Greatest Rock Bands of All Time

Brilliant musicians, consistently strong albums, and a phenomenal live act (when they didn't screw up). One of my favourites growing up, they lose points for their shameless (if somewhat overstated) plagiarism that dogs their early albums.

The best pure Rock band period. There is no debate. Sorry Stones fans. Zeppelin didn't try and match the Beatles or anyone else album for album and fall short in most cases. They are so much more than just their 5 or 10 mega hits, Each album has some great songs that any fan of rock & roll can appreciate.

When I put a led Zeppelin album on I feel like the air is sudenly heavier, they're dark and mysterious, very bluesy. They're music has an effect on me. It's like falling head first into a vortex. When the album is over, it's like waking up from a great dream. No other bands can do THAT !

Not that they really need my validation, but it's no surprise that they're pretty much ubiquitous as the greatest musicians of all time 50+ years after their peak. Man what it would've been like to grow up during the 60s....

"The Beatles" made in the mid and late 60's albums that influence people till today. My second favourite band of all time. "I read the news today, oh boy"

The fact that The Beatles were able to pull off so many albums in a five year span is just amazing to me. I used to think that the Beatles were overrated until I truly started to listen to Sgt. Pepper's, Revolver, and Abbey Road.

They are a great band and I love a lot of their songs, and I am sure some people would consider them their favorite metal band ever.

Posibly the definitive metal band by the end of the 80's, they created the speed/agressive combo that has been the characteristic of metal since. If only more of their albums were like their first 4... anyway, 'til the early 90's they were untochable, but they jumped the shark and became a parody of themselves.

Impresionante banda al principio. Desde Load ya la estan cagando.

First 5 albums were amazing - singles band after that, but good singles. Innuendo is a hugely underrated album, and The Prophet's Song is probably better than Bohemian Rhapsody. Consistently an AMAZING live act. Huge talent in all four members. Probably the best overall band of all time from an objective perspective.

I love them!

They're more of a singles band, and not an albums band. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just saying it's probably a better use of money to buy two Greatest Hits albums than like seven albums where you only like two songs on each album. They're still legends though. Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the best songs ever written.

Live at Leeds is the best live album I've ever heard. It's what really pushes The Who well into my top 5 favorite bands.

Killer singles, fantastic albums and incredible concerts, The Who is the greatest rock band of them all.

One of the 5 best bands of all time. It's just plain wrong that the Who is ranked behind the Clash.

I think people tend to either overrate or underrate Nirvana. Some think they're the best, some think they're trashy. Well, I disagree with both. What they were was the main face of a movement they didn't want anything to do with. They were certainly not as artistically groundbreaking as many people have been led to believe, but let's be honest, most grunge bands were hardly innovative. Their iconic status may be slightly undeserved, but their influence is undeniable. Their lyrics are often so-so, but the raw emotion of Kurt's voice and the band's passionate playing makes it irrelevant. Best band of all time? Fuck no. They're not even the best band of the 90s. Hell, they may not even be the best grunge band. But that doesn't mean they weren't good. They were actually a pretty solid act, in my opinion, and there will always be room for Nevermind in my top 100.

It would have been interesting to see where Nirvana had gone after In Utero/Unplugged, some of their finest work. Speaking honestly though, the only way it could have gone is the way it did. Nirvana and Kurt left their mark and defined a generation and then some.  This band might not be for everyone. But if you get it, you get it. Beautifully simplistic with thoughtful lyrics and great drumming. Nevermind, In Utero and the Unplugged are staples in my collection.

Nirvana has carried me all through my childhood, and this band is amazing. I absolutely hate how Smells Like Teen Spirit gets so much credit when Nirvana has so many other great songs that nobody really knows, such as Pennyroyal Tea, Breed, or even Something In The Way which are all great songs that I wouldn't think a "True" Nirvana fan would know. I wish I could see these guys live when Kurt was still alive. But other than that, great band.

Pink Floyd transcend time. They are the human condition summarised in musical form. Can be over-indulgent at times though their many many fantastic albums make up for that.

