Tonamel on 10/7/2006 at 09:59

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As a musician/composer, here's the five composers/groups that have influenced my own style the most...

Sufjan Stevens
Ingram Marshall
Boards of Canada
Aphex Twin
Caribou

As far as "life changing" music, at least one of my top five will probably get some sad chuckles/outright derision...

1. Blind Guardian - I didn't start listening to music that wasn't classical until I was in my 20s (and I'm only 26, so it's a fairly recent development). Growing up in the Cultural Black Hole of mideastern Ohio, my impression of ALL modern music came from the Top 40 radio, and, needless to say, I wasn't really impressed with it. Somehow or other, I heard some Blind Guardian, and was blown away by how it was metal(ish), and yet very symphonic in nature. Then it occurred to me that there might actually be some art out there.

2. Boards of Canada - Much thanks to Noid for this. Some time after entering into the realm of modern music, I'd gotten interested in electronic music. Noid told me about Geogaddi, and after downloading a couple tracks, I went out and bought it. I'd never heard anything like their particular kind of organic electronic, and it's a sound I love to this day, which is why they're on my list of influences.

3. Carl Orff - Does this even need explanation? The man bound the Fires of Hell to an orchestra. I've sung in the chorus for Carmina Burana twice, and it continues to be the most powerful stuff I've performed.

4. Aaron Copland - Specifically In the Beginning, which is very different from the rest of his stuff. Like Blind Guardian, it introduced me to the world of modern classical music. Not that I hadn't heard/performed modern stuff before, but I hadn't understood or appreciated it until I sang this.

5 Caribou (formerly Manitoba) - Opened my eyes to the fact that music can be both artful and happy at the same time, which is why he's on my list of top influences.

ToolHead on 10/7/2006 at 11:53

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In chronological order:

R.E.M - the band that got me interested in music in the first place.
Deftones - kickstarted my interest in metal.
Tool - still my favorite band.
Ani DiFranco - provided a more mellow counterpoint during my metal years.
The Flaming Lips - a band like no other.

scumble on 10/7/2006 at 12:27

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It's possible that you could say that music that changed the way you appreciated the art form is life-changing. The thread is still working so perhaps this semantic wrangling is unnecessary.

I'll have to take the line of composers/producers/musicians line probably.

I'm afraid the first chap will be from the area of "smooth" jazz - Dave Grusin, but I think he goes a long way beyond the typical bland stuff you hear almost constantly on American TV. Why is he important to me? He is somewhere between the classical and jazz worlds, and his personal work brings in many styles. He also did an album with his brother Don almost entirely with electronic instruments (save an acoustic piano). So since about 11 or 12 I've had an interest in the use of synthesisers to make expressive music, against the common belief that they are somehow "dead" instruments. For interest, he did music for films such as Three Days of the Condor, The Goonies, Tootsie, The Firm and so on.

Next, Ludwig van Beethoven, as he (poshumously) really hooked me into classical music, rescuing me from a general boredom with popular music during the mid 90s. Probably Mahler, Bach, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Vaughan Williams are equally important, but I may not have progressed so enthusiastically had I not started where I did.

The Orb, which finally got me interested in electronica originating from the various club-related scenes, something that had eluded me for a while. Before then, I'd mostly picked up influences second-hand through some computer game music in the early 90s.

Future Sound of London, probably for the same reason. Some of their work appeared on the soundtrack for Wipeout 2097, I believe, which is where I first heard of them.

Also, quite a few people from the early 70s - Focus, Emerson, Lake and Plamer, Pink Floyd - all were conveniently available in my Dad's record collection.

These influences have probably kept me going in my efforts to compose and produce my own music, although I'm struggling a bit to keep that going lately. Even if no-one is particularly interested in this post it will probably encourage me to sit down and listen for a while...

Shevers on 10/7/2006 at 12:55

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In order of when I got into them...

Queen - Changed my life in so much as that I didn't pay much attention to music until I started really listening to Queen. My dad's to blame, I knew the likes of Don't Stop Me Now and Bohemian Rhapsody since I was 5, without knowing their names or who sang them. So when I finally did listen to Queen and remembered all those songs from my childhood, it made me fall in love with them.

Oasis - My early teens unlocked Oasis. Again, my dad had the first two albums so I'd heard them, but now was when I got into them. The first album I bought was an Oasis one. It changed my life in that I was listening to music that other people were, gasp, and basically it started me on the road to developing specific tastes. The amount of Oasis fans in my school also meant I got completely immersed in the band.

The Libertines - Suggested by my cousin during my Oasis days, I bought Up The Bracket on a whim, and basically I've never looked back. Nowadays my whole musical tastes are built around The Libertines. My friends are sick of me talking about them. They are the soundtrack to my life now, and were the background music to my teen angst. They're definitely the most important band for me.

And I don't have a 4 and 5. I could name a few bands that I listen to, but nothing that has had any kind of impact on my life like those three. The Clash comes close, but I've just not heard enough of them.

Para?noid on 10/7/2006 at 17:09

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I really want to get into these guys - "Landmass" and "Papua New Guinea" are amazing compositions but unfortunately FSOL aren't aging particularly well...