Dishtowel; Let me know the ones you liked and I'll let you know in my opinion, the best albums to get by them. A couple of those bands are real hit and miss on different albums. I'll check out some of your bands when I get a chance... I know of and like a couple already.
Another good band is Silversun Pickups... but I think they've gotten a little radio play around here.
I used to listen to Skinny Puppy a lot. Ministry is another good band from the industrial era... they've put out a couple good albums recently too, more metal / punk than industrial though. They did a remake of "NWO" and called it "NO W." Pretty clever... If anyone else remembers and gets it.
Will; I would have to disagree that all modern American music comes down the line from black men singing in fields. It has influence, no doubt, as you've pointed out from there to the blues, soul, bebop, etc... and onto modern day influence. But that's not it. At the least I'd say classical symphony and opera have more influence on modern metal, especially death metal, than most would like to admit. Then you have the big band era, swing, and jazz to account for their influence on modern music as well. You can go back to tribal music, drums and chanting, and see where it's evolved and been utilized by some musicians today. And that's just a few obvious influences. Modern American music is like a modern American automobile, it may be made here, but it's got parts in it from down the street AND across the world.
As a side note; Contemplating Hootie and the Blowfish as being the finished product of countless generations of musical discovery and evolution makes me want to stab myself in the face with a spork. I know you were just giving an example, but it scares me.
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