Important bands in your musical taste

[fitear1590 2414]

So what bands would you consider to be the most important in shaping your musical taste?

As in, what key band did you discover, that lead to finding a number of other bands?

(Feel free to talk about your so-called "western" music tastes as well)

Some of mine:

Malice Mizer -> visual kei in general, but more specifically an affinity for cheesy VK "gothic" things, which then lead to being able to appreciate old school VK in all of its deathrocky, nasally glory.

(this defunct indie pop band from Texas that had a bossa nova influence) -> led to my taste in "indie pop" but more relevant, the biggies of bossa nova like Astrud/ Joao Gilberto and Antonio Jobim, which then led to a better appreciation for jazz as a whole, etc etc

Hizaki Grace Project -> Hizaki pretty much set the standard for metal guitar for me. I've heard many many "western" metal bands and while they can be impressive, I just always come back for more Hizaki, haha. Still, it led me on a hunt for more neo-classical, melodic stuff. And of course, Versailles is one of my top bands now.

-> I'm not even sure how I found this band to begin with anymore. Still, it was an extension of that "indie pop" stuff I was getting into at the time. It possibly led to my discovery of Shibuya Kei, because I think there's a pretty big influence here. Also led to a few more of these spanish pop bands, haha.

The Piass -> I couldn't stand "heavy" music until I was like 16. That isn't to say I needed everything poppy, but I just didn't understand the point "harsh" vocals. Post-hardcore was just the most awful stuff I had ever heard (I hadn't even heard of black metal at that point). Somehow, the Piass, as abrasive and noisy as they can be, really clicked with me. I'd say they had a pretty big hand in allowing me to "appreciate" and enjoy certain bands that are... a little less ear-friendly.

There's many more, but please discuss some of yours!

[Number Girl 48]

L'arc en Ciel - I hardly listen to them at all and never really have been a fan, but hearing their songs on anime got me interested in Japanese language music. I spent a long time only listening to anime theme songs primarily, but it wasn't until I discovered Gackt that delved into the rock scene with legitimate interest and I was able to discover some of my favorite bands of all time.

D'espairsRay - They encouraged me to more deeply explore the visual kei scene as well as develop a taste for the heavy, darker, screaming metal and "core" music; I no longer really enjoy much visual kei or that kind of metal, but I'm still a big D'Ray fan and digging around in that area has led me to some fantastic music.

Versailles - Versailles' guitars got me into the power metal scene of Japan which eventually pointed me in the direction of classic heavy metal and hard rock music (as ironic as it seems). They also helped me to appreciate the guitar which is the meat of all rock music.

Number Girl - Got me engaged into the Japanese indie and underground scenes and interested in more eclectic and harsher sounding music genres in general such as emo and noise rock. I started listening to NG-influenced bands and NG member solo projects and soon I was listening to stuff as weird as Boredoms and Melt-Banana. Discovering them has also turned me into an official Inazawa fangirl!

Dropkick Murphys - This band got me hooked onto punk, especially the more "classic" sounding style and eventually I began exploring the DIY "core" bands that had strong punk derivatives. Punk has slightly altered my political views as well, but it has merely made me more stronger, active, and aware of my own views rather than encourage me to adopt a particular ideology.

[CAT5 9075]

Great thread!

I'll need to give this a bit of thought, though...bbl

[Zeus 7997]

Totally need to jump in on this ;D

Dir en grey - Quite arguably the MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY of mine ever. Their music alone helped me get through some rough times as I lived in a very conformist society from which I was excluded, so I was basically a social pariah my entire life. As much as I tried to conform to the stereotypes of what a man was supposed to be, I wasn't allowed to. That, and the music that I was prescribed to listen to was and still is utter shit. I discovered them at 7 due to an acquaintance of mine blasting Cage over her Walkman and they were interesting. It wasn't love upon first listen since I still thought they looked really stupid and was stuck on the fact that they were Japanese but subsequent albums went a long way towards fixing that. It was a few tracks here and there, a little bit of Audrey a few years later, then Filth and 24 Cylinders after that. It wasn't until I was a teenager with consistent internet access and an MP3 player that I went around the internet starting my illegal downloading escapades and remembered Dir en grey. Grabbed Ash from the Myaku single and OBSCURE from VULGAR and it was all smooth sailing from there as I rediscovered them. These guys opened up the door for Visual Kei as well as other types of metal and also went a long way towards making sure I was receptive to change in the bands that I chose to listen to.

