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In 1980 Greg's favorite bands were The Gears, The Adolescents, The Chiefs, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, etc.("all the bands that were melodic and hard"). "I still love the bands that influenced me, like Elvis Costello, the Ramones, the Buzzcocks and the early LA music". He also loves Todd Rundgren ("studying his style at a young age made me learn about writing pop songs and still maintaining an image below the mainstream"); his fav Todd album is A Wizard, A True Star. And The Cars. "The first two Cars albums were very influential to me. They came out when I was 13 or 14 years old, and when I was 15, I started Bad Religion. Those two albums were the last thing I remember before becoming a punker. They had a tremendous influence on me, as did all the music I heard as a kid". "What was really the strongest influence was my mother's side of the family was very religious. They grew up in the Church of Christ, which is very musically oriented. The stuff that influenced my mom and my uncle were the early traditional guitar players. If you give me a guitar and a pick, I could probably put on an hour-and-a-half show of these old-timey tunes." "I respect artists and bands that persist through long careers, who have very high standards of quality, and do good work, regardless of whether their music is the flavor of the month or not. For instance, Fugazi has been consistently good over the years, Neil Young has had his ups and downs, but generally high standards and good work over many years, Bruce Springsteen has had his embarrassments, but continues to be relevant and maintains his high artistic standards. Todd Rundgren, who was a huge early influence to me, also had very high standards, and great music, despite not getting much attention from the mainstream.....this didn't hinder his desire to make music. Stevie Wonder is a great example of this type of artist. Stiff Little Fingers, and Sham 69 are two notables from England that fit this definition, despite the fact that they haven't done much lately, same with Elvis Costello. Of course, the Ramones fit this definition, although I'm not sure what they're up to, also DOA would make my list. I hope someday BR will be recognized for our high standards, and longevity, regardless if we ever break the top 40". On late 1996 his favorite BR song was Cease. On early 1996 it was The Gray Race and on summer 1993 it was The Answer.
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