Pink Floyd is my favorite band, and one of only four bands I gave a perfect rating to. (The others are Led Zep, The Beatles, and The Stones.) Their catalogue isn't perfect (whose is?), but in their prime they had three very talented songwriters contributing to music never heard before or since, music of a very high level of creativity. The period between Atom Heart Mother and the Wall was especially fruitful, with every album (except perhaps Ummagumma) another solid brick in the wall of their legend. A lot is made of the friction between the band members that eventually split them apart, but they (like The Beatles) were at their best when everyone was contributing equally. No one can move me like Floyd, and I'm fairly sure no one ever will.

Pink Floyd had and has no peer. Even their early, somewhat inaccessible music (Atom Heart Mother, Ummagumma) becomes a real treat if you take the band's journey into account. I saw them live in 1988 here in Oz and they are still the best live band ever. Odd that Radiohead is above them in the Band's rankings...

One of the best hard rock bands ever.

Yeah...they are what they are. Hard to deny the rockin' awesomeness of Thunderstruck and Shook me All Night Long but seriously, couldn't really listen to more than two or three songs in a row by these guys. If you're at a wedding and the DJ plays a little ACDC you gotta get out on the dancefloor but every song sounds the same so they have to be taken in small doses. They have limited application for short periods of time.

Not my favorite band... even though everyone seems to love them. Back in Black, High Voltage, and Highway to Hell. I think I'd be okay just with those. For Those About to Rock is great too. Watching Angus play is my favorite thing about this band.

Some on the BEA site love to rip on the Stones... I'd agree that in the last 30 years they've produced nothing of merit and have sullied their image somewhat. People forget how huge these guys were. They were rock and roll. They rivaled the Beatles, overshadowed Led Zeppelin, and developed the sleazy bluesy sound.

The greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the world? Yes. Just plain yes. Because in it's BEST form, RNR is four bar blues reassembled. Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman have my vote as the greatest rhythm section in the history of Rock and Roll.

A history of great music. They have released A LOT of crappy music, but have also released some of the best music ever written. A Bigger Bang was even worth coming back to. Favorite albums are Some Girls, Exile, and Hot Rocks (I feel they are a hits band, not the best album writers).

La mejor banda de hard rock-progresivo, desde su segundo album de estudio "Fly by night"('75) al décimo "Grace under pressure" ('84)alcanzaron picos máximos de creatividad. La segunda mitad de los ochenta los encontró demasiado imbuidos con el sonido del sintetizador, pero poco a poco retomaron el sonido de la guitarra como elemento principal. Su último album "Clockwork angels" ('12) los muestra en su mejor estado en décadas, y ya se habla de un nuevo clásico en su discografía. Rush es de las pocas bandas que con cada disco han ofrecido algo distinto, y cada album suyo garantiza, sino el total, no menos de la mitad de temas de altísima calidad.

I bet many people who first hear Rush think there are at least 4 people in the band. That is how well they sound and obviously I'm not the first to say that here. They are just one of the most fun bands to listen to and sing along with.

One of the most underrated bands of the seventies. Sure, some of their stuff was cheesy (Hemispheres, anyone?), but things like 2112 have never been duplicated in music.

Not particularly fussed on much post "Pump" but their 70s and to a lesser extent 80s stuff puts them up there with the greats.

Not an album band, but still make cool albums. Nonetheless, Rocks, Toys In the Attic and a few others are favourites of mine.

I really like Aerosmith but Toys apart, they haven't produced a truely great album so don't stand comparison with the true rock great like Jimi, Sabbath or Zeppelin.

great debut album, after that a bit hit and miss....

A band that burst onto the scene, burning with an intense flame, then burnt out. Too many egos. But for a brief while, they ripped apart hair metal and restored order to hard rock. Appetite is a landmark.

Great first album. Appetite truly kicked ass. It was also fresh and creative. After Appetite For Destruction they had a few good songs but no good albums. Axel has a good voice and Slash is one of the best guitar players rock music has ever seen, but the band didn't know where to go after their initial success. They ended up putting out shitty work.

Like most...I love Black Sabbath, but I think Judas Priest, is the better and more important Metal band!

