Are there any artists or musicians who have your respect or admiration, but you don’t listen to?

For me: Nikki Sixx – I can tolerate Motley Crue in small doses (especially when I’m drunk), but Nikki Sixx has my admiration a. Because he has good taste in music and b. More importantly, because he has overcome both heroin and crack addiction. Anyone who can do that has my admiration.

Another artist I respect is Martin Pearson. I’d be very surprised if anyone on this board knows who he is, but he’s an Australian folk musician and comedian. As a comedian he is easily the funniest I’ve ever seen live and could easily record popular DVDs and CDs. But because his passion is folk music, it means he gets to appear in front of audiences of dozens in obscure locales around Australia and generally dwindle in obscurity. Anyone who could sacrifice popularity for passion also has my respect.

Non-metal: Leonard Cohen.
I admire him for his poetry and lyrics, but his music bores me to tears for obvious reasons.

Have you read any of his books? He was a tolerable author before he became a musician. Personally I'm a fan of his music though...

As much as I find their music mediocre and boring, I have a lot of respect for the frontman fom the Black Veil Brides. The dude is very down-to-earth and fan-oriented, and anyone who is willing to stick with their vision in spite of whatever is worth respecting in my opinion.

Dave Grohl kinda goes without saying here, too.

I'm an avid reader, I'll give it a try! Thanks, sir.

I respect and to some extent admire Tommy Iommi, but Black Sabbath (more often than not) bores me to tears. If that sounds crazy to you remember that there are lots of people here who prefer Death's cover of "Painkiller" to the original. We're all blasphemers in our own little ways

For me it is the bealtes.

I used to be the biggest Foo Fighters fan in Sweden, but they kind of got boring after a while. I do still respect Dave Grohl tremendously, as he's an all-round cool dude and his musical talents stretch far beyond what he usually does.
Also the myriad of blues musicians in the 50's who basically laid the groundwork for what we all come here to celebrate. Without Chuck Berry there would be no Euronymous or Chuck Schuldiner

Slipknot. Both guitarists are solid, solid players, especially Mick Thompson for rhythm. Joey Jordison is hugely overrated but is a very capable drummer, and the overall band is really tight. The only, ONLY fucking problem is that their songs all SUCK. Even Venom, who are all dismal musicians, write vastly superior material.

As a Trekkie, the idea of Klingon-themed death metal seemed perfect to me. So i tried to listen to the band Stovokor, but their music is just a little too standard of the genre. So i don't really listen to their first demo so far. I may come back to them later if they progress though...

I appreciate motorhead but I've never really cared for their style.

Led Zeppelin and Queen. Because they remind me of an ex girlfriend -_-

I respect many bands who have Satanic/Anti-Christian lyrics, although I don't listen to them. Musically, they are bands I like, but I don't agree with the lyrics. I also appreciate bands who use growls, but many I don't listen to seeing as I personally can't understand their vocalist's growls.

There's a large group of Country singers I appreciate, but simply can't listen to due to their singing voices.

For me its the two well known Canadian bands - Rush and The Tragically Hip. I respect both bands to be influential artists of the Canadian music scene. I cant really stand their music for some reason. I know a song or two from both bands, I did listen to some of their albums which didnt stick to me at all. Maybe later on I would be able to appreciate them.