The Beatles. I remember back to when I was ten years old (1964), dancing along with some friends in their living room to "I Want to Hold Your Hand". I've loved their music ever since, due to their creativity, imagination, diversity of styles, and their humor. I never had the chance to attend any of their concerts, but I've enjoyed hearing performances of their music by several good Beatles tribute bands.

Kraftwerk. The first time I heard Autobahn I knew I'd found the sort of music I'd been waiting for!

Queen.

The Osmond Brothers, and now I want to go barf.

Led Zeppelin and then Black Sabbath. They got me into liking rock music more than any other band. Even tho I did like The Monkees as a wee tot. Fun group to watch on tv.

Black Sabbath - because they were very raw sounding and not afraid to examine the occult and its alleged antithesis.

Linkin Park. They've helped in tough times. And their songs are relatable, in my experience... And it pains me that their singer took his own life.

Another Beatles guy, remember dancing to their stuff when I was 4. Older brothers had good taste in music

In my earliest memories I was mesmerized by Michael Jackson, Madonna, and most things 80s, but in 1989 I heard Guns N Roses sing "Sweet Child O' Mine" and my whole world changed. <3

The grateful dead

Queen.

Nirvana. Would not have survived highschool without the album Nevermind.

Cock Sparrer

John denver hahaha. Hard to remember loving it so much

Saw them in 94 during dirt album amazing.

In the early to mid-80s it was Duran Duran.

Lawrence Welk!!! IF it must be a "band"

Musician??? ELVIS!

And then conor obers/bright eyes. In my opinion he's the greatest lyricist in the last 30 years. He's super intelligent and his lyrics have a vocabulary to put other singer/songwriters to shame.

"Why are you scared to dream of god/
When it's salvation that you want?/
You see stars that clear/
Have been dead for years/
But the idea just lives on"

There are a few that could fit the bill, but the band that really changed my life when I first heard them is the grateful dead

The latest was about 9 yrs ago I was really into Within Temptation. I still listen to a lot of similar bands such as Epica, Lacuna Coil, Delain, and Nightwish.

Argent, though I liked Sabbath, Tull, Hendrix and a whole lot of others, didn't mind Ella Fitzgerald or Dave Brubeck either. Hung out with musicians when I was a sweet young thing of 13 and loved music ever since.

The first band I was really obsessed with was Marillion. I found an abandoned 12 inch single of Heart of Lothian in the basement of my college fraternity and it compelled me to go pick up a copy of the album, Misplaced Childhood. The next day I went and picked up a copy of Clutching At Straws. I must have worn the grooves out of those two records.

The fact that a band could be so complex and yet so accessable was amazing to me. I always found the prog rock which I heard prior to Marillion to be far more complex and technical than it was actually listenable or emotionally fulfilling. Marillion proved that it was possible to bridge the gap between prog rock and the mainstream without sacrificing impeccable musicianship or giving way to predictable conventionality.