People have aimlessly debated over which rock band is the best ever. People from old school say it’s the Beatles, some old rock heads vouch for Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. People from a relatively younger background would say it’s the Pioneers of Heavy Metal Iron Maiden, or people having softer taste would say U2. In my opinion best bands of all times have done rounds, it ranged from Eagles to Dream Theater to Iron Maiden. However, off late I sat down and heard most of the famous bands or so called critically acclaimed bands to come to a final conclusion. It was an extremely thought out process and I judged the bands on various parameters. It was based on their musical abilities, their live performances, their fan following, impact they had on world of music and their whole musical career. So, here is the list of top 10 rock bands of all times, which I came up with.
10. Eagles
The group made their debut in 1972 when they released their 1st album Eagles. Their genre can be loosely defined as country rock, with signature guitar solos. They are most famous for their evergreen track Hotel California, everyone whether it’s a 60 year old or 12 year old kid, they know this song. They had a very successful musical career, with a huge fan base and a string of successful live performances. However, they lost points in my evaluation due to their latest album Long Road Out of Eden which was a disaster to say the least. However other tracks like Take it Easy, Love Will Keep Us Alive and New kid in Town are still a delight to listen to.
9. The Doors
Let me tell u this band was not only about Jim Morrison, they also had really talented musicians, especially their keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Doors thrilled their fans with their smash mouth music from 1965 to 1971. Jim Morrison was a household name, a demigod of those times, as he told his fans to Break on Through. However, down the line they lost track of their music and Morrison converted them into a propaganda house. Their live performances turned into Police beatings and Morrison, due to his obsession with Women, drugs and alcohol, lost his voice. Still they had produced enough of great songs to go down as one of the greatest bands ever. Roadhouse Blues, Riders of the Storm and The End to name a few.
Pioneers of Thrash Metal, one of the greatest metal bands ever with a fiery frontman, Metallica reject Dave Mustaine and an awesome guitarist in Marty Friedman. They are not a growling bunch of kids playing loud music, what makes them special is their ear-ripping guitar solos and aggressive vocals. Their gigs are one to be watched, it always has something special. Some of their best songs are A Tout Le Monde, Tornado of Souls, Trust and Crush ’em.
7. Metallica
They started off as a band having a Heavy Garage Metal kind of monotonous sound. They had some initial success with hits like Master of Puppets, Fade to Black and
6. Led Zeppelin
One can call it the mother of all post 70s band. Their name was inspired by an American journalist comments that “The band is a Zeppelin, which is going down”, so to take a dig at the Americans they kept the name led (lead the metal) Zeppelin. They went on to become the biggest band in the world with sell out gigs and millions of fans around the Globe. Stairway to Heaven was like a national anthem which unified the whole world. However, as time went by their gigs and music turned into musical exaggeration, with Jimmy Page playing not so captivating long guitar solos and Bonham banging his heads into the drum. Zeppelin magic started to wear off and was brought to an abrupt end by John Bonham’s sudden death. However, people will always remember Stairway to Heaven, A Whole Lotta Love and
5. U2
The Irish rock band formed in 1978 has won it all and to highlight it, they have won 22 Grammy’s in total. Be it Bono’s vocals or The Edge’s unique guitaring, it’s just flawless.
They have won fans all over the globe with their soft rock. Their hits include With or Without You, Where the Streets have No Name and Kite. They also influenced the current breed of Alternative music. They have done a large amount of humanitarian work with the help of their music, such as raising funds for
4. Dream Theater
What happens when you put together an insane drummer like Mike Portnoy, a technically gifted guitarist like John Petrucci, a tremendously talented bassist like John Myung and an exceptional skillful keyboardist like Jordan Rudess. You get a super band; Dream Theater was able to do what Cream couldn’t. One of the most underrated band of our times, may be because laymen couldn’t understand the depth of their music, even the cover bands are scared to play their songs because of the complexity. However, if one understands it they just can’t stop listening to them. Maybe only James Labrie‘s vocals are the only chink in their armour, but its not bad either. Beauty of their music is that they continually evolve, they had started as a Progressive Rock band and now they are pioneers of Progressive Metal, along their way they touched Heavy Metal, Classical Rock and even Psychedelic. They also brought a new concept of Concept album in the shape of Scenes from a Memory, which was critically acclaimed. Live at Budokan is one of their most famous Gigs, by which they caught attention of the music world. Their famous singles are Pull Me Under, A Change of Season, Hollow Years and As I Am.
3. Iron Maiden
Gods of Heavy Metal, that’s what describes them the best. The British band took the world by storm with The Number of the Beast and Hallowed be thy name in 1981. Ear piercing guitar solos by Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, bassline by Steve Harris, shrill voice of multi-talented singer Bruce Dickinson shook the world of music. Great albums like Powerslave, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Fear of the Dark dominated the music charts all over the world. However, it wasn’t smoothing sailing all along, in 1992 band broke up with Dickinson and Smith leaving. It was a dark period for the band as the new look of the band wasn’t appreciated by their fans, however the estranged members came back in 2000 in the album Brave New World and they were back to their best. They are also known for their kick ass live shows in which they seem to perform with boundless energy even now as they approach their mid 50s. Some of their legendary Gigs are Rock in
2. The Beatles
Not much needs to be said about these guys from
1. Pink Floyd
Psychedelic music at its best. The band debuted with Piper At the Gates of Dawn in 1967 they came across a young group of guys playing some phony music and singing some frivolous songs. However, the turning point of the band was when Syd Barrett left the band and David Gilmour took charge of it. People started calling their music Space Rock. People found it soothing and uplifting, the album Wall was a smash hit, but nothing could compare to the success of The Dark Side of the Moon. It was a ground breaking album containing singles like Brain Damage and Us and Them. They continued there success with Wish You Were Here. Band was weakened when Roger Waters left, but still it continued to be successful. The biggest contribution of Floyd to the world of music and not only rock was the extensive use of electronics in their music, which changed the whole landscape of the music world. The exclamation point of their career came on the evening of
Some bands who missed out are Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, Queen and Creed.
