You can't bust Tools chops too much, at least not if your an Opeth fan... When asked what mainstream artist Mikael Akerfeldt would most like to tour with... drum roll please... he said, "Tool".
I used to be into Tool and would hardly be embarassed to have them in my collection. I mean that's like saying I'm embarassed to have Van Halen, AC/DC or Black Sabbath... come on man... just because it's more mainstream doesn't mean it sucks... In addition, I saw that someone is embarassed to have Dream Theater's Images and Words??? What? Are you on crack... that is a perfect ten in my book as far as progressive rock goes. Please go listen to it again and again, because you either only listened to it a handful of times or you don't have the mental capacity to understand the music.
This is a great post because it's refreshing that I see people liking the same music that I do.
I consider all of these to be keepers:
King Crimson - some great shit! Early stuff to me was the best.
John Mclaughlin (if you get a chance check out John with Al DiMeola and Paco Delucia... they put out a 2 CD's... all acoustic guitar, both are simply fantastic displays of artistry...)
Mike Oldfield - tubular bells - theme to the Exorcist. Should be in every Opeth fan's music library. Awesome!
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts - One of the first progressive rock/metal albums to ever come out... pretty dark considering it came out in the 70's.
Camel - Mikael Akerfeldt's favorite band and one of mine too... first 3 albums are all very good.
Universe Zero - is hardly rock (no guitar for the most part)... but it sure is progressive. I recommend, Ceux Du Dehors for starters... it's sort of an aquired taste in my opinion. Heresy is one of the darkest albums I have ever heard.
Eloy - Mighty fine atmospheric 70's prog/rock... much better than the commercial prog/rock that was going on at the time. All albums are good... much, much better than most of today's music.
John Lee Hooker - Huge fan of this guy... really fantastic old school blues... for relatively newer stuff...
Robert Cray's, "Some Rainy Morning" - great blues.
I listen to a bit of jazz as well... I like the Dave Brubeck Quartet... good stuff.
Here's a list of the one's I'm embarassed of:
Tier 1 - The one's I'm most embarrased of
Faith Hill - Somehow this ended up in my collection, even though I never bought it.
Enya - she's almost a tier 2...
Madonna
Tiffany - I have this on cassette... I think I actually threw it out... good huh?
Red Hot Chile Peppers - Not that I'm embarrased to have them in my collection... I just think they really suck badly.
Bon Jovi - Sorry but this is total cheese.
Tier 2 - Stuff I have outgrown... not that embarassed about.
I own a shitload of power metal/progressive band cd's... Gamma Ray, Rhapsody, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, Payne's Gray, Dali's Dilema, Symphony X, Eternity X... plus about 10 more similiar bands, etc...
All of this stuff was at one time good to me... now it's just really too cheesey to listen to anymore on a regular basis.
Tier 3
New Metallica - What the hell happened to these guys?