And some people say it's just rock and roll. Oh, but it gets you right down to your soul.

“Bands, those funny little plans / That never work quite right,” Mercury Rev once sang in Holes, all tender morning melancholy. That may be true for them, but for us listeners those botched plans have a way of making perfect sense.

These musicians and bands go straight to the sore spots — and somehow they always bring the bandages. We cannot thank them enough. So here is a kind of living hall of ancestors, gathering a few of the key influences. Fave Raves? Absolutely.