Greatest Rock Artists Of All Time (Revision Version)

[pauldrach]

Pauldrach edit (Brian's original post, see next post)

2026 revision (edited by Tim, ManPerson, Fido ...?):

Criteria: Influence (35%), Popularity (30%), Acclaim (25%), Cultural Impact (10%)

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Chuck Berry
7. Madonna
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Ray Charles
11. Aretha Franklin
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Fats Domino
16. Prince
17. Little Richard
18. Marvin Gaye
19. Kanye West
20. Jay-Z
21. The Who
22. Sam Cooke
23. Pink Floyd
24. David Bowie
25. U2
26. Bruce Springsteen (& the E Street Band)
27. Run-D.M.C.
28. Nirvana
29. Diana Ross/The Supremes
30. Eminem
31. 2Pac
32. Beyoncé
33. Queen
34. Bob Marley & the Wailers
35. Buddy Holly/The Crickets
36. The Temptations
37. Neil Young (& Crazy Horse)
38. Kendrick Lamar
39. R.E.M.
40. Taylor Swift
41. Elton John
42. Mariah Carey
43. Whitney Houston
44. The Everly Brothers
45. Black Sabbath
46. Public Enemy
47. Drake
48. Otis Redding
49. Sly & the Family Stone
50. The Byrds
51. Metallica
52. Janet Jackson
53. Bill Haley & His Comets
54. Smokey Robinson/The Miracles
55. Bee Gees
56. The Kinks
57. Donna Summer
58. ABBA
59. Bo Diddley
60. Beastie Boys
61. Roy Orbison
62. The Clash
63. The Doors
64. Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions
65. AC/DC
66. George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic
67. Fleetwood Mac
68. The Velvet Underground
69. Joni Mitchell
70. Eagles
71. OutKast
72. Simon & Garfunkel
73. Rihanna
74. Britney Spears
75. The Notorious B.I.G.
76. Kraftwerk
77. Creedence Clearwater Revival
78. Radiohead
79. The Grateful Dead
80. N.W.A
81. Dr. Dre
82. Ramones
83. Eric B. & Rakim
84. LL Cool J
85. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
86. Aerosmith
87. The Police
88. Guns N' Roses
89. Van Halen
90. The Drifters
91. Al Green
92. Pearl Jam
93. Jerry Lee Lewis
94. Rod Stewart
95. Paul McCartney/Wings
96. Lady Gaga
97. Coldplay
98. Green Day
99. Adele
100. Depeche Mode
101. The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
102. The Platters
103. Jackie Wilson
104. Missy Elliott
105. Earth, Wind & Fire
106. Mary J. Blige
107. Wynonie Harris
108. Roy Brown
109. Van Morrison/Them
110. Cream
111. The Isley Brothers
112. The Shirelles
113. The Dominoes
114. The Clovers
115. Ruth Brown
116. Joy Division/New Order
117. Frankie Valli/The Four Seasons
118. Red Hot Chili Peppers
119. Fugees/Lauryn Hill
120. The Weeknd
121. George Michael/Wham!
122. Eric Clapton
123. John Lennon
124. Deep Purple
125. Big Joe Turner
126. Santana
127. Johnny Otis
128. Amos Milburn
129. The Band
130. The Orioles
131. Ike & Tina Turner
132. Four Tops
133. Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention
134. Etta James
135. Wilson Pickett
136. Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company
137. Justin Timberlake
138. Blondie
139. Billy Joel
140. Martha & the Vandellas
141. Iron Maiden
142. Chic
143. Talking Heads
144. The Smiths
145. The Cure
146. Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)
147. Elvis Costello (& the Attractions)
148. Yes
149. Iggy Pop/The Stooges
150. The Allman Brothers Band
151. The Ravens
152. Rick Nelson
153. Hank Ballard & the Midnighters
154. Sex Pistols
155. Sam & Dave
156. Oasis
157. The "5" Royales
