In no particular order, my list:

1. Audioslave
2. The Brand New Immortals
3. BT
4. Coldplay
5. Incubus
6. Jack Johnson
7. NERD
8. Queens of the Stone Age
9. The Roots
10. Sevendust

Surely nobody can disagree with the pedigree of my list?? :D

(no order... but you knew that)

1. The Cardigans (suddenly my favourite game...err band, again)
2. Coldplay (obvious... glad to see them making so many lists!)
3. Aimee Mann
4. Grandaddy
5. Stephen Malkmus (what the other guy said)
6. Travis (stop making babies etc. and make a new album!)
7. Neil Finn
8. Blur
9. The Dandy Warhols
10. The White Stripes (ok... I caved)

DrRingDing...I'm gonna have to check out a few of the artists on your list...cheers! Giles... I'd forgotten about Black Box Recorder, but loved The Auteurs...will have to check out your list too...all the rest of you b*stards can rot in hell! ;)

Damn, I love this band. Got all their CD's, including their rare first one. Even though it was re-released with Figure Number Five. I love how they've changed their whole sound with virutally every album. My favorite would be Natural Born Chaos. Everyone who posted in the Metallica threads needs to put that crap down, and go get anything by this band! :)

Does anybody else think thats it's kinda sad that us metal freaks have to go across seas to get really good metal??

As for the original topic.

1. Apocalyptica
2. Tool
3. Jerry Cantrell
4. Soilwork
5. Pearl Jam
6. In Flames
7. Dark Tranquillity
8. Opeth
9. Glassjaw
10. Audioslave

SCSIMan

While for the most part it's true that good metal is overseas, it certainly isn't entirely true...I mean, we got Jag Panzer, Virgin Steele, Iced Earth, Devin Townsend (Canada), and of course, one of my all time favorite bands...Savatage, and no doubt there are quite a few others I'm neglecting to mention...

...and as for Soilwork, my favorite would be Chainheart Machine. ;)

The White Stripes
Belle & Sebastian
Brendan Benson
The Verve
Sam Roberts
Matthew Sweet
The Soledad Brothers
Neutral Milk Hotel
The Gories
Ben Kweller

Me list...aaaarrrrrrggggghhhh...

• Tool
• Project Pitchfork
• Deftones
• Clutch
• Frank Black
• Sonic Youth
• Leonard Cohen
• Nine Inch Nails
• Frontline Assembly
• Pigface

1. U2
2. String Cheese Incident
3. Coldplay
4. Guster
5. moe.
6. DMB
7. Fuel
8. Phish
9. Pearl Jam
10. Gov't Mule

Radiohead - In my opinion, definitely the best band in the world right now

Coldplay - Has released two albums and both are incredible. If
they keep releasing great albums like that I think they will be considered one of the best bands ever

Sigur Ros - Extremely pretty and unique music with one of the best singers in the world.

Our Lady Peace - Has released very solid albums, although I think
their newest release Gravity is a step in the wrong direction, and they shouldn't have strayed from their unique style and vocals.

Dave Matthews Band - Extremely talented band; they have been one of the best bands around for a long time; however, I haven't liked their last two albums as much as their previous ones.

Guster - Great band from Boston, very original and catchy music. They are great live and are about to come out with an album this month.

Pearl Jam - Still making good music and putting on good live shows.

Ben Kweller - Really talented young artist who came out with a great debut album, Sha Sha. I'm looking forward to his next album.

Ben Folds - Great music, his last album was superb, and I'm sure his next one will be too.

Aimee Mann/Oasis

No mention of Depeche Mode??? a band that's been around for over 20 years and still continue to produce some fantastic music..not mentioning the new Martin Gore and Dave Gahan CD's have been the best music i've heard in some time! (granted the Martin Gore CD is essentially cover versions)

Sha Sha was his second album. He had one before that called Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller, which came out in 2000 and is now OOP.

Pearl Jam - far and away, hands down, nobody else is even close. If you've never seen them live, you are poorer for it.

The rest, in no particular order:

2) Tool
3) Radiohead
4) Sigur Ros (which is rapidly climbing the charts of my personal favorites)
5) U2
6) Zwan
7) Counting Crows
8) PJ Harvey
9) Alanis Morrisette
10)Cat Power (ok, I only have the one cd, but it's amazing)

1. Pearl Jam
2. Our Lady Peace
3. Matthew Good (Band)
4. Foo Fighters
5. Tragically Hip
6. The Who
7. REM
8. Rush
9. Eric Clapton
10. Buddy Guy

For those of us who haven't heard of these bands, how about listing some favorite tracks? There are a few bands I'd like to check out, but I hate just grabbing tracks at random and hoping to find "the good stuff".

