Your Top 10 Artists (other than the Eagles)

[Jonny Come Lately]

One thing I’ve noticed recently is the wide range of musical tastes that Borderers have. For example, I know that there are quite a lot of fans of Keith Urban here, yet we also have quite a few fans of old school rock and roll bands like Guns N Roses. On a personal level, I’m not the only big fan of Pink Floyd here, and I’m not the only person who tends to prefer the ‘classic’ bands, but there’s also plenty of people who listen to a lot of contemporary music. I think it’s pretty great how the Eagles and their music can bring together people with such different tastes!

What I’d really love to know is which other artists are most popular on The Border and I’ve been wondering about how best to measure this for a while. So my idea is to ask people for their top 10 (non-Eagles) artists. This can include bands and solo artists.

I really want this to be inclusive as possible, so you can list your favourites in order of preference, but you don’t have to put them in any order at all. The scoring system is very simple and will hopefully be fair – each mention of an artist is worth one point, and I’ll keep a record and tally up the number of mentions to create a list of the most popular artists. If enough people post I’d be happy to put this list up. If you feel ten is too many, you don’t have to name ten, although I think any list should have at least 5-6 artists at the very least. If you find it difficult to decide you can give honourable mentions if you wish, although only the top ten will be counted as I think this is fairer.

This list is open to all artists except for the Eagles and their solo works. This is partly because I think the results might be a bit predictable! More importantly though, it wouldn’t really answer my question. Having said this, it’s absolutely fine to include bands that Eagles members played in like Poco or The Flying Burrito Brothers. I’d love to hear from as many people as possible, as this will provide a better and more complete picture of our collective tastes. Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I will post my own list later!

Thanks
Jonny

[Scarlet Sun]

The Association
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
Bread
The Byrds (Clarence White era)
The Doors
Joni Mitchell
The Monkees
Simon and Garfunkel
Spanky and Our Gang

[scottside]

Jackson Browne
Joni Mitchell
CSNY-including them as solo artists
Traffic/Steve Winwood
The Strawbs
JD Souther
Linda Ronstadt
Judy Collins
Emmylou Harris
Dan Fogelberg

in no particular order

[Freypower]

Beatles
Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin
Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler
Genesis
Peter Gabriel
Bob Dylan
Elton John
Van Morrison

Apologies to Phil Collins who just missed the cut. Note: mine are all British. It didn't seem right to just say Knopfler/Gabriel/Collins were band members. Their work, especially Knopfler's, is too important to me to do that.

My other honourable mentions are Pink Floyd, the Bee Gees & Queen.

[travlnman2]

1. Guns N Roses
(Including Chinese Democracy which with Slash and Duff playing it makes it even better for me as it is my favorite album of all time. Some great songs on there. My Favorite is Madagascar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3wZFYfqMAE)

2. The Beatles

3. Lynyrd Skynyrd

4. Eric Clapton

5. Gary Clark Jr

6. George Harrison Solo

7. AC/DC(Axl introduced me to the band and let me tell you he sounds so much like Bon Scott).

8. Foo Fighters

9. ZZ Top

10. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.

[Delilah]

George Strait x 10

Woo hoo, he's in the lead!

JK, I'll have to really think about this. I enjoy music from different genres and what I favor depends on my mood.

[Witchy Woman]

Metallica
Slayer
Motley Crue
Alice In Chains
Bon Jovi
Rascal Flatts
Journey (with Steve Perry)
Ghost
Billy Joel
James Taylor

[Annoying Twit]

The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Frank Zappa
Yukihiro Takahashi/YMO
Deep Purple
Depeche Mode
Akiko Yano
Don McGlashan/The Muttonbirds
Neil Finn/Crowded House/Split Enz
De La Soul

Loads more. These are just ten off the top of my head. If you ask me tomorrow, I might have a different list.

[travlnman2]

AT you like a lot of Jappense artists. What do you like about them?

[Annoying Twit]

AT you like a lot of Jappense artists. What do you like about them?

I lived in Japan for four years, and deliberately searched out Japanese artists. I hardly went to any Western concernts the entire time I was there. I like Japanese artists, but they tend to be those active in the late 80s and early 90s for that reaason.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Okay, here's my list, in approximate order:

Pink Floyd
Neil Young
Led Zeppelin
Dire Straits
Bob Dylan
Fleetwood Mac
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Deep Purple
Mark Knopfler
Wishbone Ash

Where I have a strong preference for era:

Fleetwood Mac - The 1970s albums with Lindsey and Stevie
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Ronnie era (up to 1977)
Deep Purple - Mk2 line up with Ian Gillan, although I like Mk3 as well
Wishbone Ash - The 'Argus' line up (1970-73)

I'm sure you're all deeply shocked at my #1 choice. Not. :laugh: I found it relatively easy for numbers 1-8 on my list. It's difficult to explain, it just seems right to me. The trickiest choice for me was who to put fifth. My head said Bob (as I love more of his music), my heart said Fleetwood Mac (Rumours was my first musical love)! I considered putting Knopfler's solo works in with Dire Straits as I feel they are the same musical journey, but I think there's enough I love from his solo albums to get him in the top ten as a solo artist, for now at least.

