Your biggest musical inspirations?

Mountain_Hamlet

Pink Floyd before they hit the Wall.
Pop music and ska in the 80s.
Dance music and indy pop in the 90s.
After that it's whatever has crossed my senses.

HotStrange

@Mountain_Hamlet said:
Pink Floyd before they hit the Wall.
Pop music and ska in the 80s.
Dance music and indy pop in the 90s.
After that it's whatever has crossed my senses.

Animals and the Wall are probably my 2 favorite Floyd albums. Not a fan of the Wall?

Mountain_Hamlet

@HotStrange said:

@Mountain_Hamlet said:
Pink Floyd before they hit the Wall.
Pop music and ska in the 80s.
Dance music and indy pop in the 90s.
After that it's whatever has crossed my senses.

Animals and the Wall are probably my 2 favorite Floyd albums. Not a fan of the Wall?

My first album I ever bought was Dark Side Of The Moon. I then went through all their earlier stuff from there and I think I just liked their more ambient stuff more. I still think that The Wall is a great album in it's own right just not one of my more favourite albums.

HotStrange

@Mountain_Hamlet said:

@HotStrange said:

@Mountain_Hamlet said:
Pink Floyd before they hit the Wall.
Pop music and ska in the 80s.
Dance music and indy pop in the 90s.
After that it's whatever has crossed my senses.

Animals and the Wall are probably my 2 favorite Floyd albums. Not a fan of the Wall?

My first album I ever bought was Dark Side Of The Moon. I then went through all their earlier stuff from there and I think I just liked their more ambient stuff more. I still think that The Wall is a great album in it's own right just not one of my more favourite albums.

Understood. Tbh I love all their albums in some form or another. Meddle is another favorite. And I’m one of the weird ones that loves Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma too 😅

michael_m

@HotStrange said:

@michael_m said:
Depends on which day you ask me as it will probably change from time to time, but if I put together a list off the top of my head of musicians who have influenced how I play…

John McGeoch - guitar
David Gilmour - guitar
Captain Sensible - guitar
David Bowie - saxophone
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Ludwig van Beethoven - piano
Dave Greenfield - electric piano
Rick Wright - organ
Bernie Worrell - synth
John Paul Jones - bass and mandolin
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Ward - drums

Probably others.

Bowie is one of my biggest as well. Love Bill Ward/Sabbath as well. Great choices! Charlie Watts is a very underrated drummer.

Bowie’s sax playing is within my ability which is why I like his style, and he played some really interesting lines that are a mix of conventional and unconventional.

What I love about Charlie’s drumming is that I can play a fair bit of it, and it’s great to learn from to play really solid grooves.

[Deleted User]

@u0421793 said:
Johnny Rotten was a Hawkwind fan

They were the punks of their day. As Lemmy said they were one of the darkest bands he'd ever encountered - they'd dose the audience with acid, lock the doors, point the strobes directly into their faces and go chug-chug-chug for four hours.

HotStrange

@michael_m said:

@HotStrange said:

@michael_m said:
Depends on which day you ask me as it will probably change from time to time, but if I put together a list off the top of my head of musicians who have influenced how I play…

John McGeoch - guitar
David Gilmour - guitar
Captain Sensible - guitar
David Bowie - saxophone
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Ludwig van Beethoven - piano
Dave Greenfield - electric piano
Rick Wright - organ
Bernie Worrell - synth
John Paul Jones - bass and mandolin
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Ward - drums

Probably others.

Bowie is one of my biggest as well. Love Bill Ward/Sabbath as well. Great choices! Charlie Watts is a very underrated drummer.

Bowie’s sax playing is within my ability which is why I like his style, and he played some really interesting lines that are a mix of conventional and unconventional.

What I love about Charlie’s drumming is that I can play a fair bit of it, and it’s great to learn from to play really solid grooves.

Unfortunately I never learned any brass instruments but I’ve always wanted to play the sax. Drums and Keys are my main axes.

