Could everyone list there favorite bands and maybe some upcoming or new bands that they have heard of and then list the Genre of music next to them? That would be really awesome. Thanks.

I don't really have a favorite band, but probably one of the ones I like the most at the moment is The Strokes. I'm not sure what to classify them as, maybe Alternative/Rock?

EDIT: Forgot about MC Chris. He's friggin' awesome.

my favorite bands are:

Rage against the machine
Linkin Park
System of a Down
Nirvana

but i'm also am a fan of:
Led Zepplin
Chevelle
Korn
Red Hot chili pepepers
Adema
Stone Sour
Static-x
Beastie Boys
Blink 182
Weezer
Less than Jake

Some good new bands are
Crossfade
Velvet Revolver

I'd say I am probably in the minority with most of my choices and some might not even be considered "bands" but here we go...
Phish (See avatar <----- )
Ben Harper (and the Innocent Criminals)
Robert Randolph and the Family Band
Jack Johnson
Bob Marley
moe.
Rage Against the Machine
String Cheese Incident
Pink Floyd
North Mississippi All-Stars
Ben Folds
Talking Heads
Weezer (pre "Green Album")
Radiohead
The Presidents of the United States of America
Tool
Wilco

Guess I'll name some of mine to,

The Rasmus
Yellowcard
Good Charlotte
Coheed and Cambria
Linkin Park
At the Drive In
Simple Plan
Blink 182
Bloc Party
Bush
All Americna Rejects
Rooney
North Star
Number One Fan

Some of my favorite bands would be:

Breaking Benjamin
Chevelle
Cold
Crossfade
Linkin Park
moderndayzero (formerly Mesh if you know who they are, StL group)
The Urge
Story of the Year
Three Days Grace
Yellowcard
TRUSTcompany
Trapt
Papa Roach
System of a Down

Favorite bands?

Well, as for symphony orchestras, you can't do much better than the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and the London Symphony. In the old days, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra were also great, but by now, they've been outshined by San Francisco and Los Angeles.

For Pops orchestras, start with the Boston Pops (the Fiedler days were the best), but Erich Kunzel does a great second-best with the Cincinnati Pops.

For chamber groups, go with The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

For choral, it's pretty much always the Robert Shaw Chorale.

Though it always depends on the conductors, too, but you rarely go wrong with Leonard Bernstein, Georg Solti, Herbert von Karajan, Bernard Haitink, Valery Gergiev, or George Szell.

Favorites(in no order):
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
Hendrix
The Doors
Rage Against the Machine
Ozzy
Metallica (some)
The Beatles
Black Label Society (for Zakk)
Steve Vai
Yngwie Malmsteen (really only the instrumentals)

Current decent bands/artists not listed above:
Opeth

The lack of contemporary talent is really saddening. I don't even like all of Opeth, I mainly go for the light stuff.

Edit: Sorry, I just kind of passed over the "genre" part. Most of what I like is pretty hard to catagorize and stick in a genre, but I'll try.

Dream Theater (progressive metal)
Tool (uhhh....progressive metal?? really un-catagorizable)
Nine Inch Nails (industrial/metal with a progressive touch)
The Mars Volta (art rock/prog. rock/prog. metal)
A Perfect Circle (alternative rock)
Ludacris (rap)
Lil' Jon (crunk rap)
Blue Man Group (percussive instrumental)
The Dillinger Escape Plan (prog. hardcore [lots of screaming])
Coheed and Cambria (alternative?)
Deftones (I've heard this described as "psych-rock;" i think it's a good description)
starting to get into Muse (alternative? - like old Radiohead)
Radiohead (alternative with an electronica flair?)
from what I've heard of Placebo, they're really good (more "psych-rock")
Sage Francis (rap)
Rage Against the Machine (hip-hop rock)
Tupac (rap)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (garage rock)
System of a Down (aggro-rock)

Here is what you requested:

Black Keys (Blues)
Cannon Jug Stompers (Jug)
Bullfrog (Jazz/Funk Instrumental)
Medeski, Martin , and Wood (Jazz/Funk Instrumental)
Up, Bustle and Out (Underground Hip-Hop)
Jurassic 5 (Underground Hip-Hop)
Company Flow (Underground Hip-Hop)
Dub Syndicate (Dub Reggae)
The JB's (James Brown's band gone solo...good funk)
Widespread Panic (Jam)
Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Jazz/Funk)
The Roots (Undg. Hip-Hop)
Yonder Mountain String Band (Blugrass)

Awesome guys i got some groups to check out, there are plenty there I've never heard.