In no order...

deftones
Foo Fighters
Fugazi
U2
Eminem
the Roots
Marylin Manson
The White Stripes
Tool
Beastie Boys
Sarah Brightman
Yo-Yo Friggin Ma
Oakenfold

These are some tracks I think you might like from the bands I mentioned:

1-Tool-Lateralus, 46 and 2.
2-Audioslave-Gasoline, I Am The Highway.
3-A Perfect Circle-Judith, Orestes.
4-Queens of the Stone Age-First it Giveth, Go With The Flow.
5-Radiohead-Karma Police, Street Spirit.
6-Dredg-Yatahaze, Of The Room.
7-The White Stripes-Seven Nation Army, The Hardest Button to Button.
8-System of a Down-Chop Suey, Prison Song.
9-Deftones-Digital Bath, Minerva.
10-The Music-Take The Long Road And Walk It.

Okay, I'm going to take a slight variation on this and put who I think are some of the most important musicians (or in some cases, musically involved) at the moment. Granted, my knowledge isn't incredibly expansive, so I'm sure I'll forget a number of greats. I'm also cutting my list down to five. This list is pretty much in the order I would rank them too.

1. Jim O'Rourke - His work from Gastr Del Sol to Eureka and Insignificance to Sonic Youth to Wilco has been nothing short of spectacular. The moves he makes from producer to bandmate astound me. I don't know too much O'Rourke on the public forum, aside from the Thurston Moore/Kim Gordon interview in BB Gun - which is hilarious, check it out - but I've heard he's full of all the pomp you'd expect. *shrug*
2. Steve Albini - Whether or not you like Steve the Producer, Steve the Musician, or Steve the Media-Figure, his influence is undeniable. I suppose it's easy for me to put him on my list because I'm a fan of his bands (Big Black, etc) and his production (In Utero, Yanqui UXO, Make It Pop, etc.), but he's definitely considered top-notch in the music world, if not in the real world.
3. Phil Elvrum (of The Microphones) - Maybe this seems a bit premature, but I think that Elvrum will go down as one of the most important singer/songwriters of our time. His organic found-sound techniques coupled with simplistic, catchy melodies and a gentle croon is interesting and complex.
4. John Schmersal (of Enon) - This is another premature vote, but good god, if I could just get High Society out of my CD player!!! I'm a bit of a late-comer as far as purchasing the album goes, but I've been working off of mp3s for too long now. I just couldn't bear it anymore. Those pop gems with those subtle (and occasionally not-so-subtle) electronics are perfect. As far as I'm concerned, Brainiac couldn't manage this.
5. Travis Morrison (of (RIP!!!) The Dismemberment Plan) -Okay, okay, so Change is only "meh", but Emergency & I is PERFECT. Okay, PERFECT. Music this quirky, this fresh, this stu-f**king-pendous can only be made for yourself. That Morrison could craft so many amazing tunes is almost intimidating.

Note: as far as the bands go, I'm just taking the lead-man because I don't know just how much involvement the other members had in songwriting.

Some tunes you could check out by these artists:
1. Jim O'Rourke - "Good Times", "Please Patronize Our Sponsors", "Something Big", "Insignificance", "Life Goes Off" (in Gastr Del Sol) "The Seasons Reverse", "Mouth Canyon"
2. Steve Albini - I mentioned a couple albums, so any of those (the artists listed correspond to the albums I mentioned in parentheses): Nirvana, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Giddy Motors
3. Phil Elvrum (search for The Microphones) - "I Want Wind to Blow", "Solar System", "The Glow, pt. 2", "Karl Blau"
4. John Schmersal (search for Enon) - "Disposable Parts", "In This City", "Count Sheep", "High Society"
5. Travis Morrison (search for The Dismemberment Plan) - "Gyroscope", "Life of Possibilities", "I Love a Magician", "Girl O'Clock"...better yet, go buy Emergency & I.

The White Stripes - I love every track by them, but I would recommend listening to Screwdriver, You're Pretty Good Looking, Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground, Black Math (there, I gave one from each album :D)
Belle & Sebastian - Seeing Other People, Me And The Major
Brendan Benson - Tiny Spark, Folk Singer, Good To Me
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don't Work
Sam Roberts - Don't Walk Away Eileen
Matthew Sweet - Not When I Need It, Evangeline
The Soledad Brothers - Goin Back To Memphis, Gospel According To John
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Holland 1945
The Gories - Detroit Breakdown, I Think I've Had It
Ben Kweller - In Other Words, No Reason

Exactly.

