As space in my profile section seems to be somewhat limited - how, in all honestly, can a 42 year old geezer who grew up with an, even if I do say so myself, reasonably decent grasp of popular culture in all its forms reduce the impact that about a thousand different bands have had on his life to a mere 600 words, I ask you? - this would appear to be an ideal place to list those musical acts (groups and artists) that have had a moderately significant effect on my life.The list goes something like this...
abba, abc, a certain ratio, ryan adams, the adult net, the adverts, age of chance, a-house, alabama 3, alisha's attic, altered images, alternative tv, amen corner, the animals, angelic upstarts, the aphex twin, arab strap, arctic monkeys, argent, art of noise, asian dub foundation, ash, the associates, aswad, atomic rooster, audioweb, the auteurs, the average white band, aztec camera, eric b and rakim, b-movie, burt bacharach, bachman-turner overdrive, badfinger, badly drawn boy, david baird, afrika bambaataa, the band, the bar-keys, syd barrett, john barry, basement jaxx, bauhaus, the beach boys, the beatles, beats international, beck, the be good tanyas, beirut, the beloved, b-52's, big audio dynamite, big star, the birthday party, bjork, black box recorder, black grape, black uhuru, blondie, the blue aeroplanes, the bluebells, the blue nile, the bluetones, blur, the bmx bandits, the bodines, boards of canada, bomb the bass, the bonzo dog doodah band, booker t and the mg's, the boo radleys, david bowie, billy bragg, jacques brel, british sea power, edgar broughton band, james brown, jeff buckley, tim buckley, buffalo springfield, the butthole surfers, buzzcocks, the byrds, caleb, captain beefheart & the magic band, carter usm, martin carthy, johnny cash, cast, casuals, catatonia, nick cave & the bad seeds, the chairman of the board, chameleons, the charlatans, the chemical brothers, chicken shack, china crisis, chocolate watch band, the chords, clannad, the clancy brothers, gene clark, john cooper clarke, the clash, clock dva, the coasters, eddie cochrane, cockney rebel, the cocteau twins, leonard cohen, lloyd cole & the commotions, collapsed lung, edwyn collins, judy collins, the comsat angels, the godlike genius of julian cope, the coral, cornershop, elvis costello & the attractions, cotton mather, count five, the cramps, the cream, creation, credit to the nation, creedence clearwater revival, crosby stills nash young gifted and black, the cult, the cure, curve, cypress hill, the damned, dandy warhols, danse society, dantalian's chariot, darling buds, darts, miles davis, the dead kennedy's, de la soul, delerium, denim, the dentists, depeche mode, devo, dexy's midnight runners, bo diddley, dido, digital underground, dinosaur jnr, the disposable heroes of hiphoprisy, the divine comedy, dr feelgrood, dodgy, thomas dolby, lonnie donegan, donovan, the doors, carl douglas, doves, nick drake, dread zeppelin, dreadzone, dream academy, dubstar, bob dylan, east of eden, echo & the bunnymen, eddie & the hot rods, 808 state, the electric prunes, elctric light orchestra, electronic, eno, everything but the girl, the faces, donald fagen, fairport convention, the fall, the family cat, the farm, fat boy slim, the fatima mansions, felt, the flaming lips, flash and the pan, fleetwood mac, flowered up, flying burrito brothers, flying saucer attack, four star mary, four tops, john foxx, frankie goes to hollywood, aretha franklin, free, front line assembly, fun boy three, funkadelic, future sound of london, gang of four, the gap band, garbage, marvin gaye, generation x, geneva, gentle giant, geordie, the go-betweens, the go-go's, goldfrapp, goldie, goldie looking chain, goodybe mr mackenzie, davey graham, grand funk railroad, grandmaster flash & the furious five, reverend al green, green on red, the grid, groove armada, guided by voices, a guy called gerald, half man half biscuit, hamell on trial, the handsome family, the happy mondays, jeff hart & the ruins, keef hartley band, george harrison, pj harvey, hawkwind, isaac hayes, richard hell & the voidoids, the healers, jimi hendrix experience, the high, the higsons, hipsway, robyn hitchcock, the hollies, buddy holly & the crickets, the hombres, john lee hooker, the housemartins, house of love, humble pie, marsha hunt, hurrah, husker du, i am kloot, i ludicrous, the icicle works, isley brothers, chad jackson, the jags, the jam, james, bert janesh, the jesus and mary chain, robert john's children, johnson, joy division, the kane gang, kasabian, kid