Amesoeurs (or anything by Neige and Fursy Teyssier) - Truthfully, I haven't been listening to black metal for much of my life (started last year due to a recommendation from a user here over last.fm). Demon Burger deserves to be up here since they were the first "black metal" band that I listened to but I really listened to Death Cult Armageddon and not something like For All Tid or Stormblast (OK that's a lie; I tried Stormblast but couldn't get over the production values) and Dimmu aren't really black metal as much as they are symphonic metal. Amesoeurs was the first band that I put on heavy rotation that wasn't Japanese and the first legitimate black metal band that I was introduced to. It's a shame that they're no longer making music but from Amesoeurs I was introduced to Neige's other projects such as Alcest (which I remember seeing on Vurtox's wall not too long before I started listening to him), Lantlos and Les Discrets.

Les Discrets is a terrible connection on my part since it's Fursy's band and not Neige's but Fursy was in Amesoeurs as well so mentioning them here makes sense. Amesoeurs opened me up to the French metal scene, got me out of the Japanese Box and introduced me to some new artists I need to keep my eyes on. Really epic stuff, as your moderator I demand you all give the "Ruines Humaines" EP a try.

ELECTRIC RED - Let's be honest - this man needs a better drummer than himself and some of his arranges aren't the best thing in the world (I'm looking at you Rotten Leaf), but it was through a random download from Wind that I was introduced to Touhou arranges. Other than that, this solo artist was really instrumental (pun intended) in my growing fascination with math rock and really unusual time signatures in my music and that's spilled over into quite a few other bands that I've started listening to since then. Some really good stuff on some of his releases, I'd really suggest the RED RECOLLECTION album though. Get's 2/3rds of his demo release in re-recorded, more smexy form.

Mono - If this wasn't what got me into exploring more post-rock music, it was Les Discrets. Either way this band is fantastic. Part of the reason why I don't listen to much post-rock is because after listening to a few other bands in the genre, I realized it can't get much better than this. I have to be in some bizarre mood for instrumental pieces and long songs to truly enjoy their work but songs like Yearning and Com(?) are just fantastic pieces of art when I am into it.

Boris - Fuzz overlords of the deep here need some respect as well. They have one of the most inaccessible discographies out of any band that I've ever met and I've still to figure out what I'm missing and what I'm not from them, but the bits and pieces of their work that I DO have are amazing. From tracks like Absolutego, which is just a complete fucking MONSTER of a doom/drone track that you feel kick you in your gut to work like the hypnotic I'm-going-to-submerge-you-slowly Flood to the fuzzed out rock tracks like Kane -The Bell Tower of a Sign- and I Just Abandoned My-Self to even the new pop side they've displayed with Party Boy, I have to say this is the most flexible band in my library. Most importantly, they've dispelled that myth that a clearer recording quality equals a better band and better music. Not only are they not overproduced to all hell, their music has an authentic, raw quality to it a lot of modern music is missing. They even make their mistakes sound good!

Considering that I just got into many of these bands within the last year, consider my musical taste impressionable and incomplete

[Champ213 1858]

Chronologically:

Paul Simon: for being the first artist I ever listened to, I guess XD (I was 6)

The Cranberries: the first "rock"-sort of band after years of pop and charts stuff in my early teens

Suede: The most important band for me. Irreplacable love of my life, since I was 15.

Marilyn Manson: for getting me into somewhat harder/darker stuff in my late teens

Luna Sea: for getting me into J-Rock

Amon Amarth: for making me loose my apprehension of growls/harsh vocals, lol

[SUBLIMINAL 52]

Hm. I had to give this quite a bit of consideration.

