The most important band to you, musically?

[nailz]

So, I was browsing facebook, as I am wont to do at work, and a friend of mine posted a link to a song from the 90's which got me thinking about that time and how I still maintain it was the most important time for music and ultimately, the best decade for music, ever (results may vary, naturally). I got to thinking about how that was the time I started realizing that music was more than entertainment for me, it was a soundtrack to life, the art that truly mattered to me, the way I could connect to everything and disconnect from the world at the same time.

The most important band musically to me was The Smashing Pumpkins in the 90's. Their music was the sound of my teen angst and hormonal confusion, my feelings painted with sound, my anchor to sanity through some really rough times (I know it sounds cliche and ultimately it is, but for those of you who don't know, I'm gay and was buried so deep in the closet in High School I couldn't find my way out). Their music gave me an outlet for my inner demons and Corgan's lyrics took me to places of acceptance and gave me hope that I was not, in fact, alone in the world or in my head. Hindsight I, of course, blew my teenage issues completely way out of proportion, (but what teen doesn't?) but with music, I was able to cope.

I will always credit Alternative Rock to leading me to metal, for which I will always be greatful, and also helping me feel the energy of the world, but The Smashing Pumpkins will always have a special place in my musical heart.

Interested to hear others' thoughts on the subject! Go!

 

[Cheiron]

Hmm. I think that music is most impressionable on us during those times of our lives. Alice in Chains and KMFDM were key for me in highschool.I was a fairly depressed high school kid and full of angst. So both found their place in my heart (I balanced it out with my love for punk and ska... though that just fed more of my rebellious side). But Tori Amos was so key to my college years, and her music still takes me away every single time. Between those three is a tough fight for most important to me.

However, on a musical level In Flames had such an impact on me getting into metal (along with Blind Guardian, Kamelot, and Falconer), and metal was pretty damn important to me over the last 5 years. Frank Zappa was extremely important to me in opening up my ears and mind to so many different styles and possibilities within music.

 

[grogg]

It's got to be Rush for me. 2112 was the starting point for getting me into the metal scene. At the time I was a teenager when this came out trying to figure life out, smoking weed, doing all the normal teenage rebellious things and it was like this whole album sunk in and grabbed me. Until then I was a radio slave and it opened my eyes up to a whole world of music that I had not heard. From then on it was an exploration to find bands that were not the usual ones played on the radio (we don't get much variety in choices of radio stations here in SC). It was pretty hard to find these bands without the internet, unlike today, but a number of subscriptions to magazines at least afforded me other options besides the local DJ playing the Doobie Brothers and Marshall Tucker band and calling it hard rock.

This whole album - the lyrical theme, the artwork, the music - set the course for my musical future.

 

[TychoCelchu]

The band who has been the most constant in my whole music-listening life, from the time I got my first CD-playing shelf stereo (with detachable speakers!! Holy shit!!!) and my first couple of CDs, up until right now, is the pop group Better Than Ezra. There's a lot of bands that I consider keys to making music a focal point of my existence (The Rolling Stones are another one; later examples include Operation Ivy/Rancid and 311) but BTE are the only ones who are still in regular rotation with me - new albums and old - and whose music continues to connect with me emotionally. I see them every four years (2001, 2005, and 2009) which is also about how often they release a new album (probably a key to how a 'one-hit-wonder' band from the early 90s is still going today).

 

[nailz]

Man, Better than Ezra was one of those bands I loved the songs of but could never catch the name of the band off the radio. Those times were so frustrating! Thank you, internet!

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Overall:
Not a "band" per se, but a solo artist, Tori Amos - with Kate Bush right after!
(nothing beats these ladies).

Progressive/Symphonic:
Yes and JesusChristSuperstar.
(listening to my parents and my uncle playing these all the time when I was a kid).

Hard Rock:
Rainbow, Ozzy and Alcatrazz.
(without my uncle pushing these bands on me, I probably never would have listened to metal).

