Dave Hile, President
Crowded House—The ’80s/’90s group from New Zealand/Australia. Like the Beatles, they transcend the pop genre and raise their music to a higher level. Leader Neil Finn is one of the best songwriters anywhere, in my opinion. Begin by listening to their songs “Weather With You” and “Fall at Your Feet.” Check out Crowded House on youtube. (It’s a lame video, but great music.)

Julie Tibus, Creative Director and COO
Elton John—He always has something that hits any mood I’m in.

Eric Miller, Interactive Director/Designer
Sloan—Beatlesque power pop from Canada.

Bob Moulton, Director of Account Management & Online Media
The Who—Their wildly different personalities, their epic recordings and jaw-droppingly intense live performances have inspired me for years.

Katie Fogleboch, Senior Art Director/Designer
Andrew Bird—Not my favorite of all time, but certainly my current favorite. He won me over with song titles like “Imitosis,” “Plasticities” and “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left.” He’s a one-man band, whistling while he plays violin, xylophone and guitar, looping it all live, then crooning over it all with a voice that draws you into his unique, sometimes bizarre thoughts and stories. Another great one-woman band: Theresa Andersson. (Katie, we said only one artist!)

Art Delano, Director of Web Development
Eleventh Dream Day—They’re a band I listen to oftener than most. One among thousands of criminally underappreciated indy rock bands, they’ve always grabbed me with their ability to create character studies that wouldn’t be out of place in a Raymond Carver short story. From their earliest sets they’ve managed to balance emotional sincerity with a maturity that keeps everything from getting weepy and emo.

And they rock out. Have I mentioned that? Their early albums are end-to-end raveups. Their later albums (much later—EDD has been recording and performing for over 20 years) may have swapped the driving Neil Young-ish rock for a slower tempo and more complexity, but if anything, the music’s more intense now. I’m listening to their long-out-of-print album Lived to Tell and as I write this, “You Know What It Is” just started. So I’m going to listen to Janet Beverage Bean tell off an unnamed lover. Later.

Lindsey Cousino, Production Designer
Over the Rhine—I love the tunes that Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist give to their listeners. The songs are smooth and easy to listen to, with subtle instrumentation and Karin’s rich and throaty voice. They’ve been working together writing songs for over 20 years, with each album getting richer and richer in sound, my favorite album being Ohio. They also put on a great live show. Check out Over the Rhine here.

Monica Getz, Copywriter
Simon and Garfunkel, no question—Because they (or Paul Simon, probably more specifically) are poets as well as musicians, you not only get great music and beautiful harmonies, but words your brain can chew on as well. (“Bridge Over Troubled Water” wasn’t the #1 song of 1970 for nothing!)

Mary Cooper, Office Administrator
Chicago—Because I remember dancing to their music in high school.

Becky Hile, Marketing Intern
Bikini Kill—It’s really difficult to pick just one band or musician of any genre as a favorite because my musical tastes are pretty much all over the place and change constantly due to my short attention span. Or I use one of my dad’s favorite words and describe my tastes as “eclectic.”

In high school I started becoming really interested in music and began collecting used CDs. Bikini Kill sticks out in my mind because they were one of the bands I discovered during that time that I ended up really loving. I liked them because they were very in-your-face, they had a lot of energy, they were all female and I felt that there were a lot of issues they talked about that I could relate to or thought about. I know a lot of people find them way too abrasive but I liked that. And I still do.

OK, HileItes readers: I know what you’re thinking. Dave wins with Crowded House (one of the advantages of authoring this post). What about you? Who is your favorite musical group of all time? You can only pick one. We know, it’s hard!