# What's your favorite band?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 17, 2001, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014 "2001-10-17T17:17:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Azargoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Azargoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azargoth)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/41 "2001-10-18T02:17:25Z")

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Soulfly…gotta go with Soulfly, Max is incredible and he only uses four strings. He has no problem sharing his time with others and seems to be really grounded considering what he has had to deal with!

Close seconds go out to Slipknot (9 guy’s in masks and jumpsuits making the most sic music)

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**Author:** ![Neil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/839c29/32.png) [@Neil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neil)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/42 "2001-10-18T03:20:36Z")

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Primus. I wish I had been into them when they were still touring. It was a sad, sad day when someone stole my copy of “Sailing the Seas of Cheese.” I’ve seen Colonel Les Claypool and his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, and next month I’ll see Les with Oysterhead.

Actually, I really love a lot of other stuff, but, overall, I’d go with Primus.

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**Author:** ![Amptech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Amptech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amptech)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/43 "2001-10-18T03:55:09Z")

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Favorite band? That’s tough.

I’d have to say that it’s a tie between Everclear and the Pixies. Pretty far cry from each other, but I guess I have broad tastes.

Oh how I wish I were old enough to have seen the Pixies in concert.

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**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/44 "2001-10-18T04:07:03Z")

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OK, favorite bands… Can we have more than one?

Definitely **Skinny Puppy**! They have influenced so many people, and their music was way ahead of its time.

OTOH, **Siouxsie & The Banshees** is also an amazing band, that had a huge following and pretty much helped shape gothic music. I was always a fan of their music.

And how can I speak of my favorite bands without mentionning **Rush** , **Psychick TV** , **Senser** and **Current 93**? They’re all favorites of mine, each with a style so different that they can be my favorites without being exclusive.

I love many different types of music. I’ve never been able to stay with one style.

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**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/45 "2001-10-18T04:30:33Z")

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**The Mr.T Experience** of course.

**MTX** is a pop-punk band (as in Ramones, not Blink 182) out of Berkeley’s Lookout label. They have been around for something like fifteen years, and practically invented post-Ramone pop punk. The lead singer, Dr.Frank, is literally a genius. When he applied for college he had the best SAT score in the nation. He majored in Classical Lit at UC Berkeley. And he is now a thirty someodd year old punk rock star. It kind of gives me hope.

Their music is mainly “songs about girls” that are peppy and dancable yet extremely bitter. The lyrics are clever and often have a lot of wordplay. Dr. Frank, of course, is a musical genius.

I first heard them in ninth-grade. They were with me through all my angsty teenage years. I literally remember high school in terms of **MTX** songs. They saw my joys and my pain. They saw me from adolescence to womanhood. Their shows punctuated the long years of my adult life with nights of joy. I still listen to them, and catch their shows whenever possible. I will cry the day that they break up.

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**Author:** ![HalberMensch242](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HalberMensch242](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HalberMensch242)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/46 "2001-10-18T04:32:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by k.os \*  
> \*\*OK, favorite bands… Can we have more than one?
> 
> Definitely **Skinny Puppy**! They have influenced so many people, and their music was way ahead of its time.
> 
> \*\*

Oh hey…a fellow SP fan. Did you get the Brap back and Forth Volume 5 cd aka the Doomsday disk?

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**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/47 "2001-10-18T04:59:17Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by HalberMensch242 \*  
> Oh hey…a fellow SP fan. Did you get the Brap back and Forth Volume 5 cd aka the Doomsday disk?

I have to admit I don’t know what Brap 5 AKA Doomsday disk actually is. I want it, but I haven’t kept up, so I don’t know what it is. Can you tell me a bit more about it? Is it a limited print, or can it be ordered?

I got to see them live for **Too Dark Park** and **Last Rights**. Have you seen them play live? I don’t think I’ll ever see something quite like it again. They used EML 101 synths that go subsonic to create sounds you couldn’t really hear, but could actually feel. And don’t even get me started on the visuals :eek: I’d say they gave the best live shows I have ever seen.

