Frank Zappa, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Pat Metheny, Placebo, Igor Stravinsky, Debussy, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Bert Jansch, Metallica, The Cure, David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Edgard Varèse, Einstürzende Neubauten, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Goldfrapp, Jeff Buckley, Kate Bush, Kings Of Convenience, The Kinks, Modest Mouse, Paul Simon, Sigur Rós, Steve Vai, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, Ry Cooder, Warren Ellis, Tom Waits, Ted Greene, Under Byen, Yann Tiersen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Zutons, Roxy Music, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Richard Hawley, The Prodigy, Björk, Joy Division, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Don Ellis, Conway Savage, Grinderman, The Dirty Three, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Ornette Coleman, Dusty Springfield, Jeff Beck, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, J.S. Bach, György Ligeti, John Lennon, The Beatles, John Martyn, New Order, Lyle Mays, Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report, Michael Brecker, Manhattan Transfer, Miles Davis, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Charles Mingus etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
The Proposition, Nil By Mouth, Uncle Buck, Drop Dead Fred, Brokeback Mountain, Mysterious Skin, Brick, The Libertine, Blow, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Bad Education, Downfall, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Breakfast On Pluto, True Lies, Terminator Trilogy, Sister Act, Superman, Ghostbusters, Nuns On The Run, The Pianist, Schindlers List, The Edukators, Goodbye Lenin, Donnie Darko, Hannibal Trilogy, Black Cat White Cat, Amarcord, Amelie, City Of Lost Children, etc etc etc i could go on
a bit of fry and laurie, absolute power, brasseye, blackadder, black books, jam, the day today, marion and jeff, human remains, garth marenghi's darkplace, the office, fawlty towers, comic strip presents..., bottom, the young ones, monty python, nighty night, the f word, top gear, BBC NEWS!!!!!!!!, curb your enthusiasm, Rik Mayall Presents, peep show, the league of gentleman, father ted, not the nine o'clock news etc etc etc etc etc etc
and the ass saw the angel, the liar, Horace, Epicures, The Diceman, john betjamin, strindberg, dylan thomas, oscar wilde, dante alighieri, virgina woolf, stephen fry, richard dawkins, william blake, nabokov, sterne, hemingway, orwell, bill hicks, paradise lost (milton), pope, shakespeare ...........................
not necessarily heroes but top of the range decent first class people who just make things a great deal better. they are: frank zappa, nick cave, bill hicks, pat metheny, bill bailey, stephen fry, rik mayall.