158. Daft Punk
159. The Yardbirds
160. De La Soul
161. TLC
162. Gladys Knight & the Pips
163. Kate Bush
164. Roxy Music
165. Genesis
166. Lil Wayne
167. Nas
168. Wu-Tang Clan (incl. solo projects)
169. Tom Petty (& the Heartbreakers)
170. Dire Straits
171. Jefferson Airplane/Starship
172. Dion (& the Belmonts)
173. Booker T. & the M.G.'s
174. Carole King
175. Paul Simon
176. The Coasters/The Robins
177. Lynyrd Skynyrd
178. King Crimson
179. The O’Jays
180. Brian Eno
181. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
182. The Ronettes
183. Eddie Cochran
184. Carl Perkins
185. Patti Smith
186. LaVern Baker
187. A Tribe Called Quest
188. Pixies
189. Snoop Dogg
190. Lana Del Rey
191. Alice Cooper
192. Isaac Hayes
193. James Taylor
194. Steely Dan
195. Bob Seger (& the Silver Bullet Band)
196. The Mamas & the Papas
197. Solomon Burke
198. The Flamingos
199. The White Stripes
200. Smashing Pumpkins
201. Duran Duran
202. The Human League
203. Neil Diamond
204. The Monkees
205. Dusty Springfield
206. Alicia Keys
207. Rush
208. Destiny's Child
209. The Moody Blues
210. Sonic Youth
211. Chicago
212. Ice Cube
213. KISS
214. The Staple Singers
215. Blur
216. Usher
217. Björk
218. Arctic Monkeys
219. Chuck Willis
220. Little Willie John
221. Del Shannon
222. Nine Inch Nails
223. Rage Against the Machine
224. Motörhead
225. Def Leppard
226. Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force
227. Bon Jovi
228. The Cars
229. Bad Bunny
230. Kool & the Gang
231. Chubby Checker
232. The Strokes
233. T. Rex
234. Lionel Richie/Commodores
235. The Ventures
236. The Animals
237. Amy Winehouse
238. Ivory Joe Hunter
239. Tom Waits
240. Pretenders
241. Leonard Cohen
242. Frank Ocean
243. Beck
244. Massive Attack
245. Lou Reed
246. MC5
247. Hüsker Dü
248. Jackson Browne
249. Pet Shop Boys
250. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
251. Phil Collins
252. Spice Girls
253. Sade
254. Ariana Grande
255. Nicki Minaj
256. Hall & Oates
257. Boyz II Men
258. Alanis Morissette
259. Olivia Rodrigo
260. Luther Vandross
261. Future
262. Billie Eilish
263. Lorde
264. War
265. Chaka Khan/Rufus
266. Eurythmics
267. Salt-N-Pepa
268. Peter Gabriel
269. The Righteous Brothers
270. Jethro Tull
271. Soundgarden
272. George Harrison
273. D'Angelo
274. Aaliyah
275. Electric Light Orchestra
276. New York Dolls
277. Arcade Fire
278. The (Young) Rascals
279. T.I.
280. Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps
281. The Marvelettes
282. Joe Tex
283. The Prodigy
284. Johnny Ace
285. Lloyd Price
286. Cher
287. R. Kelly
288. The Lovin' Spoonful
289. The Spinners
290. Rick James
291. Gram Parsons/The Flying Burrito Bros
292. Barry White
293. Weezer
294. Gil Scott-Heron
295. Linda Ronstadt
296. Foo Fighters
297. The Shadows
298. Emerson, Lake & Palmer
299. Erykah Badu
300. Gary Numan/Tubeway Army
301. Toots & the Maytals
302. Television
303. Todd Rundgren (& related bands)
304. Slayer
305. Shakira
306. Jeff Beck
307. Jimmy Cliff
308. 50 Cent
309. Link Wray (& the Wraymen)
310. The Replacements
311. Boston
312. Cheap Trick
313. Harry Nilsson
314. Jesse Belvin/Jesse & Marvin
315. Buffalo Springfield
316. Devo
317. Ed Sheeran
318. Bruno Mars
319. Justin Bieber
320. Journey
321. John Mellencamp
322. ZZ Top
323. Bill Withers
324. Big Jay McNeely
325. The Moonglows
326. Duane Eddy
327. Alice in Chains
328. Gorillaz
329. The Offspring
