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Musicians/Bands/Artists I Like
A bit more on my inspirations, influences, and musicians/bands I like
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A-ha Norewegian pop band with worldwide acclaim (except in the USA, where they are considered "one hit wonders") with the core of Morten Harket, Pal Waaktaar-Savoy, and Magne "Mags" Furuholmen. They started on the bones of a more "The Doors" Like project they had in the 1970's, which is even where the hit in the USA - "Take On Me" - originated from. By 1985, they were signed to Warner Bros, released "Hunting High and Low", and that's where their career started. As the eighties progressed, they shifted from 80's synth pop to a more "alternative-lite" guitar rock kind of sound. They keep leaving and coming back, somewhat like Kiss does, but I have way more respect for these guys than I do Kiss, that much is for sure. Probably one of my earliest influences.
The Cars A New Wave Band formed in Boston in 1976 off the bones of Cap'n'Swing, a more 70's pop-esque type act with far more members. The band consisted of singing buddies Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, Berklee alumnus Greg hawkes and Elliot Easton, and local scene veteran David Robinson (The Modern Lovers, DMZ) on drums. They started off a far more guitar oriented band at first, eventually making a successful shift to a more synth-pop type sound by the mid 80's. They disbanded in 1987 over disagreements over touring and whatnot (Ric famously hated to tour). Benjamin Orr passed away of Pancreatic cancer in 2000. Despite that, they eventually did get fully back together in 2011 (not replacing Ben out of respect for his legacy within the band). They were the first band I was really jazzed about to see live (at the first show at SoDo in Seattle), and stayed somewhat on/off/on active until 2019 when Ric Ocasek passed away at age 75 from heart condition complications.
GoHang Music I found this guy by chance while roaming YouTube Shorts one morning before work. I love this guy's work, throughly unhinged in the way I like my music and in general, something that would fit on a bill if I started a solo project or a new band using my own lyrics. Way back in the Lithium days, I was told my lyrics were a bit "too violent" or "too angry" to work in the context of that band...well, I sense a potential scene of musicians like this could be a thing.
Hikashu Hikashu is a Japanese New Wave band that eventually turned into a avant-garde freeform Jazz Artpop sort of thing based on what I read in translated Japanese on various websites. THeir self titled debut came out in 1980, followed by "Summer" in 1981 or 1982. As their career progressed, they turned less from the synths and traditional New Wave instrumentation, to more organic instrumentation (Trumpets, Saxophones, various band room instruments, Jaw Harps....) and the instrumentation can be an aquired taste for some. I found them at the same time I found P-Model sometime in the late 00's on YouTube. They were on some NHK show (600 Information Department?) with P-Model and the Plastics and I was intrigued there was this band in barbershop quartet outfits playing almost shuffly-vaudville-esque bits with top shelf singing - kind of reminded me of "Smut" by Austrailian band The Skyhooks in a way. As I dug deeper into the catalog and found tracks beyond "at the end of the 20th century" - such as "White Highway" or "Morning Water", I was intrigued. In 2026, I started to "brave" thew new stuff and holy crapp I was missing out....found a few new faves in the Anguri album (doesn't mean "Angry", it's Japanese for your jaw being left agape with surprise if I'm not mistaken). Anguri, Return to Tenguri, and Selfish Shellfish roped me into their newer stuff.
Jesse Welles Another of my more recent Social Media findings. While in general, I'm not a folkie, I'll make an exception for this guy. Granted, when I first saw the dude on Instagram, though I'm not really a "looks" guy when it comes to music, I thought Elliot Easton had a son nobody knew about. Turns out this guy does a good job of singing the news with the kind of coolness we haven't seen since the sixties political rock stuff. Off the usual news and political stuff though, the song "guitars" hits me close for obvious reasons, and even Hondo gets a mention in there.
Loverboy Loverboy was a New Wave/Hard Rock crossover band formed in Vancouver B.C. in 1978. Paul Dean left Streetheart, met Mike Reno (ex-Moxy) at a bus repair shop where he would write after hours behind a venue called "The Refinery" in 1978. They then snagged Matt Frenette from Streetheart for drums, Ex-Fosterchild keyboardist and classical study Doug Johnson on keyboards, and Scott Smith on bass. Their first four albums did great, but promotions started to wane off toward the mid-1980's despite Loverboy evolving with the times a bit while not losing what made them special in the first place. Eventually everyone sorta' split in 1987, not unlike the Cars, and did their own things for awhile. While they regrouped a few times after that, the official reformation was for a cancer charity benefit from a industry friend in 1994. In 2000, Scott Smith was declared lost at sea after being swept off his boat in San Francisco by a 40 meter wave. Kenneth "Spyder" Sinnaeve from Streetheart has been carrying the torch on bass in that band ever since. Loverboy is still together, and holds the record for a band I've seen the most times - 2x. Loverboy was a huge influence I picked up on right after ZZ Top and The Cars. Paul Dean was the perfect guitar influence in this particular realm because the Streetheart stuff is more advanced than Loverboy, and the guitar gets harder and more fancy as Loverboy's catalog goes on. The first album is reggae, blues, and straight-up rock, but by the time you hit Lovin' Every Minute of It, Paul's employing whammy bar, right hand hammer ons, and his speed is crazy fast in some spots - and the catalog gets even more elaborate and tricky the further you go - priming me for Neal Schon, Brad Gillis, and eventually Edward Van-Halen, who I would pick up on after the fact.
