MR

How do you make your decisions on what new CD's to buy. Do you listen to radio, MTV, VH1, websites? Do you stay with what you know? Are there web sites you visit?

What new artists are you listening to and how did you find them?

SFNH,

Honestly, my life is so busy, and my budget so tight ( I Hate credit card debt.......only allow it in emergencies ) that I have little inclination to put the effort into finding new Music.

Any new music I find is stumbled into, either in surfing the radio while in my car, or by word of mouth & having it played somewhere I happen to be.

Knowing my tastes run towards Classic Rock of the 70's + a little 80's, fill me in on who is out ther making Music I might like ?

You have GOT to check out Welcome To Hollywood. It will not leave your CD player. It has not left mine since July.

Go to:
http://www.musicbuymail.com
and look at the top 10 list of best sellers on the
right side of the home page.

Same thing with:
http://www.nehrecords.com/BestSellers/12_99.html
(although that was last updated in August).

The only way I keep up with new music is by checking out the videos on VH1 and MTV2 (MTV? HA!)

I found there are individual songs I like and sometimes I will buy that individual song as a download from one of the pay sites.

MOST of the time I listen to my old favorites on CD in my car or on my mp3 player, so exposure to new music and artists is very limited.

I am very picky about what I buy anyway.

Bugsy

I also find that I stick to my classic rock cd's for the most part. I tend to lean towards bands that have a solid rock sound to them.

I might bump into a song on the radio when in the car and my kids take over the radio. The same is true of mtv/vh1.

I do watch a couple of sites on new releases but only seldomly.

Newer bands I like right now are No Doubt and Bond (Ok, its a classical pop band but i like it). Jimmy Eat World, Bowling For Soup, Jet and Maroon 5 get an occasional spin. Even Linkin Park I will stop to listen to.

I won't listen to Hip Hop or Rap for the most part. And I don't listen to country unless my daughter forces me.

I guess overall, I am locked to the bands or band members that were there during my high school years and a few years on either side......late 70's and early 80's.

For the most part, that is my reference point of good music.

On a separate note... the 1985 video by Bowling for Soup is Hillarious.

I tend to think most (not all) people stick with the music that was popular when they were in high school. That's not to say they don't like other music, just that there is a definite comfort zone with the music you grew up with.

As a rule, I really only listen to the radio when I'm driving in my car to and from work. New artists that I like so far, would be Maroon 5, Five for Fighting, Scissor Sisters, and maybe Train. I guess that should read...newer

More often than not, I don't like enough of one artist that's out now to buy a whole cd. My money is needed for a whole lot more things these days.

Sadie

On a separate note... the 1985 video by Bowling for Soup is Hillarious.

One of the funniest videos to come out in YEARS! I have seen it several times and I STILL laugh at it.

Bugsy

I hear about a lot of new music from kids at school, as well as from my daughter at home. Outside of that, I get the occasional recommendation from a friend. Outside of a few select CDs (including Styx of course), I rarely listen to the classic rock or 80's hair bands that I used to listen to 24/7 (once upon a time). These days, I mostly listen to modern rock, usually on a burned CD of miscellaneous tracks or on the radio. The occasional pop song or even hip-hop song catches my ear. Newer music that I have invested money in: Linkin Park, Yellowcard, Dashboard Confessional, Evanescence, Simple Plan, Green Day, Disturbed, Velvet Revolver, Breaking Benjamin, Eve6, Goo Goo Dolls, Saliva, Lostprophets, Outkast, Blink 182, Pink, Rob Zombie, Barenaked Ladies, and I'm sure some others that I'm forgetting at the moment.

Oh, I watch a little MTV2 or Fuse Network from time to time in search of new music. There's so much great stuff out there; it's hard to stay on top of it.

Sounds like most of us, when we do tune into new music like the same thing. Anybody else thought that 1985 song was by Weird Al, it sounds just like him, great video! I like to listen to newer music when I work out, mixed with some classic rock. Here are a few other observations of new music:

Jet - worth a listen, they actually do rock
Pink - Pill is a great song, hard to swallow her atitude
Vertical Horizon - Everything she wants, great album, great song
Goo Goo Dolls - Great group, dumb name
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the bridge is one of the best songs of the last 10 years
Green Day - If all there songs are as good as time of your life....I need to buy a CD or two
Burtnik - still working on getting his CD
No Doubt - Like them a lot, Gwen is hot
Lenny Kravitz - suprised nobody has mentioned him, been around a while but sounds awesome
Evenessence (sp?) - great lead singer, like both radio songs
Jewel - a wide range of songs, but I think talented
Alanis Morisette - Need some therapy on her relationships, but has some good tunes, I like Hands Clean a lot
Linkin Park - Rocks
Sugar Ray - Like the radio stuff, Someday is a great song
Avril - Jury is still out on that one
Fastball - reminds me of Steely Dan (compliment)

I do the website thing. I personally find radio, MTV and VH1 to be extremely boring and a waste of my time. So I've taken to signing up on a few bulletin boards where I can see what people are talking about and then I'll go check a website

That being said, the new stuff I have found myself into has led me in the prog rock direction for now. Good example would be Ayreon(www.ayreon.com). Not exactly new, but new to me and I like the sound, especially with the analog synths that are very ELP like

A few other bands (and the first two have a DDY clone singer)

Ice Age (www.ice-age.com)
Vox Tempus (www.vox-tempus.com)
Threshold (www.thresh.net) - I think these guys pay tribute to David Gilmour in just about every guitar solo

I usually go to Tower Records, Borders, Best Buy or a good used record/CD store(not too many of those around these days). If I don't find it there, or it's too expensive, I'll go online to Amazon, Ebay or wherever. The walk in stores are fast disappearing. Alot of places that sell CDs now don't have anything I like, or it's WAY overpriced.

I open Kazaa Lite. type "albumwrap" and download the first 30 albums that look interesting.

On a separate note... the 1985 video by Bowling for Soup is Hillarious.

The rest of the CD is just as catchy, with more witty lyrics to boot. Definitely worth obtaining if you like the sound and humor of 1985.

Duality by Slipknot and So Cold by Breaking Benjamin have really caught my ear as of late, also! And you just can't go wrong with a new Green Day song (American Idiot)