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
Subscribe via RSS
Follow @khawe on Twitter
Add as connection on LinkedIn 
Friend on Facebook
{ 69 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
radiohead?????
the greatest
Where is Steely Dan?
Most of these on here are good except a couple of bands who only had like 2 good songs. But really You cant put one band on top of the rest they all contributed to the Legacy of Rock. So in the end all these bands are placed at #1.
KISS!! one of the most overrated bands of all time. 8th grade anthem rock. pathetic that they make this list.
pearl jam at 29?!!! how could this be? been together for over 20 years, still making GREAT music, and one of the very best live shows around….best ever in my mind, should be top 10 on anyones list.
1. pearl jam
2. stones
3. beatles
4. zepp
5. floyd
6.queen
7. hendrix
8+it gets really tough after this, after top 5 it gets tough.
KISS has been around for 30+ years? Still selling out arena’s – they are a band you either love or hate….
When I first put this list together I viewed Pearl Jam as being very-overrated. However, in the past year or so I have found a new appreciation of the band through their live performances and the realization that they put out a LOT of great songs. Not sure I would put them in the top 10 but they deserve to be a lot higher than 29.
your trying 2 tell me there are 10 bands better than u2, give me a break, u2, the greatest band of alltime
van halen, the eagles in front of u2, r u all on acid
any1 that doesnt put u2 in there top 5 knows nothing about music, u could argue, pink floyd, the beatles, the doors in front of u2, otherwise, no leg 2 stand on
No Jefferson Airplane? Are you serious?
good for you putting the dead so high as 4. all the haters obviously have no sense of rock culture outside their own, 60s music and scene was so seriously influential, add in the blues and psychedelia and their constant changing lineup, they have to the most dedicated following of any band. period, i dare anyone to find a band that has more. Bill Clinton called jerrys passing the loss of a true american genius. agreed
aslo, bono and his latchey bunch arent good enough to hold my jock strap, go watch some more vh1…pussies
im sorry i shouldnt have said that last comment what i meant to/should have said was that they just arent my favorite band, theyre still good, i think they would be a perfect opening band for dave matthews or coldplay
good list. most lists suck. good to see grateful dead on list, the animals, zz top, alice in chains, deep purple. many lists miss them. i would add iggy pop, wouldnt put living color, kiss, or boston, however.
KISS ahead of Pearl Jam and Aerosmith? Take away the face paint and judge it on music alone and KISS would not be in the top thousand bands of all-time.
Does anyone younger than age 40 like U2?
Rush at 25? Come on! They have been putting out the best tunes for over 30 years! And Tom Petty at 21.. The man can only play 3 damn chords! I guess the guy who wrote this would also say the Cobain was a better guitarist than Clapton, Lifeson and Hendrix. Oh well… matter of perspective I suppose.
Oh.. I met Bono (U2 bozo) once.. he’s a dick!
Good list.Nice to see The Animals in there.The most under-rated band of all time.
Great list. 110% agree that Led Zep is #1. But I think that Pink Floyd should be #4 and Sex Pistols should be taken off completely. The Sex Pistols aren’t in my top 10,000 :p