Do John Williams, Klaus Badelt, or Hans Zimmer qualify for the conductors/composers list?

Heh.... one would never guess my personality only knowing what I listen to.

Jimmy Buffett
System of a Down
Daft Punk
Alien Ant Farm
Smashmouth (before Astrolounge)
Gorillaz
Supergreen X (great techno/electronica... website has downloads)
Linkin Park
Pink Floyd
Flogging Molly
Sublime
Wierd Al
Blue Man Group
Greenday
Weezer

and throw in about 5 dozen people who make techno who I can't remember all the names, save one... This one guy in Hungary who goes by Dekka that I chat with makes some great mixes which can be found here. Be warned, they can last anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes. If you're only going to check out one, look for "Partytime (20 Min DJ Contest)".

Well, I didn't make a composers list, but if I had, John Williams would only barely qualify. Two reasons: the volume of his work is so ridiculously popular that he can't be ignored, and he has actually found a unique voice in the history of music. It might be an overdone and overly-repeated one, but it is unique. No one else can or does write quite like John Williams.

Now, for Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer, and for that matter Howard Shore, I can rarely tell their scores apart. They've all written good stuff, especially Zimmer, but they don't have a well-enough defined style to make them distinguishable from each other. I don't mean that I can't distinguish one great melody from another; I just mean that if all four of the composers we've mentioned each wrote a new score, I could pick out the Williams, but I would be unable to assign the others. Part of artistry is about finding a unique voice, and Williams forever has.

As for conducting, well, John Williams is a good POPS conductor, but he doesn't have any inclination or talent for the rest of the classical repertoire. However, he does pops conducting very well. As for the others, I can't recall any time outside of one of their soundtracks that I've heard them conduct, so it's impossible to say.

After the first 5 posts, these threads usually go unread, but what the hell, here goes:

-Mogwai (beautiful instrumental post rock)
-Death From Above 1979 (stoner rock meets debbie harry. For more aggressive fans of Queens of the Stone Age)
-The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower (free jazz meets hardcore. Possibly for edgier At the Drive-in fans)
-Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (one of the few rock and roll bands that still exists)
-Q and not U (see above. Older material is for At The Drive-in fans. Newest album is just very catchy and has pop sensibilities written all over it)
-He is Legend (best metalcore band to come out this year)
-The Kinison (edgy post hardcore)
-Blood Brothers (noise punk)
-The Arcade Fire (mellow yet danceable rock)
-!!! (Disco punk)
-AC Newman (see also Ted Leo. Recorded the best Kinks album that wasn't really a Kinks album)
-The New Pornographers (AC Newman's other band. Shares vocals with a girl)
-Anatomy of a Ghost (They broke up last year, so don't expect any new material from them. If you like Coheed and Cambria, try to track down their release)
-Brian Wilson ("Music's best kept secret" was finally released after 40 or so years. As close as you'll ever get to a follow up to 'Pet Sounds')
-The Fiery Furnaces (rock opera in the vein of Bjork)
-Unearth (metal/hardcore)
-Converge (metalcore)
-The Fever (Part of the 80s revival. For fans of Franz Ferdinand who also like dancehall stuff)
-Far (the singer wrote songs for the Deftones. So sounds a little like deftones)
-Nick Cave and the bad seeds (folk blues rock)
-Murder by Death (mellow rock featuring a cello and a piano. Older stuff was more instrumental, newer stuff could be the soundtrack to a gritty western film)