Red Ajah Autumn Festival: Favorite Bands, Past and Present

[Songstress]

 

The above quote is from the lead singer of one of my favorite bands of all time - U2 - and I think it's absolutely perfect for this week's theme.

 

I first discovered U2 when I was about 13 years old, and their music became the soundtrack of my life in high school and beyond.  The spiritual imagery and passion in Bono's lyrics, and the distinctive sound of their music, keeps U2 high on my list of bands that I wouldn't want to be without.

 

What bands do you love?  Which have been favorites for years, and which are currently at the top of your playlist?  What is it about them that makes them your favorite?

 

Feel free to share videos that will help others understand your love for the music (especially with more obscure bands) - always of course mindful of the PG-13 sign

 

I'll be back with more as the week goes on, including some of my current favorites and a few songs.  

 

Play on!

 

 

[Moon Sedai]

For me, it's the Beatles. 
Forever and always. 

Current music? Eh. I find occasional songs I like, not necessarily artists.

the short answer on the beatles is that the Beatles music helped me in a place where I was feeling very low. They remind me of happy times. 

 

Plus, they're awesome. 

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

I happen to have a lot of bands I love .  I love U2 as well and the Beatles ! 

 

 

My favorite band right now is Blue October I seen them in concert and for me it was a amazing concert I been to and I been to a lot of concerts ! 

 

Some photos from that concert !

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

They sound amazing in concert ! 

[Wren of the Brown]

The first CD my parents ever got for me was Bob Seger's and the Silver Bullet Band's Greatest Hits because, Reasons.  I wasn't allowed to listen to pop music at the time, so I had to smuggle my music in.  I spent a lot of time recording songs off the radio late at night when everyone else had gone to bed.

 

In high school, I lived and died by Garbage, Weezer, Marcy Playground and Harvey Danger.  After I started college, my head just about exploded the first time I heard Orbital and Underworld but I also discovered Bauhaus, Joy Division and Mazzy Star.  Now, I'm all over the place.  I like a lot of folk and pagan music but I'll settle for the alternative station when I'm in the car.  I'm also rediscovering a lot of the bands that I listened to in high school beyond their radio repertoire as well as groups that were popular at the time but that I had no idea existed outside of my limited experience.

 

For instance, I had no idea that Curve was destroying the 90s with sexy.

 

 

But, in someways, I think I dodged a bullet.  I would have been a lot moodier if I listened to the Smiths as a teenager.  Every day is like Sunday, every day is cold and grey.  *handstapleforehead*

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

Queensryche was a old favorite band of mine in high school . 

I seen them once in concert and met the singer Geoff Tate  and he was such a jerk, after that I stop buying their music !

 

Other bands I love is:

 

 

GodSmack (seen live)

Judas Priest (seen live)

old school Metallica (seen live)

Josh Groban ( I am seeing him in concert Friday night ! ) 

 

 

There are more bands that I love !  

[Moon Sedai]

Blue October is really awesome. 

[WildTaltos]

I dont exctly love any band - usualy I hear only a few songss I like from different groups and dont listen to thir other songs becuse I decide thierr mostly crappy or not my taste otherwise. Ive listened to more songss of some bands than I have of otherss becuse they might do a number of thme in the fashion I like, but again, its abuot the music to me and I dont give crap who played it. Ive listened to quite a numbre of songs by the dubliners and clannad, more of th dubliners than the latter, some of them I lieked, some of them I didnt, Ive listened to most of the songs by Waylander, a pagan metal bandd of NI, and I lieked a lot of them, but they dont have that much to begin with and its sort of just like, not love, and Ive listened alot of songs from Shaman and Korpiklaani (Shaman beingg the band Korpiklaani used to be) and Ive liked quite a lot of it; they are pagan/folk metal band from finland and do some prety unique songs in eithre Sámi or Finnish, very rarely english, incorporatin folk music and joiking:
 
shaman:
 

 
korpiklaani:
 

[michellem]

