Thanks for the help guys! Sorry bout my response time that snowstorm kinda killed my traveling back to school.

it's all good. and while you still have a little time off try out the xploding plastix it's good jazzy electronic stuff. the cinematic orchestra is also really good if you're feeling for some REALLY downtempo jazzy stuff, most people find it too mellow hehehe. i suppose it almost borders on ambient at times in how slow the music moves but i dig it a lot.

Anymore rock oriented suggestions?

the starlight mints is the only rock band i can think of through this head cold at the moment but they kick ass

This is an awesome song. Just thought I'd throw that second line in for kicks

go to sembles website www.semble.co.uk if you want reeeaaaalllllly new exciting music! would also recomend radioheads 'hail to the thief', fantastic!!

You should get "Superunknown" by Soundgarden. It may be kinda dark, but it's got plenty of depth and cerebrality to boot. It's 70 minutes long and therefore a good value. It WILL take you to another place, especially if you've seen some of the videos. The closest to this on your list would be the Zep, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stoneage, and Smashing Pumpkins.

As far as U2, Their best stuff is pre-Joshua Tree, Live at Red Rocks is an excellent live cd, As far as R.E.M., I am a big fan but don't really listen to any of their later output. I like Murmur, Fables of the Reconstruction and Lifes Rich Pageant, of coarse I love the whole 80's southern alt rock stuff that was produced by Mitch Easter. If you listen to and like the early stuff by R.E.M. than you should check out The Connells. They started out in the early 80's and are still touring. There best would have to be "Boylan Heights". If you're looking for something from Frank Sinatra, check out Sinatra at the Sands. It's a great performance backed by Count Basie and Co.
Switching gears, If you like Soundgarden, check out Audioslave which is Chris Cornell's latest group. Hope that helps!

Superunknown ain't no easy listen, from the funky tunings to time signatures to the wacked-out effects. Perhaps "Black Hole Sun" was plastered all over MTV, but their music has pretty much nothing to do with pop music.

Yeah I've got Superunknown and I think its a good piece of work, others on RM seem to like it more then I do.

For U2 I plan on listening to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb first, might give that live album a try but I'm not really that big of a fan of Live albums (Allman Brothers - Live at Filmore East is a good one though). A friend of mine has murmur so I will try that out, haven't heard of the others. Audioslave is a good suggestion, I've heard of them and it seems like I'd like them.

What about Silverchair, I've got Frogstomp and really got into the first and second tracks but don't really know where else to go with them.

Will defintley check out Hobo Sunrise, the name alone is appealing.