Currently at the top of my personal hit parade are:
Vas (Azam Ali & Greg Ellis)
Sheila Chandra
Loreena McKennitt
Sally Oldfield
Shahram Nazeri
Sima Bina
Nithyasree Mahadevan
Axiom of Choice
Enya
and after all these years I still love Yes.
Morphine
Skid Row
GnR
Jimi!!!
Among others, of course. Hell…here’s my cd list:
http://www.rpi.edu/~vannem/cds.txt
In no particular order:
The Beatles
The Stones
Jefferson Airplane (not Starship)
The Who
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (especially Neil Young)
Johnny Cash
Frank Zappa
David Bowie
Sparks
Blue Oyster Cult
Dead Kennedys
Mary Chapin Carpenter
David Bowie
Van Morrison
Jonathan Richman (and the Modern Lovers)
Zeppelin Rules!!! (Sorry, I don’t think it’s possible to casually mention Zeppelin if you really like them–you have to go all out)
Jeff Buckley
Elliott Smith
Iggy Pop
George Gershwin
The Clash
Patti Smith
PiL
Joan Baez
Bob Dylan
The Doors (but not Jim Morrison)
Leonard Cohen
Talking Heads
John Lennon
I’m afraid I will need to kill you Thisyearsgirl 
My favorites include a man named Jim… no really… guess his last name? 
— G. Raven
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and most of the reggae greats rule too, and Dylan is god
Beck is numero uno (thus my screen name)
Magnetic Fields
(can’t remember the guy’s name, he does most of it himself)
Bob Marley (anything)
Nick Drake
(when I just want to keep on feeling melancholic)
Moby
(I know, he is so “everywhere” but I still like him)
Green Day (just the crunchy stuff)
They Might Be Giants
(not the new stuff, but “Istanbul” and “Birdhouse” era)
Morissey
(who doesn’t love “Girlfriend In A Coma”?)
Soundtrack for “Requiem For A Dream”
Ralph Vaughn Williams (classical, anything of his)
[li]Johann Sebastian Bach[/li][sup]THE KING OF CLASSICAL MUSIC[/sup]
[li]John Renbourn[/li][sup]A FINGER PICKING MASTER[/sup]
[li]Davy Graham[/li][sup]ONE OF THE UNKNOWN GUITAR GREATS[/sup]
[li]Andres Segovia[/li][sup]A GUITAR GOD[/sup]
[li]Jeff Beck[/li][sup]STILL BLOWS THE DOORS OFF OF OTHER MUSICIANS[/sup]
[li]Bert Jansch[/li][sup]A FOLK FOUNTAINHEAD[/sup]
[li]Jean Pierre Rampal[/li][sup]A FLAUTIST EXTRORDINAIRE[/sup]
[li]Eric Johnson[/li][sup]A SUPERB COMPOSER AND PERFORMER[/sup]
[li]Junior Brown[/li][sup]JUST BECAUSE HE’S SO WEIRD[/sup]
[li]Jimi Hendrix[/li][sup]MASTER OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR[/sup]
[li]Robert Fripp[/li][sup]UNRECOGNIZED INNOVATOR OF ADVANCED ROCK[/sup]
[li]Pentangle[/li][sup]ONE OF THE MOST VERSATILE GROUPS IN HISTORY[/sup]
[li]Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band[/li][sup]POSSIBLY THE GREATEST UNKNOWN BAND[/sup]
[li]Paul Desmond[/li][sup]A MASTER OF THE SAXOPHONE[/sup]
[li]Cream[/li][sup]ONE OF THE ALL TIME CLASSIC ROCK BANDS[/sup]
[li]Tony McAlpine[/li][sup]A TALENT TO RECKONED WITH[/sup]
hey , i think you will like my site, check it out!
our tastes are pretty similar i would say…
Am I the only one who thinks of instrumentalists when they hear “musician”? Instead of bands, I’ll actually post a few musicians:
Alfred Brendel (pianist)
Chris Cheney (guitarist from the Living End - one of the best in music today, IMO)
Mark Knopfler (another good guitarist, formerly of Dire Straits)
Method Man (rapper with a cool voice)
Christine Anu (another good voice)
Yehudi Menuhin (the late, great violinist)
Hmm…the other ones I can think of are more “artists” than “musicians” (ie, techno guys) or make pleasant music but aren’t skilled musicians.
Bob James
Chet Atkins
Suzy Boggus
Eroica Trio
David Sandborn
Chip Davis (a.k.a Mannheim Steamroller)
Gilmore from Floyd
Victor Borge
Weird AL
Miles Davis
Maynard Ferguson
OK…John Tesh
Isao Tomita
and on…and on…
My top 5:
- Herb Alpert, with or without the Tijuana Brass
- B.B. King
- AC/DC
- Blue Man Group
- Meco (of Star Wars fame)
The Beatles
The Doors
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Journey, and by proxy Santana, which begat Journey.
Excellent taste 'Girl, I think I’m in love! The only changes I’d make would be to replace Joan Baez with Aimee Mann, and add Radiohead.
Cheers,
Hodge
How could I have forgotten the best composer of the 20th century?!
Duke Ellington
Cheers,
Hodge
Mind if I add a few more?
Shakti with John McLaughlin
L. Shankar formerly of Shakti
L. Subramaniam
Ofra Haza (R.I.P., she is now singing divine hymns in Heaven and her voice is putting to shame the angelic choir)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (ditto)
Anoushka Shankar and her dad Ravi
Peter Gabriel (and Genesis when he was with them)
Kate Bush
Kitaro
With my liking for Vas and other World Music, amazon.com suggested I would like Dead Can Dance, but I have not heard them. Anybody think DCD is any good?
Pixies
Talking Heads
Built to Spill
Lyle Lovett
Sugarcubes
Jon Spencer Blues Xplosion
UNREST. Wow…they were really swell.
Old R.E.M.
Cardigans (first album)
Tortoise
The Long Hind Legs (I’ve only heard one song, but it was plenty good enough to get them on the list)
…there are more, but I can’t think of them all at the moment.
In no particular order they are
Green Day
A Perfect Circle
Radiohead
Staind
Everclear
Godsmack
Korn
Wheatus
Live
Bloodhound Gang
Fuel
Filter
Aerosmith
Nine Inch Nails
Prodigy
Moby
They’re amazing. You’ve probably heard Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance if you’ve seen Heat, The Insider, Gladiator, or the 13th Warrior. She has a very distinctive vocal style.
Based on what you listed as your favorites, I’d start with the live album “Toward the Within” or “Into the Labyrinth.” Get on Napster and search for “Rakim” or “Sanvean.”
Before they broke up, their Eastern and African influences came to the fore. “A Passage In Time,” is a greatest hits compilation of their earlier stuff, but it favors one album (The Serpent’s Egg) too much.
And for topical purposes, a list of my favorite guitarists:
Maurice Deebank of Felt
Roy Montgomery
Vini Reilly of Durutti Column
Michael Brook and The Edge
-fh