Who are your "influences", and why?

[Good_Eye_Sniper]

Who do you remember growing up listening to?
The songs and bands that your folks listened to, that inspired you, and most likely put you on the path to whatever kind of music you love today.

My dad
Queen - I still love this band. Freddie was the best frontman of all time
Iron Maiden - LEGENDS
Black Sabbath - Seen them 3 times, original lineup. Awesome

My mum
Peter Gabriel - One of the biggest inspirations to me to start singing
Paul Simon - Great for when you're feeling low
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells is a seminal classic
Jean Michele Jarre - simply a genius

[Trina]

I wouldn't say lead me on the path to what I listen to today, but the ones I remember my parents listening to when I was younger are:

Eagles
Meatloaf
Queen
Beatles

Still to this day though I love Meatloaf songs.

[Fabrestuta]

I was a hardcore thrasher when I was growing up, so I dunno how much of an influence Slayer have had on the music I listen to now. I always listened to a lot of opera though because my mam liked it (mostly the well known stuff) and I listen to a lot of classical music today.

[Inchpräctice]

When I was too young to buy records my Dad brought home a few 12" LPs like The Specials debut album and a 12" version of White Lines by Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five.
That got me into rap and ska, then my Mum started to dig out her old 60's records like The Beach Boys, Big Bopper, Elvis, The Chantelles etc. and after that I was into Rock n' Roll too.

From that point on I listened to all kinds of things like those early Electro albums (the first ever Hip Hop/Dance tunes) and the Kinks and eventually ended up with Guns n' Fuckin' Roses.
G n' R but especially early Hip Hop made me want to play the drums and then I discovered Led Zeppelin which changed my life in the musical sense.
From that point on I wanted to be John Bonham and I ended up drumming for the next 15 years.

[Sims]

Well ym dad likes mod Music, QOTSA, Ian Brown(Who i like, He's even got the special edition shoes what are after ian brown.) and my mum, likes reggae and soul, and funk. Whereas, i like Hip Hop and rap

[SE13]

Hard to call really. Being quite a bit older than the majority here, I obviously have older parents. My Dad is quite a fan of swing/big band style music, Glenn Miller in particular. My Mum was very into Merseybeat. I grew up with Capital Radio, so my musical interests are fairly mainstream, although I was rather partial to a bit of Marillion in The 80's, and a huge fan of the original electo sound, and late 70's/early 80's music in general.

These days, I'm not really into the Radio1 sort of sound, I much prefer listening to Local Radio of a non-commercial variety! This is more to do with up to the minute travel news, which I rely on hugely for work. Music sort of passes me by these days, but I have a rather large collection from the era I mentioned, plus a fair bit of up to date stuff. I am known as a "music anorak" as I have a fairly massive musical knowledge, and I contribute quite a lot to our local radio station one way or another in respect of this!