# Your idols in music



## PaulShepherd (Feb 22, 2009)

Every musician is influenced by a famous musician. Whether it's Mozart or Angus Young, it doesn't matter. They should've been a big influence in your pursuits of music. 

So, who's your music idol that influences you?

Well, I'm a drummer, and my idol is (kinda obvious from my point of view) Neil Peart, because he has amazed me with what he can do behind the set and how well he has taken his wife and daughter's deaths. Call me a copycat, but I always wanted to drum like him. 

Now, what about you guys out there?


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## Aden (Feb 22, 2009)

Paul Masvidal, John Petrucci, Michael Romeo, Karl Sanders and Dallas Toler-Wade, Arpmandude, Paul Waggoner, Ron Jarzombek, Fredrik Thordendal, Mikael Ã…kerfeldt, others.


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## Ð˜Ð²Ð°Ð½ (Feb 22, 2009)

Isaac Brock (my first experience with Indie rock) Natalie MacMaster (Cape Breton fiddler, one of the reasons I picked up the instrument in the first place) and Owen Pallett (<3)


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## Takun (Feb 22, 2009)

Easog said:


> Isaac Brock (my first experience with Indie rock) Natalie MacMaster (Cape Breton fiddler, one of the reasons I picked up the instrument in the first place) and Owen Pallett (<3)



Mine too, Mine too.


Also:  Dough Martsch, Jeff Mangum.


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## Defender (Feb 22, 2009)

Probably the Ween brothers, Nick Cave and John Darnielle (Mountain Goats) are the primary ones. They're just really good songwriters in general :Y


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## Sonata (Feb 22, 2009)

I guess you could call Daron Malakian one of my main idols, at least when it gets to guitar playing.
Sure, technically he isn't special, but he wrote a lot of stuff that is fun (and mostly not too hard) to play.

And there is Serj Tankian, with his political lyrics, a broad variety of instruments and his poetry.

Did I mention, that I like System of a Down? :V


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## â„¢-Daley Leungsangnam475-â„¢ (Feb 22, 2009)

Farrokh Bulsara

he's proven, no matter what your background is, you can become the most famous singer around


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## Laze (Feb 22, 2009)

Mike Patton <3


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## Syranore (Feb 22, 2009)

Buckethead(Brian Carrol) and Dimebag Darrell Abbott are my favorite guitar players of all time. Technically, it's extremely hard to match BH, but most people never look past his ability to shred to realize that he is an awesome composer, talented in many instruments and many styles, although he's a bit bizarre on top of all of that. As far as Dimebag Darrell goes, if you don't listen to metal, you probably don't care, and if you do, and you don't know who he is...words fail me. Dimebag's shredding is one thing of course, but the thing that really stands out was his attitude and his general demeanor, as well as his awesome riffing, plus how well he always made pinches sound. RIP Dime.

As far as drummers go, the guy from All That Remains(don't know his name) is a beast. He's awesome. Singers, i always liked David D., the lead singer of Disturbed. i like his voice and his rhythm.


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## Aden (Feb 22, 2009)

+1 for Buckethead and Patton.


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## MelaCeroses (Feb 22, 2009)

Now I could talk classical composers, especially because the first instrument I picked up (and still play) is the violin.  These have to be (chronologically speaking) Antonio Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Beethoven, a little bit Mozart I suppose, but also important to me were both Antonin Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.

In terms of modern music acts of all sorts I look to several.  First we have Bob Dylan, who pretty much single-handedly brought folk music to the mainstream.  Knock his singing style all you want, the man is a talent to be reckoned with.  Then we have Tom Scholz of Boston.  He exemplifies the passion of rock fans everywhere--no formal music teachings and he didn't even really pick up a guitar until after graduating MIT.  A graduate of MIT decides to be part of a rock band?  That's dedication, and his love of music is apparent in all the works he does.  Finally, I have to give credit to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Perhaps the best blues guitarist to ever grace the stage.  Unbelievable talent and totally mesmerizing to listen to.


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## N35544 (Feb 22, 2009)

Steve Harris, Geddy Lee... you can see that I'm a bassist


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## ShaneO))) (Feb 22, 2009)

Aaron Turner, Steve Moore, David Murphy, Mikeal Akerfeldt, Marc Brownstein, Les Claypool, Colin Edwin...... i could go on for days.


