name your all time 20 favourite artists/bands
 

Nirvana
Sonic Youth
Concerto For Constantine
Joy Division
The Smashing Pumpkins
Jj72
Jeff Buckley
Pj Harvey
Iggy And The Stooges
Roy Orbison
Nick Drake
The Velvet Underground
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Big Black
Patti Smith
Cat Power
Leonard Cohen
Gemma Hayes
Arvo Part
Antony And The Johnsons

What's the fun in that?

The Cocteau Twins
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Echo and the Bunnymen
Sonic Youth
The Make-Up
The Byrds
Bauhaus
British Sea Power
Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations
The House of Love
The Sundays
Slint
Killing Joke
Fields of the Nephilim
Fleet Foxes
Jeff Buckley
Interpol
Kitchens of Distinction
eX-Girl
The Depreciation Guild

Sonic Youth
Sun Ra
John Cage
Sun City Girls
Einsturzende Neubauten
Throbbing Gristle
Kraftwerk
Glenn Branca
Autechre
Christian Marclay
Jandek
Melvins
Black Sabbath
Brian Eno
Velvet Underground
Legendary Pink Dots
Harry Partch
Carpenters
Suicide
The Fall

I'm not gonna bother to order them, but the first 5 or so can be considered most important to me, but the ones lower on the list aren't necessarily inferior.

Sonic Youth
The Stooges/Iggy in general
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
Lil Wayne
Frank Zappa
Nirvana
The Ramones
Black Flag
Parliament/Funkadelic
Miles Davis
Nine Inch Nails
Wu-Tang (Collectively- solo, group, affiliates, etc.)
Alice In Chains
Velvet Underground
Hole
Reverend Horton Heat
Misfits
Wipers
Notorious B.I.G.

Laughing Clowns (Also Ed Kuepper and The Aints)
Boris
These Immortal Souls (Also Rowland S Howard)
Malice Mizer
The Verlaines
Television
The Birthday Party
Megadeth
Iron Maiden
Ved Buens Ende
Sigh
Einstuerzende Neubauten
Haunted Henschel
The Smiths
Sonic Youth
The Saints
Ramones
Mayhem
The Byrds
Pink Floyd (Also Syd Barrett)

no order, just rambling off the top of my head:

sonic youth
neil young
the fall
the beatles
minutemen
husker du
the velvet underground
current 93
sun ra
jandek
boris
boredoms
miles davis
coltrane
can
captain beefheart
leonard cohen
the smiths
nico
talking heads

boringboringboring.

captain beefheart
sun city girls
jandek
thinking fellers union local # 282
stars of the lid
number girl
boredoms (plus offshoots)
autechre
the fall
john fahey
the residents
merzbow
harry partch
stereolab
slowdive
thinking plague
man or astroman?
charalambides
cerberus shoal
gastr del sol
olivier messiaen

Going by amount of time in WMP: (over 4 hours)

Sonic Youth
Peter Gabriel (eh, haven't listened in a while)
Genesis (only listen to the first three albums with any regularity)
U2
Siouxie and the Banshees
They Might Be Giants
Steely Dan (somewhat unfair--I bought the box set--not fond of all of it)
NIN
Tool
Big Audio Dynamite
Yes
XTC
Madonna
The Cure
The Police
Devo
Kate Bush
Primus
Red Hot Chili Peppers
King Crimson

bubbling under:

Husker Du
Talking Heads
The Beatles

no order, no thinking, no nothing, no 20

nina simone
radiohead
throwing muses
neutral milk hotel
unwound
babes in toyland
the slits
pixies
pj harvey
shannon wright
xiu xiu
slint
paula frazer
sonic youth
yoko ono
elizabeth anka vajagic
fleetwood mac
shellac
the raincoats
rickie lee jones
ENOUGH

The Fall
Beach Boys
Nirvana
Captain Beefheart
Neutral Milk Hotel
Beatles
The Sonics
The Pixies
Sonic Youth
Syd Barrett
Gene Vincent
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
(can Joe Meek count?)
Leonard Cohen
Weezer (pinkerton)
Dick Dale
Frank Sinatra
King Kahn
Velvet Underground & Nico

No order, not including classical stuff, by no means comprehensive or exhaustive:

The Fall
TPOK Jazz
Abba
Diamanda Galas
Hank Williams
Dougal and Gammer
Munir Bashir
Haino
AMM
The Shaggs
Throbbing Gristle
Paul Robeson
Oum Kalsoum
Bhundu Boys
Swans
Girls Aloud
Edith Piaf
Dolly Parton
Beenie Man
Ground Zero.

Aphex Twin
Horace SIlver
Janek Schaefer
Philip Jeck
Olivier Messaien
Adam Janota-Bzowski
The Stupids
Fats Waller
The Fall
Leos Janacek
Sonic Youth
Henry Purcell
Bogshed
Francesco Geminiani
Happy Mondays
Julius Reubke
Propaganda
MC Tunes
The Baby Men
David Sylvian

Bogshed! Brilliant. You're possibly the last remaining person who'd list them as one of their favourites.

Not in order of preference (and I had to leave out several of my favourite bands / musicians):

Dominique A
David Bowie
Jeff Buckley
Tim Buckley
Can
The Cure
Nick Drake
Serge Gainsbourg
Françoise Hardy
Joy Division
Lift To Experience
The Notwist
Nina Simone
The Smiths
Sonic Youth
The Stooges
Talk Talk
Television
Scott Walker
Neil Young

I listen to their stuff a lot. Their Peel sessions are amongst the best.

lets give this a go

The Fall
Ikara Colt
The Shadow Ring
...and you will know us by the trail of dead
Radiohead
Joy Division
Ashtray Navigations
Flipper
The Dead C
Undertones
Bonnie Prince Billy
Pavement
Nas
Elliott Smith
The Smiths
The Stooges
Tindersticks
Tom Waits
Richard Thompson
Sun City Girls

did i sort of forget belly?

wtf
what am i saying

im a nirvana child. yes that gen.

Not in any order but...

The Ramones
The Cramps
The Ronettes
The Beatles
Hank Williams
The Velvet Underground
The Fall
The Beach Boys
Bob Dylan
Sonic Youth
The Smiths
Jan and Dean
David Bowie
The Stooges
Pussy Galore
Abba
New Order
Amon Duul
Action Swingers
Underground Resistance

off the top of my head

Sonic Youth
Arab on Radar
Unwound
Velvet Underground
Sonic Youth
Jesus & Mary Chain
Swans
Suicide
Television
The Jesus Lizard
Joy Division
My Bloody Valentine
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
The Stooges
ASIWYFA
Lightning Bolt
The Fall
Gang of Four
Cat Power
The Birthday Party

Edit: SY twice lol. Ok, add Broadcast to the list.