Gavinski

@Gavinski said:
Has varied a lot over the years.

As a kid:

The Beach Boys
The Grease Soundtrack
Queen
E.L.O

Teen:
Fugazi, Nirvana, Pixies, Smiths, Cure, Doors, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Bowie, Canned Heat, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nic Jones, Irish trad, some jazz and classical, especially chamber music

20s:
Warp Label, Boards of Canada
Mo' Wax, especially Dj Shadow
Daft Punk, Super Discount, DJ Cam, Dimitri from Paris etc
Ninja Tune
Loads of Brazilian music from pre-Bossa days to the more electronica stuff. Especially Edu Lobo, Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento
Soul, jazz funk (Lonnie Liston Smith, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd etc)
Belle and Sebastian
Radiohead, especially from Kid A onwards
Trip Hop, Drum n Bass

30s:
Mostly House, Electroclash etc

40s:
Mostly jazz, ambient, experimental stuff. Writing and performing my own stuff on guitar, later abandoning that for the iPad.

I don't actually listen to that much music any more, I'd rather fiddle around with apps.

Just realised that there was an unforgiveable omission in my list from the teen years - The Fall!

Also should have had dub and reggae in that list somewhere

HotStrange

@Gavinski said:

@Gavinski said:
Has varied a lot over the years.

As a kid:

The Beach Boys
The Grease Soundtrack
Queen
E.L.O

Teen:
Fugazi, Nirvana, Pixies, Smiths, Cure, Doors, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Bowie, Canned Heat, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nic Jones, Irish trad, some jazz and classical, especially chamber music

20s:
Warp Label, Boards of Canada
Mo' Wax, especially Dj Shadow
Daft Punk, Super Discount, DJ Cam, Dimitri from Paris etc
Ninja Tune
Loads of Brazilian music from pre-Bossa days to the more electronica stuff. Especially Edu Lobo, Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento
Soul, jazz funk (Lonnie Liston Smith, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd etc)
Belle and Sebastian
Radiohead, especially from Kid A onwards
Trip Hop, Drum n Bass

30s:
Mostly House, Electroclash etc

40s:
Mostly jazz, ambient, experimental stuff. Writing and performing my own stuff on guitar, later abandoning that for the iPad.

I don't actually listen to that much music any more, I'd rather fiddle around with apps.

Just realised that there was an unforgiveable omission in my list from the teen years - The Fall!

Also should have had dub and reggae in that list somewhere

Oh man the Fall are amazing. All those early post punk bands like them, Wire, Gang of Four, etc are excellent. Oh and Talk Talk! Amazing run of records.

Gavinski

@HotStrange said:

@Gavinski said:

@Gavinski said:
Has varied a lot over the years.

As a kid:

The Beach Boys
The Grease Soundtrack
Queen
E.L.O

Teen:
Fugazi, Nirvana, Pixies, Smiths, Cure, Doors, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Bowie, Canned Heat, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nic Jones, Irish trad, some jazz and classical, especially chamber music

20s:
Warp Label, Boards of Canada
Mo' Wax, especially Dj Shadow
Daft Punk, Super Discount, DJ Cam, Dimitri from Paris etc
Ninja Tune
Loads of Brazilian music from pre-Bossa days to the more electronica stuff. Especially Edu Lobo, Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento
Soul, jazz funk (Lonnie Liston Smith, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd etc)
Belle and Sebastian
Radiohead, especially from Kid A onwards
Trip Hop, Drum n Bass

30s:
Mostly House, Electroclash etc

40s:
Mostly jazz, ambient, experimental stuff. Writing and performing my own stuff on guitar, later abandoning that for the iPad.

I don't actually listen to that much music any more, I'd rather fiddle around with apps.

Just realised that there was an unforgiveable omission in my list from the teen years - The Fall!