Tenth place was the hardest one to decide - I ultimately went for Wishbone Ash, but I also considered Rush and Genesis.. These are my honourable mentions, if you like. Both Wishbone Ash and Genesis have one album I really love (Argus and Selling England By The Pound), but I have to be in the right mood to really enjoy most of the other Genesis albums, even from my preferred era (up to Steve Hackett's departure), whereas I can enjoy Wishbone Ash most of the time. Rush have two albums I really like, but I haven't listened to anything else by them, whereas with Wishbone Ash I know their early era well. It's weird because there are other artists whose catalogues I know better than some of these, but I don't like them enough to put them in my top ten.

[L101]

These are some of the groups and singers that I listen to a fair bit, but I have left out a good few others as they are not as widely known.

Snow Patrol
Coldplay
Fleetwood Mac
Billy Joel
Bruce Springsteen
The Killers
Tom Petty and the heartbreakers
Queen
U2
CCR

ETA: Forgot to add the honourable mentions to Jackson Browne and John Mellancamp

[TW]

The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
Rush
Pierce the Veil
ACDC
Wings
Black Sabbath
Aerosmith
Foo Fighters

[RudieCantFail]

In no particular order of preference:

1. The Clash
2. Matchbox Twenty
3. Beastie Boys
4. Buddy Holly
5. John Williams
6. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
7. Eric Clapton
8. Fleetwood Mac
9. Lindsey Buckingham
10. Elvis Costello

[LovinGlennGirl]

No Order intended, just who popped in my head at this moment, as someone said: tomorrow it may change.

Rod Stewart
Creedence Clearwater Revival
George Strait
Linda Ronstadt
Reba McIntire
Bob Seger
Little Big Town
Chris Young
Neil Diamond
Dolly Parton

[Delilah]

In no particular order...

1. George Strait
2. Kenny Chesney
3. Clint Black
4. Rosanne Cash
5. Patty Loveless
6. Fleetwood Mac
7. Dixie Chicks
8. Van Halen (up to OU812)
9. Duran Duran
10. Dwight Yoakam

I left off other artists I love, like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keith Urban, Heart, Journey and others. Like others have indicated, this list is fluid and subject to change, except for King George.:rockon:

[Annoying Twit]

Deep Purple - Mk2 line up with Ian Gillan, although I like Mk3 as well


Have you heard Glenn Hughes' new solo album "Resonate"? It sounds as if it could be a Mark 3 album, though with only Glenn's vocals of course. IMHO, it makes a better Purple album than recent Deep Purple albums.

[DivineDon]

In no particular order:

1. Peter Gabriel
2. Kate Bush
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Rodney Crowell
5. Vince Gill
6. Gerry Rafferty
7. Clearance Clearwater Revival
8. Cathy Davey (Irish singer)
9. George Jones
10. David Bowie

[buffyfan145]

This is very hard for me to do since I listen to almost every genre and music from the 40s through today but I'll try. :)

1. The Beatles (and members solo)
2. Fleetwood Mac (and members solo)
3. U2
4. Tom Petty
5. George Strait
6. Coldplay
7. Sarah McLachlan
8. Genesis/Phil Collins
9. Bruce Springsteen
10. Dean Martin

[Brooke]

I like so many, so it's hard to narrow it down, but I'll try! And, 70's music is my most favorite as long as it's not disco! These are what I listen to the most.

1. CSNY
2. Bob Seger
3. Jackson Browne
4. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
5. CCR
6. Aerosmith
7. John Mellencamp
8. Fleetwood Mac
9. Lynyrd Skynyrd
10.Rolling Stones

[shunlvswx]

In no particular order:
1. The Osmonds(their solo stuff too)
2. The Oak Ridge Boys
3. Vince Gill
4. Kenny Loggins
5. Fleetwood Mac
6. The Bee Gees
7. Meat Loaf
8. Queen
9. Journey(when Steve Perry was in the group)
10. Neil Diamond

[MortSahlFan]

Pink Floyd
The Doors
The Beatles
Supertramp
Led Zeppelin
The Who
Steely Dan
ELO
David Bowie
Rolling Stones

[Jonny Come Lately]

Meant to post here over the last couple of days but just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the great response so far! I've really enjoyed reading through all your lists and with 17 lists so far (16 excluding my own) the table is beginning to take shape. If we get just a few more lists I will put it up - although I can say for now that there is a very impressive breadth of different artists and styles. Cheers! :cheers:

AT, I haven't heard Glenn Hughes' new album. I must admit Deep Purple Mk3 is fairly new to me apart from the title track from Burn, although I've liked what I've heard (the Burn album is on my Christmas list). The only Purple records I own at present are the 'big three' Mk2 studio albums: In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head.

