100 Greatest Alternative Music Artists

Alternative bands R.E.M. and Nirvana
Criteria: Alternative Music Artists are ranked by their influence, impact, and popularity. List includes alternative rock, post-punk and new wave artists, as well as artists in the various alternative rock subgenres (including - but not limited to - indie rock, Britpop, grunge, shoegazing, post rock, emo, alternative dance, goth rock, dream pop, alternative country, alternative metal, alternative hip-hop and trip-hop).

Newly added names are in Red
Last Updated: 2019-05-09
Greatest Alternative Music Artists
  1. R.E.M.
  2. Nirvana
  3. Talking Heads
  4. The Cure
  5. Radiohead
  6. Sonic Youth
  7. Pearl Jam
  8. U2
  9. The Smiths
10. Elvis Costello & The Attractions
11. Pixies
12. The Replacements
13. Joy Division
14. Soundgarden
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers
16. Nine Inch Nails
17. Hüsker Dü
18. Kate Bush
19. Depeche Mode
20. Green Day
21. Dinosaur Jr.
22. Beastie Boys
23. The Smashing Pumpkins
24. Beck
25. New Order
26. Television
27. Jane's Addiction
28. Echo and the Bunnymen
29. Siouxsie and the Banshees
30. Foo Fighters
31. Pavement
32. Fugazi
33. XTC
34. Alice in Chains
35. Oasis
36. Weezer
37. Minutemen
38. The Jesus and Mary Chain
39. The White Stripes
40. Blondie
41. Tori Amos
42. Blur
43. Wire
44. My Bloody Valentine
45. Björk
46. Morrissey
47. Bauhaus
48. A Tribe Called Quest
49. The Pretenders
50. Public Image Ltd.
51. The Jam
52. Violent Femmes
53. The Flaming Lips
54. Mudhoney
55. Cocteau Twins
56. Faith No More
57. Pulp
58. Liz Phair
59. Hole
60. No Doubt
61. Stone Temple Pilots
62. PJ Harvey
63. 10,000 Maniacs
64. Meat Puppets
65. Primal Scream
66. Rage Against the Machine
67. Portishead
68. De La Soul
69. Superchunk
70. Jeff Buckley
71. The B-52's
72. Coldplay
73. Gang of Four
74. The Tragically Hip
75. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
76. They Might Be Giants
77. The Fall
78. Suede
79. Wilco
80. Belle and Sebastian
81. Midnight Oil
82. The Psychedelic Furs
83. Linkin Park
84. The Stone Roses
85. INXS
86. Yo La Tengo
87. Sleater-Kinney
88. Arcade Fire
89. Guided by Voices
90. Muse
91. Queens of the Stone Age
92. Squeeze
93. Devo
94. Incubus
95. Manic Street Preachers
96. Fiona Apple
97. The Offspring
98. Modest Mouse
99. The Go-Betweens
100. Soul Asylum
101. Massive Attack
102. Elliott Smith
103. Mission of Burma
104. The Cranberries
105. The Pharcyde
106. Teenage Fanclub
107. The Roots
108. The Sisters of Mercy
109. Garbage
110. The Lemonheads
111. Pere Ubu
112. Alanis Morissette
113. Sublime
114. Primus
115. The Pogues
116. The Fugees
117. Spoon
118. Sinéad O'Connor
119. Mother Love Bone
120. Slowdive
121. Uncle Tupelo
122. Sunny Day Real Estate
123. The Specials
124. Killing Joke
125. The Church
126. The Breeders
127. Afghan Whigs
128. Camper Van Beethoven
129. Vampire Weekend
130. Juliana Hatfield
131. Lush
132. The Slits
133. This Heat
134. Billy Bragg
135. Ride
136. The Verve
137. The Feelies
138. The Killers
139. Gin Blossoms
140. Love and Rockets
141. This Mortal Coil
142. The Alarm
143. Sebadoh
144. Social Distortion
145. The Happy Mondays
146. Stereolab
147. The Wedding Present
148. Robyn Hitchcock
149. Bad Religion
150. Built to Spill
151. Silverchair
152. Sloan
153. Placebo
154. Bush
155. Aimee Mann
156. The Chameleons
157. Galaxie 500
158. Jimmy Eat World
159. The Charlatans
160. Butthole Surfers
161. The dB's
162. Catherine Wheel
163. The Chills
164. James
165. Spiritualized
166. Throwing Muses
167. Neutral Milk Hotel
168. Magazine
169. Beat Happening
170. Matthew Sweet
171. Blink-182
172. The Strokes
173. Screaming Trees
174. The Birthday Party
175. Tears for Fears
176. My Chemical Romance
177. fIREHOSE
178. Swans
179. The Beautiful South
180. Talk Talk
181. Spacemen 3
182. Cap'n Jazz
183. Gorillaz
184. The Sugarcubes
185. Let's Active
186. The Jesus Lizard
187. Belly
188. Lucinda Williams
189. The Smithereens
190. LCD Soundsystem
191. Death Cab for Cutie
192. Red House Painters
193. The Mekons
194. Kings of Leon
195. Game Theory
196. The Call
197. At the Drive-In
198. American Football
199. Slint
200. Super Furry Animals
201. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
202. The Dismemberment Plan
203. Soda Stereo
204. Arctic Monkeys
205. Pylon
206. Eels
207. Urge Overkill
208. Big Black
209. Franz Ferdinand
210. The Soft Boys
211. Rancid
212. Deftones
213. Bright Eyes
214. Orange Juice
215. Ween
216. Low
217. Madness
218. Redd Kross
219. TV on the Radio
220. M.I.A.
221. The Magnetic Fields
222. Morphine
223. The Sundays
224. The The
225. Daniel Amos
226. Felt
227. The House of Love
228. Ministry
229. The Jayhawks
230. Steve Earle
231. Common
232. The Black Keys
233. Fall Out Boy
234. Mogwai
235. Fountains of Wayne
236. Paramore
237. Sparklehorse
238. Broken Social Scene
239. Jawbox
240. Godspeed You! Black Emperor
241. The Housemartins
242. Thirty Seconds to Mars
243. Cage the Elephant
244. Young Marble Giants
245. The Mountain Goats
246. AFI
247. Snow Patrol
248. Barenaked Ladies
249. Taking Back Sunday
250. Ash
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100 Greatest Influences on Alternative Music