rock, the killers, killing joke, carole king, kings of convenience, kings of leon, the kinks, klf, kraftwerk, kula shaker, the la's, patti labelle, lambchop, leadbelly, led zeppelin, leftfield, liabach, lightning seeds, lindisfarne, little richard, robert lloyd & the new four seasons, lord sitar, love, love affair, love & money, love sculpture, lovin' spoonful, nick lowe, lush, kirsty maccoll, madness, magazine, manfred mann, aimee mann, mansun, mark four, bob marley & the wailers, marrs, martha & the vandellas, massive attack, john mayall's bluebreakers, curtis mayfield, mazzy star, mc5, david mcwilliams, men they couldn't hang, mercury rev, the mserseys, the meteors, the mighty lemon drops, mighty mighty, kylie minogue, smokey robinson & the miracles, misty in roots, the misunderstood, moby, the mock turtles, momus, monaco, the monkees, van morrison, morrisey, van morrison, the motorcycle boy, motorhead, the move, mungo jerry, mutant mirrors, the nazz, ned's atomic dustbin, new model army, new order, the new york dolls, the nice, nirvana, northside, nwa, oasis, ocean colour scene, the only ones, yoko ono, orange juice, the orb, orbital, roy orbison, orchestral manoeuvres in the dark, the ordinary boys, beth orton, the oyster band, the pale saints, paris angels, the pastels, penetration, pentangle, pere ubu, wilson pickett, pigbag, pilot, pink floyd, the pixies, the pogues, the polyphonic spree, the pooh sticks, iggy pop, pop will eat itself, portishead, prefab sprout, elvis presley, the pretenders, primal scream, the primitives, the artist formally known as talented, the prodigy, prong, the psychedelic furs, public enemy, public image ltd, pulp, radiohead, the railway children, the ramones, otis redding, the redskins, jimmy reed, lou reed, r.e.m, renegade soundwave, the residents, rich kids, ride, rogue traders, the rolling stones, the ronettes, roxy music, the rubettes, run dmc, the ruts, the rutles, st etienne, scissor sisters, screaming blue messiahs, scritti politti, seahorses, the searchers, the seeds, serious drinking, the sex pistols, shack, the shamen, the shazam, shriekback, the showstoppers, frank sidebottom, judee sill, paul simon, frank sinatra, siouxsie and the banshees, the skids, slade, guitar slim, sly and the family stone, the small faces, patti smith group, the smiths, smoke, soft cell, sonic youth, soup dragons, space, spacemen 3, the specials aka, spiritualised, splendid, dusty springfield, squeeze, big jim stafford, steelers wheel, martin stephenson and the daintees, stereolab, rod stewart, stiff little fingers, the stone roses, the stranglers, strawberry alarm clock, strawberry switchblade, joe strummer & the mescaleros, stump, suede, suicide, sugarcubes, the sundays, supergrass, the supremes, swans, the sweet, the talking heads, james taylor, the james taylor quartet, r dean taylor, the teardrop explodes, teenage fanclub, television, the temptations, 10,000 maniacs, ten years after, that petrol emotion, the the, them, thin lizzy, third world, the 13th floor elevators, this mortal coil, richard and linda thompson, the trash can sinatras, throwing muses, tindersticks, tintern abbey, traffic, t-rex, the triffids, arthur two stroke and the chart commandos, ultramarine, the undertones, underworld, unit 4 plus 2, u2, the velvet underground, the verve, wah heat!, scott walker, t-bone walker, war, the waterboys, muddy waters, the weather prophets, the webb brothers, paul weller, paul westerburg, the white stripes, the who, the wild swans, willard grant conspiracy, hank williams, lucinda williams, sonny boy williamson, edgar winter group, wire, jah wobble, howlin' wolf, woodentops, the wonder stuff, working week, robert wyatt, xtc, the yardbirds, yeah! yeah! no!, yello, neil young and crazy horse, frank zappa, warren zevon, zion train, the zombies, the zutons
... I suppose I should say something pithy like "and that was just last night" at this point. Well, tough, cos I'm not going to. That's, in fact, in the time since 26th October 1966 when I was bought the 'Yellow Submarine' single for my third birthday - black Parlophone label. Still got it. My favourite song up until that moment had been 'My Boomerang Won't Come Back' by Charlie Drake ... also on the Parlophone label and also produced by George Martin, interestingly!
It's an evolving process, of course and every so often I'll update the list (just added Arctic Monkeys and The Killers in the last few days, in fact ... the jury's still out on the Kaiser Chiefs).
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