Faves

The question of my favorite bands came up recently.  Herewith a core dump. Lots more but these are the ones that came top of mind. After the jump, of course ...

Old School Rock:

Hendrix
Cream
Zep
Allman Bros. (originals only...)
Jeff Beck
Bowie
Sabbath
Humble Pie
Steely Dan

Soul/ R&B:

James Brown
Sly
Chaka Kahn
Otis Redding
Sam and Dave
Wilson Pickett
Marvin Gaye
Supremes
Four Tops
Temptations
Aretha
Michael Jackson
Dionne Warwick

Singer/ Songwriters:
Joni Mitchell
Van Morrison
Neil Young
Warren Zevon
Bruce Springsteen (first 2 albums)
Tom Waits
Dylan

Blues:
Muddy Waters
BB King
Albert King
Buddy Guy
Howlin' Wolf

Singers:
Sinatra
Billy Holiday

Jazz:
Coltrane
Monk
Dizzy
Coleman Hawkins
Dexter Gordon
Miles
Herbie Hancock
Sonny Rollins
Art Blakey
Pat Metheny (Trio only, esp Bright Size Life)

Arranger:
Nelson Riddle

Songwriter:
Burt Bacharach

Punk/ New Wave:
Gang of Four
Talking Heads
Pistols
Pixies
Pretenders
Police (I know ...)

World:
Susana Baca
Youssou N' Dour
Alejandro Fernandez
Les Nubians
Bob Marley
Gilberto Gil
Angelique Kidjo

Post-Punk:

Nirvana
White Stripes
Radiohead
Chilis

Rap/ Hip-Hop
Grandmaster Flash
Run DMC
Biggie

Newer Singer Songwriters:
Jesse Harris
Sarah Harmer
Ron Sexsmith

Electronic:

Beck

Moby

Air

Zero 7
Thievery Corp.

Now:
TV on the Radio
Raconteurs

LCD Soundsystem
Spoon

The National

Belle and Sebastian

Postal Service

Death Cab for Cutie

Shins

Arcade Fire

Hold Steady

New Pornographers

Feist/ Broken Social Scene

Rilo Kiley

Sondre Lerche

Comments

[Tim McNulty]

No CCR??

[RF]

Tim - Good one. I agonized over that one - agonized. Especially since I learned to play guitar on their songs. But in the end I tried to limit as best I could to the ones I really, really love the most.

[bri]

No Muse? Mandalay?

[Aleem K.]

Biggie is the greatest rapper of all time, along with Jay-Z of course!

Jersey's finest are missing from this list - The Fugees ! What did you think of the Live in Stolkholm CD ?

[Steve]

That's a pretty eclectic and interesting list. It intersects with my own in many places. The most glaring omission, however, is the Clash. I'd also throw in John Hiatt, XTC and Against Me!

[RF]

I agonized over The Clash as well, big time.

[RF]

Aleem - Jersey. Home to so may of the true greats! Fugees, Springsteen, Sinatra, the Four Seasons, Yo Lo Tengo, and of course South Side Johnny and Bon Jovi. I think that both Springsteen and Bon Jovi played for a time, or that members of their bands did, in a formative NJ shore band - Steel Mill (that band name says a lot). Heck, both Sinatra and the Four Seasons got their starts at the "shawww" too. But then Lauryn Hill and Wycleaf got all up in each others' face ... and the rest is history. And Rutgers kids too ... you'd think they'd know better ...

[Robert]

Pretty fly (for an old guy) ;)

[Robert]

...though everything you have under punk is really post-punk, and everything you have under post-punk would probably fall under 'alternative'. And the acts you have under electronic barely have a toe in electronic music. But who cares about genres, right?

[Jim Russell]

With all this Jersey talk, you'd think someone would have mentioned the two best rock bands to come out of here -- the Bongos, and the Smithereens.

No surprise that many of RF's choices could easily have been listed under more than one of the categories (Steely Dan, Sly Stone, Herbie Hancock). The one that I'm surprised is missing is Santana.

One singer/songwriter that's at the top of my list is Harry Nilsson. Getting past his few overly familiar hits and diving deep into his work reaps many pleasures. Ron Sexsmith considers Nilsson one of his big influences (and he does a dynamite cover version of Harry's "Good Old Desk").

[Michael Wells]

My biggest expansion would be singers - Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf. And to turn everyone against me, Barbra Striesand.

[radio fan]

Great list for now....you'd like WTMD wtmd.org