Criteria: Includes which perform non-alternative genres (including some artists which pre-date the genre, or are contemporaneous with it) which have had a noticeable and long-lasting influence on alternative rock music. Includes pre-alternative, 1970's punk, 1960's garage rock, protopunk, psychedelic rock, experimental music and electronica artists. Artists are ranked by influence on alternative music, critical acclaim from alternative music publications and popularity within the alternative music culture and community.
  1. David Bowie
  2. Velvet Underground
  3. The Beatles
  4. Neil Young
  5. The Stooges
  6. MC5
  7. Patti Smith
  8. Frank Zappa
  9. Brian Eno
10. Scott Walker
11. Tom Waits
12. Ramones
13. Sex Pistols
14. The Clash
15. Lou Reed
16. Iggy Pop
17. Roxy Music
18. Kraftwerk
19. The Sonics
20. Big Star
21. The Byrds
22. Can
23. Buzzcocks
24. Black Flag
25. Throbbing Gristle
26. Suicide
27. Bad Brains
28. Leonard Cohen
29. Peter Gabriel
30. New York Dolls
31. Todd Rundgren
32. The Residents
33. Joni Mitchell
34. X
35. Captain Beefheart
36. Dead Kennedys
37. Public Enemy
38. Warren Zevon
39. Prince
40. Syd Barrett
41. The Stranglers
42. T. Rex
43. Cheap Trick
44. Love
45. The 13th Floor Elevators
46. The Kinks
47. Sparks
48. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
49. Nick Lowe
50. Jefferson Airplane
51. The Seeds
52. The Damned
53. John Cale
54. Richard Hell and the Voidoids
55. Grace Jones
56. Yellow Magic Orchestra
57. The Cars
58. Laurie Anderson
59. Nico
60. Stiff Little Fingers
61. Moby Grape
62. Cypress Hill
63. Los Lobos
64. Richard Thompson
65. Glenn Branca
66. Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
67. The Undertones
68. The Cramps
69. Nick Drake
70. ESG
71. Cabaret Voltaire
72. The Gun Club
73. Suzanne Vega
74. King Crimson
75. Living Colour
76. Pink Floyd
77. Miles Davis
78. Gil-Scott Heron
79. The Soft Machine
80. Metallica
81. Grateful Dead
82. Herbie Hancock
83. Motörhead
84. The Monks
85. Dr. Feelgood
86. The Chemical Brothers
87. The Prodigy
88. Robert Wyatt
89. The Adverts
90. John Cage
91. The KLF
92. Graham Parker
93. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
94. Daft Punk
95. James Chance and the Contortions
96. Liquid Liquid
97. Ian Dury
98. Phish
99. Aphex Twin
100. Bob Marley & The Wailers
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