Just speaking for me, I know I am totally biased towards Jethro Tull and Uriah Heep by seeing them as my first concerts. Other groups can fall into that range where I will buy a ticket if scheduling allows it - and my logical brain knows that some of these groups fall into the range of "more influential" for later rock, but the "liking" part does not care and will argue till they stop selling us beer ;-)

I do wonder if your taste for Rush was branded on similarly or grew later - I do know that my taste in wines nowadays is better, but I also know that that is an area where I will be never called in as a judge ;-)

[reordered]
>>Laughing Out Loud. Even if you only like headbangers, there were better bands than them.
>Many of the newer rock groups in the last 20 years credit Rush for their inspiration.
>Name a few.....

not going purely for taste but more on influence:

From the time zone of Rush starting: U2, Queen,, either Journey or Barclay - and at that time still the Stones.

Less influential, for me on a level with Rush: Foreigner, Scorpions, AC/DC, Metallica, Aerosmith, [Gun'snRoses,Nirvana] from the harder sides - the other one of Journey and Barcly JH, Saga, Marillion, Genesis, Yes, Alan Parson, REM, Simple Minds, Simply Red, Styx, Kansas, Boston, Meat Loaf, Eagles, ... now names stop to bubble up but I know there are a couple I missed and would create immediate face2keyboard event when the name is heard.

On a lower Level still big names like Asia, Bad Company, Dire Straits, Police and Sting (some will argue for them to be higher), Supertramp, Springsteen, Nazareth, M.Mann, Motörhead, Bryan Adams, Jovi, Aerosmith which I saw but were IMO not as influential.

From before: Stones, Pink Floyd, Cream, Deep Purple and follow-up groups by members, Zep, Who. ELP with their pre-runners borderline between tier 1 and 2. Procul Harum, Sabbath, Fleetwood, Jefferson(s) on tier 2.

you asked for it ;-)

thomas