My mother and father's music collections were pivotal in my taste's progression. I know for a fact that if I hadn't been exposed to my dad's rock music or my mum's electronic/synthpop obsessions, I would be drowning in top 40 tracks right now. Deep Purple, Guns 'n' Roses, Pink Floyd and specifically Electric Light Orchestra on my dad's side (who stick out most because they were the band he would put on the loudest). He used to listen to a lot of Sex Pistols too, but, boy, I hated that band. Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and INXS were an influence from my mum's speakers.

My grandfather all but forced me to listen to classical music when I was six and through him and it I learnt how to play the piano, which has given me an in built affinity for the instrument in music. It also introduced me to opera, which has made me appreciative of tenor and soprano vocals and classically-inspired genres, such as symphonic metal and neo-classical. Metal often uses the same structural techniques as classical music. I can't pinpoint any particular artist, but the genre in general has had an enormous impact on the evolution of my musical taste.

Lacuna Coil. I was in love with them in my early-to-mid teens. I had listened to heavier music prior to Lacuna Coil, but I had never been so attached to a band that was even remotely metal. I wasn't too big on harsh vocals or growls then either, but Andrea Ferro (mediocre vocalist that he is) was a helpful stepping stone. Through them I began to get interested in female-fronted rock/metal and, believe it or not, female-fronted bands helped me embrace my sexuality. Additionally, they taught me to appreciate languages other than my own in music. So without them, I might've cast aside anything Japanese thrust at me.

Dir en grey. They were by no means the first Japanese band I heard, but they were the... weirdest, for want of a more appropriate word. And they were the only one who once upon a time embraced androgyny. I'm not a huge Dir en grey fan anymore, but they were the first visual kei band I actually liked and I began to search for more after hearing them, namely D'espairsRay. I'd basically sever all ties with visual kei if not for D'espairsRay. I wouldn't say they shaped my musical taste in any way, but since they're my favourite band and have been for years now, they have shaped me.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen's projects. Pulled me out of the musical slump I was in and introduced me to an array of new, awesome musicians who have since become irreplacable in my library. The Gathering, too, broadened my musical horizons more than I can express.

Katatonia and Opeth, especially the latter, for teaching me to love growling.

Alcest and Neige's other outfits (mainly Amesoeurs). Before discovering this man, I would typically dissociate myself from black metal. I had no idea "atmospheric black metal" existed. I'd always assumed black metal was all br00tal kvlt death to all! satan rules! and I wasn't into that variety at all. And then I heard Alcest, around the release of Souvenirs d'un autre monde, and was speechless that this was made by a well-known name in the black metal community. Eventually I came to love everything Neige touched and started to explore similar artists. I even tried some of those oh so frightening black metal bands I otherwise would've steered clear of (such as Negură Bunget and An Autumn for Crippled Children) and enjoyed them.

[LIDL 692]

yep, like SUBLIMINAL, my Dad had great influence for shaping roots for my musical taste. Among his fondness of oldies C-Pop like Teresa Teng, he also a huge fan of Euro Pop like ABBA and Bangles, Rock n Roll like Elvis, Beatles, Chuck Berry and Disco, i found the Saturday Night Fever record within his collection. These were played very often when i was small.

It's only when i get a little older, i found couple of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Black Sabbath albums in my Dad's cabinet. Probably he never turn this on when i am around cos he didn't wanna raise his child to be rebellious? I never know. But i found it and silently bang it when he's at work

those became very first influences for me.

And as i became a pre teen,

i started to build up my own taste.

Yeah, i started it not very cool, with NKOTB and Spice Girl, bubblegum pop. With some melodic Punk like Blink 182 and Green Day too and Rap because of Puff Daddy's I'll be missing you and 2Pac's Mother.

On my Highschool year, i started to reveal more, that i came to be fond of.

