I need some help with rock here.

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Haven't heard them but I could look em up. To tell the truth about this thread though, no one's had bad suggestions - I could see where everyone was coming from in suggesting anything I've seen so far. Odds are if I did find something on my own it would be something that you guys would be like "What? You like that? Its pop trash..." - seems like my ear just works on some really weird wavelengths as well as how I process emotion from music.

dredg

By the way, I think the answer hit me today in a way where I can sum it up in just a few words. I tend to like stuff that's emotionally profound, stuff that'll either give me chills, bring tears to my eyes, or just f' with my head in a real interesting way. That I think is what Alice In Chains, Tool, Skinny Puppy, Sublime, and all the d&b I listen to (well, aside from that kinda crappy set I posted before) have in common. To me its just slick sh-- when you have a band who has a vocalist, the vocalist has a real distinctive style - very real and organic, uncut truths in the lyrics, the vocalist's lyrics adds to what they have going on with their voice and swagger and the band further really knows how to add to them well, its the synergy of all that I guess that I think really makes a band work.

Have you ever heard of Minor Threat? Either you will love it or hate it ; it's the first hardcore band ever, formed by Ian Mackeye in 1980. If you like Ian's voice (from Fugazi) you might enjoy it, thought it is way more fast and brutal than Fugazi. The lyrics arent so great (Ian was 16 at that time), but I enjoy listening to it when I want to release some agressivity.

If you buy the Complete Discography CD (which is the only record you can buy anyway), you will have all the songs they ever recorded from 1980 to 1983. Be aware still that this is low-fi hardcore of the early 80's, thus the recording might sound a bit dissonant if you're not used to that kind of music.

Another band formed by Ian in 2002 and actually more mellow than Fugazi is The Evens. The band is formed of only Mackeye playing an electric baritone guitar and a female drummer (named Amy Farina). Pretty decent music again ; might be worth a look if you like drum and bass.

You know, I'm probably really gonna make you guys cry with this one but maybe I should get some Three Days Grace or something along those lines. I did end up grabbing Lostprophets Liberation Transmission just because I saw a cheap used copy, half afraid I'd hate it but when you listen to something at length its a bit easier to just appreciate it for what it is and know what kind of mood its good for.

And as for a lot of the late 80's, early 90's, that's the stuff I already know too well - it seems like when I saw the Prayer video from Bloc Party, there are new ideas coming out that are pretty slick, they're different from the old breed but they're still slick nonetheless. Getting that real existential hook to the gut (or other people feeling it and singing about it well) I think is really what I'm about with these kinds of tunes.

I only downloaded one song "The Sad Truth" by this band called 108. It opens up with these lyrics: "i dream of a world where flags are nothing but cloth and the only thing that matters is love, life and freedom. where the bottom line doesn't determine life and we aren't defined by income bracket, a pretty house, faith, a lack thereof or a f*****g degree. where we think before we act and act before we critique." I'm gonna try to describe the sound...sludgy, agitated riffs with spoken-word vocals that hint at tremendous anger.

There's also this band called Cynic. They were described as free-jazz/metal/atmospheric. Maybe like Tool?

I'm also gonna throw in Elliott Smith just for the hell of it.

Another thing I realize, I also tend to like stuff that feels real corrupted. Can't explain that one exactly, I guess just more fuel for overthrowing my own natural gut-level innocence (which I think I'm actually doing pretty well at but still, the more fuel I have the easier it seems).