5 Artists that are you

WatersDeep

WatersDeep

Inspired
Generally I believe that around 5 music artists contribute to the shape of the mind, heart and soul of a music hearted person. 5 have very much changed my life, evoked emotion and influence to my life and music creations like no others and will inspire me in many ways for the rest of my days.

You may have 10,20,30 artists that you love and are great but not all of them define you or stimulate your mind and heart in the same way. It's narrowing that down to only 5 which may tell what kind of person someone is. These may or may not influence the music one writes but certainly makes one feel whole or like its a story or feeling that mirrors themselves. Just as the term comfort food, its comfort music that reflects some of what we are inside. It tells a story in itself.

These are my 5 in no particular order all equally the same which have imprinted on my soul permanently.

  • Alice in Chains
  • Tool
  • Mazzy Star
  • Drain S.T.H.
  • The Doors


I would love to hear from others what their 5 artists are. Be honest and be real.
 
5 is far too few; there Re mNy artists that have left their fingerprints on my sound, but I'll try to hit some big ones.

Metallica. I learned to play guitar from my AJFA and MOP tab books.
Pink Floyd. 'Nuff said.
Yes. particularly Relayer.
Yngwie Malmsteen. I don't think I sound much like him, but there is some of his genetic material in my musical soup. Eww.
Iron Maiden. In particular Somewhere in time and Seventh Son.

So as a fledgling guitarist I wanted to put these things together in some way. Then all of a sudden I hear Queensrÿche's Empire and Dream Theater's IAW and... That's it! That's the music I want to be making.

But really there are so many other artists that have influenced me, from Prokofiev to Bob Marley to Duran Duran to Black Sabbath to Sade to John Maglaughlin to... Well, you get the idea.
 
I'd say that these 5 are the ones that really influenced me the most.

Van Halen
AC DC
The Beatles
Aerosmith
Metallica
 
Queen.
Peter Gabriel.
Beethoven.
Metallica.
Frontline Assembly.

Deftones, Muse, APC, Slayer, Pantera, Machine Head, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Tori Amos, Bear McCreary, Danny Elfman, John Williams, Florence & the Machine, Anthrax, Kate Bush, Hans Zimmer, Dream Theater, Queensryche, Dead can Dance, Fear Factory, Gary Numan, NIN, Korn, ......too many worth to be mentioned......

But Queen was my First Love....and it will be my Last.
 
My earliest musical influences (probably the wrong word since no matter what I play I sound like me and can't play like any of them) would be...

AC/DC up to and including Back in Black
Black Sabbath and Ozzy solo with Randy
Judas Priest up to about Painkiller
Iron Maiden up to Piece of Mind, particularly the first two albums with Paul D on vocals
Queensryche up to Operation Mindcrime

Earlier musical inspiration would also include records I 'borrowed' from my older brother and ones I bought before I decided I wanted to try to play guitar. That would be artists like Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Queen, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention. My dad liked and listened to a lot of Johnny Cash. My mom loved easy listening so a lot of The Carpenters, Nana Mouskouri, Zamfir, Roger Whittaker.

My older brother played bass, so when he was babysitting while the parents were out of town I'd usually be crashing at a biker party at a farmhouse with live bands playing.
 
Rock:
Beatles
Nirvana
Metallica
Queen
Green Day

Guitar:
Steve Vai
Prince
Satriani

Pop:
MJ
Mariah
Notorious BIG
Boyz II Men

Modern Music:
My Chemical Romance
 
FIVE!!??

OK ....I'll play.

Jimi Hendrix
Eric Clapton
Jeff Beck
Larry Carlton
SRV/Eric Johnson......(is that cheating?)

Five ain't nowhere near enough.
 
Ok, here's my take:

KISS - the first albums I ever bought. I wanted to be Gene $immons very much. Love the early material.

Van Halen (DLR-era) - probably some of my favorite music, period.

Black Sabbath (which sort of includes Ozzy and Dio solo stuff, too) - Tony Iommi was the first guitar play I could actually emulate. Master of the riff, heavy and dynamic. Plus, Geezer is one of the alltime best rock bassists.

Joe Satriani - this guy really did it for me, and still does. My guitar teacher (a long-time student of Joe's) was actually the guy who took over teaching duties at. Second Hand Guitars when Satch became too busy to teach, and taught Joe's method.

Eric Johnson - master of tone, monster technique - inspired me to explore lots of differnt ways to voice chords. Ultimately he was the gateway for me moving away from heavy rock/metal to the music I make today.

Honorable mention: Steely Dan - it wasn't until many years later that I realized how much my young brain had absorbed via my parents AM radio in our car while not really listening. So many of their tunes are really in my blood.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I don't get Bonamassa

I do respect him for his business savvy-ness and is probably the only one in music making money today...

but it's all the same stuff i've heard 100 guys do before- and I like hit songs. I don't want to hear Clapton playing tribute on acoustic to some dude who died before I was born I've never heard of- I want Layla...

Yoko even has more hits (please shoot me for saying that)
[and now i shall be excommunicated and muted from speaking ever again on the forum]
 
In alphabetic order:

Adrian Belew
Davey Johnstone
Mick Karn
Tony Levin
Alex Lifeson

A bit of explanation: I am a musical omnivore, and play guitar, bass, Warr guitar (similar to Chapman Stick), and banjo. So, there are a couple of bass players on my list, along with some guitarists. However, those musicians influence my playing on all my instruments; i.e., Tony Levin influences my guitar playing as much as my bass playing... the man is a wizard of the groove.

Five honorable mentions, who also flavor my musical goulash:
Buckethead
Bill Frisell
Bill Laswell
Don Rich
David Torn
 
This is quite a list of artists. I see many repeating with many and even some I've not heard of which is cool cause i will be looking them up. I know its hard to narrow to 5. I have dozens that have influenced me but it always roots back to the 5. Keep em coming.
 
I just made an account because this place seems cool.

1)The Beatles - wouldn't know what good music was without them. They introduced me to the world of 'meaning' behind music, somehow. And I found them first.

2)Jimi Hendrix - just a fascinating and beautiful spirit. I don't care how technical or whatever he is, he's the best damn guitar player ever, and I doubt that will ever change.

3)Nirvana - I was born near Seattle and grew up on these guys. I learned a lot about what 'not' to do in life by following the 'legacy' of Kurt Cobain. I'm a total grunge kid.

4)Pink Floyd - The best space/acid rock ever made. Nobody even comes close to these guys. They are the 'standard' in psychedelic music by which all others should be judged, in my opinion of course :)

5)Grateful Dead - and last, my favorite band of all time. These guys did everything, and were around forever. Nobody comes close. Jerry Garcia is very close to Jimi Hendrix in my opinion.

If one of these bands formed a church, I would want it to be Jimi's Electric Church. The guy was an alien, as Bill Hicks would say.
 
Rock:
Rush
Led Zeppelin
Van Halen
Ratt
Dokken

Pop:
Elton
Queen
Boz Scaggs
Michael W. Smith
David Pack/Ambrosia

Pop/Jazz:
Gino Vannelli
Steely Dan
Little River Band

There is just so much music that influences our lives, to name a few usually does the rest a disservice :p
 
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