Also should have had dub and reggae in that list somewhere

Oh man the Fall are amazing. All those early post punk bands like them, Wire, Gang of Four, etc are excellent. Oh and Talk Talk! Amazing run of records.

The Fall just had so many great tracks, they are definitely my fave out of that bunch. Pretty diverse in their sound too, think how different, say, Bill is Dead and Container Drivers (one of the coolest songs ever!) are.

Saw them live once too. Mark E Smith was being a right tosser, remember he knocked over part of the drummers kit at one point. But what a legend. There are a few good documentaries on youtube about them.

The Krazy Wabbit

Mannheim Steamroller, Herbie Hancock, A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B, Chicago House, Bill Withers.

The biggest however is my ears. What moves me?

[Deleted User]

@Gavinski said:
Saw them live once too. Mark E Smith was being a right tosser, remember he knocked over part of the drummers kit at one point.

That was part of his 'thing', his version of live mixing. He'd regularly fiddle with the instruments and amps - when I saw them in Cardiff he turned the guitarist's amp off, and for a few songs, he sang hidden backstage.

That level of control over the band is very Beefheartean, of who he was a fan.

The guitarist in one of the bands I was in tried doing that - the mixer was behind the band for small gigs, and he'd sneak over to turn himself up, and everyone else down. Once we'd caught on it was my job to stand in front of it with my bass, and guard the mixer!

Gavinski

@monz0id said:

@Gavinski said:
Saw them live once too. Mark E Smith was being a right tosser, remember he knocked over part of the drummers kit at one point.

That was part of his 'thing', his version of live mixing. He'd regularly fiddle with the instruments and amps - when I saw them in Cardiff he turned the guitarist's amp off, and for a few songs, he sang hidden backstage.

That level of control over the band is very Beefheartean, of who he was a fan.

Yeah, I remember seeing a vid of him hitting a few keys on one of the keyboard players keyboards. Can't have been easy being a Fall member lol

[Deleted User]

@Gavinski said:
Yeah, I remember seeing a vid of him hitting a few keys on one of the keyboard players keyboards. Can't have been easy being a Fall member lol

Much as I was a fan - I've got about 15 books on them here (including one by the husband a friend of my Mrs - huge thing I've got to get through at some point - 'You Must Get Them All: The Fall On Record') and most of their albums, I wouldn't have wanted that job in a million years!

BroCoast

This forum has great taste it seems.

I like Miles electric, Zappa, Most of the German 70’s stuff, Deerhunter, Kiasmos, Dungen, Mr Oizo etc.

HotStrange

@Gavinski said:

@HotStrange said:

@Gavinski said:

@Gavinski said:
Has varied a lot over the years.

As a kid:

The Beach Boys
The Grease Soundtrack
Queen
E.L.O

Teen:
Fugazi, Nirvana, Pixies, Smiths, Cure, Doors, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Bowie, Canned Heat, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nic Jones, Irish trad, some jazz and classical, especially chamber music

20s:
Warp Label, Boards of Canada
Mo' Wax, especially Dj Shadow
Daft Punk, Super Discount, DJ Cam, Dimitri from Paris etc
Ninja Tune
Loads of Brazilian music from pre-Bossa days to the more electronica stuff. Especially Edu Lobo, Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento
Soul, jazz funk (Lonnie Liston Smith, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd etc)
Belle and Sebastian
Radiohead, especially from Kid A onwards
Trip Hop, Drum n Bass

30s:
Mostly House, Electroclash etc

40s:
Mostly jazz, ambient, experimental stuff. Writing and performing my own stuff on guitar, later abandoning that for the iPad.

I don't actually listen to that much music any more, I'd rather fiddle around with apps.

Just realised that there was an unforgiveable omission in my list from the teen years - The Fall!

Also should have had dub and reggae in that list somewhere

Oh man the Fall are amazing. All those early post punk bands like them, Wire, Gang of Four, etc are excellent. Oh and Talk Talk! Amazing run of records.

