Can't post youtube links cause I'm at work now, but there are quite a few.
Nirvana were my first favorite band. I could listen to them all day long, non stop. They're one of the main reasons why I like rock.
Rolling Stones - the first rock band I ever listened to. My uncle gave me a tape with one of their concerts recorded when I was very little and I remember I was like... "Wow!". My fav song back then was Start Me Up, which nowadays I see as one of their worst, actually, but I still love it for all it means to me.
The Beatles - don't need to say much, I grew up listening to them, sometimes I would love them, then I'd suddenly turn to punk rock and forget them for years, just to come back asking for their pardon.
Ramones / The Clash - 2 of the most relevant, if not the most important bands in my life. There was a time in which I would only listen to Punk Rock. Thankfully these days are over cause as much as I still love punk rock, my horizons were too narrow back then. Anyway, those 2 bands defined my taste more than any other.
From the Ramones, I take the beauty of simplicity. I'm not
against a guitar solo, or instrumental virtuosity (well, not anymore!
), but the Ramones taught me an important lesson about what's really important in music. It's music, after all, not a Guitar Hero contest.
Thanks to the Clash - in my eyes, the best band ever -, I had my first contact with many different musical styles and rhythms, such as reggae and ska. I still remember the shock when I listened to the London Calling album for the 1st time. "Is it punk rock?". I had too many pre-concepts about music in my head and was not used to see so much stuff mixed and combined. With time this album grew on me and today I'd say it's just the best album in the history of rock