[listen to the eagles]

Bob Seger
Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks
Journey/Steve Perry
Hall&Oates
Jennifer Nettles
Foreigner
George Strait
CSN
Chris Stapelton
Vince Gill

[Funk 50]

Top Ten
1: Genesis
2: Van Morrison
3: Warren Zevon
4: Elbow
5: Peter Gabriel
6: David Lindley / El Rayo-X
7: Tom Waits
8: David Gray
9: Richard Marx
X: Status Quo



In the last Century, making a list of my top ten artists would have been straight forward. The criteria being the albums and singles I'd listened to, plus the live performances I'd attended or seen in a rare TV appearance.
I had to give a current top ten quite a lot of thought.

Where I used to enjoy browsing through record shops, now I enjoy browsing through the internet, picking up information rather than vinyl.
The number of artists I'm familiar with and the knowledge I have of them is beyond anything I could have conceived when I first became a music fan so narrowing it down to ten took a bit of application.

One thing hasn't changed. I'm still unable to call myself a fan of any artists I've got to know in retrospect, even if, like the The Beatles and The Stones, their back catalog is outstanding in any comparison.

My criteria now, would still be based on how much I enjoy listening to the music but I suppose, how much I enjoy reading and following someone on the internet, comes into it too.

With so many artists showing a dependency on their back catalog, I think it's also important for artists to aspire to make new music. I still get great enjoyment listening to new music from artists that I like.

1: Genesis
My favorite band. The more I've discovered, the more I've loved them. Their evolution from prog to pop was a fantastic journey. When I first heard the single, Mama on the radio, I loved it so much, I became a double Genesis fan! If you split the Gabriel and Collins eras, both would make my top ten, with the later stuff top.
I'm sure their story has a chapter or two more to come.

2: Van Morrison
Van was just someone I heard a lot about, without hearing any of his music. I saw a cut price Van Morrison LP, (Common One) on sale and bought it, liked it, bought another.. and so it continues. Always enjoyable, consistently good, sometimes great.

3: Warren Zevon
I discovered Warren the same way I discovered Eagles, via Joe Walsh. There's no prospect of me hearing any new Zevon music but like Morrison and Genesis, I still really enjoy listening to the music they produced over several decades. Many of his songs have an endearing hint of mischief.

4: Elbow
Local indie band hit the big time in 2008. Thought I should check them out. Great band, hugely popular amongst their peers. A warm and funny front man with a lovely voice. Heartwarming songs, unpretentious production and they're unabashed big Genesis fans too. They're not apologetic about playing loads of quiet songs either. :p

5: Peter Gabriel
Started off in Genesis but the further he moved away from them, the more I liked him. I was indifferent to Peter until I heard his So album being played in constant rotation in a record shop. I must've been in there quite a while. 8) I've been a huge fan ever since. You can hear his journey of exploration of sounds, rhythms and textures through his albums, while never dulling his abilities as a singer, musician and songwriter.

6: David Lindley / El Rayo-X
I've never been a fan of rock guitarists, with the mega-sized exceptions of Joe Walsh and David Lindley. Like Gabriel, David Lindley has immersed himself in ethnic music throughout his career without entirely leaving the mainstream. El Rayo-X only made a handful of albums in the 80s before
Lindley downsized to lower budget productions. His singing voice is an acquired taste but the music he plays, through his multitude of stringed instruments is a joy to listen to. His bootlegs are worth searching out too. :shh:

7: Tom Waits
I heard Tom Traubert's Blues in a fairly well populated record shop. Everybody present was just like me, in stunned attentive silence. "In the moment" so to speak. Tom's another voice that's an acquired taste but he's also on the esteemed list of artists who have written and performed loads of great music over a period of several decades... often with great imagery and a touch of the unusual about them.

8: David Gray
Another artist with local connections. I thought he'd make one great hit album (White Ladder) and then disappear back into obscurity but I dug deeper when I heard that, as well as being acknowledging by Glenn Frey as an influence on No More Cloudy Days, Henley had covered a few of his more obscure tracks in concert.
I was impressed with his post, "trying to recreate the hit album", albums and listen to him quite a lot, particularly his most recent stuff.

9: Richard Marx
Joe Walsh played on his hit first record. Richard had incredible success in his first few years but's his later stuff that I'm most fond of. After falling from pop sensation into adult/contemporary obscurity, he's still continuing to put out great recordings. His clutch of loss/grieving songs are exceptional. His voice and production values are better than ever.

10: One spot left and I still haven't mentioned, much loved, Phil Collins, Electric Light Orchestra, Pink Floyd, Dan Fogelberg, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, REM, Ringo Starr, Jackson Browne, and a load of other mainly 70s, white, male rock stars.

I was tempted to include somebody contemporary but, as much as I love First Aid Kit, three progressively accomplished albums doesn't really compare with 40 years worth of hits, so, although their talent is obvious and I look forward to new First Aid Kit material with much anticipation, I plump for old timers, Status Quo, who's future looks diametrically, grim.

