Artists/Bands you can't live without

[San Antone]

Theses are the artists whose music I would save from a burning house, figuratively speaking.

Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Miles Davis
Thelonious Monk
Bill Evans
Robert Johnson
Hank Williams
Muddy Waters
Bob Dylan
Van Morrison
Townes Van Zandt
Lucinda Williams
Steve Earle

[hopefullytrusting]

Currently, my top ten "pop":
01. Aurora Aksnes
02. Electric Youth
03. Lilly Palmer
04. The White Stripes (inactive)
05. Bob Dylan (pre-1970)
06. Nirvana (inactive)
07. Immortal
08. KMFDM
09. Jimi Hendrix (inactive)
10. Rachel Yamagata

[SimonNZ]

Bob Dylan (mostly 1989 onwards)
Duke Ellington
Miles Davis
Joni Mitchell

...and, well, there's plenty of other stuff I love, but they are the people I kept at times when I had to sell everything else off.

[Madiel]

Currently, my top ten "pop":
01. Aurora Aksnes
02. Electric Youth
03. Lilly Palmer
04. The White Stripes (inactive)
05. Bob Dylan (pre-1970)
06. Nirvana (inactive)
07. Immortal
08. KMFDM
09. Jimi Hendrix (inactive)
10. Rachel Yamagata

Now I have to pull out my Rachel Yamagata recordings. And I think I'm missing a couple of more recent ones still.

Edit: I'm missing "Porch Songs".

[JBS]

Ignorance is unlikely. There is simply so much music out there, that we could each listen to music all day long, and have no crossover whatsoever.

Jazz, Folk, Northern Soul, Prog Rock, Hip Hop, Big Band, Country, Atmospheric Black Metal, Shoegaze, Hardcore, Doom, Rap... even just listing the genres, sub-genres and styles would take all day, never mind the byways and hidden corners where we could explore, and the countless bands and solo artists that inhabit them.

I also think that it's of folk here are probably not populists, listening only to the Top Ten or the obvious compilations that many are drawn toward. Nothing wrong with that, but I suspect many here are more individualistic and prone to following rabbits down burrows...

Actually so much of my listening is classical, supplemented by jazz, that most of my "pop" is radio stations in the car driving to work or doing errands, and most of my favorites have appeared in somebody's Top 40 chart at some point between 1975 and the present. The closest I have to rabbit holes would be the Backstreet Boys and Idan Raichel.

[steve ridgway]

Metal bands, I think. I've seen one or two of the names cross my Twitter timeline. But metal is not usually part of my listening, so I have no idea of how the various types of metal are differentiated. The big hair bands of the 80s/90s are as heavy as I get.

I also lost track of the metal scene sometime in the 90s but have been enjoying Fleshgod Apocalypse, Archspire, Obscura and Nile since Bachtoven mentioned them to me .

[Kalevala]

While coronavirus has really mucked about with my usual non-classical listening habits, I surveyed the CD collection and concluded that the list would probably at least include:

Tori Amos
Patty Griffin
Something For Kate (definitely incl. Paul Dempsey solo albums)
Radiohead (most likely incl. Thom Yorke and associated projects, though less of a dealbreaker)

and probably...

Janelle Monae
Joni Mitchell

Beyond that it really depends on just how fussy I'm being and how much you're holding a gun to my head. I can see plenty more artists where I have a lot of albums, and some more where I have certain albums that are absolutely fantastic. But can't live without? If I had to live with 60-odd albums from these folk, I could probably cope. Not as well as I'd like, but it'd do at a stretch.

Revisiting this thread and saw your mention of Janelle Monae.  I caught her years ago on the Late Show with Letterman and was struck by how talented she was (will have to see if I can find a link to her performances there).  Any favorite songs/albums?  Also, was sad to read (or reread) of your struggles with tinnitus.    How are you doing these days?

K

[Madiel]

Revisiting this thread and saw your mention of Janelle Monae.  I caught her years ago on the Late Show with Letterman and was struck by how talented she was (will have to see if I can find a link to her performances there).  Any favorite songs/albums?