I guess Ozzy Osbourne really needed Tommy Iommi and the others... On his own, he's become a caricature of himself. Black Sabbath deserve the plaudits they receive as the fathers of metal.

Folks, if you really love Black Sabbath during the Ozzy years, I HIGHLY recommend finding the English remasters. You can get them individually or in a fancy box set (you may have to special order them.) However, it is well worth it because they are much clearer and enhance instrumentation that is lost in the mush of the crappy U.S. Warner Brothers versions. Hey WB, get on the ball and Remaster Black Sabbath for release in the U.S.!

This band has it's highs and lows. When it has it's highs, such as Hybrid Theory, Meteora, or Minuets to Midnight, I find this band's high energy and loud music enjoyable. As for it's lows, such as A Thousand Suns, I find it hard to listen to some times, such as how they have so many instrumentals such as, The Requiem, Empty Spaces, Fallout, and many more. Living Things in my opinion is in the middle. This band is amazing live. If you ever get a chance to see them, go. Overall this is a good, not quite great band. And I don't understand why this band gets so much hate.

Rips of NIN's already hilariously bad lyrics, little musical talent besides that

So overrated. How many songs about anger can a band have? There's some musical talent here, but they need to spend many sessions in the counsellor's office before they can write about something else besides pain, loss, anger and how the world sucks. Maybe lock them in a room with Elmo?

Easily my favorite band from the '60s, even a bit better than the Beatles.

Jim Morrison was pretentious as fuck, a Rimbaud wannabe, a big load of his poetry only made sense on his head, I guess this is what makes The Doors so good to me. The band takes you on a journey of madness, that yeah! It's all about style, but it's also all about musical quality.

One of my favorite bands, from the epic "The End" all the way to "Riders On the Storm", these guys have it all; rock, psychedelic, poetry, jazz, blues, folk, and so many more. Such an amazing electric band, the only thing that truly held them back was the erratic and drunkenness of Jim Morrison, if he hadn't of died, they would have possibly have published 3 or more albums, not counting the non-Morrison albums.

Hallowed be thy name best metal song ever, one of the best of all time sure! I love Rime of the Ancient Mariner too, so strange and atmospheric, splendid lyrics

I remember I saw these guys live in 2010... Very good metal band, one of the best of all time no question.

A great metal band. Nothing wrong with Bruce as singer but Paul Di'Anno was seriosly underrated. Their first album is one of their best.

I guess I don't get it. They're good, they have some great singles. I've listened to a ton of their albums and honestly feel that they didn't change their sound up too much. I guess that's fine for some people, but I'm interested in artists who evolve over time. I found a lot of it to be bland.

The only band that succesfully kept the funk genre alive during the 90's. I respect that.

RHCPs changed music with their incredible style and energy. I have savored the experience of listening to their music for the better part of my life. I remember hearing Blood Sugar Sex Magik when it came out it blew my mind. They have continually rewarded us with great music with integrity. I recommend all of their albums not a mediocre in the bunch.

I am a huge fan of the original lineup. I believe their debut is one of the best albums of all time. Van Halen II, And Women and Children First have some great songs but I prefer the Fair Warning and Diver Down. With 1984 they blew up and broke up. They were very much of their time.

Van Halen is one of the most influential rock bands of their time. Of course that means without Van Halen there probably wouldn't have been that god awful hair metal scene throughout the 80's. However, I forgive them for that because I enjoy their work with Roth and a number of tracks from the Hagar era. Very talented band with a couple classic albums.