During a five decade career in which they've veered from ok, to brilliant, to awful, embarrassing and great again, with an ugly break-up and glorious reunion thrown in, Quo are now on a definite downturn again, ditching their guitar rock roots and going multi instrument, acoustic pseudo folk pop. :roll:
I doubt whether they'll make my next top ten list but they were great in their time and over the years I guess I've been there, done that and bought the T-Shirt where the Quo are concerned.

Thanks for the stimulating topic JCL:thumbsup:

[Jonny Come Lately]

My original intention was to post the results so far after getting to 20 lists, but I think it's probably fair to post the current standings as we are only one short and, more importantly, there are enough artists with a decent number of votes to make a sensible and meaningful list (when I last posted. Once again, thanks to everyone who has voted so far. I've done a combined list as well as individual lists for bands/groups and solo artists:

Bands/Groups
1. Fleetwood Mac - 8
2. The Beatles - 7
=3 Creedence Clearwater Revival - 4
=3 Led Zeppelin - 4
=3 Pink Floyd - 4

Solo Artists
1. Tom Petty (& The Heartbreakers) - 5
2. George Strait - 4
=3 Vince Gill - 3
=3 Bob Seger - 3
=3 Bruce Springsteen - 3

Overall
1. Fleetwood Mac - 8
2. The Beatles - 7
3. Tom Petty (& The Heartbreakers) - 5
=4 Creedence Clearwater Revival - 4
=4 Led Zeppelin - 4
=4 Pink Floyd - 4
=4 George Strait - 4

I planned to post a top ten, but it didn't make sense to do so as there are eight artists tied with three votes each, especially as the three solo artists with this number of votes did make the solo artists list. I won't post any commentary now. I would probably have guessed some of these, but there were others that surprised me (either they weren't as prominent as I thought, or did better than I expected).

I can't emphasise enough that me posting these does not mark the end of this thread. I'd love to see more lists and people are more than welcome to post up new lists at any time (or make changes to earlier ones if you so wish). Just thought it would interesting to show the current standings. :cool:

[chaim]

All of you seem to have artists/bands on your lists that are very different from each other. Could you say how much of the stuff on your list is stuff you heard when you were young (parents' record collection, a schoolfriend's collection etc.) as opposed to stuff you fell in love with later on? I mean really early stage in your life when you didn't "know what I like".

For example, very early on I discovered Procol Harum and Kris Kristofferson in my father's record collection, The Moody Blues in my mother's record collection, Queen and ELO in my uncle's record collection, while jazz and all kinds of classical stuff were something I fell in love with much later on.

[Freypower]

All of you seem to have artists/bands on your lists that are very different from each other. Could you say how much of the stuff on your list is stuff you heard when you were young (parents' record collection, a schoolfriend's collection etc.) as opposed to stuff you fell in love with later on? I mean really early stage in your life when you didn't "know what I like".

For example, very early on I discovered Procol Harum and Kris Kristofferson in my father's record collection, The Moody Blues in my mother's record collection, Queen and ELO in my uncle's record collection, while jazz and all kinds of classical stuff were something I fell in love with much later on.

Guilty on all counts with Genesis, although I've been listening to them since Invisible Touch. But I have been a Gabriel fan since his first album & a Collins fan since HIS first album.

I received my first copy of A Hard Day's Night when it was released in 1964, when I was three. It took a while, but the Beatles have been part of my life since then.

I've been a fan of Elton John since I spent a year in the UK in 1972-73 when I was 11-12. I discovered the Stones & Zeppelin after returning home still in my teens, and Van Morrison and Bob Dylan when I went to university.

With Dire Straits I think I can claim fandom since they started, although I didn't really get serious about them until Making Movies in 1980, at university, whiich is my second favourite album. I have followed Knopfler since they broke up.

I listen to a lot of classical music which began with the purchase of my first CD player in 1986. But that's a separate issue.

I was born in 1960. My parents were into jazz, Sinatra, Crosby, that stuff. I never got into that, so I was never influenced by anything in their collection, although hearing Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass brings back childhood memories.

A general observation as a non-American is that I have not heare a single song by either George Strait or Vince Gill, both of whom figure in other lists. Eagles fan or not, I never had any interest in listening to country music.

[buffyfan145]

For me all of them expect Coldplay and Sarah McLachlan were artists my parents listened to so I knew of them from a very early age and liked their music. Sarah's music I got into as I became a pre-teen in the late 90s and I feel in love with her songs. She fits a lot of the female singers I like, like Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crowe, Kate Bush, and now Florence & the Machine. As for Coldplay I got into them in 2000 when I was 13 going on 14 and their song "Yellow" became a huge hit and I got into alternative rock more. I've liked them through all of their changes similar to how the Beatles and U2 have changed their sounds with their music. Both are also artists I easily can stretch my imagination and pictures story ideas and scenes to when I listen.

