hmmmmmmm, I'm sure I'm missing a lot but as was mentioned Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens
as well as Costello, Ryan Adams, Muse, Badly Drawn Boy, Interpol, Flaming Lips
...,
I'm sure I'll think of more later...
REM, Radiohead, Clash, Television, Springsteen, Echo, Bowie, Miles Davis, Cash, Bjork, Doves, and a bunch more other bands I
discovered through U2 ...bands/artists they always namecheck...and then from each artist forms a neat web of music connections and influences/contemporaries/followers..
(remember back in the day when U2 had some internet radio station thingy ...where each band member chose their favorite songs and so forth?? Well yeah, I discovereda great deal of music on there.)
Stuff I grew up on: Hendrix, Doors, CCR, Beatles, BB King, Clapton, Who, Zepp, Floyd, ......which got me into 'classic rock' radio station...which then got me into The Police ...which eventually got me to the 80's radio station...where they played Police a lot....but then I also heard the Cure, Smiths, New Order...which got me into downloading their other stuff.............also on this station they played a little band called U2....which more than other bands...the words really stuck out to me..and I remember hearing this band in my uncle's car when I was little...and then I remembered loving the Sweetest Thing video that this spanish channel constantly played every saturday morning! I was suckered in...it took me ages to buy all the cds....growing up in an allowanceless household and cheap parents made it difficult to get the cds. Getting each cd was like a gem, I listened to it for months until I was able to get another one...each one was like a wonderful surprise..
*another large portion of my music discoveries were through borrowing
a lot of cds in high school from a teacher and the Dr at my work