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Artists that influenced your taste in music

Andrew Alexande said:
i guess to put this into perspective and to stay within the spirit of this thread...i for one have not "yet" been influenced by a new sound for this decade...just got too many decades of history to compare...still listening tho...a
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Thanks, Andrew. As I said earlier, due to our agreement on your previous tastes, if you run across anything in particular from this decade that strikes your musical fancy I would appreciate a 'heads-up' post on one of the daily music lists.
 
Velvet Underground led me to Lou Reed & John Cale, who led me to:

The Stooges
The Modern Lovers
Bowie
Roxy Music
Eno
Richard Hell
Television
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers (there is only ONE true "Heartbreakers" and Tom Petty wasn't part of 'em!)
Sonic Youth

Basically, the VU opened my eyes to Avant Rock and Punk.
 
What if I just don't know?

Growing up my parents always had music playing, and I can't remember a time since when music wasn't a central part of my life.

I can't think of any group that I like everything they put out. I listen to music that fits my mood of the moment, and trust me when I say my mood changes rapidly and frequently.

I guess the major influences would be type of music rather than an artist or group.

From the parents that would mean big bands and top vocalists, leavened extensively by church choirs.

Older semi-siblings introduced much late 50s early 60s pop.

Later came the Animals, Steppenwolf and the Doors. A bit of CCR in there also. The Jesus movement had some great tunes. I listen to classical music all day at work, much of which I enjoy.

I have to say that the lack of music I like on current radio broadcasts has led me down many different paths, so I guess that would be a major influence.

And quite frankly I enjoyed many of the artists I first got acquainted with through the AK Music Forum :yes:

Don't let those who post here know.
 
I'm kinda like Reyneman. There was too much that influenced me and shaped what I now consider to be essential to my life. I had a radio or record player glued to my ear since before kindergarten and was playing music by the time I was ten. Brubeck, Miles, Beatles, Stones, Doors, Floyd, Clash, Bowie, Eno, Heads are the ones that really stick out and that I thought were inventive and groundbreaking.
 
tentoze said:
Davey was using a little "irony" there, sport, which would be clear if you hadn't selectively quoted him. And, trust me, he's "onto" something alright- he fecking AGREED with me in the trailing paragraph you didn't bother to quote. We both (he and I) listen to a ton of new music. And I enjoy introducing others (and being introduced by others) to it. However, I know better than to try to convert a Luddite.

Sit back and cruise with your _______ (fill in the blank for whatever decade you're stuck in) music. I assure you the loss will not be mine.
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Hey, dude. Maybe some of don't care for your choices. So, sport, you listen to yours and the rest of us will listen to what we choose. You know. Even that luddite stuff. Like Mozart, Miles, Stones, Chick Corea, GWashington, Jr.

And, enjoy your new EPIs. There are a great speaker.
 
My list of influences grows every day,but a short list off the top:

Beatles
Yes
Dylan
Elvis Costello
Steely Dan
Dave Brubeck
Prince
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
George Thorogood
Roxy Music
Run Dmc
NWA
Dwight Yoakam
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
Louis Jordan and the Tympani Five
PM Dawn
Greenday
Donnas
Outkast

And I have to disagree with the negative influence of modern Hip-Hop on young people.So many rap artists sample or cover vintage songs,its given a whole new generation of listeners an appreciation for what came before.I had some young hip hoppers over at my place today,looking through my record collection,and one was excited to see I had a copy of "The harder they Come",and begged me to play it for him.Hip-Hop is turning into a music gateway for these kids that Rock and Roll was for us with the blues,I think.
Jimmy
 
The way I see it, its not the fault of Hip Hop or Rap as a musical venue, nor the artisit, but the industry to a small degree.....I guess this whole hip hop /rap culture wouldnt be so widespread if the listener/individual resisted a little or did some critical thinking of his/her own, to discover what they are missing, and how the music they listen to shadows their own self and surrounding universe..

You cant blame the tools, only the users./
 
A lot of my influence was from the 80's, so people like Madonna and Boy George are in there. I still like a tune with a catchy riff and bubbly lyrics.
If I had to name just a few it would be:
Gordon Lightfoot
Anne Murrey
even Barbara Streisand, my folks were on the easy listing path when I was
a kid
Dwight Yoakam
Beach Boys
Kiss
Genesis/Phil Collins version
Blondie
Hall and Oats
Charlie Daniels-taught me that music can have a meaning
ABBA-who wasn't influenced by them, one way or another :D
John Couger Mellencamp
Bruce Springsteen
These aren't exactly the greatest bands of all time, but they are the ones that influenced my listening, which is two totally different things. There are a ton of others, but these kind of stand out at first thought.
 
Ain't it funny how there always has to be one person who doesn't comprehend internet speak and always has to be a pain in the butt? If you know who you are, please calm down. If you don't shut up anyway.
 
This topic is near and dear, so I'll hope you'll forgive me if i wax a bit autobiographical.

