Pet Shop Boys are probably my fave band of all time - fave tracks include
from "Nightlife" Closer to heaven, Vampires
from "Bilingual" Metamorphosis, It always comes as a surprise, The survivors
from "Very" Liberation, Young Offender, I wouldn't normally do that kind of thing
from "Behaviour" My October symphony
from "Introspective" Left to my own devices
from "Actually" I want to wake up, Rent, It couldn't happen here
from "Please" West end girls, Later tonight
plus the book "Literally" (see my fave books page)
PSB record company page

Freakpower are one of THE bands to go and see live in the entire universe, if you want to spend an evening grooving non-stop.
Except they've split up now. Bother.
Unofficial Freakpower page

Level 42 are long standing favourites from when I was about 16, and when I first got a Walkman they were continually in it for several years... some fave tracks include Star child, Micro kid, Kansas City Milkman... still sounding good today
Here's a rather nice picture, or try an annoyingly slow home page if you're really interested

Skunk Anansie get a rating for being so awesome live, and specially Skin for being such an ace role model for girls today...
Unofficial Skunk home page

Abba just had to be added now that I've got "Gold" - there's some wonderful stuff on there. Fave tracks The name of the game, Take a chance on me, Does your mother know (some gorgeous close harmony singing on there, it made me go all shivery), Lay all your love on me, Super Trouper, SOS, & of course Dancing Queen. I've danced to Dancing Queen loads of times but had forgotten about most of the rest of them till I got the album.

Allan Holdsworth I first went to see in about 1989. I'd not heard any of Allan's music when I went to the gig, some friends recommended it, so I wasn't expecting too much. I was thinking "Well it could be really good or it could just be fast guitar playing to no musical purpose". But I was blown away by the music, it was wonderful. On that tour it was Gary Husband on drums, Steve Hunt on keyboards I think and Jimmy Johnson on bass. I bought the "Secrets" album that night.
Later I supported Allan's band on a couple of UK tours. The lineup that time had Skuli Sverissen on bass.
At one stage there was a web site and discussion list called Atavachron - don't know if the site's still there - have to have a look some time. I know the discussion list stopped and there's another one dealing with "fusion" music in general. To subscribe, send mail to majordomo@webster.com with one line in it:
subscribe fusenet-digest
I think that's right.

Silver Sun I haven't got any records of, but if you like rock music at all they are well worth going to see live.
Official Silver Sun web site

REM another great band live - saw them in about 1985 or 86, a wonderful gig, and went out the next day to buy the current album which was Reckoning... listened to that a lot at the time. Fave track is Don't go back to Rockville.
REM links

JJ Cale I heard on the radio in about 1982, the track was "Mama don't"... bought a load of his stuff after that... fave tracks include Cajun Moon, After midnight, Lies, If you're ever in Oklahoma, City girls, One step ahead of the blues, Downtown LA, Don't wait, Wish I had not said that, Mama don't, What do you expect...
Unofficial JJ homepage / JJ's record company page / someone else's JJ page / Links to more JJ pages

JJ, the Cure and Level 42, plus a load of soul singles, were my main listening while I was at university.

The Cure... one of the first gigs I ever went to, and soundtrack to several of my teenage years...
fave tracks include All cats are grey, The holy hour, Play for today, In your house, Boys don't cry...
Official Cure home page / some lyrics / some history

Aimee Mann ... another great live performer and songwriter, saw her live around '94... fave tracks include I've had it, Stupid thing, I should have known
Official Aimee home page / another page / bit of biography

Tori Amos ... never been to see her live, but some of the songs are just fab, Upside Down is my fave I think
Links to Tori sites

Queen were one of my first ever fave bands, when I was about 10... fave tracks include You're my best friend, Misfire, Another one bites the dust, and of course Bohemian Rhapsody, not that I ever listen to it nowadays but every note is engraved upon my brain by now anyway
Here's one Queen site, not necessarily the best cos I didn't look very far

Tom Robinson Band did a wonderful album "Power in the darkness" which is another one that still sounds good today, not a dodgy track on it. The track "Power in the Darkness" always reminds me of being in the Venger van.
I've now also got a much more recent album "Having it both ways", and my faves off that are Connecticut, Congo Blue and Castaway. Latest fave @ Nov 98 is Still Loving You off the album of the same name - another classic "when it finishes put it on again" tune
Proper official Tom Robinson information station with text from the man himself.

