The Grateful Dead for me, and I did see them live several times in the early 90s. Also saw the Jerry Garcia Band, which had a distinctive sound and repertoire, in the same era. More recently I saw Dead & Company the last time they played Portland.

Much like @mrp, mine has changed over the years.

In middle school, it was Def Leppard. Out of all of the “hair metal” bands, they always seemed to be a cut above bands like Poison or Motley Crue musically. I saw them in concert once, in 1987, which also happened to be the last concert that my father ever reviewed as the popular music critic for Pittsburgh’s largest newspaper.

In high school, I fell in love with bands like They Might Be Giants and The Dead Milkmen. Saw the former in concert twice, the latter once, but I also came to appreciate bands like INXS (once in concert) during this time.

College years and thereafter brought new sounds like Faith No More (saw them once live) and Nine Inch Nails (the champ for me, three times live, in 1994, 1996 with David Bowie, and 2001). I also dated a girl who turned me onto bands like Oingo Boingo, The Cure, The Smiths (never seen any of these live) and Echo and the Bunnymen (have seen them once, just a few years ago).

In the 2000s until now, I’m much less focused on a specific genre or band and more interested in just plain good music. My Spotify playlists have everything from The Beatles to Kacey Musgraves to The Rolling Stones to Spoon to The Who to Bruce Springsteen to Prince to AC/DC to Toxic Airborne Event to Emmylou Harris to U2 to other artists too numerous to be able to mention all of them, including ALL of the bands I mentioned above (there’s still something about “Hysteria” by Def Leppard that gets me every time I hear it).

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As for me, I like rock and metal. Huge fan of KISS, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc.

As a kid (80s), I did like a lot of pop stuff such as Animotion. And rock stuff such as Dire Straits.

I like a lot of bands from before my time, such as the Beatles and Pink Floyd. I never really enjoyed any Rolling Stones albums if I’m honest. I do quite like the Monkees.

I'm in the camp with driver1980 and @mrp. I couldn't possiby pick a favorite.

My tastes run from Celtic to show music, from Motown to the Beatles, from Wagner to one-hit wonders, from Dylan to James Taylor. I particularly love Sondheim and Springsteen. Hell, one of my favorite albums is of Itzhak Perlman playing classic movie themes accompanied by the Boston Pops!It does all depend on the mood, though.

I've seen Bruce several times, most notably at Fenway Park a few years ago, because my wife and I were able to go with our three (adult) kids, who grew up singing along to "Born to Run" in the back seat, not just on long trips, but even to the grocery store. My two sons, who are musicians, also love the Beatles, among many, many groups and singers. My younger son saw McCartney saw McCartney at Fenway maybe six or eight years ago now and was in heaven. He saw B.B. King when he was about 10 or 12, and actually got to touch Lucille and look BB in the eyes (he smiled at my son) as he went up the aisle. Another transcendent moment for him.

I met somebody on a cruise out of England.  They were from Liverpool and had seen the Beatles at the Cavern Club when they were young. I thought that was incredibly cool.

While there’s likely a dozen artists that make up my “favorites” list, if I’m only allowed one I’ll go with the Butthole Surfers. I’ve seen them thirteen times and like to believe there’ll be an opportunity for a 14th at some point.