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Eminem
There's probably not a single person who doesn't know who he is. He's the single most controversial artist out there...Marilyn Manson runs a close second. He's one of the most hated artists today. So why do I like him? He speaks his mind; isn't racist (he refuses to say the "N-word" in his raps, despite the fact that it's used excessively by countless others); makes great music; and--contrary to popular belief, I don't think he's homophobic. It's extremely difficult to become a mainstream artist...especially if you're a rapper. So you need to stir up controversy to make yourself known, which is exactly what he does. Plus, he's so hilarious.
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Kurt Cobain (1967 - 1994)
Nirvana was such a great band. Their lyrics inspired me to pursue poetry. I even had a dream about me talking Kurt Cobain out of killing himself. In it, he offered my his guitar, but I declined, telling him he'd need it. Man, what a tearjerker. When he sings, he puts his entire being into it. He concentrates on nothing but performing and speaking his mind, and that's something I admire immensely. I really wish he hadn't killed himself. Aside from his being famous and talented, he was just like troubled teens like me. He was the most down-to-earth musician to ever have lived. But alas, he didn't want all that fame. He couldn't take it anymore, so he ended his life...and much of the hope in the hearts of troubled teens all across the world.
Note: I've recently read up an in-depth investigation by Tom Grant, the private investigator Courtney Love hired. Check it out here. Grant firmly believes that Kurt was murdered by Courtney. After reading it, I was still a bit skeptical, but after examining a picture of Kurt's supposed suicide note, I tended to agree. Nowhere in the note did Kurt say anything about an impending suicide attempt. The messages at the bottom of the note was obviously forged. The letters that make up the undisputed majority of the note are roughly a third of the size of that of then final few lines. The Y's slant toward the right...Kurt's Y's all slant to the left. Same story with the E's. And for some more compelling evidence...The C in Courtney's name looks more like a < than it does a C. If you look at the other C's on the note, you'll see that the rest are round. The B in "be" has a strange hook at the top not present in the other B's. The two P's in "happier" have short vertical lines and a strange loop-type thing. They look nothing like Kurt's P's.
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Godsmack
To tell you the truth, they were unknown to me until they came up with "Awake," which remains one of my all-time favorite songs. They're amazing. I saw them on MTV's All-Access Week thing and I was extremely impressed. Their frontman Sully Erna does incredible vocals, plays the guitar, plays the drums, and probably other instruments as well. Mind-boggling.
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Alicia Keys
I can honestly say I love Alicia Keys. I don't know as much about this fresh new face as I do others, but she's worthy enough to grace my list of favorite musicians. In fact, I like her so much I took twenty minutes of my life to download a 53.9-megabyte music video of "Fallin'." I feel my heart melt whenever I watch it. She plays a mean piano, has a great set of pipes, and is just angelic--she has the most beautiful lips I'd ever seen. She has her first album out, called "Songs In A Minor." She's so incredibly talented for someone so young. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. Visit her official site at http://www.aliciakeys.net. Jump on the bandwagon while she's still new!
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Sarah McLachlan
Sarah's an amazing lyricist. Her songs just touch me at a whole other level. Like Nirvana, she's an inspiration to me. Her voice is hauntingly beautiful, like the person to whom it belongs. She's definitely one of the relatively few artists who have what it takes to still make music decades from now and it's always great to see female artists shine. She sounds a lot like Dido. Maybe they could join into a super artist called "Sarah McDido"?
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Tupac Amaru Shakur (1972 - 1996)
Tupac was a great inspiration for me. He was a great rapper and a great poet. Tupac fell victim to a violent 1996 shooting in Las Vegas. He was shot four times, while Death Row exec Suge Knight--who sat beside him--left unscathed. Many believe his death to be a conspiracy, and not without reason. Knight claims to have had a coherent conversation with Tupac after being shot. This seems a little far-fetched. In his final album, Tupac went by the alias "Makaveli," which is almost identical to "Machiavelli." Nicolo Machiavelli was an Italian politician who, in his book The Prince, wrote about faking one's death to fool one's enemies. Tupac took great interest in this. For some people, this was proof enough that he was faking his death. Another theory is that, because of the consistency of the number 7 in Pac's stuff, that he'd return to the public eye in 2003--seven years post mortem. I really do hope this theory proves true.
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Green Day
They were my first favorite band a few years ago. They've since been dethroned, but that doesn't make them a bad band--it just means I've changed. I memorized every single note and every single word in Dookie. They slowly started to cater to their younger fans. As a result, their music became more "poppy," which is a shame. There's just one problem I have with their songs--they're too short!
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Stone Temple Pilots
These guys are just plain cool. Frontman Scott Weiland has a great voice and is quite...eccentric. I love that weird twisting/dancing thing he does in the video for "Days of the Week." Plus, he's pretty good looking. It's too bad he has a history of drug abuse. Don't do drugs! Drugs suck my--well...they suck.
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Red Hot Chili Peppers
They may not be young anymore, but they can still rock as hard as any other band. They've been in the business since 1983--two years prior to my cursed birth. Dave Navarro used to be in it, and he's awesome. I love "Rexall," which is on his solo album Trust No One. They used to perform without clothes--save a sock taped around their penises. Thank Zeus they don't do that anymore.
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Dr. Dre
Dre's the best at what he does. Put him in a studio and he'll work magic. He's worked with N.W.A. and works very closely with such rappers as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Eminem, and Xzibit. He's been puttin' it down for Californ-IA for years now. One great thing about this rapper's longetivity is that you can listen to his old songs and compare their lyrics to that of his newer songs and you can actually see how he matures. There are some things that bother me about his earlier songs (he would say stuff like "so call me an ass-tronaut" and "so call me Clearasil"), but they're still funky enough to have grandmas and grandpas bouncing to it. Play on, playa.
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Aaron Lewis
When I heard "Outside," I knew he was something special. "It's Been A While" pretty much secured their place in the hearts of millions. When he performs, he gives it his all. He deploys an emotional wall and blocks out everything else out as he cries inside. It's just beautiful when someone gets as emotional as that. Unlike most others, Lewis isn't ostentatious. He doesn't jump around, or try to hype up the crowd, because doing so would ruin the mood. He just sits there and plays all our little hearts out.
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Aaliyah Dana Haughton (1979 - 2001)
Aaliyah has the gentlest and soft voice I've ever heard. She could easily lull anyone to sleep with it. There's just something about the timidness of her voice that I'm attracted to. She did hit songs like "We Need A Resolution," "Try Again," and "One In A Million." She's even showed off her acting talent in Romeo Must Die with Jet-Li. Another thing I like about her: she loves Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen!
Aaliyah died on August 25, 2001. 22 year-old Aaliyah Haughton was returning to the U.S. from the Bahamas when the Cessna propeller plane she was in crashed and burst into flames.
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