[CRESCENDOPOWER]

And, guess what? You have only 20 artists that you can listen to for the rest of your life, and no music will be created from this point forward. This is the moment of truth, so think hard!

Led Zeppelin
Metallica
Queen
Madonna
Prince
Michael Jackson
Beach Boys
Van Halen
Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne
Aerosmith
Tool
The Police
Kiss
ZZ-Top
John Cougar Mellencamp
Rob Zombie/White Zombie
REM
Pink Floyd
Celine Dion
Hall & Oates

Now it's your turn!

 

[blessingx]

I think you're doomed.

Guess I'd go for artists with a ton of output. Counting composers and editors as artists...

Alan Lomax recordings
The Beatles
Billie Holiday
Djivan Gasparyan
Frédéric Chopin
George Gershwin
Harry Smith Smithsonian recordings
J.S. Bach
John Coltrane
John Fahey
Maria Callas
Paul Simon
Pavement
Rolling Stones
Ry Cooder
Sonic Youth
Stephen Wades recordings
Thelonious Monk
W. A. Mozart
... and George Guidall (who narrated over 650 unabridged audio books - just in case those are also banned).

 

[FalconP]

Tough call...let's see:

1. The Chieftains (throw in the solo albums of Matt Molloy, Derek Bell and Sean Keane please)
2. Madredeus
3. Battlefield Band (ditto the solo works of Brian McNeill and Alan Reid)
4. Loreena McKennitt
5. John McDermott
6. Alasdair Fraser
7. Tim Story
8. Robert Rich
9. Vidna Obmana
10. Anouar Brahem
11. Caetano Veloso
12. Ali Akbar Khan
13. Djivan Gasparyan
14. The Klezmer Conservatory Band
15. Paula Tsui (HK pop singer of the 60-80s)
16. J.S. Bach
17. W.A. Mozart
18. Johannes Brahams
19. Alfred Schnittke
20. Olivier Messiaen

 

[CRev2002]

holy mother of god good question

Miles Davis
Beethoven
Radiohead
beatles
pink Floyd
ween
velvet underground
Bob Dylan
Bjork
led zeppelin
jimi Henderix
Mozart
john Coltrane
Autechre
Amon Tobin
Beck
Brian Eno
David Bowie
super furry animals
dj shadow

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm just going to start spouting off and see if I get anywhere close:

Pink Floyd
Golden Earring
Gary Numan
New Model Army
Matt Elliott
Uwe Schmidt
Peter Namlook
Bill Laswell
Tangerine Dream/Klaus Schulze
Notwist/Manual
Halou
Siddal (but they'd have to be whipped back into action)
Cocteau Twins
Dead Can Dance/Lisa Gerrard
Lacrimosa
Black Sabbath
Blue Oyster Cult
Sky Cries Mary
Kraftwerk
Mike Oldfield (but he'd have to do something other than some version of a Tubular Bells remake)
Vangelis
Skinny Puppy (hopefully this will include all offspring, including any Mark Walk and Statik -related projects)
FLA/Delerium/Intermix/Synaesthesia/et al

...meh, I'm already over, and I was just getting to the point where I had to pause between artists to think of the next one...I hate this new government already!

However, if I were allowed to keep going, I would use that same reasoning:

Martin Atkins
Al Jourgenson
and others, but I kind of think that's already stretching it.

 

[bundee1]

The Orb
New Order
Jimi Hendrix
The Free Design
Saint Etienne
Santana
Duke Ellington
Sly and the Family Stone
Isaac Hayes
Wu Tang Clan
Bob Marley
Cream
Run DMC
A Tribe Called Quest
Lee Perry
Dusty Springfield
Led Zeppelin
Al Green
Hector Lavoe
The Beatles

 

[D-EJ915]

all I listen to:

Pillar
Skillet
Living Sacrifice
Hitomi Yaida
*Gundam Stuff*
Demon Hunter
Embodyment
*narcissus*
Haste The Day
In The Face of War
Underoath
Zao
Hoobastank (knew about them waaay before you did)
linkin park
the transformer soundtrack people
project 86
(some other band I'm forgetting)
Escaflowne music people
.Hack//Sign music people

 

[averydonovan]

In no particular order:

Project Pitchfork
Covenant
VNV Nation
Assemblage 23
Zeromancer
Absurd Minds
Decoded Feedback
Def Leppard
Peter Murphy
Hocico
...

Okay, now I'm having a brain fart. Down with this new government!

 

[Nightfall]

This list may confuse you, but its accurate, or at least as close as I can make it trying to hold it to twenty, in no particular order:

U2
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
The Who (and Pete Townshend)
Peter Gabriel
Tori Amos
Eno
Ray Lynch
Sarah McLachlan
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Black
Sandy Denny
Dar Williams
Dougie Maclean
Kate Bush
Simon and Garfunkel
Stan Rogers
Mychael Danna
Loreena McKennitt
James Horner


JC

 

[HanssoN]

I don't need anything but Mozart... =)