1. Tool - I rather like
Undertow and
Ænima, and I'm mostly indifferent about
Lateralus. I would never sit around and jerk off over them, though, which there is a whole lot of. I can recognize them being a good band, even great at some points, but I don't think they're the greatest of all time or anything-- a bit too serious for my likings.
2. A Perfect Circle - How MTV of me is this; I really only like "Judith."
Mer De Noms put me to sleep, I couldn't make it more than halfway through
Thirteenth Step...
3. Alice in Chains - They did some pretty great stuff. "Rooster" is one of the greatest songs ever, same with "Man in the Box." I was way more into Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam when they were all in their hay day, though. I can't dig on this sound too much anymore. It's a goddamn shame that Godsmack sucks so fucking much and is trying oh so very hard to be an AiC cover band, basically. Fuck you, Sully.
4. The Dismemberment Plan - I tried to listen to
Emergency & I the other day, and only made it about halfway through... I was not impressed at all. I've been meaning to give it another go-round, because so many people say it's very good, a great chunk of whom have musical tastes that I respect and/or agree with very much.
5. Led Zeppelin - I don't like 70s arena rock in general, and I particularly dislike "Stairway to Heaven." I admittedly have not listened to much of their work, but based on the two things I just said, I imagine that listening to it wouldn't change my opinion much.
6. Pink Floyd - I haven't listened to nearly enough of their stuff.
Dark Side of the Moon is the album I've heard the most, though I've heard quite a bit of it in friends' cars, and stuff like that. They were on my list of "Older Bands to Check Out in More Detail in 2004." So, I've got 6 months.
7. Dredg - A dude at work brought in both their records for me to check out. Musically, I thought
El Cielo was cool as hell. I didn't like the vox too much, and kind of wished they weren't so high in the mix.
Leitmotif had about the right vocal mix, but musically wasn't nearly as cool as
El Cielo. I should probably listen to them again, it was pretty cool stuff.
8. Deftones - I purchased
Around the Fur after being told I'd totally be into these guys because I loved Helmet. Bzzzzzt.
AtF sounded nothing like Helmet. The guy who brought in Dredg at work, he lent me all the Deftones records one day.
Adrenaline kind of sounded like Helmet and rocked real hard, and
White Pony was really cool, probably because it was so different from their other stuff. I still don't like
AtF and thought the self-titled record was poo. I'd definitely see them live, though, if I didn't have to pay too much money, because I don't really want to roll the "Is Chino Going to be Too Drunk to Rock?" dice.
9. System of a Down - My friend played the self-titled record for me when it came out. I hated it (save "Sugar") then, I hate them even more now. Fuck these guys. It's mostly Serj's voice. I generally love weird vocalists, but I can't stand his voice.
10. Elliot Smith - I listened to
Figure 8 once and loved the shit out of it, and never really pursued him after that. Seeing as how I've been on a singer songwriter kick, maybe I should go get more of his stuff.
Sorry I got so wordy.