Your favourite non-rock/metal artists?

DazMarz

Maybe this has been done before. If so, apologies!

I have, for a long time and since I started to seriously listen to music, been predominantly a metal-head. Particularly the metal of the 1980's.

But I also have a deep appreciation for other artists of many other genres. But a unifying theme of all the music that I love and listen to is that it is what I refer to as "real" or "proper" music. That is, it takes talent, creativity and having a gift for music to make such music.

So many bands/artists that are not metal or rock that I love are immensely gifted and talented musicians and this is why I love them.

For me, the following would be my favourite non-rock/metal artists/bands:

-Richard Marx: a criminally underrated and slightly maligned singer/songwriter. Sure, he is arguably most famous for the power ballad "Right Here (Waiting For You)", but some of his early albums and even some of his more recent albums are absolutely brilliant, featuring some amazing songwriting. He has also written a plethora of famous songs for other artists, has produced dozens of albums for others and has an incredible voice; his voice has a haunting, reedy quality to it that makes him unique.

-John Denver: a diminutive, blond-bob sporting, bespectacled guy with an acoustic guitar who was usually wearing psuedo-Native American garb. But as gifted and as brilliant a songwriter and musician as you will find anywhere. Taken far too early (he died in 1997 when the plane he was flying crashed in the Pacific Ocean), John Denver was a definitive player in world music. A well known social activist and environmentalist, he also had a dark side of drug addiction and spousal abuse. But that should not detract from his more brilliant moments: "Take Me Home (Country Roads)", "Annie's Song" (that song could get tears from a stone), "Rocky Mountain High", "Leaving On A Jet Plane", "Sunshine On My Shoulders"... just a small sample of a prodigious musical output. Seeing his live videos on YouTube barely does him justice. He was brilliant. Truly brilliant.

-Steve Earle: one of the best country outlaws out there. A native of Texas, Earle has long been a thorn in the side of the American establishment through his protest songs. He even did flirt with rock/metal on his 1988 album Copperhead Road (arguably his best album). But so much of his output is genuinely classic. I don't know of any other musician that tells so many stories through his songs. He has shifted from out and out country, to bluegrass, to folk, to country-rock, to jazz. Incidentally, he is the writer and original artist for "Galway Girl". And his version is far superior to the b.s. version that appeared a few years ago.

-Bruce Springsteen: The Boss. For nearly 40 years, Springsteen has been perennially popular, and it is easy to see why. Aside from writing incredible songs, he is a brilliant musician and puts on one hell of a show when performing live. Now well into his 60's, Springsteen shows no signs of slowing down. And for that we can all be thankful. A true master of his craft.

-Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler: Brilliant musicians, brilliant songs... simple as. Dire Straits did get a bit bloated towards the end (with nearly 10 musicians onstage during their final tour), but Mark Knopfler is a consistently brilliant songwriter and is an amazing guitarist. I've always loved Dire Straits, even from the time I was a little kid, and I've seen Knopfler live on numerous occasions and he never fails to disappoint.

-Simon And Garfunkel: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, the undeniably talented duo who defined a generation with their music. The late 1960's will almost always be associated with their music. "The Sound Of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "Cecilia", "The Boxer", "Bridge Over Troubled Water". All stone classics and only a small part of their immense catalogue. With their gentle, lilting voices and their talented guitar playing, they were different but familiar at the same time. Of course, they have had solo careers, with Simon faring out much better. But they are a great duo and their songs are ever present in popular culture.

Probably a lot more, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head and the ones I probably love the most.

So, who are yours???

Links234

Great idea for a thread

I'll post a proper reply in the morning, but I fell in love with World Order recently enough, saw some of their amazing music videos and was an insta-fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mkiGMtbrPM

And yeah, that is indeed the Genki Sudo if you're into MMA

stefan idiot jones

Morcheeba - the world is a better place with them in it.

Alicia Keys, Dusty Springfield, Fleetwood Mac (Christine Perfect), Joss Stone, Steely Dan, New Model Army, Talking Heads, Paloma Faith, The Police, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tracy Chapman, Air and Katy Perry.

All top notch.

Liam McPoyle

Too many to list tbh. As I've gotten older my tastes have broadened exponentially.

On a given day I could listen to Jeff Buckley, Loudon Wainwright, The Travelling Wilburys, The Chemical Brothers, Snow Patrol, David Gray, The Prodigy, Jay-Z, Ice Cube, Chase and Status, Mazzy Star, Joshua Radin, Deathcab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Fionn Regan, Fatboy Slim or Calvin Harris.

It just depends on the mood.

Nea

Pulp/Jarvis Cocker

Hated by many, I adore Jarvis and his lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwRfAceTJt4

Dengue Fever

Cambodian Pop/Psych. Weirdly wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQYOGkCk2DA

Portishead. Beth Gibbons has such a haunting voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQNAZGoZrw

Mushy

Would be quite a few to list, but the main ones I listen to are Mick Flannery, an Irish singer-songwriter, and Trentmoeller, a Danish house/electronic dj.

rainbow kirby

Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Bruce Springsteen, Imelda May, The Beatles and a bit of classical music for when I want to chill out.

GLaDOS

Various classical music and movie/video game scores. Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ludovico Einaudi, Puscifer.

DrumSteve

There is music other than Metal?

Mr. CooL ICE

The Bee Gees, Boney M, George Benson (his instrumental stuff), Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy.

