hmmz. after a hard time thinking about this. I would gues Metallica and KoRn.

and about Metallica. ain't today the day that Cliff died 20 years ago?(quicly looked it up and yes. that's today.)

Cliff rest in piece. still thinking about you man.

Oh, heaven help me...

Huey Lewis & The News, then Motley Crue.

Golly I'm old....

The Divine Comedy. I fell in love with Neil after hearing 'Frog Princess' when I was six. I suppose I liked music like Venga Boys and S Club 7 before that, but I distinctly recall buying my first ever album on CD. I'm positive it was "Fanfare For The Comic Muse". My first casette was admittedly a Spice Girls one but I can't remember what..

Early bands included.. Helloween, Jan Hammer, Jean Michelle Jarre, Dire Straights, Bon Jovi *cringes* and George Harrison (I still think that Cloud 9 is an ace album).

it might have been something in the way of 2 unlimited

One of Mickey Hart's tribal solo albums, my friend and I used to put that on and have pillow fights when we were like 6

Crash Test Dummies - God shuffled his feet

mmm mmm mmm mmm!

I believe it was sometime in 1985 when my parents bought me my first tape: Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms. I listened to Walk Of Life almost every day. Something about that song to my five-year-old brain just clicked instantly. A couple of months later I started listening to the rest of the tape and I laid my ears upon one of the greatest rock riffs of all time: The intro riff to Money For Nothing. The rest of the tape pretty much bored me, but those two songs I listened to constantly for the better part of a year. Just thinking back to those days, a five-year-old boy rocking out to Dire Straits, anxiously awaiting the next time I'd get to go see The Goonies... it's hard not to smile.

The first three bands I can ever remember liking were 2 Unlimited, C&C Music Factory, and Papa Roach.
LAUGH AWAY PEOPLE.

'Course, it was all over when my brother played me an mp3 he found of Ministry's TVII... CONNECT THE GODDAMN DOTS! That and Burning Inside were the first songs of their kind I remember hearing, though I find it extremely difficult to remember the order of events in my life (stuck a key in an outlet when I was really young and survived... maybe that has something to do with it ), so there may have been something before that. I do remember one song that I really liked, though-- I'm not sure what it was called, I think maybe Space Man... I vaguely remember the lyrics going something like "There's a fire between us, so where is your god, there's a fire between us (I can't get off the carousel I can't get off this world)" and then the chorus was this weird sped-up filtered voice going "Spaaaaace maaaaan" ...But I have no idea who it was by. Found it on an old mix tape my then-stepdad had in a box.

EDIT: Space Man by Babylon Zoo. That's it.

DUDE, The Kovenant does a badass cover of that song on their Animatronic album. Hmm, I think I'll go listen to that now.

[djskrimp]

Parent's influence, (as in, I was too young to pick for myself, and so listened to what they listened to by default): Simon and Garfunkle/James Taylor

Earliest "favorite band" was Pink Floyd. Without a doubt still a huge influence on what I listen to even now.

Early teens: Favorite band: Dokken. (Yes, I was rockin' with Dokken. I was in Germany, a skinny kid with a jean jacket with Dokken and AC/DC and Iron Maiden patches all over it)

Lte teens to early twenties: King's X

Mid twenties to now: all Dev-related material.

DUDE, The Kovenant does a badass cover of that song on their Animatronic album. Hmm, I think I'll go listen to that now.

Haha, awesome... I wouldn't mind hearing that. I love the chorus melody on that song, cheesy as it is. Nostalgia is strange.

ABBA for me. I was born in '72 and ABBA released hit after hit after hit after hit during my early childhood. Listening to them nowadays always brings back a string of memories of a time when life was totally untroubled and innocent.

Say what you want, but within the pop-format, ABBA were most likely the best artists ever. Great songwriting, (multi-) instrumentation and arragements by Benny and Björn and the wonderful vocals of Agneta and Frida. "The Winner Takes It All", probably the best pop song ever. What a beautifully sad song, inspired by their own divorces.



A bit later came the Beatles, which my older sister played the f... out of and Simon & Garfunkel. Good times.

Much later I discovered Gary Moore's "Out In The Fields" on a Best Of '85 (pop) sampler and from then on it was all about the heavy shredding!

Gary Moore, still one of the best rock/metal guitarists IMO.

And then I discovered Iron Maiden...

System of a Down :D

The Beatles. It all began with A Hard Day's Night and Revolver, year six.

The Smashing Pumpkins

I even like Adore.