Favorite band or artist of all time?


1st of all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone at Audiogon!
I've Have been thinking about it(hundreds of choices)and lately  just wondering, If you had to pick just one, what would be your favorite band or artist of all time???
 Extremely hard decision!, but Mine would be Elton John.
(deeply rooted since I was 10 or 11) Old fart now😎
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Bdp24,

Duane was one of those Muscle Shoals players, Wilson Pickett recorded a great version of Hey Jude with Duane Allman on guitar.  Among many other tracks he laid sown there.
Classical-->Bach and Beethoven
Jazz--> Art Pepper and John Coltrane
Rock--> Stones (debut through Exile), Bob Dylan (through Mercy)Blues--> Muddy Waters and Robert Pete Williams
THE subject at hand was not to tear down musicians and composers but to pay a (little) homage to an art form that touches your soul. I can mention names (even though my memory is not the greatest) of deserving people who have populated a planet with an abundance of mediocrity (I include myself). But I don't get the point in being cynical.  Beethoven even wrote a few pieces even he would have admitted weren't that great. Bach wrote some easier pieces for his wife so she could practice.
Someone wrote "Jingle Bells" which does not put me in the holiday mood yet I hear jazz renditions of it anyway. I would hope that we might all agree that some music makes some of us Really Truly Happy. 
@alucard19 
Golden Earring is ÀWESOME!
Been around longer than The Stones!
without checking, I believe still original  members. Huge body of work and every album is different from the previous. 
Great Live band! Saw them from second row opening for Robin Trower back in '76😎
I heard Another Brick in the Wall on the radio when I was 12. Not long after that Pink Floyd became, and has continued to be my favorite band to this day.  Led Zeppelin gave them a run for their money for several years, but has been relegated to 2nd place for some 20 years. 

mcslipp…

I don’t know where your located, but there is a Led Zeppelin cover band called Get The Led Out . We happen to have tickets to see them here in a month (in an old small theater, Midland Theater Newark Ohio) I was skeptical and was just being nice going to the first one. This will be our third and we are six rows back center stage. Tickets are tough to get as they sell out quickly. They are truly amazing. If their ever in your area....Go . Check them out on their website





https://vimeo.com/145838291



















++1 for Tom Waits, The Band and Blue Oyster Cult. Oh and let's not forget Family (that band never gets enough representation).
There have been a lot of bands with all white musicians except for the black drummer. The Family (Sly Stone's band) were unique in being an all-black band with the exception of their white drummer! Great band.
Chambers Brothers and Band of Gypsys when Mitch Mitchell replaced Buddy Miles.
Dang, your right onhwy61, I forgot about The Chambers Brothers. I saw them at The Fillmore, in '68 I guess. So the last Band Of Gypsys was Hendrix, Billy Cox on Bass, and Mitch? When I saw the original Experience lineup the second time (at Winterland in '68), I sensed Jimi was bored, and looking for somewhere else to go with his music. Band Of Gypsys was that place. I too moved on, but in a different direction.
Anthony Phillips, his early stuff to include the Private Parts & Pieces series.
I am appalled by this blog's nearly total lack of jazz, blues, and classical artists listed, not to mention music from this century.  Jeezus, I'm 72 ,but I'm not too old to appreciate current greatness.  Do most of you just listen to Alternative Rock and Country stations with short playlists of old hits.  Go to a thrift shop and risk 50 cents for some classical CD's.  For the price, take chances.  Go to a concert.
Sorry, I can't take seriously a song with the lyric  "...and my soul has been psychedelicized."  That always cracked me up (or had me shaking my head in disbelief).
Ella singing Rodgers and Hart. And I'm a big classical buff. Although the deluxe cd remastering of a few years ago was a disaster. 

Though I'm curious to know where you find current greatness in classical music. I simply stopped going I was so bored. To paraphrase Mark Twain it's better than people today can make it sound. But I'm genuinely interested in knowing what artists you find can compare with the past greats. I'll give them a listen. 
Obviously everyone has their favorites, but, really? I’m surprised at the lack of musical diversity. Thank goodness someone mentioned Duke Ellington. Has anyone heard of Miles Davis? 

