I never seem to come into contact with new bands and music untill they've been around for ages, I just never seem to hear about good bands unless somebody tells me about them. Some people seem to have been born knowing who's who and what's what but not me.... so I was thinking maybe people could post the names and genres of the bands that influence them and help people like me discover the great music they've been missing all this time.
    If I was to do this, most people would already be aware of anybody I could think of but here are some of the people I would like to be even half as good as...

    1) Radiohead (my fav!!)
    2) Faithless
    3)Aphex twin
    4)Ludwig van (who wouldn't??)
    5)Paco De Lucia
    6)David Bowie.
 of course there are more but just to maybe get the ball rolling.

what a great idea!

artists that I'm really into ....

John Mayer (blues, rock, pop type stuff - hard to categories)
Stevie Ray Vaughan (FANTASTIC blues guitar player)
Damien Rice (laid back acoustic stuff with an Irish accent!)
James Blunt (similar to Damien Rice)
Straylight Run (Kinda chilled out pop-punk!)k
Joss Stone (phenomenal soul singer)
Eva Cassidy (most beautiful voice EVER)

that should do for now.  have fun!

i have a completely different tast in music for the most part (except for straylight run!  woohoo!) , but here's my list:

Brand New (1st cd was good, but nothing special.  2nd cd grows on you)
Something Corporate (pop-punkish feel... with a hardcore piano )
Fall Out Boy (their new cd is my favorite of all time as of now)
Taking Back Sunday (dual vocals are the standard in this band, lead guy in Straylight Run used to be their 2nd vocalist)
Julianna Theory (2nd main cd was a lot heavier sound, but 1st cd is wonderful)
Lifehouse (i only have their 1st cd, but it's another of my favorites)
Yellowcard (new cd is like.... traditional modern punkrock ... with a violin in the mix.  awesome stuff)

these bands all fall into the "Alternative" gendre in music stores, generally.  If you check out Something Corporate, i suggest downloading their song called "Konstantine" ... i don't think it exists on a store-bought cd anywhere, but it's freakin awesome 9:41 song that's just piano and eventually some drums.  i don't have words to express how much this band kicks the trash of a bunch of others i've heard.  check them all out!  you might be suprised!! a lot of people have a misrepresented view of the punk-rock-pop / alternative category.  these bands do it justice though

yeah - I've heard a lot of good stuff about something corporate, but they seem to be MUCH bigger in the states than the UK (where I live).  I've got an American friend who's always raving about them so i ought to check them out some time.  I saw brand new supporting Incubus at Wembly (big venue in London) and they were pretty good.  kinda got outclassed when incubus came on, but no one can blame them for that!

I'm fascinated about how a violin would fit into punk music - you've definitely caught my interest there!

Bela Fleck and the Flecktons - amazing jazz/bluesgrass/blues group. they do mostly instrumentals but are fantastic they also use a great array of instruments including the banjo.

Great Big Sea - Canadian celtic-folk-rock group. Lots of fun.

Ellis Paul - Solo guy with acoustic folk guitar kind of thing, really great lyrics though.

Jethro Tull - 70s/80s progressive rock group still touring today. They're English too. Great group instrumentally and lyrically they also are the only rock group I can think of that have a lead flutist. They're album Thick as a Brick my favourite poem, its a 45 min. song.

Emerson Lake and Palmer - another great progressive rock group, like Jethro Tull but softer and better arranged instrumentals - like listening to an electric symphony.

The Band - My favourite band. Folk rock heros, played with all the big names and are just great.

brand new is one of those bands that REALLY grows on you after you listen to their lyrics a lot... they have a very different tone than other bands, but they've become one of my absolute favorites.

Since you're interested about the violin, look at Yellowcard's cd called "Ocean Avenue" , or their single called "Gifts and Curses" that is included on the Spider-Man movie's soundtrack.

... you may have to order one or the other online though... i'm not sure who carries them.  the world hates the majority of the Alternative gendre for some reason.  it's all rap / hip-hop / pop / country / 80s rock where i'm at, with no decent selection of the Alt. gendre to match it.

oh for dicksake, i just spent ages writing about what I listen to and then it all whent fucky an deleted itself. gah! technology! 

Living and working in Madrid is making me loose touch with the music scene, so this forum is great to finding our whats going on! Meanwhile,  heres my contribution:

David Bowie
An old favorite of mine. I like the way that his music and personalities changed and evolved. I even went to see Tin Machine.

However, I don't like any of the last CD and very few tracks off the one before that, but the legacy before that is imense.


Joseph Arthur
http://www.josepharthur.com/
I've been listening to this guy recently - I find his music pretty original. Very acoustic, lots of harmonised vocals with a dry sounding voice. It's like an explosion of folk meets rock, but very much personalised by himself. Definately worth checking out.


Stevie Ray Vaughan
My favorite guitar player (blues). Very distinctive sound and feel to everything he ever did. I wouldn't do him justice to talk about him more.