Pearl Jam has forever ruined the live concert experience for me because no other show I have ever seen has come ANYWHERE NEAR to the euphoria felt on those precious nights. I think it will be years before I can enjoy a concert by anyone other than Pearl Jam.

Anyway...
1) Pearl Jam - best band around today, best band around throughout the 90s... it won't be long until they are consistently mentioned with Zepplin, the Stones, etc... as the greatest of all time. They already are to me.

2) eh... I don't much care after PJ, but others I like are U2, Tool, Coldplay, DMB, Incubus, Eminem, Alanis Morrissette (and for old school, it's Springsteen all the way!)

Thanks guys, I've been wanting to check out Queens of the Stone Age, White Stripes, Belle and Sebastian, and Audioslave for some time now. Downloaded some tracks, have to see if it's worth checking out a live performance some time.

ditto ^sam^...

i forgot to list björk, which was stupid of me. i love her music. i'm seeing her in concert this friday!! hooah!

i also forgot Aimee Mann, but sam reminded me... so she definitely makes my list.

and most importantly, i forgot mr. BOB DYLAN whose past two albums are desert island worthy. i cannot wait for his NEXT album. the man is pure genius.
-di doctor-

Almost every time I see someone talk about Marillion, they mention Spock's Beard. I might have to give them a try.

What style of Marillion to they resemble? Fish-era, early Hogarth era, or the current Hogarth abomination where they're trying to sound like Radiohead (a band I despise)?

Oh yeah, I'd add Savatage / Trans-Siberian Orchestra to the list. The sheer creative genius of Paul O'Neil and Jon Oliva when it comes to songwriting (especially for concept albums) is great. You might want to give them a try, since Savatage is another band that often gets mentioned in the same conversation as Spock's Beard.

As for Queensryche, we'll see what happens. Q2K was a horrid disappointment, IMHO. Hopefully having Chris DeGarmo back with them for the writing will improve the new CD (due out this month, I believe).

Man, a lot of people like Audioslave around here. Their debut was ok at best. Looks like a lot of people are still living the grunge-era of the early 90's... I don't get how Audioslave can be one of the top 10 BEST bands right now on the basis of only one decent (at best) album. Let's put in this way, Zach de la Rocha's song with DJ Shadow that was on his website is way better than every single song Audioslave has done (combined!) and I wouldn't put Zach de le Rocha or DJ Shadow among the top 10 best bands/musicians right now. Just my opinion.

My top 10:
1. Radiohead (best songs from latest album: A Wolf at the Door, There There, Myxomatosis)
2. Blur (Ambulance, Out of Time, Caravan Song.)
3. Wilco (I am trying to break your heart, Ashes of American Flags, Reservations)
4. Tool (The Grudge, Parabol/Parabola, Triad)
5. Queens of the Stone Age (Go with the Flow, Song for the Dead, Millionaire)
6. Sigur Ros (Untitled, Untitled, Untitled) ;)
7. Deftones (Bloody Cape, Minerva, Lucky You)
8. Beck (The Golden Age, Paper Tiger, Lonesome Tears)
9. The White Stripes (Seven Nation Army, Hypnotize, The Hardest Button to Button)
10. The Roots (Rolling with heat, The Seed 2.0, Water)

I thought Q2K was an improvement over Hear in the Now, but hoping the new one returns them to what they can be.

Spock's Beard really dosen't sound like anybody, espeically Marillion. They have (had) a different sound. Some call them prog, I just thought their main singer/songwriter Neal Morse had incredible talent.

Their last effort with him SNOW is an excellent starting point. Neal has left the band, and they are continuning without him. If they can keep their level of output up, I'm very doubtfull of.

Have you check out Marillion's last effort Anoraknaphobia? It's their best effort since Afraid of Sunlight. I've never listened to Radiohead, I have no idea what they sound like.

Savatage rings a bell, I thought they were a heavy metal band from the 80's with a large singer...is this the same band? I'm probally wrong.

1) U2 - Best band ever.
2) Live - Throwing Copper was unbelievable.
3) Tool - Aenima is a must have.
4) Metallica - Black Album and Master of Puppets, true metal at its best.
5) Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime is still one of my all time favorite albums.
6) The Cult - Electric, need I say more?
7) Sting/The Police - Synchronicity simply awesome.
8) Rush - Moving Pictures is a classic.
9) Alice in Chains/Jerry Cantrell - Best Grunge band.
10) Van Halen - Early stuff was the best.

Coldplay is the best band currently making music, imo.

after that, in no particular order:

Wilco
Built to Spill
Modest Mouse
Doves
Queens of the Stone Age
Foo Fighters
Ben Folds
Jack Johnson
The Jayhawks

That's probably not exactly my top ten, but that is all I can think off the top of my head.