While listening to my iTunes collection (6,000+ songs and counting) I started thinking about how I would rank the greatest rock bands of all-time. Ranking such a thing is obviously all about personal taste…but I am going to try and put personal preferences aside and create a impartial of a list as possible.
One note – this is the top 50* greatest rock BANDS of all-time, therefore individual artists are left out (e.g. Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, etc). Also, my definition of a “Rock Band” is fairly liberal…
50* Greatest Rock Bands of All-Time
- Led Zeppelin
- The Beatles
- The Rolling Stones
- The Grateful Dead
- The Who
- Pink Floyd
- Nirvana
- Van Halen (With David)
- The Doors
- The Eagles
- U2
- The Clash
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Queen
- Creedence Clearwater Rival
- Black Sabbath
- The Police
- Metallica
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- AC/DC
- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
- The Ramones
- The Allman Brothers
- Sex Pistols
- Rush
- The Kinks
- The Band
- KISS
- Pearl Jam
- Aerosmith
- R.E.M.
- Deep Purple
- Cream
- Rage Against the Machine
- Sly and the Family Stone
- The Velvet Underground
- The Byrds
- Journey
- Stone Temple Pilots
- Guns n’ Roses
- ZZ Top
- Foreigner
- The Animals
- YES
- Tool
- Nine Inch Nails
- The Cure
- Boston
- Iron Maiden
- Motorhead
- Judas Priest
- Alice in Chains
- Living Colour
- Audioslave
- Motley Crue
- The Misfits
- Jethro Tull*
*Actual list is 56 but top 50 sounds so much better
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
the Grateful Dead at #4? COME ON
Why not just go to 75? BTW – you could have easily made the list the top 50 not 56 if you cut out some of the crappy bands at the end.
What, no CREED?
I greatly dislike a lot of these bands (most of the post 80′s ones), but most of my favorites are here too, if in a different order to my taste. I’d also put in Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull for my list (and take out about half of the artists here), but the rest of my favorites are here. Maybe also Marquee Moon. I feel this would have been an accurate view of my musical tastes earlier in my life. And 56 is a good amount, because otherwise you’d have left out Judas Priest.
Pearl Jam @ only #29?!!? That’s craziness. They’ve been going strong since 1991,… rockin’ and gathering hordes of fans along the way. And in 2005,… (even before their 2006 smash record) USA Today’s biggest online poll ranked them “The Greatest American Rock Band of All Time”! Pearl Jam VS Nirvana? Yeah,… PJ won.
This PJ inaccuracy enrages me even more than The Beatles not being #1,… which they probably always will be. And Alice In Chains only #52? And, yeah “…”, where’s Jethro Tull? And that “Audioslave” better be a misprint.
Considering the amount of feeback I have gotten over my exclusion of Jethro Tull I am going to add them to the end of the list…but honestly I never bought into the hype.
Longevity means a lot to me. U2 at 11? C’mon!!! 5th for sure and you could argue for higher than that but no lower than 7 or 8. And Aerosmith at 30? Are you kidding me? They’ve been playing together for 40 years and still touring and making good music. They aren’t a bunch of washed up old creeps like the Rolling Stones. I know most people don’t like the Dead but you have to give them their due for influence and, again, longevity.
At first I was going to factor in longevity much more but then decided against it based on some great “newer” bands. Aerosmith being ranked 30 shows my personal taste…
the beatles are number 1
THANKS FOR INCLUDING R.A.T.M. #34
jhlgvby, The Beatles are mostly a pop group.
Everything else is pretty good on the list i thought
The Grateful Dead at #4 and The Beach Boys not on the list at all. Not too good.
No offense to the Beach Boys but, for me at least, they are not a top 100 band of all-time.
Jarhead is a bubblehead.
The Beatles are mostly a pop group?
Have you actually listened to any of their albums post 1964?
They were and remain the most important and creative band of all time.
Thats not opinion, but fact.
Nirvana is #7! What the f*** is this! They are and continue to be the best!!!
Bands that easily beat out many on the list: Bad Company; Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Traffic; The Pretenders; Little Feat; Gang of Four; Chicago (Check out their first four or five albums if you believe they’re nothing but a pop band–they only became a pop band after Terry Kath, their incredible original guitarist accidentally killed himself–listen to his vocals and blistering guitar work on singles such as “Free” and “25 or 6 to 4″); and finally I would argue Santana (While Carlos Santana has increasingly appeared as a solo artist on more recent albums, the band that carries his last name was clearly a band in its own right with its earliest masterpieces such as the first album and Abraxas).
I stop looking at any supposed list of all time great bands when I see the Grateful Dead at #4 and U2 at eleven?!? Give me a break. U2 should be top 5 and GD shouldn’t be on any band list except top stoners…
I definitely think that Rage Against the Machines should be at least in the top 20. Why? Because Rage Against the Machines is a full on rock band that has my ears glued to my headset. Some of the bands on this list aren’t EVEN rock. Some people may disagree with me, but to be a rock band you have to make more than just one rock song.
@Mr P-West Which of the bands I listed had only ONE rock song? Keep in mind the definition of “rock” is broad….
@gogo The list of top stoners will be coming up soon and the Grateful Dead will be top 5 there as well.
what the hell seriously though pink floyd in my opion are the greatest rock band to ever grace this earth lol just look at the amazing live shows
fuck nirvana, they shouldnt even be in the top 30
where oh where is Chicago????
Great list, honestly. A few things I would change, but overall this is the list that most coincides with my taste with an attempt at staying objective. My one complaint is that The Sex Pistols are on the list. They suck pretty hard, brah.
@Dan – I hear ya on the Sex Pistols. I think they, more then most bands, are all about whether you like them or not.
Nice list with one problem. You’ve included all the best bands, but where’s Soundgarden? There is Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam and this crappy Nirvana, but the best Seattle band from the 90′s is missing. What’s up with that? Still, as said, your list looks very good and all the listed bands are great. =)
metallica is the greatest band of all time they are still around performing and all there songs are great
You can’t leave Chicago out of this group and you have to delete the Ramones. They were horrible at best.
I agree zep at 1 but I think pink ployd deserves n2. They were an incredible band, just listen songs like coming back to life, comfortably numb, time, echoes. All the albums were excellents, hard to find a bad song. But still, z
the 4 of zep were gods and they did rock. Beatles r fine too, they made a revolution to music. That is my top 3. Grateful dead 4? No way and please… U2 is not a top five band