P-Model P-Model is a Japanese Post-Punk/New Wave/Techno band created by the bones of 1970's Progressive Rock group Mandrake. For their first three albums: In a Model Room (1979), Landsale (1980), and Potpourri (1981), they were basically the punkiest New Wave band of the Japanese scene. After that they turned into an increasingly artistic techno multimedia project. I would compare them to the American groups The Cars (Panorama era) or DEVO (particularly the first two records) the most on their first two records, though they turned more into their own thing over time. Actually, funny I mention that, because The Cars were how I got into P-Model. See, I had The Cars video collection "The Cars: UnlockeD" released by Ric Ocasek and his son in 2006, and in that video they toured in support of my favorite record of theirs - Panorama - in Japan in 1980. I wondered if Japan got any influence from the US New Wave, and as it turns out, they sorta took the basics, and made it their own wild and crazy thing. P-Model was named such because leader Susumu Hirasawa was seeing music as a "Industrial Product" in a way (which to me seems like a commentary on Corporate/Industrial culture as a whole), and it flies close to how I like to make fun of/critique that aspect so I kinda' found a kindred spirit in this band. You want to find out about some interesting guitars from other countries, check out Susumu Hirasawa's axes...everything from a sawed up HS Madcatz Explorer (yes, the same one that made Prince's Tele), to the Fernandez Artwave V7 (basically a signature model), or the Tokai Talbot.
Paul Dean While best known for Loverboy and early Streetheart, Paul Dean had a solo career too. Starting in 1989 with the album Hardcore, he started this sort of eclectic mix of music over the years. Hardcore sounds like if Loverboy went full on "Hair Metal" (which isn't far from the three exclusives on their "Big Ones" compilation from the same year). Then came "Machine" around 1993-ish, followed by Blackstone, and all three have a different feel. "Machine" seems to have more bluesy stuff, and "Create a Monster" was lifted from that record for Loverboy's sixth studio album in 1997. Blackstone it's unclear if this is a Paul Dean solo project or another band CALLED Blackstone, but that go out Paul had Mark Lafrance on vocals. More recently, he's trickled out a song or two here solo on his PaulDeanMusic YouTube Channel such as "Hell Yeah" featuring members of multiple Canadian bands in the music video, or "Be With You" which was sort of an interesting Mariachiesque rock Crossover.
The Plastics While P-Model was more Devo-Esque, Hikashu was like a theatric version of The Cars, if there was a "Japanese B-52s" it'd be the plastics. Same NHK show as I was introduced to Hikashu, there these musicians were rocking a Tokai Strat and what I assume was a 70's Fender Mustang, with a very quirky, upbeat, sound. The B-52's comparison comes from Toshio having a spretschzang speech-singing style all his own, but a concept also used by Fred Schneider, and Chika is the lady who does the regular melodic singing. This combination works great. The first track I heard was "Copy".
Van-Halen Van-Halen originally formed as Mammoth in 1973. Along the way, their original bassist was replaced by Michael Anthony, and David Lee Roth joined up around 1974 when Mammoth needed to borrow his P.A. DLR supposedly helped support changing the name to Van-Halen. They would continue to tour and jam for a few more years, before getting a deal with Warner Bros and releasing their first record in 1978 - which turned legions of guitar fanatics like myself on our heads Dwhen we first heard it. In 1985, David Lee Roth and VH split due to disagreements, Sammy Hagar joined until 1995, and they shifted to a more mature, less party-esque focus for awhile. The history of the band has been fraught with drama with lead singers and various other things, but I'd rather focus on the musical aspect. I got into Van-Halen in 9th grade when me and a classmate got into a tiffy over a girl I had a crush on on a school band trip. He was attacking me over using power chords a lot, and I was laughing because he tried to play SRV and failed while trying to ridicule me. So over the summer, I locked myself in my room and studied a Curt Mitchell Van-Halen VHS to death and left for the next school year a whole new kind of beast. When i came back, I was using that Kramer for what it was intended for finally. Strangely enough, that next school year, Van-Halen would also be the peacemaker in that whole altercation when we played Eruption/You Really Got Me on stage together at the high school guitar concert. Also, my first guitar build was based on a Fender Jazzmaster and Eddie Van-Halen's "bumblebee" charvel that was buried with Dimebag Darrel (of which I have a newer copy of now).
ZZ Top ZZ Top formed in the early 1970's after Billy GIbbons left the Moving Sidewalks. The band has one of the most steady lineups of all those on this page with Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill staying together in official capacity until 2021 when Dusty passed away and was replaced by backstage technician Elwood Francis. I knew of ZZ Top pretty much my whole life, but really got into them as I made the transition from Rhythm Guitarist to lead Guitarist in my last year of middle school. I stayed up all night tabbing out all the guitar parts from Eliminator, (after being rejected by a girl and thusly - the blues) by ear off a tape I stole from my mom's boyfriend. I was lucky because I already had the Pick Squeal part down naturally so the rest gave me a good solid chassis - making Billy one of my most important, if often missed influences in my own musical evolution.