[chaim]

Thank you for your stories. In some cases I know certain artists certainly weren't discovered in their parents' record collection. But I don't know how old most of you are, so when someone mentions Lynyrd Skynyrd, for example, he/she may have discovered the band when they first started, but if the person is younger, it may have been something his/her parents listened to, or he/she may have discovered the band later on - hearing them on the radio for example.

[The Silk Scarf Monkey]

1. The Beach Boys
I guess I am a sucker for harmonious rock bands. Brian Wilson was not just a songwriter, but a music composer. I think Smile is the greatest album never released and I dig Pet Sounds, as well as most of the early surf hits (and even Kokomo is a guilty pleasure).
2. Phil Collins/Genesis/Peter Gabriel
Yeah, that’s easy, putting three amazing acts under the same heading. Genesis and Phil Collins would probably make it in the top 10 separately as well, but I want to give more artists the great honor to be in my list. I especially like Mama, That’s All (Genesis), Another day in paradise, In the air tonight (Phil Collins) and Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel). I always found it striking to see that almost all Eagles fans I knew are also Genesis/Collins/Gabriel fans. Presumption once again confirmed.
3. INXS
4. Bachman-Turner Overdrive
5. Bee Gees
6. Electric Light Orchestra
7. The Beatles
But the best song by a Beatle IMO is Band on the Run by Sir Paul McCartney
8. Tears For Fears
9. The Rolling Stones
10. I can’t really decide whether my #10 is Talk Talk or Coldplay.

I got into the Beach Boys and Coldplay most recently. Before, I mistook the Beach Boys for not much more than a surf band who also wrote God Only Knows by chance, but then I discovered the Smile Sessions and all the fascinating stories behind it.
It took me a while before Coldplay’s songs and Chris Martin’s voice grew on me. I actually like Coldplay just as much or even more now they are moving into something more similar to dance music.
Before that, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, just because it took me a while to appreciate them rightfully. Before that, in my childhood, all others pretty much, because my father would play them ALL THE TIME, and I just couldn’t resist liking them. It’s also how I became an Eagles fan.

[Jonny Come Lately]

I had to think sometime before answering this, not because it was difficult as such, but difficult to explain my full musical journey from my list, although I'll try.

I've loved Fleetwood Mac for as long as I can remember. My parents have told me they used to play Rumours to me when I was very little, and I loved it even then! This makes them the stand out exception on my list. With all of the other artists on my list I only really got into them after I turned 18 (I'm 22 now). In most cases, my parents had at least one of these artists’ albums in their CD collection – usually my Dad’s, as I have pretty similar taste in music to him, whereas I differ somewhat from my Mum and sister.

I discovered Pink Floyd for myself in 2012. The first time I really listened to their music was on holiday when I heard a bar band play several Floyd songs. I was enchanted by Comfortably Numb and downloaded it soon after. I then got the Dark Side and Wish You Were Here albums that Christmas. My musical world was never quite the same after that!

I have my late godfather to thank for my love of Neil Young. I'd already listened to Harvest and After The Gold Rush, but he helped me hugely by giving me a CD with several of his most important albums on. I can't thank him enough and only wish I'd had more of a chance to discuss Neil's music with him before he passed away. He also burned a CD of Subterranean Homesick Blues for my sister (when she was really young) which was my first introduction to Bob Dylan, but the real start for me was when my Dad introduced us to Blood On The Tracks – this was in early 2011 I think.

I first heard Dire Straits when I was about 13 and my Dad played Sultans of Swing from his Money For Nothing CD (I think he’s been a fan since they started). I absolutely loved it but didn't listen to any of their other songs out until about five years or so later. My interest in Mark Knopfler's solo music, however, was completely self-initiated, as I decided to check them out after enjoying Dire Straits. The other artist on my own, Deep Purple, is the most recent one in my top ten (2015) - I decided to listen to them after watching a documentary on hard rock/metal, and loved what I heard.

With Led Zeppelin my Dad gave me a bit of a start as he had IV on CD. I later found out the first record he ever bought was Houses of the Holy. I then checked out their other albums by myself. Similarly, I got into Wishbone Ash by listening to Argus out of curiosity a couple of summers ago after discovering it in my Dad's CD collection. He also recommended Lynyrd Skynyrd to me (he saw them twice in the Ronnie era, I think), funnily enough while listening to On The Border-era Eagles.

Of my honourable mentions, Genesis is unusual in that my Dad isn’t that big a fan of them. I remember one guy I knew at school was a big fan of the Gabriel era band, so I think that influenced me somewhat, although that was before I listened to anything by them. I didn’t really talk about music much at school to be honest. Rush is another one I discovered for myself after hearing The Spirit Of Radio and Tom Sawyer.