@tostadosunidos, I always viewed those lyrics as The Chamber Brothers (siblings, not bruthas ;-) perhaps-cynical attempt to cash in on the counter-culture consumers, who making artists and entertainers rich. In an interview, Bill Graham said if your main concern is your wardrobe (as he claimed was the TCB's), you don't have much to offer. I didn't dislike them live, but didn't love them either.

Cost me only three bucks to see them! Same price for Cream, Hendrix, and everybody else who played The Fillmore. Plus, free dope; joints were constantly being passed down each row of kids sitting on the floor. At Dead shows, there was a barrel of apples at the door, each injected with LSD.

@bdp24 -

iris Dement? very Interesting choice. I met her after one of her shows a long time ago, really sweet lady, made her laugh when I said 'that was a blinding gig', she did not know what i meant. 

My go to artist  of all time is Sopor Aeternus. 
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It is my heart Iris Dement effects, to the point of feeling it will burst. I swear, an Angel sent down from Heaven.
Jeff Beck is definitely one of the most interesting guitarists and musicians and he's also my favourite artist. Heard recently him on a private party (organized with a help of https://bstars.eu/ ) Totally blew my mind. His picking ability sounds more fresh than some other guitarists... Always sounds delicious.
By far, The Cure.  I listen(ed) to them so much, i got sick of them, but keep coming back for more. 
Without a doubt it is Jethro Tull.  Not only do I enjoy the music but I find the lyrics and subject matter that Ian Anderson touches upon over the years to really hit many chords with me in my own life.  

Stand Up alone has some treasures:

We Used to Know always reminds me of the cycle of life, it’s ups and downs, and the people I have lost along the way.

For a Thousand Mothers reminds me a lot of my relationship with my own parents.  Just like in the song, my parents were always telling me I wasn’t capable of being what I had already become.  

And then there is Reasons for Waiting which is virtually a description of my early relationship with my wife.  “Came a thousand miles just to see you smile.”  We had a long distance relationship for four years—we were about 800 miles apart.  It was tough as hell, but there was no one in the world I loved more and to this day the only people whom I have loved even more are the two beautiful children she has given me.

I could delve into Tull’s work endlessly, like how most people have badly misinterpreted
Aqualung, but I will save that for another time.  Suffice to say that Jethro Tull is head and shoulders above everyone else my favorite.

-Aaron
I was absorbed with Cream when Sunshine Of Your Love/Disaraeli Gears hit the airwaves and record stores in Boston in late 1967. And then Wheels Of Fire came out and I begged my folks to give me advance on my allowance so that I could purchase it. And then, a couple of years later, I realised what a troglodyte of a drummer Ginger Baker was. Compared to other drummers that soon after came to the fore, he sounded relatively plodding, and that horrible tom-tom cacaphony soon drive me nuts. I mean, where was the snare? At least Moon could swing.
I feel your pain, Steve. I too was enthralled with Ginger's playing, until I wised up ;-) . Buddy Rich referred to him as a clown. I didn't yet know Clapton had disbanded (heh) Cream after and a result of hearing The Band's debut album, but was still surprised to see him so soon again playing with Ginger in Blind Faith. Eric more than made up for that by enlisting Jim Gordon, a fantastic drummer (and all-around musician. Jim and Eric wrote "Layla", and Jim plays the piano part in the middle section of the song) in Derek & The Dominoes. But many disagree with we and Buddy, considering Ginger one of the all-time greatest. Different strokes for different folks!
Beyond ALL doubt the greatest American musician of all time, the one who was the only man who could express the very heart and soul of our great nation was Tiny Tim !Even our great president can’t make us great again after we lost him.Of course making "tip-toe through the tulips " what it should be, our national anthem, would be a step forward .
The story goes that Clapton offered his services to The Band and their response was something like, no thanks, we already have a guitarist.