Marillion
http://www.marillion.com/
A band of two eras - 1st singer and 2nd singer. The energy and rawness of the early Marillion evolved into something quite amazing to listen to, and Steve Hogarth (2nd singer) has one of the best voices around. My favorite CDs are 'Afraid of Sunlight' and 'Seasons End'. The guitarists solo project 'The wishing Tree' released the CD 'Carnival of souls' with a previously unknown singer / fan who he met after a Marillion gig one night - this has become one of my 'Desert Island Disks'.


Pearl Jam
The whole is most definately greater than the sum of the parts with this group.

try again   i'm curious to know!

Someone mentioned Incubus, I love them! They are my favourite at the mo. I didn't use to but I change all the time.
I really like Taking Back Sunday but they're rather dissapointing live. But thats compared to Green Day who they were supporting, who were AMAZING.
Yellowcard! I only started listning to them a few weeks ago, The violin kicks ass. Lol.
Heres a list of stuff I listen to...Stone Temple Pilots, Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion, Dave Matthews Band (lAbsolutels fault), KT Tunstall, Jimmy Eat World, Funeral For A Friend, Air, The Coral, Massive Attack, Prodigy, Linkin Park, The Beat, Guns N' Roses, Hoobastank, Bloc Party, Athlete, Oasis, Kasabian, Foo Fighters, Garbage, The Distillers, The stereophonics, Nirvana, Alanis Morrisette, No Doubt, Audioslave, Spunge, Sugarcult, Breaking Benjamin, Snow Patrol, Brandy, Sound Garden, Alice In Chains, Idlewilde, Powder, Lostprophets, Nelly Furtado, Sum41, The Transplants, All American Rejects, Letters To Cleo, Save Ferris, Aaliyah, Loop Troop, Pink, Joss Stone, James... aswell as all my dads Madness, The Specials, and Blondie CDS. Pah thats alot.

Most of my favourite music is pretty well known, so I won't bother to mention them. I have a tip however:

Yann Tiersen - Frenchman. He has composed the movie soundtrack to Amelie and Good Bye Lenin, and has released 5 or 6 solo albums I think. He mostly plays the piano and the accordian - and boy can this guy hit the right harmonies. I find his music mesmerising and stunningly beautiful.

For starters you should check out a song called: Comptine d'un autre été L'apres.

some people appart from me have mentioned stevie ray.  well if you like his musi you MUST check out a young british blues guy called Aynsley Lister.  I saw him live last night ad he rocks.  hes got 2 albums out and a live DVD too.  AWESOME

well i think i'll jump on the bandwagon and list some of my favorite influences =)

Emerson Lake and Palmer

Kieth Emerson has to be one of the greatest keyboard virtuoso's of all time, he has a feel for taking classical pieces and updating them, he also GREATLY assisted the creation of midi, and used to create his own effects onstage... teamed up with carl palmer who was originally a jazz drummer i believe, who has a tendancy to play ahead and behind the beat in very clever and subtle ways (one of the greatest drummers of all time in my view) and greg lake....with the voice of a god and an amazing acoustic guitar sound

Rush

what can you say about rush...crisp, precise, geeky. hehe science rock! but saying that you'll never hear guitar parts with more punch, geddy lee is an amazing bass player and with niel peart (drummer) they manage to give each song such an extra push, mainly because they are so precise it makes you sick

Yes

Voice of a god... and steve howe is THE master of atmospheric guitar very much recommend them during this era...although rabin was amazing...its impossible to tell you about yes because they were many many bands...one of those constantly evolving prog outfits

Dreamtheater

take rush yes and elp and jam em together and you'll get these chappys... beautiful classic structures with modern feel, sound, and atmospherics...although i'm not mad on the vocalist, but in my honest opinion john petrucci is the best guitarist to walk on gods earth...never fails to blow me away

pink floyd

i just love em

THE STROKES! OH SOMEDAY  WE WILL BE TOGETHER JULES, HAHA.

THE DOORS AND THE ROLLING STONES.

JIMI HENDRIX MMMWWAAAAHHHHHH

these are all highly recommended. ahha

Suggestions for bands listed here that I will adamantly second are John Mayer, Incubus, Jimi Hendrix, Rush, and Great Big Sea.

Flogging Molly - Irish thrash music, fairly popular, I saw them in concert and it was amazing

The Cure - the emo rock that started it all.  Their song Cut from the album Wish is one of my favourite songs ever.

Parliament - straight up funk, if that's what you're into

Genesis - a very synthesized sort of rock, but not at all techno.  Not sure what to call them, really...

Cat Stevens - classic 60s folk rock, the man is now an Islam monk

Paul Simon - yet more classic 60s folk rock, except he is not an Islam monk, I believe he is still actively writing and recording music

Tool - new metal, their song Schism was very popular recently

Frederic Chopin - the greatest classical piano composer EVER