The Stranglers were other faves of the 6th form era. Rattus Norvegicus and The Raven have some great basslines, in fact I used to play along to them when I was first learning the bass, but I went off the band later for being too sexist.
Official SIS page / German unofficial one

(When I was about 17 I was in the Vengers (that is Venture Scouts and Ranger Guides). Venger soundtrack was the Cure, the Stranglers, U2, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Tom Robinson Band, plus the Undertones, the Ruts, etc. A quote of the era: "All you need to join the Vengers is Rattus and a bivvy bag" - I think it was Simon Willis who said that, hello Simon if you ever read this)

The Tubes were another early fave. "Remote Control" is probably my favourite album of theirs (although I heard it was their least favourite because of the production on it). I also really like "Golden boy" and "Strung out on strings" from the "Now" album, although they're another group I hardly ever actually listen to nowadays. The Tubes at Hammersmith Odeon was the first ever "proper" gig I went to.
Some stuff about the Tubes

The Beloved I suddenly got into after seeing "Hello" on the Chart Show. Other faves by them are Wake up soon, Outerspace girl, Sweet harmony
Unofficial Beloved page / some writing about them

Annie Lennox for the tracks Money can't buy it and Stay by me, from the album Diva, I also like Cold, never got that much into the Eurythmics though
Annie's record company page

That Petrol Emotion, another wonderful live band, another one where I went out the next day and bought practically everything I could find... fave track It's A Good Thing
TPE record company bit / someone else's writing about them

Haze I originally got into because of being on tour with them, and listened to loads around 1986 - 1990. I don't think the albums did the live band justice, but I taped loads of gigs myself... (not sneakily I must add). Fave tracks Shadows, The Vice, Mountain, Ophelia, Gabadon, Straw House, Stone House, Devotion, Fading Away (and there might be a few more that I've forgotten).
Haze home page

Jaco Pastorius of course has to get a mention for the bass playing... not only for Portrait of Tracy but I really like Come On Come Over from the same album, what a groove...
Unofficial Jaco home page / some tab for the songs

U2 were a big favourite in my Venger days as mentioned... I've got Boy and October and War and I listened to them a lot at one time... saw the band once on the War tour, magic atmosphere... then seemed to lose interest, haven't got any of the recent stuff.

Suzanne Vega I've got one album of, the tracks I like best are Straight lines, The queen and the soldier & Some journey. And yes, I have been told that I sound like her, okay?
Here's her official home page

Then there's a whole other category here of people where there's just one or two tracks I know that I really, really like, and the rest I've either not heard or didn't specially like...
Banderas This is your life
Maze Back in stride
Kylie Minogue Surrender, Confide in me
Pretenders Don't get me wrong, Brass in pocket, Back on the chain gang...
plus special appreciation to Chrissie Hynde for being a role model
Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer, Steam, Big time, Digging in the dirt
Madonna Ray of light, Vogue, Express yourself...
and a general enjoyment of most of her stuff and what she's about
Terence Trent D'Arby She kissed me
Pointer Sisters Automatic
Sister Sledge We are family
Lena Fiagbe Gotta get it right
The Ruts In a rut
The Buzzcocks Ever fallen in love
New Order True faith
The Police Invisible sun
First Light Daybreak
Paul Hardcastle Fly by night
Simply Red It's only love
Sisters of Mercy Alice
The Passions I'm in love with a German film star, Love is essential
Longpigs Far
Whigfield Saturday night, reminds me of the summer of '94
Blondie Rapture, Call me
Gerry Rafferty Get it right next time
Stephen Duffy & Nigel Kennedy She wants to share her magic
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians What I am
Salt 'n' Pepa Let's talk about sex, Expression, Blacks' Magic
The Clash Overpowered by funk, Should I stay or should I go
Talk Talk Life's what you make it - when I'm in a certain mood this track sends shivers up my spine
No man Only baby (ace bassline)
Rick Astley Whenever you need somebody - a classic Stock Aitken Waterman thing
New Model Army Vengeance
Chic Good times - one of the bass lines of all time - and Le Freak
Also on the classical front I specially like
Grieg Holberg Suite
Borodin String Quartet No.2.

There are probably some other tracks I'll think of and add some time, but that's it for now.

Here's some links for some of those people - alphabetical order of band or surname. I'll expand this section as I do more browsing myself.
Buzzcocks / Pete Shelley site
basic Clash info page, unofficial
some Peter Gabriel links
Longpigs info / another Longpigs site, but nothing on it when I looked
One Maze site / Another Maze site (they both look official)
Official & unofficial Pretenders sites

And here are another couple of interesting things:
Elastica's official home page
Bassist magazine