I have _Charlie’s Family_ by **Download** , which is not too common, and it’s pretty interesting, in a very strange and disturbing way. 😃

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**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/48 "2001-10-18T05:23:05Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> I like lots of music, but I love PJ Harvey!!  
> Damn, but that woman can make you hear everything she’s feeling.  
> And she’s hot, besides.

I saw her open for U2 back in May. She indeed kicked ass. And from my vantage point (3 people from the stage), I can tell you definitively that she was wearing black underwear.

> [@](#):
>
> I’ve seen Colonel Les Claypool and his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, and next month I’ll see Les with Oysterhead.

Have you heard the album? It’s great. I think it’s more Primus-weird than Phish-weird, but I’ve been curious to hear what a Primus fan thinks. I think these guys have a great chemistry together, and according to the interviews I’ve read, they would agree. (BTW, Oysterhead=Trey Anastasio of Phish on guitar, Les Claypool of Primus on bass, and Stewart Copeland formerly of the Police on drums.)

For the OP: If I have to pick one (and fortunately, I don’t), it’s Phish all the way. I do love some good industrial German metal from time to time, but in the end I’ll take my meandering neo-hippie rock.

Dr. J

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**Author:** ![DarkJudicator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@DarkJudicator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkJudicator)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/49 "2001-10-18T05:36:49Z")

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My musical taste is all over the place. Tool and A Perfect Circle definitely top the list, but after that it’s somewhat eclectic… Garbage, Placebo, Alice in Chains (the side project band Layne put together, Mad Season, kicked arse too), Metallica for old style aggression and Reel Big Fish for party music (gotta love anyone who covers A-Ha and Duran Duran ska style :D). Also, any Aussies out there would know those great anti-establishment noisemakers, Area 7.

Garbage, New Order, Crystal Method and Prodigy are going to be at Big Day Out next year… my life is complete. 🙂

[sub]as long as I don’t have to listen to Androgyny… Shirley, what were you thinking? :sigh:[/sub]

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**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/50 "2001-10-18T06:08:33Z")

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Tool. Can’t believe it’s been a decade since I first heard them.

Now I just need to see them live someday. (And no, I don’t want to hear about the time you went to that concert and they ROCKED because then I would be incredibly jealous and harbor severe negative feelings towards you. I’d give up my sight (after the fact) for a couple Tool concert tickets. Damn it all anyway.)

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**Author:** ![Diesel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Diesel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diesel)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/51 "2001-10-18T06:22:35Z")

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All-time favorite- definately the Smashing Pumpkins.

Runners up would have to be TooL, Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, Incubus (who I’m seeing tomorrow, oh yeah!), and The Offspring.

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**Author:** ![DarkJudicator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@DarkJudicator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkJudicator)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/52 "2001-10-18T06:31:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Silver Fire \*  
> \*\*Tool. Can’t believe it’s been a decade since I first heard them.
> 
> Now I just need to see them live someday. (And no, I don’t want to hear about the time you went to that concert and they ROCKED because then I would be incredibly jealous and harbor severe negative feelings towards you. I’d give up my sight (after the fact) for a couple Tool concert tickets. Damn it all anyway.) \*\*

**silvy** , the tickets for their concerts here in Sydney sold out in like, 20 minutes. I didn’t even get close to getting a ticket and I’d been looking forward to it for months. I nearly cried.

If they ever come back here, I’m staking out Ticketek a month in advance… maybe I could apply for aid drops from the US government - hey, it’s a good cause!

OW! Why are all the Americans throwing things at me?

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**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/53 "2001-10-18T09:46:06Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diesel \*  
> \*\*All-time favorite- definately the Smashing Pumpkins.  
> \*\*

Now there’s a _real_ band for ya. They released the best album of the 90s (Mellon Collie) and held the world in their hands, then self-destructed in a haze of drugs and death. Sigh ☹

I’d have to say **Shonen Knife**. Once you discover Japanese girl bands, you never go back. 😃

Oh, and **Frank Black**. Saw him with his band The Catholics in August and he still rocks, post- **Pixies**.

