I have a very wide range of musical likes, and enjoy trying new music. I've had an allergy to Top 40 radio music since I was a teenager. Favorite genres include:
Traditional classical : Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Samuel Barber, Handel. I have season tickets to the Seattle Symphony.
Avante guard classical : Gyorgi Ligeti, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Krzysztof Penderecki
1980s alternative rock : The Psychedelic Furs (my favorite band), The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Hardcore Punk: Discharge, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat
Extreme Metal: Sunn 0))), Celtic Frost, Electric Wizard
Other: Roxy Music/Brian Ferry, Cliff Martinez (modern movie soundtrack composer)
Of the above Ligeti, Penderecki and Sunn 0))) are the most challenging-- very different than traditional or 'normal' music.
Remember when I added my comments about the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame elections? Now you have an idea of my point of view.
** Sample below of Sunn 0))) if you want to know what extreme metal sounds like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOyvQEQYFLY
** Sample below of Gyorgi Ligeti, avante guard classical composer from Hungary. One of director Stanley Kubrick's favorites. Amazingly, this piece is played by a life classical orchestra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI0P1NnUFxc
** Sample of Discharge, legendary underground band from England that produced some of the loudest music on the planet. "Hurricane Wall of Sound" is how one early critic described their sound. All their very short songs (hardcore punk songs are usually short, sometimes under a minute) are traditional British protests songs but communicated in a sonically 'scorched earth' way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk9v6AM1hUk
** And last, but least, a much more accessible wall of sound 'pop' song from the wonderful British band The Psychedelic Furs. The singer, Richard Butler, has one of the most distinct voices in rock. Hoarse, flat yet melodic-- well demonstrated in this song. One of my favorite bands since I was 15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfwidISjX2c
P.s. I wasn't trying to convert anyone to Sunn 0))) or Discharge, but I wasn't attempting to post to stuff (or type of stuff) you've heard 100 times before. I'm sure you all already now what Lovely Rita Meter Maid sounds like (a song that I like, by the way).