Industrial, electro, Rap Rock. Marilyn Manson and Slipknot played a big part. And i also must note, at this stage, i started to subcribe myself to some music magazines like Rolling Stones and alike. Those helped me to discover another genres, bands and musicians that i listened to occasionally right now.

britpop, Acid Jazz, prog metal/rock, Bossanova, RnB, Soul, and VK.

Dir en Grey is the very band that responsible for me to get into the scene. Because of them, i tracked down Yoshiki (the producer for Gauze) and started to listen to X-Japan and from there i expanded to Luna Sea and so on and so forth.

And then, here i am.

I discovered folk metal here, though i just touching at the surface :x

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Seattle Grunge Scene - I really didn't think for myself when it came to music when I was younger. I was just interested in whatever my peers where into and while I was young during the grunge explosion here in Seattle, it was pretty much the cool thing everyone was into. It pretty much set me up for being a rock'n roll kid 4 lyfe.

The Offspring/AFI - Aside from the typical NW grunge bands that where on all the radio stations I was pretty into The Offspring for awhile. Up till their Americana album. Believe it or not AFI use to actually make good music when they where on Nitro records. The Offspring did a cover of one of AFI's songs (Total Immortal) which made me start listening to the band. Usually I associate the two together since for awhile that was what I exclusively listened too. These bands kind of kept me safe from the big Nu-Metal craze but I did have a brief affair with Nu-Metal.

Blind Guardian - My best friend bought Somewhere Far Beyond on a whim, we saw a picture of the band on the back and thought they looked pretty tough and plus the cover looked cool. I remember us leaving the mall and popping this album in the CD player in the car,

is the first song on the CD. It starts off with a nice little acoustic opening, pretty calm and melodic. However having no idea what style this band played we where caught off when the guitars kicked in and ended up head banging the fuck out to this awesome song. Blind Guardian steered me right into European metal and all was good.

For Japanese music ~

Malice Mizer - At first I hated them, keep in mind that at the time I only listened to heavy music like metal and some punk bands. So when my friends showed me a fruity MM video with Gackt and Mana pracing around like douche bags (Au revoir) and telling me that was Japanese metal. I laughed in their face, thinking Japanese metal was just super gay pop crap. So for about a year I didn't listen to anything from Japan because I thought it was all animu themes and pop rock. Then I saw the Bara no Seidou VHS AND THAT SHIT BLEW MY MIND. Curious about the band I Googled them which led to MP3 rotation sites (Anyone remember those LOL!?)

Aliene Ma'riage & Noir Fleurir - Because of Bara no Seidou mind fucking me, I ended up Googling for MP3s and used to follow MP3 rotation sites before getting into torrents and Soul Seek. I ended up with a lot of crap but specifically two special songs would be Gyaku～norowareta orugoru no naka de～ from Aliene and Rasen no shinshou fuukei from Noir Fleurir. These I clearly remember as my first song from these guys, almost instant favourites and still my favourites from these two bands. These where my gateway bands that led me into the train wreck known as Kotekote kei.

[ronluna 17]

before i concentrated on my favorites i was fond of mainstream music.

in chronological order:

Backstreet Boys, Savage Garden - first groups that became my favorite.

L'Arc~en~Ciel -first favorite japanese band after listening to many anime themes.

DIE IN CRIES~D'ERLANGER - i discovered Die in cries through yukihiro of l'arc and connected artists LUNA SEA, BUCK-TICK, DEAD END, D'ERLANGER was discovered at the same time. i also discovered Dir en grey, NIGHTMARE, girugamesh through YOUTUBE and wiki. jack in the box event became important for me because i discovered 44MAGNUM through that. i discovered HANOI ROCKS Through D'ERLANGER and 44MAGNUM.

BON JOVI - i am fond of 80's rock n roll era and i discovered them. then GUNS N' ROSES, AEROSMITH, DEF LEPPARD,LED ZEPPELLIN,etc.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Believe it or not AFI use to actually make good music when they where on Nitro records.

Rude. Their last album has great songs on it as well. Although, everything after Sing the Sorrow has been a "love three songs, ignore the rest of the album" deal for me.