Welcome to the most misunderstood band in rock and roll history. Van Halen's debut in 1978 ("Van Halen") is a rock n' roll "game-changer," in the same way as Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" or "Led Zeppelin," or "The Ramones." It's difficult to describe via antecedents: the attitude of The Ramones, the musicianship of Led Zeppelin, filtered through blaxploitation films, Southern California skateboarding culture, and drugs. The band's (now) seven studio albums with David Lee Roth will likely appeal to the inner-10 year old in everyone, (if that inner-10 year-old still exists, that is,) and its propensity to experiment with diverse musical styles will appeal to all but the most jaded, (a la The Beatles.) By "1984" (not just a year and George Orwell apocalyptic scenario, but a Van Halen album too) - the garage band aspects that defined Van Halen's first five albums have been smoothed, but not eliminated - and the band's experimentation continues, resulting in a blockbuster album that defined an era, (in America, an entire generation.) Van Halen - when David Lee Roth is in the band - mixes characteristics from diverse musical genres, ultimately creating something unique. This is evident on its 1970s releases ("Van Halen," and ""Van Halen II,") and even more so in the '80s, but impossible to ignore by Van Halen's "I can't believe it's this good" 2012 comeback album, "A Different Kind of Truth." Van Halen released five albums without David Lee Roth as singer, all of which sound quite different than those released with him. The best of these is "5150," (1986,) on which Eddie Van Halen continues his experiment with new wave. 1991's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" (1991) can be inconsistent, but the highlights are enjoyable.

This band can kick some ass! Dave Grohl is a genius, he makes the songs amazing with his vocals, and guitar. Even if he's screaming his balls off, or slowly and softly singing the song, it will come out awesome. This band is amazing live! You'll get what you paid for, and more. Overall one of the better bands of this generation.

Simply the best band since the 90s. They're always doing awesome albuns and their shows, what can I say, they just really love to play and Dave Ghroll is an fuc#ing amazing artist!

Foo Fighters: One of the, IF NOT THE MOST TALENTED AND VERSATILE ROCK BANDS of all time. Dave Grohl and the boys, crazy talent, and THEY KILL IT, TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME! F#$KING AWESOME!

It's strange to me that people either love this band to an obnoxious degree or hate them to death. U2 really are a good band, but I guess it's "cool" to hate them. At the end of the day, they are a singles band. Their albums struggle too much with consistency. When I listen to a U2 album, there's typically two or three awesome tunes, half a dozen mediocre to good songs and a song or two that is terribly subpar. I do think The Unforgettable Fire is the exception to this rule as it holds up pretty well. The only weak track on that particular album is the one that Brian Eno forced them to put on the record, so I can forgive them for that misstep.

I've tried to understand why they are loved by so many. I certainly don't think they're terrible, they're a good band, no more, no less.

What unfortunately hurts U2 is their comercial legacy and their "we are saviors of the world" attitude, however no one can deny that they have recorded some of the best albums in the last 30 years so I guess that is that. It's difficult for me to think they are overrated just becaus they aren't a metal band.

Another good rock band, in my opinion.

Green Day started out as a good post-punk band, along with The Offspring and blink-182, but eventually they evolved into a band that won't admit that they're not punk anymore but just write rock operas. They've made good music, but nothing comes close to Dookie.

Well Green Day were awesome when they first came out with Dookie. They were a cool punk band that you could listen to without getting yelled at by you're parents. But then they stopped being so punk and got a lot more full of themselves. I really respect them for still being around and for not letting this modern music industry swallow them up, but yeah there not very good (or as good) as they were before.

Matt Bellamy must be one of the most vocally overacted and affected singers of all time. I mean, I can enjoy some drama, but listening to this guy is like listening to Thom Yorke playing Jesus Christ Superstar right after telling him that his mother has died and while a football player kicks his balls.

Its incredible that the latest work has made them more successfull and is an indication of why they have become one of the biggest "sell out" bands of this generation. Enjoy the glory lads. In saying that I always felt they were commercially driven and a marketing wet dream.

Muse was my favorite band when I was younger, but I don't like them that much these days. Muse is very talented, but Matt Bellamy's voice is very annoying, his lyrics are cliched, overly simplistic crap that a middle school student would write, and their music is very repetitive. Similar to what other people have said, Muse is inconsistent, and their music feels so shallow, fake & artificial. Muse lacks emotion & substance, and they're so focused on being dramatic & over the top that they forget how to write genuinely good songs. Additionally, Muse has gotten worse over time; The Resistance was the beginning of the end for Muse, and The 2nd Law is basically a parody of everything that Muse has done over the years. Muse is also EXTREMELY overrated on this site. I cannot understand why their albums (particularly Absolution, Origin of Symmetry & Black Holes and Revelations) are ranked so highly on the "top albums of all time". Furthermore, Absolution, Origin of Symmetry & Black Holes and Revelations are actually ranked higher than albums by The Cure, The Clash, R.E.M., Talking Heads, Wire, Dead Kennedys, Elvis Costello, Gang of Four, The Replacements & Sonic Youth. WTF?! Seriously, Best Ever Albums, are you kidding me? I can't believe that this site implies that Muse is better than all of those artists that I mentioned. At the very least, though, Black Holes and Revelations is probably Muse's best overall album (I'm most likely in ythe minority for saying this, though), and it had some very good songs on it.

