I also agree that ThisYear’sGirl has excellent taste!
I might leave out Jonathan Richman, Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith (Only because I’m not familiar). And I raise you - The Beatles, Richard Thompson, Bob Marley, Graham Parker, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, REM, The Stones, and how could you leave out the origin of your name… Elvis Costello! 
Kyomara: GREAT PICKS! Just thought I would mention.
My picks; Band and specific musicians.
Dean Wareham (Luna)
Blake Swarzenbach(sp) (Jets to Brazil)************
Frank Black (Pixies)
Steven Malmkus (Pavement)
Rivers Cuomo (Weezer)
[side note]
I GET TO SEE WEEZER TONIGHT!!! I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF!
[/side note]
Lou Reed (Velvet Underground)
David Byrne (Talking Heads)
J Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines)
Off the top of my head, these are my favorites.
Hey Zenster: I really like Junior Brown, too. I have an amusing anecdote about him that I’ll post in MPSIMS someday…
JCT, judging by the rest of your list, I think you’d really enjoy Elliott Smith. He’s a great Alterna-Pop singer/songwriter with mature, fascinating lyrics. Check out his cds Either/Or, or my favourite, Figure 8.
Cheers,
Hodge
Frank Zappa
Yes
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Robert Fripp
Gentle Giant
Mahavishnu Orchestra (Birds of Fire era)
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Dream Theater
Nirvana
U2
REM
Beastie Boys
Tupac
Hole-yes I admit Courtney can’t sing
Beatles
The Who
Jeff Buckley
Nick Drake
Peter Gabriel
The Police…and Sting’s solo sruff
Miles Davis
Leadbelly
And my friends all say my cd collection looks like a schizophrenic bought it…
Wow…I totally forgot Weezer. They are supposed to be coming here to Tokyo next month, but I know tickets are gonna cost a million bucks and they’re ragingly popular here, so I’ll never get in…
And I’ve been wanting to pick up a pavement CD for ages now. Do you have any recommendations?
I’m going to have to put you in hard check, though, on Blake Schwarzenbach. I have heard one Jawbreaker song, which I really liked (don’t know the name, but: “Everybody tells me they’re crazy. Crazy people aren’t so fucking boring. Wake me when you’re through being cool, 'cause I’m snoring…” YES.) so I can’t talk about that era, but I have heard enough Jets to Brazil to know that the guy is kind of a turd. Sorry…I’m not very good at expressing my opinions politely.
I also left off the Police. Stewart Copeland is a rock god.
1.Pink Floyd
-even now, still way underrated
2.The Doors
3.Led Zeppelin
4.Metallica
5.ABBA
6.Cheb Khaled
7.Cheb Mami
8.Nirvana
9.Southern Culture On The Skids
10.Sublime
The Beatles
They Might Be Giants
Yes
Kansas
Stewart Copeland! Agreed. I am a drummer so I could hardly argue that.
Pavement = slanted and enchanted or if you want something more mainstream then crooked rain. I can’t believe you don’t like Jets. Lyrically I think they are the best band out there!
Weezer was incredible!! I will be posting a seperate thread about that in a few.
Wow, Rush isn’t getting any love 'round here. What a shame. Guess I’ll have to send it out.
Rush!!!
I also like The Reverend Horton Heat and Lagwagon, and of course The Dickies.
i’ll go with Led Zeppelin, Rush (of course, hence my name), and Metallica (the old stuff truly rocks)
top three are Led Zeppelin, Rush, (of course, hence my name), and Metallica, (the old stuff truly rocks)
then there’s
alice in chains
tool
sublime
toadies
counting crows
pearl jam
i could go on and on…support live music!! :cool
Well…
*The Beatles
*Eric Clapton
*Paul Simon
*Bruce Springsteen
*Sting
*Mark Knopfler
*Billy Joel
*Suzanne Vega
*The Travelling Wilburys
*Aretha Franklin
*Sam & Dave
*Wilson Pickett
*Red Hot Chili Peppers
*Smashing Pumpkins
And thank you, Jomo Mojo, for mentioning Ofra Haza. It’s good to know that people remember her outside her homeland.
Ahem, occupying my number one spot… Rush (duh?)
And in no particular order:
The Beatles
Genesis
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
Styx
Sting\The Police
and did I mention? … RUSH???
Some greats that, in my book, you don’t hear enough about today…
John Coltrane
Black Flag
Miles Davis
King Crimson
Lightning Hopkins
The Minutemen
Zappa
Gang of Four
Procul Harum
Robert Johnson
The Stooges
The Pixies
KRS-1
and of course, Floyd, Zeppelin, and pre-late-nineties Metallica. Ride the Lightning is especially kickass.
Sorry to post twice but I forgot to mention The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. If you’ve seen the movie you know how much the score adds to the film. Great stuff, and now I don’t have to watch a 10 minute staring-contest/shootout to hear it! (Though it is an awesome movie.)
oo! oo! oo! I forgot PJ Harvey and Shellac!
[ul]
[li]Johnny Cash[/li][li]The Beatles[/li][li]Collin Raye[/li][li]Eric Heatherlee[/li][li]George Strait[/li][li]Merle Haggard[/li][li]Mindy McCready[/li][li]Martina McBride[/li][/ul]
I’ll opt for individual musicians here, irrespective of what they played or who they played with:
Jaco Pastorius
Robert Fripp
Adrian Belew
Tony Levin
Frank Zappa
Keith Emerson
Jimi Hendrix
Dave Brubeck
Jean-Luc Ponty
Bill Bruford
Mike Oldield
Pierre Moerlen
Allen Holdsworth
Bela Fleck