[X-Marc 7]

Gackt->got me into the scene plus he has the most amazing live shows.

x-japan-> best band in the scene period, dont like em as much since their revive, but still, their old stuff is solid as hell

Merry-> love gara, hes one of the best live artists ive ever seen, love their crazy style

hide-> my favorite guitarist, really like his own work

other of my favs: Luna Sea, Deluhi, -oz-, lynch., maximum the hormone, sex machineguns

[Guest Naru]

Janne Da Arc: The most important band in My life. no other band can't beat them. amazing great music!

LOUDNESS: After I saw them 2 times here in EUROPE I just can't leave that fandom alone I stalk Niihara blog day by day!! I love that kind of Metal sound so damn much!

Calmando Qual: They guys have my support 4ever. however, they are not my favorite band.. (laugh)

2 bullet: Dee Lee is a great guy!, He is very kind, like to talk with his fans sometimes! HE even do re-tweet me, if I ask him something!

Oh wait, and the music who they make is just amazing great!

Marlee: I never though that I would ever buy a CD of this band. my first impression was.. what female vocal? sounds not that great.. however I looked for more songs. and I began to like this band little by little big more.

Velvet Eden: I know that people dislike DADA, but I don't care, at facebook he is really nice to his fans and beside that, his music is great!.. only a little bit to expensive *laugh*

THE SOUND BEE HD: I like all previous releases except the last one DOKU. But I re`laly did fall in love with the music!!

However.. one of the most important Artist in my life.. is still EMINEM!! because his hiphop music is just the best!

a other alternative band who I really love is ITCHY POOPZKID a german band <3<3 just so damn lovely sound!

Back to Japanese..

I would say.. The solo projects of Ka-Yu(Janne Da Arc) make me feel very happy!! his solo project means much more then Yasu's Solo Project.

Okay that's enough

[doaseternity6 93]

Gonna try to be as chronological as possible and besides the first thing, gonna try to stick to Japanese music to keep it brief.

At the earliest I used to listened to a lot of what my Dad listened to, so a lot of old-school when it comes to soul, blues, RnB, etc for the most part. Evanesecence, Linkin Park and System of A Down were probably the first rock artists I started to get into those days. So even though I don't listen to them that much these days they did start me.

Do As Infinity is probably the most important band as without them I probably wouldn't have gotten into Japanese music as much as I did (I listened to some random J-pop here and there but DAI was the first band that really made me LOVE it and stick with it, instead of just a few songs I liked and threw away later.) and possibly not really have ventured outside of a western comfort zone. I also credit them with giving me a new focus, music, after I'd gotten discourage with my actual passion at the time Art. They still remain my favorite band.

Art-School, Acidman and Spangle call lilli line , I credit with starting to pull me into becoming the J-indies brat I've been for the most part and getting my feet wet. So perhaps, they get some of the biggest credit for my music tastes since what they helped to initiate accounts for the majority of my listening.

Alice nine is probably the only reason I got into visual Kei, even though it took almost a year after first listening to them before I realized they were a visual kei band lol. (Downloaded from a generally J-pop site and only because I thought their name sounded cool. I did/do this a lot and then am lazy getting band info until one is solidified into my heart). Prior to that a few bands that I liked were formerly visual but I wasn't really a fan of their visual periods and/or the visual kei bands I had listened to at that point (d'espairsray, Blood, 12012) I didn't really like, so probably without Alice nine, I wouldn't have ever gone to tonberry and by extension never have been brought to TW and tried out the visual scene, which I was really into trying for a year or 2, although now they're really the only visual band I actively listen to/follow.

Not really chronological as it kind of spans a long time: Dir En Grey when it comes to memories built with those I consider my best friends they become quite important since they were central to a lot of things we did back in those days, most prominently lives. Even though D'ray was technically our first concert experience together (and mine period) none of us actually like them, so we kind of count Deg as the one. And obviously since they came to Amurrrika quite a bit we went to see them waiting out on the cold streets of new york pretty much every time, coming back even by the time we were in college (at which point it was more like a tradition then really about the show) and building some of my favorite memories. So not really a shaping of music tastes but I can't really talk about bands that have effected me without talking about them.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Marilyn Manson: made me actively interested in music for the first time in my life. Still love him.