Although I have a soft spot for 70s disco, I tend to enjoy any music that is somewhat unconventional. I generally dislike electronic music, but some stuff by Prodigy and TCB can ridiculously heavy. I even find Lana del Ray is pretty interesting because her melodies can be very dark at times.

DazMarz

DrumSteve wrote: »

There is music other than Metal?

Shockingly, there is!!! :eek:

DrumSteve

DazMarz wrote: »

Shockingly, there is!!! :eek:

Blasphemer!

(oddly enough that's a great name for a Metal band)

Useful.Idiot

Jeff Buckley, Sufjan Stevens, Sun Kill Moon, Bon Iver, Burial, Bonobo, Air, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin all seem to be the ones who get regular rotation off the top of my head. All have real talent or can create amazing soundscapes with their music.

One should always be discovering new music, metal or not!

nyarlothothep

The Beatles, Goldfrapp, Radiohead, Bjork, Simon and Garfunkel, The Prodigy, Beck, Ice T and some classical music like Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy Eric Satie, Villa Lobos and Francisco Tarrega off the top of my head.

Say Your Number

I think you could nearly class Rodrigo y Gabriella as metal, they started out in a metal band and what they're playing is essentially metal on acoustic guitars.

I like the Saw Doctors and Lady Gaga (although I don't own any of her albums)

Seasick Steve too.

Vaxxine

Fleetwood Mac, Talking Heads, The National, Kanye West, The Cars, Ben Folds, Beck, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel..

The music from 'Skyrim' is great, and always nice to chill out to!!

nyarlothothep

Vaxxine wrote: »

Fleetwood Mac, Talking Heads, The National, Kanye West, The Cars, Ben Folds, Beck, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel..

The music from 'Skyrim' is great, and always nice to chill out to!!

Morrowind's soundtrack is great too. I always have great memories of these games even though they mostly involve fed-ex quests and talking to automated zombie npcs!

Links234

Sorry, I did promise a proper reply

Generally when I'm not listening to metal, I like a lot of pop or electronic music or soundtrack stuff, and I'd definitely agree with the above about Skyrim and Morrowind's music, they set the tone wonderfully for the games and made them even more memorable. A lot of games have amazing music, and good god have those Final Fantasy soundtracks stuck with me over the years, Nobuo Uematsu is one hell of a composer. For anyone who's played FFVII, you can't listen to Aerith's Theme without it stirring your emotions, it's just such an incredibly beautiful piece. Listen to it again, hard to think that was released 17 years ago now.

Likewise, I watch a fair bit of anime, and some of the soundtracks are just unbelievably incredible. Some of Joe Hisaishi's work for the Ghibli movies are hands down some of the best movie soundtracks I've ever heard, hands down. Yoko Kanno's scores are amazing (Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Darker Than Black, Wolf's Rain, Rin-Roh) and her scores can be so different, like Rise from GitS:SAC is so starkly different from Yin no piano (which is an incredibly stirring, emotional piece) from Darker Than Black. Or Yuki Kajiura, without whom I don't think they'd have that dark, oppressively melancholy and ethereal atmosphere that Madoka Magica was drenched in. Cecile Corbel's Arriety score was amazing too. And god damn do I love some of Susumu Hirasawa's soundtracks, the guy is not afraid to do some really weird stuff soundtrack wise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0v-NuudQw

And the music from Steins;Gate is just wow... One of the best shows I've ever seen in my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8j42C_Srg

Yuki Kajiura also has a group Kalafina (who performed the ending theme to Madoka Magica) who are pretty amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwquipMpsiQ

*Phew* that was some effort, and I tried not to post too many videos. I know, remarkable restraint on my part, eh?

nyarlothothep

That reminds me, Basil Poledouris, in particular his score for Conan the Barbarian, kind of metal when you think about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZY2mRG5mzg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKUYAnqxjU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt3d8aq4Mus&index=27&list=PLTsBr-fzX4fw67uO1Z46O559WFXAWiYCO

Some of these composers were metal before metal, or you could say metal just borrowed from them! If a metal band were to write any of these they would be huge songs, the genius is self evident in these pieces imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyzd6gd6wnk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZuSaudKc68

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EGwAiGvO7U

Links234

nyarlothothep wrote: »

That reminds me, Basil Poledouris, in particular his score for Conan the Barbarian, kind of metal when you think about it.

And don't forget Robocop

Ramin Djawadi is another composer who's very rock/metal in his approach, his score for Iron Man and Pacific Rim in particular.

westernfrenzy

Mainly just Ed Sheeran, the Pokemon game music and Lady Gaga.

KAGY

Frightened rabbit are on heavy rotation here
http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=SzjERZU3wbY
I'm on mobile so I can't add the YouTube link normally

Knifey Spoony

I've been listening to Gustav Holst's Planets Suite a lot recently. Never really bothered with classical before but Mars is a brilliant composition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q

BuilderPlumber

I like a lot of rock music and pre-rock blues and country so I will include all this as rock. So, non-rock related music I like is Pavarotti, other similar tenors, Luke Kelly, Dubliners, Dolores Keane.

RossFixxxed

Nero. I guess they're Dubstep? Electronic Dance Music? I dunno, their vocalist is bloody great, and it's something different to listen to!

Gallowglass

I like Christian hymns, old Latin stuff like the Gregorian Chant, Boyz II Men, Oasis and The Wolfe Tones.

I often watch Songs of Praise.