Who are the bands we can all agree are required listening? The first one I'll say should be unanimous:

The Rolling Stones

Any arguments there?

Well....I Hate the stones.....but that's just me.

How can anyone hate the Stones? I understand being indifferent towards them, but hatred? They have so many classic songs.

I get crucified everytime I say this, but I think the Stones and the Beatles are notoriously overrated. That's not to say I don't enjoy them. I own most every Beatle album (plus all of McCartney and Harrison's later work) and I've seen the Stones live. They have tons of classic songs, no doubt, but people really suck off these bands. I personally enjoy The Who more than either of them, but that's just me. That being said, they are both still awesome bands that should be listened too. So yes, required listening.

I am going to throw Led Zeppelin out there as well.

Stones - Not overrated

Beatles - Highly overrated

Who - Better tan both of them.

Led Zep - Possibly the best band ever.

So yeah, I agree with you on most points.

I'd have to agree. I hate it when people say "Hey, who do you think the best band ever is?" I truely think it's an impossible question to answer, but if i HAD to give one, I think I'd say the Almighty Zep.

Notice all the bands mentioned in this thread so far. The Stones, the Beatles, the Who, Led Zeppelin, even Pink Floyd...... all British. I know it's a cliche, but damn does England rock.

(throws a name out into the topic) How about Guns N' Roses? (runs)

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some GNR, but I don't think they're on the level of the other bands posted. The main reason I love GNR is because they were the last great rock n roll band before the 90s fully took over. Essential? I don't know. One of my personal favorites? You betcha.

No to GNR. When they settle down and play a slower song, they were great, but there heavy songs blow.

Oldschool Metallica (Kill 'Em All through ...And Justice For All)
Tool
Nirvana

And CCR, bitches.

Change "And Justice For All..." to the Black Album and take out Nirvana, and I agree.

The Black Album was incredibly disappointing as it was a collection of singles instead of an album. I think it's one of the most overrated albums of the past fifteen years.

And sadly, I think Nirvana is over rated as well. They had moments in which they showed greatness, but they never got to fulfill their potential. I think their performance on Unplugged was their brightest hour.

As for required listening:

Johnny Cash
SRV
Jimi
Skynyrd
Grateful Dead
Bob Marley
RUSH

Tool.
Alice in Chains.
Pearl Jam (Ten through Vitalogy)

Meh, I don't really hate them. It's just SO many people like them.....they just don't do anything for me. But I have rather strange tastes in music.

I can't stand Bob Marley. I just don't like that style of music, and I don't see why people hail him as the greatest thing ever when he is pretty much average.

Hendrix I don't get the love for too, but I haven't heard much of his stuff. What I have heard was really dull and average, though.

I like GNR alot, but I wouldn't put them as Required.

How about the Clash?

I guess we just have two different tastes, but talking down Marley and Hendrix and then suggesting the Clash makes my head hurt.

Marley just puts his heart and soul into every single note he ever produced. There's a reason white boys in 05 America who don't smoke pot listen to him. I personally think he was amazing.

Hendrix is essential, period. There's no "it's not my thing" argument here. He revolutionized everything about the electric guitar and how it was played. While there certainly were people who did it before him and (arguably) better than him, he brought it into mainstream music in a way no one else could. They teach classes at colleges devoted entirely to his work. He' amazing.

I love me some Clash, but I think they are clearly on a level below Marley and Hendrix. They do have some killer tunes, but I don't know if I'd call them required.

Marely's stlye is just boring. My mom made me listen to a CD of his and it was just... boring.

And like I said, I haven't heard that much of Hendrix. Can't remember what songs, but they seemed pretty average. But then again, I wasn't exactly thinking "but this was in ::insert year here::". If I was I probibly would have appreciated it more.

And I was just suggesting the Clash. But my tastes do run more towards that end of the spectrum. Maybe "required" is objective, depending on what type of music you enjoy. I doubt a Tupac fan will think ANY of these bands (save maybe Hendrix or Marley...) are required...

Bravo Docto0r. (hands you another $50)

Bob Marley is more revered as a humanitarian and did a lot for the people in Jamaica. If you don't like reggae, that's fine........but he was a hell of a musical person.