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## Captain Howdy (Feb 22, 2009)

Vitek, Pete Sandoval, George Kollias, Tim Waterson, and Max Duhamel.


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## SqueeMiroth (Feb 23, 2009)

Frank Zappa


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## Potato (Feb 23, 2009)

Slash - his bluesy tones and fretwork never ceases to amaze me. I love his relaxed style as he plays. I started reading music because me teacher told me "If you asked Slash if he read Tablature, he'd smack you over the head with a bottle o' Jack D"

Dave Gilmour - Prebends and style, although Pink Floyd are known to the outside world as "Those guys who did Proper Education", I think Gilmour is one of the best guitarists ever, he doesn't shred, but he has more feeling than every other guitarist (In my view)

Don Felder - Totally underrated, totally awesome.


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## Equium (Feb 24, 2009)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Edvard Grieg all helped give me ideas for what I write.

I'm also a bassist, and my all-time favourite bass player is Alex James from Blur. ^.^


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## Sharpguard (Feb 24, 2009)

Most of my influenced are really modern.

Adam Gontlier: One of the best vocals I've ever heard, made some seriously good songs with simple lyrics like no one else could.

Johnny Cash: When you're 70 and can own Nine Inch Nails at their own song, you know you've got talent.

Immortal Technique: One of the best rappers Ive ever heard, actually makes rap that has meaning and a political standpoint instead of they typical "Being a gangsta, banging hoes, doing weed" bullshit a lot of rappers come out with.

Linkin Park: Mananged to make some icredibly powerful songs. Their songs seemed so intesne when I first heard it my entire mood just flipped on the spot

My Chemical Romance: "Emo", but powerful, truly good music.

Hollywood Undead: Great use of sarcasm, Intense music, and the lyrics arent too bad either 

Nickelback: Powerful vocals and meaningful songs, true grunge rebirth.

Foo Fighters: Just plain inspirational, huge hit and overal  influential.

I've got plenty more


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## Aden (Feb 25, 2009)

Sharpguard said:


> *Nickelback*: Powerful vocals and *meaningful songs*, true grunge rebirth.



Do I even have to say anything here?


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## Sinister Exaggerator (Feb 25, 2009)

Defender said:


> Probably the Ween brothers



SECOND.

I mention them way too often, but I stand in complete awe of The Residents and the overall message that their art manages to convey. _PERFECT._

Daniel Menche, Aaron Dilloway, and Sickness are artists I sort of look up to in the sense that they absolutely changed my mind on the idea that noise can be carefully calculated and composed to the point of razor-sharp accuracy that it almost seems impossible.


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## Dyluck (alt) (Feb 25, 2009)

I'm a singer, so...

*Geoff Tate* of Queensryche.  He hits high notes most other singers didn't even know existed.
*Philip Labonte* of All That Remains.  How he can instantaneously switch between the death growl/screaming to those fantastic vocals is amazing to me.
*Matthew Bellamy* of Muse.  Because he is amazing.
*Elvis Presley* is <3
*Shirley Manson* of Garbage just because she is fucking hot.


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## JerseyCat (Feb 26, 2009)

Tom Waits.


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## Renard_v (Feb 26, 2009)

Hirokazu Tanaka (composer for the original Metroid game, Kid Icarus, and others). Tanaka seems like a nerdy choice, but his composing style has ALWAYS hit home with me.

I saw Patton mentioned above and definitely have to give him mention as well. Very inspiring guy. :]


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## Defender (Feb 26, 2009)

Sharpguard said:


> a war crime


please tell me the nickelback portion of this slop is a joke.


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## Sharpguard (Feb 26, 2009)

Look, whatever, I'm an idiot. I guess I just dont know them as well as I thought. I'm wrong I'm an idiot, whatever. This is just kinda humiliating, can we please just delete everything I said? -_-;;


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## kamunt (Feb 26, 2009)

I'm a singer and musician, so I get to have lots of idols here! 83

First off, *Producers*, as in people who make music, with examples:
- Kanye West
- DJ Shadow
- Venetian Snares (Warning: abrasive to the eyes and ears)
- Kaskade (he doesn't use his own vocals in his music, I think)
- Hive (as opposed to _The_ Hive_s_)

Next is *Vocalists*, which I hope is self-explanatory:
- Kanye West (already linked to the last list)
- Matthew Bellamy (of Muse)
- Kyo (of Dir en Grey) (Warning: shocking, death-ish metal, Japanese)
- Sarah McLachlan
- Dinand Woesthoff (of Dutch band Kane)

And lastly, *Composers*, 'cause I'm queer like that:
- Eric Whitacre. Let me just stop and talk about how incredible this man is. Or I can let you listen and see for yourself. :wink:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Pretty obvious one.
- Whoever that guy was who composed the song "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night," inspired by the poem of the same name. Had to play that in band my senior year of H.S., holy carp was it _insane_. The song didn't have a key, for one thing. As in, atonal.