Cradle of Filth/Rhapsody/Helloween: (...and many more, on a sort of compilation audio-cassette) made me fall in love with almost any form of metal music which was what I predominantly listened to, before discovering J-music.

Atsushi Sakurai & BUCK-TICK: Atsushi's Sacrifice PV was my first J-music experience, and along with B-T's (and some other bands') music, opened up an enormously wide spectrum of music I hadn't even listened to before. Thus, besides J-music, I got more into Western glam (David Bowie), post-punk/goth (Bauhaus, Joy Division), and basically any kind of music, not just rock/metal (like Aphex Twin, Merzbow, jazz, blues, etc).

Hmmm, I think that's most of it.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Believe it or not AFI use to actually make good music when they where on Nitro records.

Rude. Their last album has great songs on it as well. Although, everything after Sing the Sorrow has been a "love three songs, ignore the rest of the album" deal for me.

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. Pretty much when they signed to Dreamworks they went downhill.

[Vurtox 3]

This is a killer topic to discuss. I'll put in a more educated reply later on tomorrow. =]

[nitta 175]

T.M.Revolution: My first interest in Japanese music .. I was only listening to anime songs before.

Janne Da Arc: Best band ever ! I was never into a musical act like I was into them... I hope they come back soon.

Kuroyume: If you ask me to categorize all bands this one will stay alone. They're just unique.

you (Janne Da Arc): I started playing guitar because of him.

heidi. : All their songs have that Dejavu feeling & I think it's awesome !

MUCC: Great music, I wish they could perform live as good.

[evilcoconut 109]

need to think about this more

[roninbuddha 0]

general sense, non just japanese, i was practically half-metal, half-prog head, and a great deal of 90's rock.

i dig stuff like Megadeth (which is why i like AKB48, idol music, etc),

as well as... something as far off as Genesis (my taste for post-rock i guess comes from being exposed this).

Then there's Smashing Pumpkins. (straightforward rock)

but for japanese music:

my holy trinity

advantage Lucy gave me a taste for poppy "shibuya kei" sounds, (which is why i like capsule, and jazzy/bossa bands)

Supercar introduced me to electronic(a). (from post-punk to glitch, all from this)

NUMBER GIRL simply spoke to me on a personal level, musically. (which made me into an 'indie' fag, and helped me appreciate math, jazz, rap, folk, and enka)

NG being the most influential to me, overall.

and Mukai Shutoku, a hero of mine. *wankwank*

and from there you can tell what branched out from what.

when i was 15-17 i was obsessed with Gackt too (like everyone else at that time)... but i honestly did not take anything, musically, from him.

[fitear1590 2414]

Whoa, I'll have to check out Advantage Lucy then. Sounds possibly up my alley.

[relentless 254]

Nirvana -- Inspired me to play guitar and join a band

Dir en grey -- helped me appreciate heavier music and delve into metal

Rentrer en soi -- their song Amongst Foolish Enemies inspired me to start writing and playing "metal" riffs

August Burns Red -- helped me tolerate BR00TAL METALCORE RAWR

The Pillows -- opened me up to Japanese music. Hearing Ride On Shooting Star really changed things for me (this was before FLCL)

[futoshi92 34]

Ok mine will be:

The non-Japanese:

Limp Bizkit - my all time favourite band, thanks for them to introducing me into heaveir music, though their style isn't rock that much and I try to keep them on top at my last.fm

profile

Nirvana - with them I started listening to rock

Korn - I often listen to them

AC/DC - I can't get enough of their "Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black' albums

And the Japanese:

Dir en Grey - They're one of the best for me, I knew they changed for some phases but for me they've always presented sth good

Maximum the Hormone - they're just way too awesome, that I can't simply describe it

Sex Machineguns - same like MTH they're just kickass and thanks to them for introducing me into Japanese heavy metal