The main problem with describing my music listening history with just these artists is that you could be left with the impression that I listened to nothing but Fleetwood Mac until the age of 18. As much as it might have seemed that way at times (I think the rest of my family would be quite happy if they never had to listen to Rumours front to back again!), this wasn’t the case by any means. My parents used to play music by classic artists such as James Taylor, Carly Simon and Jackson Browne in the car. I enjoyed all three of these, although I liked Taylor best. There was also this album called The End Of The Innocence and later a compilation by name of Actual Miles. That’s a story for another time though, I don’t think I can do that one justice here.

Later on they also played artists such as ABBA, Chris Rea (mostly greatest hits/best of albums) and some more recent albums – these tended to be big sellers like Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood To The Head and X&Y, and Hopes & Fears by Keane. I also had to sit through quite a bit of music that was my sister’s choice (and wouldn’t have been mine!). Overall there was some stuff that I liked quite a lot, some that was just okay, some music that I knew I had to put with, and some that I never got on well with. I also got a Beach Boys compilation for my birthday when I was 17 (one year before I started really building my own collection), which I enjoyed, although I do find some of their songs appeal to me a lot more than others.

I hope this is informative. There is a lot I can still say about this, especially my ‘early years’. Looking back, I think I’ve long had the bug for classic rock music, but it took a long time until I was really listening to enough of my type of music to realise that it was what I really liked.

[chaim]

Thank you for going through the trouble of writing all that, JCL! Personally I enjoy these stories more than just seeing lists. I would write my own story (or at least a list), but I just can't pick the artists!

[Freypower]

Something I wish I could do would be to pinpoint the exact song that made me interested in an artist. There are a couple of artists I can do this for. Some of these artists are not in my Top 10 but they serve to illustrate that the old 'where were you when you first heard' stuff can be done. If I thought about it I could perhaps do more, such as Crocodile Rock, Band On The Run & Heart Of Gold for Neil Young. I have no idea which Rolling Stones & Led Zeppelin songs got me interested first. I have even less idea for the Beatles. As for Genesis I think I wrote about how I became a huge fan in that thread.

1976

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Why I didn't hear it until 1976 when it was released in 1975 I don't know. We had a topic about songs which changed your life. This is one of them.

In 1978, my final year of high school, the following three songs appeared that had a huge impact on me & made me fans of those particular artists.

Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees

I never liked them before. I thought they were syrupy & sugary. Then this appeared & I was converted. NOT because it was 'disco'. Because it rocked. I then went & bought the Main Course album which includes my two other favourite songs by them, Nights On Broadway & Jive Talkin'. I had the great good fortune to see them play all three songs in succession on my birthday in 1989.

Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush

I have never recovered from hearing this & seeing the video for the first time. I guess you could say I've been a fan for her career. My husband was lucky enough to see her on her only tour, at the Empire, Sunderland. It's my Literature Song along with the inevitable Romeo & Juliet. I'm not actually a great fan of the book.

Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty

Sigh... I was too young to know Steets of London by Ralph McTell & along came that SAX & this gloomy portrait of my favourite city in the world. My favourite line:

He opens the door, he's got that look on his face

It's what is so magnetic & perhaps intimidating about the place.

Sadly after the City To City & Night Owl albums Rafferty burned out & is no longer with us but these two albums & his Stealer's Wheel work (I was in fact a massive fan of Stuck In The Middle With You all along) are worth hearing.

1981

In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins

I could write a book on it, but once heard, it is never forgotten, at least not by me.

1986

Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel

While this galvanic masterpiece made me a fan, it also made me remember certain other songs which had been creeping around in my head that I never acknowledged fully until Sledgehammer did its work (the metaphor is apt). I speak of course of Solsbury Hill, Games Without Frontiers & Biko.

[chaim]

Freypower, have you heard Baker Street Muse by Jethro Tull?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irqadoy8MzU

http://www.cupofwonder.com/minstrel.html

I think Ian wrote it after living thereabouts at some point.

[Jonny Come Lately]

For me it's difficult to pinpoint just one song that got me into each artist. In most cases, there was one song that got me interested in the first place, but it was other songs that I heard later that made me a fan as opposed to just liking one track. I will have a go at this, but I think it would also be a good idea to say which album I listened to first. In chronological order, from longest ago to most recent:

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Dire Straits - Communique
Led Zeppelin - IV
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
Neil Young - Harvest
Mark Knopfler - Sailing To Philadelphia
Wishbone Ash - Argus
Deep Purple - Machine Head (I actually got In Rock before MH, but I heard the Machine Head tracks first)

In most cases, the album I listened to first has remained my favourite (this is also true for the Eagles, as my first album was Hotel California and it's still my favourite). It's possible that the emotional attachment to them has clouded my judgement, but I think they are just the albums that I find to be most consistent and have the best songs. The main exceptions to this are Dire Straits and Neil Young. With Young, my second album was After The Gold Rush, which I found I liked better than Harvest, and with Dire Straits I found I preferred the other three of their first four albums as I listened to those (in fairness, I had already heard a lot of their best known songs before I heard any of their studio albums). I could also say Pink Floyd, as I tend to consider Wish You Were Here to be my favourite, but Dark Side is a close second, so much closer to the top of my list than Communique or Harvest.