Thank you all for listening. |3 I'm just guessing on some of these URLs since me and my roommate are presently having a musical dick-waving contest with our stereos.


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## AxlePerri (Feb 26, 2009)

Michel Rivard ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFvuBqUkQIA - He is the bald guy that comes in the middle, he wrote the song  )

Marjo ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6C_Ujk1_Us - She is very odd live performer, but her song are classic)

Michele Luppi (Vision Divine - Sing in my favorite album, he left the band unfortunately  )


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## T.Y. (Feb 26, 2009)

Angus Young-Guitarist AC/DC
Brian Johnson-Vocals AC/DC
Malcolm Young-Guitarist AC/DC
Bon Scott (R.I.P 1980)-Singer AC/DC
Chris Slade (Drummer 1988-1994) AC/DC

Keth Richards,
Manic1075
Little richard
Chuck barry

all my musicial idols. I will soon have Brian's Autograph!


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## Grimfang (Feb 26, 2009)

Steven Paul Smith.. I love his vocals as well as his guitar. He definitely influences my /aspirations/ as a musician, as well as any lyrics I write.

Ian Metzger with Dear and the Headlights. He's so awesome and sexy.

Matthew Bellamy is fucking amazing.

And pertty much:


Sonata said:


> I guess you could call Daron Malakian one of my main idols, at least when it gets to guitar playing.
> Sure, technically he isn't special, but he wrote a lot of stuff that is fun (and mostly not too hard) to play.
> 
> And there is Serj Tankian, with his political lyrics, a broad variety of instruments and his poetry.
> ...



(-guitar, cus I don't play)


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## mammagamma (Feb 27, 2009)

Guitar-wise: Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Michael Romeo (Symphony X), Steve Vai (then again, Steve Vai part is really recent, so he might not be that much of an influence on me yet) and 'nother ex-megadeth guitarist: Chris Poland

Drum-wise: Jason Rullo of Symphony X, Dave Lombardo of Slayer

Vocally: Phil Anselmo (Pantera... but more during their Vulgar and Cowboys albums), Russell Allen (symphony X... again >_>) as for clean vocals, Lenny Zakatek and Eric Woolfson (Alan Parsons Project)


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## yell0w_f0x (Feb 27, 2009)

ive got a lot but these three are pretty much on the top..

miri ben-ari, nuttin' but stringz, black violins.. followed by a number of hiphop/rnb artists and producers.. X3


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## Ishnuvalok (Feb 27, 2009)

Dimebag Darrel (RIP) influences me most, and is the reason I keep on going. I want to get better than him (doubt I will though X3).

Dave Mustaine, influences me a lot as well, especially with soloing, for now atleast.

Danny Gill. This guy is my guitar teacher, he's taught by the great Joe Satriani, and he's an excellent teacher. 

Marty Friedman: Influences me through his use of harmonic minor scales, an other "exotic" scales that I've recently come to love. 

Joe Satriani, I can't _not_ be influenced by him if I'm influenced by Danny. Love his stuff.

Been getting some influence from Kerry King as well, but not as a soloist X3 god no....more for riffs etc.


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## Torrijos-sama (Mar 5, 2009)

Morrissey, Bjork, Thom Yorke, Isaac Brock, Richard D. James, the Sandison Brothers(BoC), Harold Budd, and Brian Eno. Frank Zappa is also on the list, because he is full of win, along with John Cage.  TISM is also an idol for me... The whole band... simply for the organized trolling of most of life they have managed to pull off...


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## IWP (Mar 5, 2009)

Bret Micheals
Tony Kakko (singer from Sonata Arctica)
Rob Halford
KK Dowing (guitarist from Judas Priest)
Glenn Tipton (guitarist from Judas Priest)
Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (singer from Overkill, still has an amazing voice)
Jon Bon Jovi
Ville Valo


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## xiath (Mar 7, 2009)

Hmm...  As an actual influence I would say Tristan Clarridge because he is an amazing fiddle player.