330. Backstreet Boys
331. Heart
332. Cyndi Lauper
333. M.I.A.
334. Desmond Dekker & the Aces
335. Bryan Adams
336. Tina Turner
337. Patti LaBelle/Labelle
338. Nelly
339. Kelly Clarkson
340. Christina Aguilera
341. Steve Miller Band
342. The Dells
343. The Spaniels
344. Faye Adams
345. Thin Lizzy
346. Judas Priest
347. Cliff Richard
348. Mötley Crüe
349. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds/Grinderman
350. Tears for Fears
351. Korn
352. PJ Harvey
353. Robyn
354. SZA
355. Kylie Minogue
356. The Stone Roses
357. Big Star
358. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
359. P!nk
360. Tyler, the Creator
361. Suede
362. Jane's Addiction
363. Roberta Flack
364. INXS
365. The Doobie Brothers
366. Moby
367. The Verve
368. My Chemical Romance
369. The Chemical Brothers
370. Jan & Dean
371. Boogie Down Productions
372. The B-52's
373. En Vogue
374. Cypress Hill
375. Joe Cocker
376. Ozzy Osbourne
377. Cat Stevens
378. Randy Newman
379. Ritchie Valens
380. Dick Dale & the Del-Tones
381. No Doubt
382. blink-182
383. Scorpions
384. The Black Eyed Peas
385. BTS
386. Meat Loaf
387. Gloria Estefan/Miami Sound Machine
388. Anita Baker
389. Mary Wells
390. Charli XCX
391. Portishead
392. Fiona Apple
393. My Bloody Valentine
394. Jeff Buckley
395. Rosalía
396. Tame Impala
397. The Shangri-Las
398. Tori Amos
399. Blue Öyster Cult
400. Wire
401. Cardi B
402. Go-Go's
403. Tracy Chapman
404. The Jam
405. Ice-T/Body Count
406. Shirley & Lee
407. The Dave Clark Five
408. Muse
409. The Hollies
410. The Stylistics
411. Janelle Monáe
412. Big Daddy Kane
413. Giorgio Moroder
414. Can
415. Fugazi
416. Linkin Park
417. Donovan
418. The Crystals
419. Steppenwolf
420. Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew/Slick Rick
421. The Specials
422. Pavement
423. The Jesus and Mary Chain
424. (Small) Faces
425. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
426. One Direction
427. Sting
428. Queen Latifah
429. Screamin' Jay Hawkins
430. Suicide
431. Dead Kennedys
432. Professor Longhair
433. The Meters
434. Lee "Scratch" Perry/The Upsetters
435. Siouxsie and the Banshees
436. The Killers
437. Suzanne Vega
438. Belle and Sebastian
439. Black Flag
440. Gang of Four
441. Geto Boys/Scarface
442. Gwen Stefani
443. Franz Ferdinand
444. Katy Perry
445. Gloria Gaynor
446. Love
447. Donny Hathaway
448. Laura Nyro
449. X
450. Foreigner
451. System of a Down
452. Megadeth
453. Tool
454. Peter Frampton
455. Travis Scott
456. Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana
457. Dua Lipa
458. New Edition
459. Carly Simon
460. The Roots
461. Bad Brains
462. Gary U.S. Bonds
463. Busta Rhymes
464. Avril Lavigne
465. Brandy
466. Chappell Roan
467. Simple Minds
468. Boy George/Culture Club
469. LCD Soundsystem
470. Bon Iver
471. Vampire Weekend
472. MGMT
473. Supertramp
474. Gnarls Barkley
475. Johnny "Guitar" Watson
476. EPMD
477. The Sonics
478. Ace of Base
479. Nelly Furtado
480. The Pointer Sisters
481. *NSYNC
482. DMX
483. Free/Bad Company
484. The Black Keys
485. Jack Scott
486. Tommy James & the Shondells
487. Ben E. King
488. Pulp
489. Frankie Goes to Hollywood
490. Wilco
491. Larry Williams
492. The Chi-Lites
493. The Delfonics
494. Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns
495. Traffic
496. Nick Drake
497. Sparks
498. Kurtis Blow
499. The Del-Vikings
500. Primal Scream

