My interest in music began with old 1990's-2000's Pop. It all started with Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time album and the Now That's What You Call Music compilation CD's. I really liked Britney's old stuff (only her first two albums, anything after that didn't interest me at all), N*SYNC, the A*Teens, and Savage Garden. Whenever I talk about Pop music that I used to listen to, those are roughly the bands that I mean. I didn't get out of this phase until the mid 2000's but every once in a while I have to revisit this music. I have also done some Drum Interpretations of the songs I used to listen to; you should check them out. :)
The next big thing I was into (and still am really) is simple Rammstein. I heard about them during my senior year of high school (2005-2006) and I have been listening to them ever since. I remember waiting for their fifth album, Rosenrot, to come out because the special edition had three videos of Rammstein playing live which the US has not seen since Live aus Berlin in 1998. Their next live DVD Völkerball was my first real experience seeing them live and I was hooked after that. My main draw to Rammstein is their ultra-heavy sound that I haven't heard replicated in the same way. Reise, Reise was the first full album I listened to and is my second favorite to date, and their most recent album Liebe ist für alle da is my favorite. LIFAD was their return to that really heavy sound I like and I can hear the drums evolving to something more complicated and interesting compared to their earlier material. That also brings me to my next point.
In college, particularly after I moved to Dallas to attend the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, I was introduced to Dream Theater. I have a feeling I had heard a couple songs before, most likely Pull Me Under and Panic Attack. Regardless, I really got into Systematic Chaos and then Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Some of their stuff has a great heaviness that I enjoy, but I knew my taste was evolving and wanting more complicated rhythms. Not too long after that I found Rush, specifically Snakes & Arrows. I like how tasteful the odd time signatures were incorporated but felt natural. I also loved Clockwork Angels when it came out and it's still my favorite album to date. I like some of their older material, but I'm not a fan of the recording sound.
Now, I still love the heavy stuff but I'm starting to lean to Metal/Jazz fusion stuff. The band that comes to mind is Special Providence. Oh wow, give them a listen (all of their stuff is on Bandcamp). Animals as Leaders, Leprous, Vomitron, Sithu Aye, Plini, and Being are all great bands I follow and anticipate new material. I'll compile a list soon of some great songs that I think deserve more attention by everybody :)