But my favorite musician is Mike Portnoy the drummer of Dream Theater.  I have wanted to learn the drums ever since I was very young, and I may buy an electric set this year.


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## Vore Writer (Mar 8, 2009)

Motley Crue got me into music, and Cliff Burton is the one that got me to pick up the bass guitar.


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## Takun (Mar 8, 2009)

Going to throw in Black Francis because I forgot how much that crazy bastard influences me.


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## Klace (Mar 8, 2009)

Chopin...


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## enzoakavpn (Mar 8, 2009)

My favourite musician? Jean Michel Jarre. 
I simply love electronic music, and his music is really awesome. They help me to relax... Especially when I need to draw one of my furries


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## Ooxman (Mar 9, 2009)

Most of mine have been mentioned (WEEN, Buckethead, Thom Yorke, Tom Waits, Les Claypool, Venetian Snares...).

I would say at the moment, my main influences are Richard D. James (mostly in AFX and Tuss form) and The Knife.  Fucking love The Knife.


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## Defender (Mar 9, 2009)

hey guy my favorite guiter play is guy who play a really fast string like Ingway Melmstaion becase more notes + more fasts = beter music it is smiple math i lenred it in algebra i


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Mar 9, 2009)

First of all, Neil Peart is AWESOME! I saw Rush in concert (Vapor Trails tour) and his drum solo was mind-boggling! I don't personally have an "idol", but I do respect one musician in particular: Pandit Ravi Shankar. He's either dead or 80-something now, but he is the sitar player who (through collaborations with George Harrison and violinist Yehudi Menuhin) introduced Indian music to a wider audience in the West. He's a freakin' genius with his instrument, as well as a composer of film soundtracks, former director of All-India Radio, and avid philanthropist. _This_ guy is cool!


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## Ak-Nolij (Mar 9, 2009)

Pete Rock (production)
J Dilla (production)
Madlib (production)
Black Milk (not the band, sorry) (production/lyrics)
James Brown (the god father)
old Kanye West (production)
Keith Murray (lyrics)
M.O.P. (production/lyrics)
9th Wonder (production)
DJ Premier (production)
Method Man (lyrics)
Redman (lyrics)

And that's about it.
-Nolij


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## Marticus (Apr 2, 2009)

Venetian Snares, Hybrid, Rob Dougan, Benn Jordan (The Flashbulb)


Aw hell, loads, I love musicians who defer from convention or create things which have a powerful emotional effect.


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## CAThulu (Apr 2, 2009)

Trent Reznor (_Nine Inch Nails_ - 'nuff said)
Adam Jones (_Tool_ - Guitarist, visual artist)
Maynard James Keenan (_Tool, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle_ -vocalist, a very busy guy)
Brian Eno (musician, producer)
Jeff Martin (_The Tea Party_ - vocals, guitar, sitar, banjo, synthesizer, piano...Canadian)
John Mayer (vocalist, guitarist, songwriter)


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## Jelly (Apr 2, 2009)

kamunt said:


> And lastly, *Composers*, 'cause I'm queer like that:
> - Eric Whitacre. Let me just stop and talk about how incredible this man is. Or I can let you listen and see for yourself. :wink:



Whitacre = audiophonic horsebullcrap. I really hate him. Music for blind proletarians buying furniture and making dinner.

I don't know.
Like, Merzbow, because he's a vegan and so am I! :>
Plus, he, like, doesn't know how to fucking stop. The only thing Merzbow can do is an music. I can't imagine him eating. He's probably a vegan because he lets tumbleweeds roll into his mouth while he plays with his pretentiousMacJap.

No, I don't know. I hate music. Probably my friend Matt. Because he picks up instruments, joins musical groups, and despite far surpassing others in technical ability he simply doesn't care, and puts the instruments away forever, only to pick up something else. It's an experiment to him and I appreciate that much more than people who believe it is their job to make a statement or change the world with a sound. Or something. Yeah.


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## Endless Humiliation (Apr 2, 2009)

jellyhurwit said:


> Whitacre = audiophonic horsebullcrap. I really hate him. Music for blind proletarians buying furniture and making dinner



I just wanted to say HAHAHAHAHAAaAaaaaaaa....proles...




I have a list but I don't want to post it yet. It's going to be long though.


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