My favourite album is probably still The ArchAndroid. Which for some people is a little too "arch" and artificial, but part of what drew me to Monae is her ability to work with whatever style she chooses, and ArchAndroid is highly ambitious. The liner notes have all sorts of funny references to what inspired each song, and then you suddenly realise OMG, "Tightrope" really is a James Brown song.

I didn't really love the latest album, which is short and very freewheeling and casual. Perfect music for a summer orgy, but I'm not really into summer orgies...

[LKB]

The Beatles
The Doors
Queen
Roy Orbison
Elton John
Simon and Garfunkel
Leon Redbone
Jerry Douglas

[Madiel]

Revisiting this thread

I should note that my post was a couple of years before Taylor Swift blazed into my musical firmament.

I've cooled just a little after that first intense year and a bit, but I think she'd still make that top tier list. There is much richness to be had in that discography.

[Kalevala]

My favourite album is probably still The ArchAndroid. Which for some people is a little too "arch" and artificial, but part of what drew me to Monae is her ability to work with whatever style she chooses, and ArchAndroid is highly ambitious. The liner notes have all sorts of funny references to what inspired each song, and then you suddenly realise OMG, "Tightrope" really is a James Brown song.

I didn't really love the latest album, which is short and very freewheeling and casual. Perfect music for a summer orgy, but I'm not really into summer orgies...

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.  I'll do some exploring via youtube. 

K

[vandermolen]

The Beatles (I saw them live twice as a child. I say 'saw' rather than heard as all you could hear was screaming).
Jimi Hendrix
Dreams - little known US Jazz-Rock band
Chicago - better " " " " " " " " " " " "
Santana (esp 'Caravansari')
Judy Tzuke

[Karl Henning]

The Beatles (I saw them live twice as a child. I say 'saw' rather than heard as all you could hear was screaming.)

What a fascinating, if non-musical, experience that must have been.

As to Chicago: yes, they were a hell of a band before they devolved into chick-flick balladeers.

[vandermolen]

What a fascinating, if non-musical, experience that must have been.

As to Chicago: yes, they were a hell of a band before they devolved into chick-flick balladeers.

Hi Karl - yes I really enjoyed that first 'Chicago Transit Authority' LP, especially the song 'Beginnings'.

[DaveF]

My list has "ageing hippie" written all over it:

The Beatles
Nick Drake
Joni Mitchell
Pink Floyd
Yes
Genesis
Gentle Giant
Dylan
Led Zeppelin
Henry Cow/Slapp Happy/Dagmar Krause
And to take it up to 11, a token jazzman - Mingus

[AnotherSpin]

Hi Karl - yes I really enjoyed that first 'Chicago Transit Authority' LP, especially the song 'Beginnings'.

I liked Chicago in LPs times.

[foxandpeng]

My list has "ageing hippie" written all over it:

The Beatles
Nick Drake
Joni Mitchell
Pink Floyd
Yes
Genesis
Gentle Giant
Dylan
Led Zeppelin
Henry Cow/Slapp Happy/Dagmar Krause
And to take it up to 11, a token jazzman - Mingus

Some good stuff in there, though.

[Number Six]

My list has "ageing hippie" written all over it:

The Beatles
Nick Drake
Joni Mitchell
Pink Floyd
Yes
Genesis
Gentle Giant
Dylan
Led Zeppelin
Henry Cow/Slapp Happy/Dagmar Krause
And to take it up to 11, a token jazzman - Mingus

No Grateful Dead?

[Karl Henning]

The late, great Peter Bergman: "those hippies aren't as young as they used to be. Time doesn't stop, you know,  just because Marijuana stretches it out!"

[DaveF]

No Grateful Dead?

No - can someone explain the Grateful Dead to me? - 'cos I just don't get it.  I quite enjoy Aoxomoxoa, but everything else I've listened to leaves me mystified.  I read somewhere that the performance of Dark Star on Live/Dead represents the peak of their recorded legacy - well, 20 minutes in and I'm still waiting for it to start.  I know "you had to be there", and that they regarded studio albums as a poor substitute for live shows, hence the releases of all the concert material.  They are clearly a band of very wide culture and interests - Phil Lesh, for example, funded the Marco Polo recordings of Havergal Brian's symphonies - but I'm still waiting to find the way in.  Recommendations, please!