There were five artists that informed my early and therefore formative tastes(earliest influences strike me as truly foundational, kinda like your first serious girlfriend). Three of them I'm sure no one else has ever heard of; the fourth you might know if you're a guitar fanatic; the fifth is familiar to some serious classical fans.
1. Joe Brice
2 & 3. Schubert and Ruth Parkinson
4. George Van Eps
5. Dennis Brain

The first three are all from my hometown, which, at that time, was a thriving metropolis of about 6000 souls. Joe was a real world Mr. Holland, and his magnum opus was his students. I wonder how many other music teachers produced three Tonight Show band stalwarts (remember, in the 60's and 70's that was the best big band gig there was) and at least 8 musicians (there may have been more) to graduate from Julliard from such a miniscule pool of potential talent? Schubert and Ruth owned the only Steinway dealership for hundreds of miles, and, with their three children, had a fine woodwind quintet that traveled the country and often performed with the smaller regional symphonies. They were a second family to me; I worked in a desultory fashion in their store from the age of ten until I left for college.

They're all gone now, but they shaped my musical tastes and began my musical education. Dona nobis pacem.

It was in fact Brice who suggested and the Parkinson's who helped me obtain the first record I ever bought---Dennis Brain's recording of the four Mozart Horn Concerti and it seems to me miraculous it has survived wives, girlfriends, dogs, cats, a disastrous fire, a peripatetic life and a checkered career. I own it still. And to this day I believe it's the nearest thing to a perfect performance I've ever heard.

Van Eps was my own discovery. At age 13 I got a copy of his "Mellow Guitar" (unfortunate title) and shortly thereafter began to teach myself a new way of playing guitar--an instrument Van Eps like to call a "lap piano." To this very moment his 7 string "They Can't Take That Away from Me" has the power to transport me.

Grumpy's signature quotes Ellington--there's only two kinds of music: good and bad. I concur with Ellington.

The fact that today I listen to all manner of music is testament to these little known artists, They are the ones who taught me to see the difference between good music and bad.
 
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CortR said:
Grumpy's signature quotes Ellington--there's only two kinds of music: good and bad. I concur with Ellington.
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I actually think Ellington took that from someone else,,,someone from the classical music arena...I read it, but cant remember details...

and if the definition of good and bas music varies person to person, there isnt even that,,,so there is just "music"
 
my influences

dylan
the clash
lou reed and VU
john prine
beatles (so trite)
led zep
hendrix
black sabbath
sex pistols
willie nelson
the who
ac/dc

i still listen to some of these, remember they were influences, but i'm far from many of them now. man i love john prine and the clash... weird
 
Not wishing to be contentious, I cannot help myself if this appears to be a contentious or even tendentous reply. It may be that Ellington copped it from somebody else--it wouldn't be the 1st time. Duke was, necessarily, a shape-changer and survivor; his contemporaries and colleagues almost universally testify to this. You never knew which Ellington you were talking to, he mirrored you and your expectations so perfectly.

Further, there is no doubt that many of Ellington's compositions were as much the work of Billy Strayhorn as of Ellington. No matter.

The crux is this: there is a distinction between good and bad music, good and bad literature, good and bad food, good and bad wine, good and bad cars, et cetera ad infinitum. To deny this may appear au courant and politically correct but is in fact intellectually bankrupt. I heard it for years in the obligatory one section per year freshman comp course I was per contract constrained to teach. Miss Mary Moon, so blonde and tall though not much of a conversationalist would languidly wave her arm and pronounce that since it was all a matter of opinion anyway her ignorant opinion was necessarily of as much value as, say, Newton's. If you really believe that, then please hire the Miss Moon's of the world to fix your car or do your root canals. Competence counts. And competence necessarily entails a distinction between good and bad.
 
WhiteSE said:
I actually think Ellington took that from someone else,,,someone from the classical music arena...I read it, but cant remember details...
and if the definition of good and bas music varies person to person, there isnt even that,,,so there is just "music"
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Then can be reduced to "music you like and music you don't."
 
Allman Bros
Blue Oyster Cult
Eagles
Springsteen
Jackson Browne

...and to a lesser extent

Prince
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Boston
Beach Boys
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Orleans/John Hall Band
The Who
 
There were certain tunes that stopped me dead in my tracks when I first heard them and change my direction or became included in the music I like. I quess the Ist one would have to be Eight Miles High by the Byrds or House of the Rising Sun by the Animals. Neither fit into the top ten AM radio well at that time. The Stones had some influence but they became a pop flavoured. When I heard Who are the Brain Police by Frank Zappa and the Mothers my taste change direction sharply. The last Mothers I bought was either Billy the Mountain or Mudshark. Early Pink Floyd up to DSOTM are up there too, my favourite Floyd album is Umma Gumma. During the mid seventies I was disinterested in music because I felt that it was lacking in imagination and a sense of adventure. About ten years ago I heard Bitches Brew by Miles Davis I found it staggering .Soon I bought Reflections of Spain, KOB and discovered that I enjoyed some fusion but mostly straight ahead Jazz. Dave Brubeck, Coleman Hawkins, Lenny Breau, Milt Jackson, Bird, Dizzy, Billie Holiday and the list goes on. Jazz is almost all I listen to now although nostalgia lets me play my old long hair freak music once in a while.
Howzat
 
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