at being great musicians. I think the reason a lot of people don't like them is because they played jazz improv over a rock foundation. If you don't have a jazz background, a lot of it can be hard to pick up on at first. Another reason is that they released a lot of crap in their career. Some of their crappiest stuff was their most commercial, like touch of grey, garcia's diabetic coma recovery song. Really most of their studio albums were bad. The good ones are, Anthem of the Sun, Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Mars Hotel, Blues for Allah, Jerry Garcia's first solo album, and Bob Weir's, Ace (I am counting both of these solo albums as dead albums because other members of the Dead played on them). The rest of the studio albums are badly produced, although there are some really great live versions of all the stuff from the bad studio albums. Their good reputation is based mainly on their live stuff which could be transcendent. A lot of that is available for free at archive.org.


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A more contemporary band I like, is Tedeschi Trucks. I got into them when I found out the Allman Brothers were still going and was impressed by Derek Trucks. I sought out what else he was doing, and found his solo band which had its moments. Trucks combined his band with his wife, Susan Tedeschi's band, and produced this. You should like Trucks' style if you're a fan of early Allman Brothers stuff, or Duane's playing on Clapton's, "Layla and other assorted love songs". Derek filled Duane's slide duties in the 90s iteration of the Allman Brothers as a prodigy at age twelve, and has since improved on Duane's style considerably (He's in his mid 30s now).

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i listen to so many genres of music but mostly subgenres of metal.

i guess the first one would have to be Megadeth - it was my dads favorite band and that band was basically shoved down my throat since birth. i remember being a kid and watching mtv with my dad when the Hangar 18 video came on and i thought it was the coolest thing. i saw them a couple years back with motorhead and it was basically the best experience of my life. this band got me through a lot.

nirvana - just another band that seemed to always be there growing up, even though the rest of my family hated them. im not sure why i got so into them

metallica - another one thats been there since birth. i always loved the slower sections of their songs they'd make, like in sanitarium or One. its mainly because of this band that i dwelled so deep into the metal scene. too bad they fell off long ago. but those first few albums will always put me in a trance and give me chills.

Dax Riggs - one of my favorite vocalists ive ever heard, hes up there with robert plant and dio (imo). he kills it every time whether its harder stuff like a lot of what he did with the band Acid Bath or especially when he goes solo with an acoustic. Dax Riggs: you either love him or dont know who he is.

Crippled Black Phoenix - umm, pink floyd kinda seems like a major influence of theirs. i love their atmospheric style and i listen to them a lot when i draw. i forget exactly who but i know some of the members of Electric Wizard are in this which is also another of my favorites. if pink floyd was LSD then this band would be DMT. if my description of them doesnt make you wanna listen to them, at least check them out just because they have a badass band name

i guess that does it. i can easily keep going but thats probably good enough.

Generally a lot of my favourite music is by solo singers, or acts that are solo singer fronted, but there are plenty of bands I love too.

If I had to pick a top 10 bands (love music, love making lists, but picking favourites is hard) my 10 favourites would be:

The Cocteau Twins, The Smiths, Dead Can Dance, Current 93, The Pixies, Belle & Sebastian, Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co., Radiohead, Rasputina, Arcade Fire.

The Cocteaus were the first band I got really obsessed with, when I was in my early teens, & around that time I also loved The Smiths & Siouxsie & the Banshees (all of which I still love).

Some other favourite bands include: Skinny Puppy, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Sleater Kinney, Portishead, My Bloody Valentine, Dog Faced Hermans, Boards of Canada, Can, Godspeed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, Broadcast, Butthole Surfers, Pentangle, Scratch Acid, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, The Slits, X-Ray Spex, Warpaint, Autechre, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ADULT.

A lot of what Iisten to/enjoy/love I guess is indie, alternative, post-punk, folk, country, traditional, electronic, but I don't pay much attention to genres.

ETA. Just realised I didn't answer.the why part, but I'm not sure I could articulate the particulars of why I love each one (even just the 10 I picked as favourites) outside the obvious. If someone asked me why in person I'm sure I could whitter on for ages about why, but I find it hard to put things like this into writing.  

their 80's material was great.
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Iron Maiden and Judas Priest - Turn metal from good to totally awesome with their sweeping melodies, harmonized guitars, and expressive vocals. Simply epic.
System of a Down and Tool - Unique and innovative metalish styles with mesmerizing cryptic yet touching lyrics. Also, for the former awesome middle eastern elements, and the latter amazingly beautiful vocals.
In Flames - Melodic, heavy, catchy, emotional
Disturbed - They might not be ground breaking, but they a unique metal band with an excellent vocalist. Their lyrics are simple, but powerful, and they have great melodies.
They Might Be Giants - Dad's favorite band, so childhood favorite, also just fun and experimental. Weird but catchy.
Tarby - Independent musician who is a total bro, like an actual bro, not a frat boy douchebag. Unique and awesome Progressive/Industrial Rock/Metal style, but also experiments in pretty much everything. Great lyrics as well.
Devin Townsend - The guy can do anything and it sounds amazing. Metal man with a great sense of humor.
Jonathan Colton - Fun nerdy rock
Weird Al - Master of parodies, weird, funny, and awesome.
Savatage - Most underrated band ever, hugely influential on american metal and one of the first symphonic metal bands. Trans Siberian Orchestra is also epic.
David Bowe - Hugely influential and awesome guy.
Stephan Soundhiem - Makes excellent showtunes, complex but catchy, and makes songs and musicals that are both dark and funny.

I've had a few 'favorite' bands in the past few years, but I find that lately I've been focusing on three bands more than any others I know of. I used to listen to a lot of Marilyn Manson, but now Marilyn Manson is more like an old favorite that I still revisit from time to time.
My top three bands at the moment are as follows:
La Dispute-- I've been very fond of this band since hearing them over a year ago. They're kind of a lesser known band, but they pour a lot of passion and emotion into their music. I really enjoy the lyrics above all else, and I find that a lot of their songs offer something that I can connect with on more level or another, no matter my mood. La Dispute can be beautiful and melancholic and so many other things packed into one. I really do think that they're something of a musical rarity, and I thoroughly enjoy what they have to offer their fans.

Touché Amoré-- I heard of this band because they did a split album and tour with La Dispute, and I have to admit that their first release didn't really catch my interest all that much. They have a rougher sound than La Dispute, and their vocals can kind of aggravate my ears sometimes, but their recent record Is Survived By really struck me when I listened to it. The vocals on this record seem a bit improved, and I was able to connect to so much of what the vocalist sings about, which is what I most listen for in a band. There were several songs that I felt were possibly written for/from the perspective of someone with some sort of disorder, and some of the specifics just stuck with me. Their sound can still be a little abrasive at times, but they're still growing on me, and I find that I've been returning to their music more and more.

Brand New-- Another band that I feel an emotional connection to. I find the range of Brand New's music appealing as well. I've kind of run out of steam writing about the other two bands, but Brand New is one of my top three because of similar reasons. A lot of Brand New's music does seem to be written from an outside sort of perspective, and I think it offers certain types of examinations of topics that I enjoy hearing. Their sound can also be quite soothing at times, depending upon the song.