I can't really name one song for Fleetwood Mac, as I was so young when I first heard them. I loved every track except Songbird, but I think my early favourites were Dreams and Go Your Own Way. However, The Chain has been my favourite for many years now. For the other nine artists on my list:

Bob Dylan - The songs that made the biggest impact on me when I first heard Blood On The Tracks were You're A Big Girl (beautiful) and Idiot Wind (fantastic lyrics).
Pink Floyd - My first song was Comfortably Numb. I've loved it ever since, but it was Shine On You Crazy Diamond that really blew me away.
Dire Straits - I heard Sultans of Swing long before I heard any of their others. Lady Writer was the first other song of theirs I heard. I liked it a lot, but I think the songs that really made me a fan were Brothers In Arms, Telegraph Road and Romeo And Juliet, in that order.
Led Zeppelin - Stairway was the first song I listened to, but the two songs that got me into their albums other than IV were Over The Hills And Far Away, and Dazed And Confused.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - I started with Free Bird, then Simple Man. Both impressed me a lot, but I've become a bigger fan over the last 12 months or so after hearing That Smell.
Neil Young - Heart Of Gold was the first song I heard. I remember instantly falling in love with Tell Me Why, too. Once I started listening to some of his other albums, Cortez The Killer amazed me, as did the two versions of My My, Hey Hey on Rust Never Sleeps.
Mark Knopfler - One of the easier ones - the first two I heard were What It Is and Sailing To Philadelphia. Both are great, but I'd pick the former if I had to choose just one.
Wishbone Ash - I heard the full Argus album at the same time (they don't really have any hits), although the song that most stood out to me was Throw Down The Sword.
Deep Purple - The first one I listened to was Smoke On The Water. I loved it, but it was my second song, Highway Star, that really got me into them.

For my honourable mentions, the songs that got me into Genesis were I Know What I Like and Firth Of Fifth, while The Spirit Of Radio got me interested in Rush. Of a couple of other important ones, the first R.E.M. song I heard was Losing My Religion, and the one that solidified my fondness for them was Man On The Moon, although I find their albums a bit too inconsistent for me to put them in my top ten artists. With The Beach Boys I originally liked Sloop John B best (partly because I was so used to hearing chants based on that tune at football matches), but now I go for the timeless beauty of In My Room - as long as children have bedrooms, that song will never get old or irrelevant.

EDIT: Just remembered about my response to a topic from earlier this year (Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life), this gives a bit more detail about some of the songs that got me into different artists.

https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/forum/showthread.php?p=333595#post333595

[Freypower]

Freypower, have you heard Baker Street Muse by Jethro Tull?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irqadoy8MzU

http://www.cupofwonder.com/minstrel.html

I think Ian wrote it after living thereabouts at some point.

Minstrel In The Gallery album, eh? Thank you. I will check it out.

[chaim]

Yes, that's the one. One of my favorite Tull albums, but I think I'm in the minority.

[travlnman2]

I might be seeing Petty this summer. My mom is trying to get the date with Joe but it kight impact my Graduation depending on how many snow days we get.

[Nak9000]

:iloveyou::grooving:
1. Miranda Lambert
2. Deep Purple
3. Depeche Mode
4. The Beatles
5. AC/DC
6. Twenty One Pilots
7. Led Zeppelin
8. Deep Purple
9. The Killers
10. Billy Joel

[The Silk Scarf Monkey]

I have posted here before but I feel like I need to make a new list, because there have changed some things and I have new stories to tell.

My music history began with my father playing his favourite artists all the time, which was great music. After that I listened to popular national radio, so I heard modern music, which I liked as well, but later, when I rediscovered the old music my father played, I just had to admit that this was the music that made my heart rate faster.
I'm still in middle school, and my friend and me often listen to music during maths class. The music he plays is modern Dutch rap music and you have to imagine, this is music about the most shallow things, like "hot chicks" and drugs... I always make fun of it, and then my friend makes fun of me for being so old-fashioned. :”)