Hendrix is fucking awesome. If you haven't heard more, you should.

The Clash is DEFIANTELY required listening IMO.....

Okay, tossing out more names: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Van Halen and The Ramones.


GO!

Sabbath is overrated as hell. They were just bad to start, and then I realized I couldn't stand Ozzy's voice, or Ozzy in general.

Priest is a little better, but I'm still not way into this kind of music either. Tolerable, but definately not required.

Fuck Van Halen.

I like the Ramones a lot. I think they should be required for people into this type of music.

And you mom made you listen to Marley, LFV? What'd you do, say a naughty word?

No. I said I thought Bob Marley was over rated.

Bob Marley is a poet. His lyrics convey feeling that I've never heard in another song writer. Anything on his Legend (greatest hits) disc is just incredible.

I agree 100% with that.

Plus, The Ramones are required if you are into punk.....otherwise they were a shitty band (musically) so I wouldn't require any casual music fan to listen.

WTF LFV? You mom listens to Marley? She a pothead too?

Oh, and believe it or not. I enjoy the David Lee Roth version of Van Halen. That's the 80's kid in me though.......

Oh, I'm a Tupac fan LFV.......and I think a lot of the bands that were named are required listening. I also feel the same way about Tupac.....if you were going to get into hip hop.

No, I don't think she's a pothead.

And you're into a lot of different music. I meant more of people who ONLY listen to Hip Hop and hail tupac as God Version 2.

In all fairness, Tupac's GOD like treatment has more to do with the fact that he's dead than anything else.

See people are retarded. I absolutely hate when people who listen to hip hop and say that they hate other music. If they knew anything they would know that hip hop basically combines every type of music under the sun. But I guess people are just ignorant in ALL facets of life.

If you find Marley boring, you may need to pick up some of his earlier CD's. They have more mixed tempo's. His older stuff doesn't change pace as much. But Redemption Song is one of the best songs ever written.

Listen to more Hendrix. Find some of his live stuff, actually. You'll find more interesting work from his live recordings.

The Ramones are more hailed for the effect of their music than the quality. For Good reason.

I can't stand Van Halen. Good musicians, bad music.

Add to that No Woman No Cry, 3 Little Birds, Is This Love, ...etc. You get the point. I can understand some Hard Rock fans not digging him because his music isn't aggressive in the same sense that Tool is, but it's good. Really good.

I'm not a huge Hendrix fan, though I admire his innovation. For me Stevie Ray took wat Hendrix was doing to a whole other level. I like Hendrix's ballads the best.

I like Van Halen's 1984 album. It could be purely nostalgic, but it seems like harmless, fun music to me.

I think you're right, but I always liked Hendrix's presence more. On a purely musical level, SRV mighta had Jimi by a hair, but he also had an amazing backing band in Double Trouble. The Experience is nothing to scoff at, but Double Trouble was just amazing.

Yeah, don't misunderstand me, SRV was pretty much a Jimi clone. Its just that he was able to play Jimi's stuff faster and cleaner. It's hard to call SRV greater, because without Jimi there would be no SRV. Butt yeah, I'd take Double Trouble over The Experience any day. Band of Gypsies was an incredible band though. To bad Jimi didn't have much time with them.

Werd.

That being said, I must say that I teared up the first time I heard SRV doing "Little Wing." He covers Jimi all the time, but this one live version of him doing that song was so beautiful.

Kick start this thing again.

What about Beastie Boys - License to Ill?

I would agree with that WMD, although I find Check Your Head as a much better album musically.......License to Ill is definately an old school fav of mine.

Check Your head is Definitely my fav Beasties disc, I just think Licensed to Ill is more histrically significant. Come to think of i, I liked Paul's Boutique better than Licensed to Ill.

That's some crazy shit right there WMD. Personally my fav Beasties record is definately Paul's Boutique. Awesome album.....

The only one I've really heard is the one with "sound of science" on it. It was good. Lots of talk about eggs, for some reason...

Damn LFV, when the hell did you start listening to music? I'm not making fun, it just seems like you went through a long period of life with zero music.

I got into AFI, then the Misfits, then Minor Threat and it exploded from there. And yes, I had zero real music growing up. I'm making up for lost time.

Gotcha. Well, happy music hunting.