Bands that changed your whole perception of music. They opened new doors.

[Intelsucks]

For me it would be, in no particular order:

The Replacements
R.E.M.
Uncle Tupelo
The Stone Roses


These four came to mind quickly. Some folks may give away their age here.:D

[thebigidea]

1. The Residents, Negativland, Throbbing Gristle

[absyntheNsugar]

2. Well.....

Phish, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Stone Roses, Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Nick Drake, (can you see a trend here?)...and of course THE DOORS.

I would say the Beatles but I was reared on them, so no world to change ;)

[jimbo fett]

3. The Cure.

Their songs are so wildy varied. Song's like "Boys don't cry" and "Fascination Street" show their evolution and experimentation.

[coloradodem2005]

4. For Me....

The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
U2
Jimi Hendrix
Rage Against the Machine
Dream Theater
Nirvana
Tool
Pink Floyd
Radiohead
Run DMC

[Wickerman]

5. Good choices

Your first three were in my top 5. I add, the minutemen and husker Du and The Feelies for an even 6 in my top 5. I throw in Camper Van Beethoven because they were so utterly different. Then, I add the Beautiful South because they demonstrated to me that even simple, ear candy-ish pop can contain an incredibly ugly underside.

[jpgray]

6. CAN

Any record collection missing the Damo era albums is a sorry collection indeed.

[LifeDuringWartime]

7. my short list

pink floyd
moe. (www.moe.org)

[pasadenaboy]

8. New Order,The Smiths, Jesus and Mary Chain, Belle and Sebastian, Kate Bush

[Doc_Technical]

9. King Crimson, Egg, Camel, Pink Floyd.

n/t

[moz4prez]

25. did you like the new Belle & Sebastian record

With the exception of a few songs (If She Wants Me, Lord Anthony, Stay Loose) it was a bit of a disappointment IMO

[TrogL]

10. Emerson Lake and Palmer

"Pictures at an Exhibition" - a fusion of classical and rock music.

[midnight armadillo]

14. Agreed

Also, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. Wheee!

[nostamj]

16. oh, i love bela fleck!

only 'found' in the last 4 years or so but...

[nostamj]

11. king crimson, yes, ELP, moody blues

showing my age!

later adding pink floyd, genesis, the who

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Zappa, Genesis, Yes, Fripp, Van Halen, The Doors, Janis Joplin, Hendrix

Meaning early Yes and early Genesis. Blew me away when I finally got to them in the early 80s. Van Halen blew me away when their first album came out - great guitar.

Once I started exploring Hendrix and his more experimental stuff, I was quite surprised.

And also listening to bootlegs and other live recordings of the Doors and especially Janis Joplin really turned me onto music that can go on a long time just as an extended jam (as opposed to the lengthy Yes and Genesis stuff which was always more purely musical than soloistic).

Rush also showed me a new direction of music - extremely technically proficient music like Genesis and Yes, but with a serious asskicking rock groove to it. And Pink Floyd also just for pure HUGENESS, extreme nihilism, and incredibly big guitar sound without all the rolling around on the floor that other, lesser, guitarists felt the need to do.

Zappa, natch, is at the top - never has a band done what he had bands do, nor are they ever likely to do so again. "Want some Rite of Spring with that Drowning Witch? Maybe some Louie Louie in your Petrushka?"

[Whitacre D_WI]

13. ten:

The Velvet Underground
Pixies
Link Wray
The Monks
The Stooges
Love
Neutral Milk Hotel
Serge Gainsbourg
Yoko Ono
The Fall

[Kamika]

15. U2

I hardly knew "music" before U2, I just listened to music on the radio and didn't care what it was until they enlightened me

[INTELBYTES]

17. Duran Duran

Kajagoogoo, Flock of seagulls, Men without Hats, Loverboy...

[Intelsucks]

18. I forgot: The Clash, The Ramones, Sex Pistols

n/t

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

19. Umm. How do I type an umlaut...?

Einsturzende Neubauten
Pere Ubu
The Fall
Mekons

I guess I like noisy. I'm told that I should like Cabaret Voltaire, but what I've heard wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped....

[CanuckAmok]

23. "Nag Nag Nag" and "HeadKick" are great Cab tracks...

