Is DMB your favorite band?

[grilldanmo]

They are my wife's undisputed favorite band. I also love them, but no more or even necessarily as much as:

The Beatles
The Police
Bob Marley
John Coltrane
Ben Harper
Neil Young
Ani DiFranco
Nickel Creek
Punch Bros
Avett Bros
Allman Bros
Peter Gabriel
Tedeschi Trucks Band (and DTB before that)
The Band
Yes
Dire Straits
BNL
Zappa
Soundgarden
Stevie Wonder
Buckingham/Nicks era Fleetwood Mac
Steely Dan
Toad the Wet Sprocket
John McLaughlin
Miles Davis
Steve Morse (and his myriad associated projects)
Zeppelin
Rush
W Panic
Regina Spektor

Bold = seen live

And I'll stop there, though it's not a complete list. There's just too much great music, old and new, to focus only on one band...no matter how good or varied their performances and style(s).

Admittedly there are only a few bands/artists that I've seen multiple times:

DMB (7x)
D&T (5x)
Ani
BHTM
JT
Sarah McLachlan
David Grissom (nope, not Grisman Dawg-meister)
Dar Williams
Metallica
John Hammond, Jr.
Yes
Dream Theater
Suicidal Tendencies
Extreme

But they are the one I've seen the most, as they are still active and vary their shows significantly from night to night, tour to tour, year to year. It also brings a lot of joy to my wife, which in turn, brings joy to me. And fuck if Dave isn't an amazing songwriter, singer, and guitarist...then you add any of the variations of bands he's played in.

Holy shit...they are fucking stellar though aren't they? They breath a rarefied air that creates a truly unique and special musical stew.

[GoingToCA91]

Yep, they're my favorite. When I made my account here, Zeppelin was my favorite (hence my username being a LZ song and not a DMB song)

[Gravedigger789]

Without question. While I do appreciate and even love other bands, nothing comes close to my affection and admiration of DMB.

[RiotAct]

yes, easily.

[snow1868]

They probably still are but I can't stand the live sound they've adopted since BW was released. That said, I still listen to a lot of DMB.

[dontdrink36]

Quite easily, yes.

[TheLastPig]

I go through waves where I dont listen to them at all but yeah theres no question theyre my favorite band ever.

[Spell On Me]

Without a doubt.

[grilldanmo]

Cool, I don't have a single favorite anything of which there are options. Be it a music genre, songwriter, author, guitar, album, book, food, movie, show, actor, amp, car, game, kid, bass, city, restaurant, singer, state, etc. I'm an appreciator of variety. Not that DMB being one's favorite band means anyone isn't a huge fan of musical (or other) options.

I grew up listening to my dad and mom play the music they grew up on while also finding and listening to new artists and I keep doing the same. My grandparents listened to jazz (big band, bebop, cool, etc.), but even my grandfather that went to Julliard for trumpet (and them taught himself how to play flute) got into Billy Joel in his 60s after hearing Hubbard blowing the trumpet on Zanzibar.

There's another favorite...Billy Joel. I want to go see one of his Garden shows (having only seen him at Yankees stadium in '90), but my wife has no enthusiasm for it.

So, I'm listening to Zanzibar for like the millionth time in my life and it's easily one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life. Dave has not better songs, although he has his far share of equally great tunes. But Dave just doesn't write or sound like Joel or Zappa or Al Green...and I have to have access to all this other great music music as much as Dave.

Some music doesn't even need a specific artist. When my son and I saw Hamilton last year we had the then latest cast and they fucking killed it. The original cast soundtrack is stellar, but the live performances were overall just as good (better with Javier as Hamilton, but less with Mandy as Angelica). But I digress, I just wonder what other people think about music. The human voice is arguably my favorite instrument and DMB can't fill that jones at all, let alone like Joni, Billie, Aretha, Ani, Sarah (McLachlan or Jarozs), Ella, Jonatha, Kate, and countless others.

Thanks for responding. This thread is borne of genuine curiosity. I thought it might immediately be buried or folks might give me a lot of shit...but hey, it's early yet. I can potentially still look forward to beratings and burial!