The Fall just had so many great tracks, they are definitely my fave out of that bunch. Pretty diverse in their sound too, think how different, say, Bill is Dead and Container Drivers (one of the coolest songs ever!) are.

Saw them live once too. Mark E Smith was being a right tosser, remember he knocked over part of the drummers kit at one point. But what a legend. There are a few good documentaries on youtube about them.

Man I’m jealous you got to see them live. I’ve probably only really listened to maybe 8 of their albums so far. Mostly the most acclaimed ones. They just have so many haha. I think Wire is probably my favorite of them unless we found Talking Heads or Suicide.

HotStrange

@The Krazy Wabbit said:
Mannheim Steamroller, Herbie Hancock, A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B, Chicago House, Bill Withers.

The biggest however is my ears. What moves me?

Herbie Hancock. What a legend. Headhunters is one of my favorite albums.

HotStrange

@BroCoast said:
This forum has great taste it seems.

I like Miles electric, Zappa, Most of the German 70’s stuff, Deerhunter, Kiasmos, Dungen, Mr Oizo etc.

Oizo! He made great use of the MS20. Definitely a lot of good taste on this forum.

Franketti

Big inspiration were the first 7 Albums by Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Stevie Wonder, George Duke, Earth Wind and Fire, Al Jarreau. I‘ m old…..

purpan2

.> @Gavinski said:

@HotStrange said:

@Gavinski said:

@Gavinski said:
Has varied a lot over the years.

As a kid:

The Beach Boys
The Grease Soundtrack
Queen
E.L.O

Teen:
Fugazi, Nirvana, Pixies, Smiths, Cure, Doors, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Bowie, Canned Heat, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nic Jones, Irish trad, some jazz and classical, especially chamber music

20s:
Warp Label, Boards of Canada
Mo' Wax, especially Dj Shadow
Daft Punk, Super Discount, DJ Cam, Dimitri from Paris etc
Ninja Tune
Loads of Brazilian music from pre-Bossa days to the more electronica stuff. Especially Edu Lobo, Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento
Soul, jazz funk (Lonnie Liston Smith, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd etc)
Belle and Sebastian
Radiohead, especially from Kid A onwards
Trip Hop, Drum n Bass

30s:
Mostly House, Electroclash etc

40s:
Mostly jazz, ambient, experimental stuff. Writing and performing my own stuff on guitar, later abandoning that for the iPad.

I don't actually listen to that much music any more, I'd rather fiddle around with apps.

Just realised that there was an unforgiveable omission in my list from the teen years - The Fall!

Also should have had dub and reggae in that list somewhere

Oh man the Fall are amazing. All those early post punk bands like them, Wire, Gang of Four, etc are excellent. Oh and Talk Talk! Amazing run of records.

The Fall just had so many great tracks, they are definitely my fave out of that bunch. Pretty diverse in their sound too, think how different, say, Bill is Dead and Container Drivers (one of the coolest songs ever!) are.

Saw them live once too. Mark E Smith was being a right tosser, remember he knocked over part of the drummers kit at one point. But what a legend. There are a few good documentaries on youtube about them.

I was never a huge Fall fan, but had a pal who was really into them and played Live at the Witch Trials non stop. I went with him to see them once in London, and was amazed what a tight band they were - really excellent gig. (They certainly had the best song titles of all time.)

AudioGus

Future Sound of London
The Orb
Orbital
Plaid
B12
cEvin Key / Download / Plateau
Bill Leeb
Miles Davis
Amiga mods
Ancient Future

HotStrange

@Franketti said:
Big inspiration were the first 7 Albums by Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Stevie Wonder, George Duke, Earth Wind and Fire, Al Jarreau. I‘ m old…..