My number one favourite band ever is Muse. I love, love, love them. They make me happy, sad, philoshopical, rebellious, in a dancing mood, in a thinking mood, gives me energy, calms me down... I fell in love with them when I was 17 and it's been a long, stable relationship so far. I've seen them live three times now, and every time just keep getting better. They are so bloody amazing live I don't even have words My top five favourite songs are: Follow me, Supermassive black hole, Time is running out, Plug in baby, Starlight. I have Unintended tattooed on my wrist, and we played that song as we excited the church after our wedding

 

 

Passing by you light up my darkest skies
You take only seconds to draw me in
So be mine and your innocence I will consume

Dark shines
Bringing me down
Making my heart feel sore
Because it's good

Hold your hands up to your eyes again
Hide from the scary scenes, suppress your fears
So be mine and your innocence I will consume

Dark shines
Bringing me down
Making my heart feel sore
Because it's good
You're dark shines
Bringing me down
Making my heart feel sore
Because it's good

 

 

Ony of my biggest wishes in life is to meet them

 

 

Other favourite bands/artist of mine aaaaare:

Depeche Mode (seen live )

Radiohead

Death cab for cutie / Postal Service

Seigmen (seen live)

Susanne Sundfør

Mew (seen live)

(Older) Placebo (seen live)

(Old) Keane (seen live)

The xx

Fever Ray (seen live)

IAMX (seen live)

Imagine Dragons (going to see these in November, with Cloud!)

Kent (seen live)

 

 

I like all kinds of music, but my favourite genre is alternative rock :)

[tonnalea]

Nirvana. 

 

For as long as I can remember, it's always been Nirvana at the top of my list. I like other bands as well, but no matter what

kind of mood I'm in, Nirvana is always what levels me out. I have worn out so many albums and I am never tired of them.

They always spoke to me growing up, and I guess in some ways they still speak to me now. I just love them. I absolutely 

adored them. That will never change. 

 

Kurt-- Miss you, man. Miss you like crazy.

 

[michellem]

Oh yeah Nirvana is nice

[tonnalea]

As crazy as this sounds...I know what Kurt was. I really do. I did then too. But he was our voice, back then. 

Smells Like Teen Spirit (**laugh** he hated that song!), was an anthem. When Kurt Cobain died... I think a 

part of my soul died with him. 

 

I was tore up when it came across MTV (this was back when they still actually played music). Kurt Loder came 

on, and even he seemed choked up. I sobbed. I cried like a baby when Kurt died. No more Kurt. No more Nirvana.

It was a sad, sad awful day.

 

No matter how I'm feeling...this song...I must get up and...yeah....

 

[michellem]

Heart shaped box is my Nirvana fav!

 

And when I was 16 I changed my smoke brand from Lucky to blue Camels, because I'd borrowed a Kurt Cobain biography from a friend, and according to that, that was the last cigarette he had before he killed himself. Oh teen me, how cliché you are (smoking is bad for you kids, don't do it!)

[tonnalea]

**bites tongue as hard as she can and then** Hedidnotkillhiimselfhewasmurdered!!! **claps hands over mouth and runs off**

[King of the Reds]

I will listening to a pretty wide variety of music, but generally stick towards Rock and Alternative. I've recently gotten back into going to concerts the past year and a half and have been amazed by the number and quality of the shows I've seen. I've been fortunate in that most of my favorite touring artists, I've had a chance to seen. There's a few big name ones I still want to see just for the production values (in addition to liking some of their music) like Lady Gaga and P!nk.

 

Ones I've seen and loved recently were:

* Muse (my favorite band of the last 5 years)

* Imagine Dragons (great show in the rain)

* Queens of the Stone Age (2nd row, main pit!!)

* Cake

* Avett Brothers (twice)

* Black Keys

* Flaming Lips (trippy stage show)

* Foo Fighters (favorite rock show and wishing I had seen them a few months earlier when they played 3.5 hours!)