[golffy_aoi 15]

Old school = Lareine

: One of the best old school VK bands!!!!!! I was inspired by them to play guitar and piano I love all of their songs' melody

VK = old ayabie

: I just love Aoi, that's all I know!!! Anti-Yume

Oshare = Zip.er xD

[*littlelamb 78]

I was quite a sporadic music listener all through my teens, though always surrounded by music thanks to my dad. I always hated pop with a passion and only got attached to some Brit rock bands and a few Spanish/French/Italian artists, because I liked the languages. But since internet file sharing wasn't quite what it is now, it certainly kept the number of bands down. I wouldn't call any of those important as far as my current taste goes though.

Malice Mizer has to be mentioned, even though I rarely listen to them these days, but they are what first introduced me to Japanese music and kept popping into my mind for years before I looked any further. And what did I find after looking further? Why visual kei of course. Thankfully even in all my naïvety I didn't find much I could tolerate there.

Except for MERRY. I fell in love with all their melancholic old pop melodies that were just this bizarre throwback to my childhood. All of the songs having the same effect without sounding the same at all. Before I knew it I was listening to them everyday, and whereas before I'd mostly been paying attention to the melodies in music, I suddenly started to really listen to every instrument separately. Because in Merry they all have something to say while not being too complex or chaotic to follow. Kind of the perfect mix to hone your ears with, catchy but balanced, simple yet effective. And paying attention to the instruments just opened up so many genres I would have before that dismissed as uninteresting, as well as making it impossible to listen to rock with boring instrumentation. Plus on top of all that they've straight up brought me to so many bands I've loved via recommendations, taking part in the same tribute albums, playing at the same events... None of them VK mind you. Stuff like 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Judy and Mary, midori, Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, kinoco hotel, Number Girl, Kaguyahime, Chirinuruwowaka etc. I respect their tastes and general love of music so much, and it makes me have the utmost faith in them. I could go on all day, but enough of that.

Ling tosite sigure for getting me forever lost in the indie scene of Japan. I found them on last.fm somehow and after Youtubing my mind was blown. Set the bar impossibly high from the start really, but led me to endless Youtube trips via their similar artists and suddenly I had found loads of bands that sounded better than almost anything I'd ever heard, or more like actively listened to. The rest is history really.

As much as there are skilled brilliant bands all over the world, I'm just a total sucker for the melodic sense of the Japanese. Maybe it's because their popular music of the last century has been influenced by stuff from all over the world much like that of my own country. They've even been obsessed with the same genres as we have, like surf rock and tango, so there's this odd similarity in taste. Plus they possess that crazy boundless creativity that isn't something you come by often. I started learning Japanese because of the music and the more I understand the more I wish to listen to it, so I find myself increasingly stuck on J-music.

Oh a special shout-out to DIR EN GREY for making me realize there's nothing wrong with growling if you do it right. Just another way to sing. Made it possible to appreciate various metal bands, though my taste in metal is fairly limited to a few subgenres.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Versailles: allowed me to stop being afraid of metal and was my gateway band to visual-kei, along with Malice Mizer.

Hizaki Grace Project: More or less the same as Versailles' heavier songs, but stalking Hizaki's career led me to kote-kei bands that I couldn't stand for a little while, which leads me tooooo-->

Madeth Gray'll: Hated them. Hisui sang like a disemboweled goat and their music was all screams and the same simple guitar riffs over and over again. Then all of a sudden I really liked them, and all of a sudden all of those old bands that were similar in terms of musical ability were good too.

Alesana: Helped me like growly screamy music, although they're very dainty.

August Burns Red: Gave me an appreciation for metal-core, although I don't really explore that genre too much because most of them aren't that musically interesting.

AFI / Avenged Sevenfold / HIM: I could tell my friends I like "normal" music now

Kalmah: I started liking death-metal-y stuff because of them. Children of Bodom, Felshgod Apocalypse, Sigh, etc.

Penicillin: Helped me appreciate melodic 90's VK much much more than I ever did. Hakuei 4 evr