To make a top 10 list, I just have to include the Eagles, otherwise it isn't complete for me.
1) Eagles. I fell in love with them when my father introduced me to them by playing the Farewell Tour in Melbourne DVD. I liked all members for who they were: Glenn the leader, Don the complex, serious and thoughtful one, Joe the hilarious wacky character and Tim the soft spot. The Eagles have always been my favourite band. Later, a few years ago, I discovered the Long Road Out Of Eden album and I was overwhelmed by it, by songs like WITW, the title track, IDWTHA, NMCD and How Long to name a few, because it was even better than the stuff they recorded previously to me: the more recent an Eagles album came out, the better I like it. Hotel California, The Long Run and LROOE are in my top 5 favourite albums by any artist. I consider myself a huge Eagles fan, because I post here, created the Eagles Wikia and wrote a book that includes the Eagles, but on this forum I found people who are even more crazy about them than me!
2) The Beach Boys. Like I said in my previous message: I'm a sucker for grown men who sing in harmony. I discovered them only a few years ago. My father played their old surf hits occasionally, but now I found out that the stuff they recorded later was even better! Pet Sounds was good, but its successor, which was actually never released, was psychedelic heaven. The story behind it is so fascinating: Brian Wilson's rivalry with The Beatles, his mental problems, the band and especially Mike Love disliking the new direction Brian was heading for. The music was so complex and there were so many different ideas included in the songs, incredible. SMiLE, that's the album, is not just an album, but a listening experience. Brian Wilson might be my favourite songwriter. He wrote like 80% of the good Beach Boys songs.
3) Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This may be an odd choice after - in my opinion - the two greatest American bands ever, but I feel like BTO is the most underrated band. Their only true hit was You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, which actually started out as a joke, but they should be remembered both for their heavy rock and their jazz. The only bad thing with BTO is that nearly all of their songs are about driving... I discovered the album Freeways this year, the latest album Randy Bachman worked on with BTO before departing and he really showcases his talents here. But the thing is, most fans and his band members don't like it. They state that it's not the heavy, guitar-driven rock BTO is known for, while in my opinion it's exactly that, plus a little bit of jazz which they were also known for... It's just me I guess.
4) INXS. I think everyone interested in music knows something about Michael Hutchence's story. Interestingly, their music got darker and more depressing after their success period and before Michael's death, but Michael Hutchence was the lyricist, not the one who composed the music, if I got that right.
5. Bee Gees. Again the harmonies. I really got into them after I watched a concert by them on television. They all wore black and it just looked so good. I have to say that I prefer their disco period over the rest.
6. The Doobie Brothers. It's not only that I like bands who sing in harmony, I also like bands with several different singers, because that makes the albums so much more diverse.
7. The Beatles. I used to think that The Beatles were overrated, but not anymore, while I still have to say I enjoy the Eagles more for example. The Beatles have so many good songs on their latest albums. Paul and John grew apart the older they got. Paul became the one who wrote the melodic singles, John wrote the more complex, psychedelic music, which could not be singles, mostly. And George was less productive, but in my opinion he wrote some songs that were The Beatles in optima forma, like his tracks on my favourite album Abbey Road and The White Album. And Ringo? Well, this is not just an unpopular opinion, but almost profanity: Ringo wrote my favourite Beatles song: Octopus's Garden. Every Beatles fan would despise me, but I just feel that way. The best Beatles solo song is written by George: All Those Years Ago, about John.
8. Steely Dan. The reason why they are in this list is entirely because of the Eagles. Because of their friendly rivalry, I looked up Steely Dan and discovered that their jazzy rock songs are really good, but their lyrics are from another planet. They are so cool, weird, vague, complex and intelligent that they are food for thought, and for countless interpretations. Sadly Walter Becker recently passed away.
9. Tears For Fears. Harmonies, different singers, and above all: good music. Roland Orzabal makes his political views visible in his songs, just like Don H., and actually I usually find that interesting: serious lyrics that tell so much about the writer's viewpoints. Orzabal is "left" in his politics and wrote songs about feminism, which I think is a very interesting theme as well.
10. The Rolling Stones. The thing with them is that when you like some of their songs and want to search for more good stuff, you won't find it, because every song will sound similar. Nevertheless, they deserve to be recognized as one of the biggest rock bands in history.
11. Talk Talk. I just couldn't stop at 10 and I will do two more, so I'm sure I have all of my favourite bands included. I have the feeling I don't know all their good stuff yet. They have recorded albums that were praised by experts, but didn't do well commercially, so I think there is some more to discover for me here.
12. Genesis. I have to say I only listen to the Phil Collins area and both the progressive rock and poprock songs. The development they went through from progressive to pop is interesting, although I feel like I don't know the whole story. I also think Phil Collins has recorded some gorgeous songs in his solo career, like Another Day in Paradise.
13. 10cc. Now I have included all bands in this list that deserve a mention. I notice that all 13 artists I named are bands. I think that proves that you can accomplish more together than alone. 10cc consisted of two songwriting groups: one which made experimental music, and one which made more recognizable music. When the experimental part of 10cc left the band, that's when the guys who left behind felt a larger urge to write good singles, which they accomplished. From this period is their reggae trip "Dreadlock Holiday" and a song called The Things We Do for Love.

I guess this is a pretty good overview of my music interests and the stories behind them. I also like newer acts, like Eminem and Coldplay, but they just couldn’t make my top 13.

[WalshFan88]

1. Eagles
2. The Rolling Stones
3. AC/DC
4. Aerosmith
5. Led Zeppelin
6. Lynyrd Skynyrd
7. Guns N' Roses
8. Fleetwood Mac
9. Journey
10. The Beatles