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**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/54 "2001-10-18T14:28:56Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mahaloth \*
> 
> Hey, you got to love a band who flat out says, “we are the best”.

“We are not NAZI, or Neo NAZI or any kind of NAZI. We are, however, the greatest rock band in the world.”

- Till Lindemann, Rammstein  
😛

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**Author:** ![botheredballs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@botheredballs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botheredballs)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/55 "2001-10-18T14:53:47Z")

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My favorite band has got to be either Pearl Jam or U2, but I like all kinds of music. Moby, Jane’s Addiction, Paul Oakenfold…I just like music.

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**Author:** ![ozonebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ozonebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozonebaby)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/56 "2001-10-18T15:36:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Amptech \*  
> \*\*Favorite band? That’s tough.
> 
> I’d have to say that it’s a tie between Everclear and the Pixies. Pretty far cry from each other, but I guess I have broad tastes.
> 
> Oh how I wish I were old enough to have seen the Pixies in concert. \*\*

Finally I meet someone else who likes Everclear! This is starting to get a little weird though because my sister also likes the Pixies. Wow she has a wide range of tastes doesn’t she but she hates Everclear. Ok that’s about enough about my sister. I’m getting sick of that topic.

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**Author:** ![Ich\_Bin\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ich\_Bin\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ich_Bin_s)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/57 "2001-10-18T16:22:38Z")

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For the musician that applies to the most settings, the most moods, for the last fifteen years, I don’t think I have any choice but to vote **Tom Waits**. But really, single, favorite? Impossible.

**Amon Tobin** and **LTJ Bukem** for late night introspection. **Ornette Coleman** or **Naked City era John Zorn** for inspiration. Anything with Doug Scharin, like **June of 44, HiM, Out in Worship**. **Jesus Lizard, Brainiac, Refused, Einsturzende Neubauten** for mind-blowing. **Tribe Called Quest** and **Public Enemy** for commentary. **Radiohead** because they’re brilliant. **Miles Davis** and **Squarepusher** for making me go “what the h\*ll?”. **Built to Spill, Rufus Wainwright, David Bowie** for pop mastery. **Elvis Costello, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Bob Dylan** for lyrical power.

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**Author:** ![ozonebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ozonebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozonebaby)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/58 "2001-10-18T17:18:18Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by da’ cook \*  
> \*\*I’ll tell you when you pry the words form my cold dead lips. \*\*

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! TYPO, TYPO, TYPO!!! IT SHOULD BE FROM NOT FORM!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! :eek:

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**Author:** ![Diesel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Diesel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diesel)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/59 "2001-10-18T18:25:55Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jinty \*  
> \*\*
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Diesel \*  
> > \*\*All-time favorite- definately the Smashing Pumpkins.  
> > \*\*
> 
> Now there’s a _real_ band for ya. They released the best album of the 90s (Mellon Collie) and held the world in their hands, then self-destructed in a haze of drugs and death. Sigh :(\*\*. \*\*

I wouldn’t exactly say that drugs and death were their downfall. I mean, sure they lost a touring keyboard player and they temporarily fired Jimmy Chamberlain for his drug problem (HUGE mistake). But in the end I think what got them was the fact that times changed and everyone just sort of lost interest in them (which is a real shame, 'cause MACHINA was right up there with their mid-nineties stuff).

Good to find someone who loves the Pumpkins as much as me though 🙂

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**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-band/88014/60 "2001-10-18T18:31:24Z")

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\<drumroll\>  
The envelope please…

And the winner is:

**Rush!**  
Runner-up:

**The Who**  
Honorable Mention:

Tool, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, The Beatles, Graham Parker, Led Zeppelin, The Stones, ELP, Montrose, AC/DC

-Rav

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