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Rock bands have played a significant role in the evolution of rock music. The broad genre of popular music has evolved over the years from the rock and roll of the early 1950s to complex sounds like progressive rock, grunge, Britpop, and indie rock, amongst others.
Over the years, many rock bands have changed the trajectory of music with their engaging live performances, unique sound techniques, and profound lyrics. In their career spanning decades, these supergroup have sold millions of records and made history for different achievements. Here are 10 such legendary rock groups.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the writer's opinion only and is ranked in no particular order.
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and 8 other greatest Rock bands of all time
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1) The Beatles
The four-member rock band, which comprised of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, is recognized as one of the most iconic musical groups of all time.
Created in 1960, The Beatles are world famous for their inventive composition as their music blended hard rock with psychedelia, classical music, and pop in imaginative and experimental ways.
By selling over six hundred million units globally, the rock band, fondly called The Fab Four, became the bestselling musical act of all time. The band won seven Grammy awards, an Oscar, and four Brit awards, amongst other musical accolades.
Robert Greenfield of Rolling Stone magazine, in an interview with CNN, likened The Beatles to Picasso, describing them as:
"Artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... in the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative, and more distinctive."
2) The Rolling Stones
The Paint It Black hit-makers are one of Rock N Roll's finest, known for pioneering the hard rock genre. The rock band’s original members were Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and Brian Jones.
Mick Taylor and Steve Jordan were introduced as replacements for Wyman and Jones in 1969 and 1972 respectively. With a career that spans from 1962 to this date, the rock band is one of the oldest surviving bands in the history of Rock and Roll.
The three-time Grammy-winning group has sold over two hundred and fifty million units of their catalog worldwide.
In September 2002, CNN referred to the rock group as:
"Far and away the most successful act in rock today."
3) Queen
Queen, known for classics like Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody To Love, and We Are The Champions, is a rock band credited as pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock genres.
The group was established in 1970 with lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, bassist John Deacon, drummer Roger Taylor, and guitarist Brian May.
Their compilation album, The Greatest Hits, released in 1981, is the bestselling music album in the United Kingdom and has a nine-time platinum certification by the RIAA.
Speaking on the influence that the renowned band has had throughout the years, Forbes magazine stated in January 2019:
"Why Queen was able to cut across such an incredibly wide range of musicians is easy to see – they are one of the most versatile bands that rock has ever had."
4) The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The trio called the Jimi Hendrix Experience, are widely regarded as revolutionaries of the unique sound of rock music associated with the electric guitar.
Group members Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding, and Mitch Mitchell came together in 1966 to create legendary hits like Purple Haze, Hey Joe, and Foxy Lady, amongst others.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 while their three studio albums have been included in various lists of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone.
The face of the band, Jimi Hendrix, was praised by Rolling Stone in its 2001 Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll:
"Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."
5) Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd is a British rock and roll band acknowledged for contributing to the progressive rock and psychedelic genres of rock music. The London-based group was formed in the mid-60s' by Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Rogers Waters, and Syd Barrett.
Following the success of their debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, guitarist David Gilmour was later introduced into the band. Two of their chart-topping albums, The Wall and The Dark Side of The Moon, made it to the list of bestselling albums of all time, and have been added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Pink Floyd received the Polar Music Prize in 2008, and in 2005, Pink Floyd was inducted into the United Kingdom Music Hall of Fame.
The band was described by Today.com in March 2004 as:
"The most eccentric and experimental multi-platinum band of the album rock era."
6) The Who
Consisting of members Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, John Entwistle, and Pete Townshend, The Who was a renowned rock band founded in 1964 in London.
The rock band is one of the 20th century's most influential bands known for its contributions to the rock genre and its use of windmill strum, power chord, synthesizers, and the Marshall stack.
In 1990, the quartet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1988, The Who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Phonographic Industry.
The band’s albums Who's Next and Tommy, and hit single My Generation, have been welcomed into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone, in December 2010, stated that the band:
"Coupled that raw energy with precision and desire to complete musical experiments on a grand scale."
7) Aerosmith
Aerosmith alias The Bad Boys from Boston, is a US-based rock band created in 1970 by Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Steven Tyler, Brad Whitfield, and Tom Hamilton.
The American group is known for its Blues-inspired hard rock style, and for influencing other heavy metal and hard rock bands like Skid Row, Ratt, Faster Pussycat, and Warrant, amongst others.
Selling over one hundred and fifty million records, Aerosmith has become America's bestselling rock band of all time. Also, the rock band broke the record for the highest number of certifications held by an American band.
Some of the awards received by the group consist of four Grammys, 10 MTV Music Video Awards, and six American Music Awards.
The band’s return to success in 2002, was described by Daniel Bukszpan, the author of The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal, in 2003 as:
"The single most successful comeback in the history of heavy metal, if not all of popular music."
8) Nirvana
Formed by Krist Novoselic, and Kurt Cobain, Nirvana was a renowned American Rock and Roll band established in the late 80s' in Washington DC.
After going through a succession of drummers, they later recruited Dave Grohl in 1990 and became a three-man band. They were popular for promoting both the punk rock and alternative rock genres, gaining mainstream success amongst Generation X.
Although the band had a three-year-old career, they gained commercial and critical success with chart-topping albums such as Nevermind and In Utero, which became diamond-certified by the RIAA and topped the US and UK charts, respectively.
Stephen Erlewine of AllMusic, in April 1994, credited Nirvana with:
“Popularizing so-called 'Generation X' and 'slacker' culture.”
9) Metallica
Metallica is a heavy metal rock band founded in Los Angeles in 1981. The founding members of the group include Las Urich and James Hetfield. The band’s current members include the founding members, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo.
The band’s musicianship consisted of fast tempos and aggressive lyrics. Metallica is ranked as one of the bestselling bands of all time, selling over one hundred and twenty-five million albums globally,
The 10 time Grammy award-winning band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. According to Allmusic’s Metallica Biography of September 2010, Metallica is:
"Easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s."
10) Led Zeppelin
Zed Zeppelin, originally called the New Yardbirds, was a British rock band made up of four members including John Bonham, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page.
Founded in 1968, the English rock band is recognized for their signature guitar-based sound that drew influence from folk and blues. They are also celebrated for developing stadium rock and album-oriented rock.
Their most successful work, Led Zeppelin IV, has become one of the best-selling albums in the world, with a record of thirty-seven million units sold.
Led Zeppelin boasts of five diamond certifications from the RIAA, coupled with eight and six number-one albums on the UK Albums chart and Billboard 200 chart, respectively.
In a 2006 Rolling Stone article, music critic Mikal Gilmore described the band as:
"Led Zeppelin—talented, complex, grasping, beautiful, and dangerous—made one of the most enduring bodies of composition and performance in twentieth-century music."
Other rock bands that have influenced the growth of the popular music genre include Heart, Radiohead, Guns N' Roses and Fleetwood Mac.