I was going to say Neubauten, but you beat me to it.

Also, Ramones, Foetus, the Jam, the Beatles, Zovietfrance, Test Department, Psychic TV. Actually, the whole "Some Bizarre" label roster got me into music.

[jpgray]

30. Yay! Another Fall and Pere Ubu fan on the board.

God help me, I love Dave's fat whale-like warble, and Mark's Mancunian ranting. :)

[LastKnight]

20. Hendrix.

Rage Against the Machine
Led Zeppelin
REM

-LK

[Dogmudgeon]

21. The Soft Boys

Robyn Hitchcock and Kimberley Rew.

They directly influenced the following bands, at least:

REM ("The Bishop of Bop" with Rew)
The dB's ("The Bishop of Bop" with Rew)
Guadalcanal Diary
Green on Red
The Three O'Clock
The Bangles ("Going Down to Liverpool")
Echo and the Bunnymen
Teardrop Explodes (Julian Cope)
The Chills (Martin Phillips)
The Continental Drifters
Katrina and the Waves (Rew was the guitarist)
Kirsty MacColl (Did I spell it right?)

"And many more whom I have forgot."

--bkl
I caught the milk train ... she took the deux cheveaux ...

[corporatewhore]

22. Crass Django Reinhardt and the quintet of the hot club of france

Double Trouble but i think most of all an individual not aband that changed my perception of music (drumroll) Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues

[tkmorris]

24. Hmm several

Led Zeppelin-taught me that a rock band can do more than simple individual songs, they can actually theme an album and make it work.

Pink Floyd- expanded on that theme.

The Clash- No explanation needed I hope

Dave Edmunds/Nick Lowe/Rockpile- Showed me rockabilly

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones- Transcends genres. We play music, YOU define what it is.

Alison Krauss and Union Station- Taught me that mountain music is worthwhile.

Nanci Griffith- taught me that folk is NOT dead.

Bob Marley and the Wailers- Introduced me to Reggae of course. Also introduced me to the struggles of the poor in other countries. I was well aware of the struggles of the poor here in the US at the time. I was one of them. Bob really made me feel as if I was part of a larger community, the people of the world.

The Beatles- They rose above everything. They occupy a genre to themselves. They are not pop, nor rock, nor anything else. They are simply the BEATLES. Yeah I know the adoration is overdone but their is a reason for it. We may not see that much musical talent together, over that long a period of time, in our lifetimes. John, Paul and George were clearly musical legends in their own right. Miraculously they manged to cooperate for many years and the result WAS greater than the sum of the collective parts.

And finally, Jennifer Lopez. Yes her. She taught me that it is entirely possible to hate the music, hate the artist, and yet be able to admire the hell out of her ass. I am a lecher, what can I say?

[Drifter]

26. Frank Zappa ....

and continues to do so to this day.

Cheers
Drifter

[jonnyblitz]

28. frank zappa live when I was about 14 or `15

at Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME (it was later 70's I forget what year exactly) Words cannot describe. I never listened to his albums much though I liked them when i heard them. All I can say is live he was AMAZING!!

[jpgray]

32. The man is an incredible live guitarist

And of course the guitar wants to kill your mama.

:D

[Intelsucks]

27. Kick!

n/t

[dbt]

29. Jefferson Airplane!

The day I heard "Somebody To Love," the Earth moved.

The Doors: It was OK if you didn't buy into the sweetness-and-light, teenage-romance thing after all. Equal time for the Dark side of life.

Buffalo Springfield: "Mr. Soul" and "Bluebird" had guitar tones from Mars! Plus, they showed me it was OK to have those formerly embarrassing Country roots.

The Pogues: "If I Should Fall From Grace With God." Bluegrass on Acid Turf, Flatt and Scruggs go to Dublin and drink themselves langers!

The Bangles: The entire "All Over The Place" lp. It put an end to that tired old girls-can't-rock bidness.

:loveya:
dbt

Beatles? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!!!

[Emboldened Chimp]

31. The Grateful Dead

They opened musical vistas that no other band has, except for maybe Phish. Anyway, listening to Jerry play led me to Coltrane and Miles (big influences on him), which led me to listen to various other jazz artists; that, in turn, somehow led me to classical. Thanks, Jerry!