"Lighter" Metal:
Iron Maiden and Accept.
(one of my friends in elementary school was into these bands, and since he was the "cool kid", I followed suit).

"Heavy" Metal:
Voivod and Celtic Frost.
(85-87 was when I got into the "heavy" stuff thanks to those two bands. For the next bunch of years I listened primarily to thrash and death metal ... took me a while to find my way back to "classic metal" and hard rock).

 

[nailz]

Overall:
Not a "band" per se, but a solo artist, Tori Amos - with Kate Bush right after!
(nothing beats these ladies).

I probably should've included solo artists in my subject. Hehe.

Great responses! Keep em coming!

 

[MysticX9]

Rush - they were the first band I really listened to closely, just immersed in the intricacies of HEMISPHERES, mesmerized. Haven't been the same since...

 

[TychoCelchu]

I liked Rush from an early age, but for me it was a very long time between finding Rush and finding the next prog band. In that sense I had a delayed development when it comes to prog rock & prog metal. It took years for me to get from band #1 (Rush) to band #2 (Dream Theater).

 

[MysticX9]

I liked Rush from an early age, but for me it was a very long time between finding Rush and finding the next prog band. In that sense I had a delayed development when it comes to prog rock & prog metal. It took years for me to get from band #1 (Rush) to band #2 (Dream Theater).

I enjoyed Yes but not nearly as much as Rush, then I got into Queensyche and Fates Warning. I spent a lot of time listening to Dream Theater when they first came out with WDADU, great stuff...

 

[AngraRULES]

I think to me it would have to be the Guns N Roses.

 

[nailz]

I think to me it would have to be the Guns N Roses.

FEEL FREE TO ELABORATE.

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

I'm 32.My next door neighbor when I was young was 4 years older than me.He and his brother were both big time metalheads.They of course got me into it early on.I can still remember the 1st time I heard Twisted Sister's "Stay Hungry" record.The song Captain Howdy scared the crap out of me at that early age.That entire album still gets played to this day in my rotation.There are a lot of albums that I could pick out and say WOW about,but that one was my first WOW.

 

[booB]

Dio.

 

[Comic Book Dude]

For me, it was Queen (News Of The World), Eagles (Hotel California) and Boston (s/t)....these were the albums my father played in the car on 8 track cassette all of the time. With me being 6-7 years old at the time, it really fostered my love for hard rock, and I still love those bands to this day.

 

[OrbWeaver]

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals (Cats, Starlight Express, The Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita, primarily) defined my life from grade school through high school. To a lesser degree Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, By Jeeves, Aspects of Love, and Sunset Boulevard also were important to me. I guess overall, you could say just about any ALW musical from 1968-1993 was the soundtrack to my life. I also listened to a lot of Sondheim, as well.

I blame musical theater for my love of progressive, symphonic, and power metal, and especially concept albums from those subgenres. A concept album is a musical that has not been put on stage yet, IMO.

I still listen to all my Broadway soundtracks, though metal has overshadowed them when it comes to what I listen to. But every so often, I really need a dose of Starlight Express, Cats, etc...

 

[Jasonic]

KISS and Maiden

 

[tenebre]

Helloween.... When i bought walls of Jericho on a whim it made me realize I liked music. I just didn't lie the garbage I had heard before. Then when Keepers came out I became obsessed with metal, discovering Maiden and Metallica shortly after.

I bought Walls and Venom-Black Metal that day. I dug the venom out of sheer imagery but Helloween changed everything for me musically.

 

[No-Mercy]

im only 18...but its a tough one.

from about 8-15 it was most definitely iron maiden...but in all honesty thats all i really knew.

i would honestly have to say Blind Guardian from 15-17. which is strange considering many label alot of what they do as cheese (though i suppose that is more directed to the lyrical content), but they did capture my emotions time and again.

im not entirely sure though...i enjoy a wide variety of music and its more so a genre that captures me at given times then it is one band.

 

[dcowboys311]

AFI.