[drop2d]

Nah... they're up there but:

Pink Floyd
Dream Theater
Radiohead
Pantera

are ahead of them.

[Slackdoodle]

Put it this way... they were my first musical obsession, so I'll *always* be excited for new DMB music, but my tastes have shifted over the years some. There are other songwriters I love more than Dave, and other albums that I turn to much more often than DMB albums.

[sbuzzz]

No, not even close.

[stlbluespower]

Yep. Easily. Dave's got a compelling understated charisma that I think is the big hook for me. Tremendously underrated vocalist.

[chadizzy1]

Yep.

8888

[stlbluespower]

Somebody needs to resurrect that thread regarding other favorite bands. There was a relatively recent one that had quite a few pages of posts.

[TimHonks]

Yes. There isn't a band that is really close. I listen to all types of music and go to a lot of concerts, but DMB is the only band that I consider an important part of my life.

[cpxc.]

Originally Posted by sbuzzz

No, not even close.

what are you doing?

[scrock25]

They are not.

[snake911]

No.
In the top 3-5, but The Mars Volta will forever hold the #1 position for me.

[BTBaboon]

They were, once.

But I can't say they're exclusively #1 anymore.

[ExistenceNow]

Yea, definitely.


They won't be the best band I see this year, but they're still my favorite.

[chrisjuniper]

definitely not anymore, moving further away from the top spot all the time too.

[grilldanmo]

Originally Posted by TimHonks

Yes. There isn't a band that is really close. I listen to all types of music and go to a lot of concerts, but DMB is the only band that I consider an important part of my life.

That's awesome. I have a few that immediately remind me of specific times and places. DMB was one of the bands that my wife I and I discovered when we were dating they are very important to us. Dave's voice provides my wife with a real sense of well-being when things get weird or stressful in life. I have a ton of music that does that for me, but no one sounds like DMB.

I mentioned this in that thread someone had about the declining relevance of the band based on Google analytics. My thought is that they have such a unique sound (encompassing Dave's voice, his and the collaborative writing, Carter's druming, Roi's winds, Boyd's strings, Fonz's bass, and various additions/subtractions and guest spots) that it was hard for it be parlayed by the music industry into a "sound". basic rock-type bands and created artists are far easier to mass produce and turn into the norm.

[grilldanmo]

Originally Posted by drop2d

Nah... they're up there but:

Pink Floyd
Dream Theater
Radiohead
Pantera

are ahead of them.

Nice list. Never got into Pantera (don't like Phil's voice at all) and was late to the Radiohead party, but I appreciate these bands a ton. Floyd is another favorite, while DT used to be. Still love "classic" DT, but I've preferred pretty much everything Portnoy's done since leaving to anything DT's done since he departed.

[drop2d]

Originally Posted by grilldanmo

Nice list. Never got into Pantera (don't like Phil's voice at all) and was late to the Radiohead party, but I appreciate these bands a ton. Floyd is another favorite, while DT used to be. Still love "classic" DT, but I've preferred pretty much everything Portnoy's done since leaving to anything DT's done since he departed.

Yeah, really wish Portnoy could find his way back to DT. Not only is he a great drummer, he also managed the band incredibly well. He was basically DT's 'Warehouse' only, you know, actually did a great job.

[dobyblue]

OP when did you see Dire Straits? Nice list also.

[dmbcriggidy]

I don't find myself checking the forum boards every five minutes for anything else in life...

[TheLastPig]

yeah I cant see myself making an account on a fan message board for any band that isnt at least in my top 5

[neumdogg]

Originally Posted by sbuzzz

No, not even close.

Well this looks suspicious. Are you an alter?

[grilldanmo]

Originally Posted by stlbluespower

Yep. Easily. Dave's got a compelling understated charisma that I think is the big hook for me. Tremendously underrated vocalist.

Charisma means little to me. There have times where I've read articles or seen interviews (mostly back in the day) where Dave seemed quite douche-y, but it didn't alter my massive appreciation of his music. Similarly there are artists that I like in interviews and articles, but I don't care for their creative output in any way.

Generally Dave seems pretty freakin' cool...especially in his slap fight with Brian from Rockbridge guitars.