* Girl Talk (DJ who mixes rock and rap)

* Shinedown

* Five Finger Death Punch

* CruxShadows

 

I'm fortunate that Atlanta gets a lot of artists in and puts on a few small 1-2 day festivals so I get to see a lot and for not very much either too.

[michellem]

Hello there fellow Muse and Imagine Dragons fan! And Cruxshadows I saw six years ago or something, at a tiny stage, they were lovely people and had alot of energy on the stage, it was fun.

[King of the Reds]

Hello there! :) I'd been wanting to see Muse for years when I heard they were coming to town last month. Nobody would go though as it was a weeknight. So, single ticket later I was at the show. One of the best I've seen too! :)

 

For Imagine Dragons, I stood in the rain for 6 hours before they went on and was standing in a mud field up to my ankles. But I was able to sneak up to about row 15 for it. lol

 

And for CruxShadows, I'd seen them being at DragonCon for years but never saw them till the last year. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Much better of a show than I was expecting being a free show at DCon.

[_CLOUD]

I also listen to a pretty wide range of music genres and it all depends in what kind of mood I'm in. I for example enjoy listening a lot to house and electronic songs, but I also really like alternative rock, drum 'n bass and everything else in between :D

 

 

Some of my favorite artists and bands:

 

- Green Day (seen live)

- Pendulum (want to see live so bad....)

- The Killers (seen live)

- RHCP (seen live)

- Daft Punk

- Gorillaz (one of my favorite bands but they don't tour in Europe )

- Radiohead

- Muse

- Imagine Dragons

- Netsky (seen live)

- Camo & Krooked

- Vampire Weekend

- Crystal Fighters

- The Glitch Mob

- Snow Patrol

- The XX

- Will and the People (seen live)

- Foo Fighters

- Massive Attack

- Editors

- Jack Johnson

- MGMT

- Linkin Park

[_CLOUD]

I think I have listened the most to Green Day lately. Jesus of Suburbia never gets boring

 

And Nirvana and U2 are also really amazing.

[michellem]

I can't wait until we're going to see Imagine Dragons Cloud! It'll be so awesome!

[_CLOUD]

I can't wait until we're going to see Imagine Dragons Cloud! It'll be so awesome!

 

I know! It's going to be so frickin awesome! I can't wait :D

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3LkQ3BUjWI

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

Amarande and I met Cruxshadow as well , 

 

Other favorite bands I like :

 

Pink 

Natiie Merchant 

 

Nine Inch Nails (Seen  live and met Trent )

 

Big & Rich (Seen live)

Brook and Dunn(seen live)

Train (seen live) 

Rob Zombie (seen live a few times) 

Lenny Kravitz (seen Live) 

Danzing (seen live)

Live (seen Live) 

Rusted Root (seen live)

Arosmith (seen live) 

 

 

There are so many more and I am trying to think .

[King of the Reds]

Misheru and Cloud, you'll love them. They were awesome live. And the song you posted was my favorite of theirs. The crowd went crazy for it (of course Radioactive was the biggest).

[King of the Reds]

Kassidy, nice choices! And a bunch I still haven't seen yet. I saw Rusted Root about 20 years ago on their debut album when they opened for the Robert Plant / Jimmy Page reunion tour. None of my friends cared about them, but I really dug them. Bought that album later that week too beause of the show.

[tonnalea]

Oh, I've seen Rusted Root....several times! I even went to Pittsburgh on New Years Eve one year to see them.

I got sucked into being part of the Circus of Psychos while I was there, but it was great. We got thrown out of

the Hilton that night for drumming in the service halls. lol We stole the head of the Nutcracker decoration and

used it as a drum. Then we got thrown out of the subway for drumming and ended up under a bridge across

the street from the Hilton...drumming on anything and everything. I remember lots of dancing and glitter and

Rainbow Family and Tribers. GREAT SHOW, Great night! 

[Daruya]

Skillet.  Without question.  Current favorite is Fire and Fury, from their new album, Rise.