I was a big fan of the Rain Parade, Green on Red, X, the Rolling Stones.
That Yo La Tengo record, 'Painful,' has got some real awesome, noisy, mellow heartbreakers.
Thanks for existing, R.E.M. It's hard to overstate how much these guys changed everything, creating an entire rock audience in their own image.
You don't see a lot of difference between the Gin Blossoms and the Byrds.
The Byrds weren't rock n' roll guys. We were kinda like your Seekers... folkies who took it a step further.
It was R.E.M. who showed other Eighties bands how to get away with ignoring the rules - they lived in some weird town nobody never heard of, they didn't play power chords, they probably couldn't even spell 'spandex.' All they had was songs.
I like The Smiths - I would love to do a song with The Smiths, because they are so sonically different.
I really love that 'I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One' Yo La Tengo record a lot.
The original Byrds were very much Beatles-influenced, and then we gradually got our own sound. We started mixing things together more.
I grew up listening to Teenage Fanclub and Eugenius. Scottish music cast a huge influence on me.