Easily the most critically acclaimed artist since The Beatles, and their sparkling consistency shows it. They never really needed maturing, but they did grow as a group from album to album so that fans of all genres could eventually grow to love their music. Key Albums: Amnesiac, OK Computer, Kid A Key Songs: Pyramid Song, Paranoid Android, True Love Waits

I have to thank this band for introducing me to so many genres of music. Starting of with Pablo Honey they had a fun sound with some catchy grunge songs. The bends rook that idea and made it 100x better with better songwriting and much better performance from the band and Amazing production. OK Computer might be the best album ever. Kid A is my favorite record, in Rainbows is One of the most Well balanced albums ever with no bad song. A moon shaped pool was a sign that radiohead stays great even after 23years

I feel unfit to post my opinion of Radiohead. I've been listening to them for just over seven months. If it were up to me, I would have every album of theirs by now, and I would've bought them in order of release date to listen to their progression. Alas, I started with OK Computer. I listened to it all the way through, and wasn't immediately in awe of it, but after just one more listen, I was hooked. So far I own (in order of my personal favourites), OK Computer, Kid A, Hail to the Thief, and Pablo Honey. After listening to OK Computer for four months straight, I then listened to Hail to the Thief five or more times before listening to Pablo Honey around the same amount, now I own Kid A. After listening to each of these albums, I only have one thing to say to anyone who has not listened to Radiohead before; look up the style of each of their albums, then decide the best one for your taste, then buy that album. It's best to listen to an entire album, rather than the singles because you become more immersed in the music, and can appreciate it more easily. For the most part I think that people who say Radiohead are overrated, or just flat out terrible, don't really listen to their music, and don't listen to it enough. I'll be honest, the first time I listened to Kid A, I wasn't sure what to think of it, then, I really made myself listen to the music, and I found more appreciation for it with each listen through. Radiohead isn't a surface band, they aren't pop, where everything is spelled out for you, you have to really think of where they're coming from, and try to relate it to yourself. That's the only input I feel fit to give at this point, but I don't feel like I should need to give my input, their music speaks for itself, you just have to listen closely enough.

Thrown in a sea of below average bands in the nu-metal scene in the nineties System prevails to stand out but how much of that is actually worthwhile? Every time I go back to them remembering I was a huge fan a few years back I get an overwhelming feeling of average from the band. They have their strengths but I believe they falter a lot much like their peers (Static X, Mushroomhead, Deftones).

You have to have some respect for a band that managed to rise out of that cesspool of Limp Bizkit, Stain'd and Korn shit from the late 90s and still maintained more than a shred of dignity.

Una de mis bandas prodigias del heavy metal, sin ella nunca me hubiera gustado el rock ni la música, una banda realmente nostalgica. Ojala se venga el próximo disco.

Yes you can listen to a lot of bands that sound like Pearl Jam now because there are a lot of bands that have tried to copy the Pearl Jam sound. But they were and continue to be innovators. Ten is one of my favorite albums of all time but I don't want another Ten every 2-3 years or that would get boring. The best thing about Pearl Jam is that they continue to challenge themselves to find new things and along the way they challenge their fans too. No Code and Binaural are much better albums than they are given credit for because they take time to sink in.

Ten is a decent album. However, Pearl Jam is not anywhere near the top 25 bands of all time. They don't produce any of the mind numbing garbage that floods the radio, however, they excel in doing nothing remarkable.

Pearl Jam is a performance band. Even though none of their albums are the top of my chart, they would be if I were to make a band chart. It seems the latest album you listened from them is always the best one. They have been so consistent.

good!