Oh, Robin! I absolutely LOVE Thomas Dolby. I always wanted to do a cover of "Airwaves." It's my favorite Dolby tune. Love CSN, loved watching Crosby and Nash play "Leeshore" live on youtube. Paula Cole is great, too.

You have really good taste.

kev

Science!

I can see how peoples' replies have been so long. There's so much good stuff out there (when you dig for it).

My formative years:
Beatles and Lennon's & McCartney's solo stuff
Sweet
Kiss
Zeppelin
The Who
Queen
Alice Cooper
Night Ranger (yup.)
The Police
Yes
Rush
ELP
Thomas Dolby
Frank Zappa
King Crimson
Peter Gabriel
Classical music: lots of piano music, Wagner, Liszt, Chopin, and Gilbert & Sullivan light operas
Symmetry: This was an original band I was in at the end of high school and a couple years beyond. We played what could be called a blend of Night Ranger, Journey, Rush, and .38 Special. We got close to "making it"; we had the Cars' ex-manager sign us and we got some label attention, but grabbing the brass ring just didn't happen, for a few reasons.
Allan Holdsworth

College years:
Living Colour
Fishbone
Jazz (I went to University of Maine Augusta's Jazz program and got turned on to all kinds of Jazz and fusion artists)
XTC
World music (I joined a world music band fresh out of college and listened to lots of Caribbean and Afro-Cuban stuff)
More Allan Holdsworth

Adult Life:
Joni Mitchell
Seal's first 2 albums
Soundgarden
More appreciation for Frank Zappa
Marco Minnemann
Allan Holdsworth
Niacin
King's X
Ween
Iron Maiden
Stick artists, both in solo and band contexts

So much...I can't even think of it all

I've been following this thread for a few days and I think the title of it is making me think a bit.

Some of my favorite music of all time is heavlly Stick-laden, especially KC's Discipline and Peter Gabriel's 3rd and 4th albums. I listened to Discipline at least 100 times before I even knew what a Stick was.

And while I listen to a lot of records by Stickists writing reviews and features for the website, there are definitely some discs of Stick music I put on when traveling just because they are great music:

Steve Hahn's sh
Glenn Poorman's 101 Normal
Cides's El Mundo Interior de los Planetas
Stick Men's Soup
Splendore's Guilty
Bright Brown No Matter How Faint There's Light In Everything
Matías Betti's Verdadero Fruto

to name a few...

Would I have encountered this music had I not been a Stick player? Probably not. Beyond the famous and well-publicized there are gems below the surface if you spend enough time digging.

I forgot Soundagarden. Thanks Luc.

Excellent! Just saw these guys live for the first time last year. I've been a fan since 1990.

ooo Soundgarden Rules
just saw them few month ago

1967-73:
Yes, ELP, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Cat Stevens, the Doors, the Beatles, Hendrix, Janis, CSNY, Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Allman Brothers, Cream, Mountain, Grass Roots, Hollies, Turtles, Lovin' Spoonful, Grand Funk, Chicago, Pot Liquor.
73-83:
Holdsworth, UK, Return to Forever, Bach, Beethoven, Bartok, Crimson, Mozart, Messaien, Reich, Stravinsky, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Al Dimeola, Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc Ponty

83 forward: Miles Davis, Shakti, Mahavishnu, Brahms, Schumann, Sidsel Endressen, Joseph Schwantner, Incredible String Band,

I'm too tired to continue. My brain hurts! It's easier when the names come unbidden...

R

Far too much to list here, but here's a few:

Any and all Alice Cooper and Frank Zappa (kinda obvious from my avatar)
Any and all Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Miles Davis
Doug Hilsinger/Caroleen Beatty's reading of B.Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy
Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Roxy Music, Elliott Murphy
St. Vincent, Noveller
Keith Jarrett, Oregon, mostly anything ECM

Better stop now, I could go on for a fractional division of forever........

SHINER

Most underrated pop band of all time. Everything they did is killer. Such a crime these guys never got huge.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2aGEikNykI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1jiV7klo4Q[/youtube]

K Rex