Never got super into Chicago but absolutely adore Stevie Wonder. That run of albums from Music of My Ming to Songs in the Key of Life is one of the greatest of all time.

steve99

Great thread, B12 @audiogus? I thought I was alone on that island

By decade (and obviously missing many that are close to my heart), these have all persisted as deep influences:

70s Roy Harper (not at the time, that would have been Showaddywaddy and The Wombles)
80s Talk Talk
90s Underworld
00s Gomez
10s Christian Löffler (the only ever album stored on my first 2012 iPad)
20s A Winged Victory for the Sullen (catching up obsessively now as late to the party)

Poppadocrock

Earlier I mentioned Ray Lamontagne, definitely inspirational because of his music but also because of his life story. He grew up homeless, moving place to place, then in his 20’s he had a realization because of a Stephen Stills song. Here’s a brief bio.

Ray Lamontagne encyclopedia dot com

HotStrange

@steve99 said:
Great thread, B12 @audiogus? I thought I was alone on that island

By decade (and obviously missing many that are close to my heart), these have all persisted as deep influences:

70s Roy Harper (not at the time, that would have been Showaddywaddy and The Wombles)
80s Talk Talk
90s Underworld
00s Gomez
10s Christian Löffler (the only ever album stored on my first 2012 iPad)
20s A Winged Victory for the Sullen (catching up obsessively now as late to the party)

Finally some Talk Talk praise. I’ve loved every album they’ve made.

HotStrange

@Poppadocrock said:
Earlier I mentioned Ray Lamontagne, definitely inspirational because of his music but also because of his life story. He grew up homeless, moving place to place, then in his 20’s he had a realization because of a Stephen Stills song. Here’s a brief bio.

Ray Lamontagne encyclopedia dot com

He’s the one that did the Trouble song right? He’s got a great voice.

Kewe_Esse

The muppets were foundational in my music appreciation:

Yeah I know they were musical covers, but the variety act was great, esp the songs

michael_m

@HotStrange said:

@michael_m said:

@HotStrange said:

@michael_m said:
Depends on which day you ask me as it will probably change from time to time, but if I put together a list off the top of my head of musicians who have influenced how I play…

John McGeoch - guitar
David Gilmour - guitar
Captain Sensible - guitar
David Bowie - saxophone
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Ludwig van Beethoven - piano
Dave Greenfield - electric piano
Rick Wright - organ
Bernie Worrell - synth
John Paul Jones - bass and mandolin
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Ward - drums

Probably others.

Bowie is one of my biggest as well. Love Bill Ward/Sabbath as well. Great choices! Charlie Watts is a very underrated drummer.

Bowie’s sax playing is within my ability which is why I like his style, and he played some really interesting lines that are a mix of conventional and unconventional.

What I love about Charlie’s drumming is that I can play a fair bit of it, and it’s great to learn from to play really solid grooves.

Unfortunately I never learned any brass instruments but I’ve always wanted to play the sax. Drums and Keys are my main axes.

I wouldn’t call myself a great drummer, so people like Charlie Watts are great for me to learn from - he was a master of straightforward grooves that just sounded perfect for whatever he played along to.

Same with Bowie and sax - there’s nothing he played that’s particularly difficult, but it just sounded so good.

AudioGus

@steve99 said:
Great thread, B12 @audiogus? I thought I was alone on that island

Ahhh yah, nice to meet a fellow B12 head. You might like Morphology. Check out their album Traveller amongst others.

qryss

I’ve realised the reason I had kids was so they could do musical research for me. I’ve never stopped seeking out new things to love and be inspired by but I have less time these days so the kids have become super useful.

Top fave bands of all time might be (today, anyway):

Daughter
Fred again..
Gabriel-era Genesis
Ride (up to Nowhere)
Cocteau Twins
Yes
The Cure
Supertramp
Phoebe Bridgers
Tears For Fears
Telenova
Pink Floyd
Talk Talk (last two albums especially)
21 Pilots
Hania Rani
Agnes Obel
Poliça
Rufus Du Soul
Curve
Sisters of Mercy
The Mission

Soundtrack people: Stephen Rennicks, Adam Taylor, Hans Zimmer, Hildur Gudnadottir