[pauldrach]

Criteria: Popularity, influence, musical impact, and cultural impact. Explanation of the criteria below

Edited By: Brian
Last Updated: 2015-03-17

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_artistsddd.html

Criteria In Detail:
Popularity: Charted singles and albums (with some consideration as to the era in which they took place to establish context - albums were not big in the 50's and early 60's for rock artists and most put no effort into them, black rock artists mostly did not pay full attention to them until the early 70's; certain styles received little radio airplay which negatively affect single success, such as metal and early rap; pre-1955 rock also was made for and appealed to a racially segregated market, so the R&B Charts are more accurate as to what was popular within the rock community at the time, but that has to be balanced to reflect that post-1955 rock on the pop charts was not only competing with other rock, but also all of pop music as a whole).

It also includes sales figures and headlining appearances and so forth but these are considered secondarily. However, as with chart success, era and style specific context is factored in. In terms of concerts not all artistic styles are created equal. A vocal harmony group, no matter how popular, won't fill stadiums because their music doesn't translate well to the venue. Rap is harder to duplicate live.

It is based on roughly a 80/20 split for US/UK. In cases where an artist undeniably has a very high level of worldwide popularity, that can be used as a tiebreaker.

Influence: Primary Influence, which is worth more, is for true innovation, the starting point of a new style or method of singing, songwriting, playing, performance, production, stage shows, arranging, etc., which consequently goes on to become widespread at some point in the future. The origins of the innovation are what matters most here, not necessarily who others credit with exposing them to it and so it is necessary to trace back all things to their origins as best as possible. Secondary Influence is for those who did NOT innovate, but whose application in their own work of an earlier innovation served to popularize it to a far greater extent. Because this is not the creative aspect of it, secondary influence, which is far more common to see and can be divided up between multiple artists over the years, is not worth as much.

Musical Impact: The reaction within the music industry as a whole to an artist's work. This differs from influence because not all artists are even able to be influenced by things they admire. Different styles, different abilities, different audiences and different musical goals and a sense of creative independence means that artists many times would prefer to follow their own path, but their appreciation for another artist's achievements elevates the stature of that artist in the industry. This attempts to accurately determine what music was turning the most heads within their own community at the time, what was seen as raising the creative bar and set new benchmarks to strive to surpass. It is the peer recognition factor of the criteria.

Cultural Impact: The myriad of ways in which artists affect the mass popular culture, as over the years music has altered virtually everything around us in one way or another at times - racially, sexually, in language, fashion and slang. It's changed the dominant marketplace for music as a whole from adults to teenagers, it's changed the way the music industry itself operated, created untold controversy and started national and international dialogue on a wide variety of topics that have frequently changed the viewpoints of generations to follow. It is not always intentional, but when it happens the societal parameters often shift in some ways. Basically, how far an artist's career penetrated into society. This is the hardest to get, simply because it is difficult to affect such change, but it something that often separates the elite from the merely great and is ultimately a major part of the lasting legacy of rock music as a whole.

Essentially the goal in this criteria was to, as objectively as possible and by removing musical taste entirely, determine which artists made the most impact in their field. It doesn't require an artist to take on a specific role that is optional to do in order to BE an artist. In other words, there's no separate category for things such as writing, playing a specific instrument, producing, or performing live. Yet those all can and do factor in more objectively in the existing criteria. An innovative guitarist gets influence points for introducing new techniques, an artist's songwriting sees his or her Musical Impact level raised as a result, an artist taking the reins of production changes the business models within rock and therefore has Cultural Impact within the industry.

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. The Rolling Stones
6. Stevie Wonder
7. Chuck Berry
8. The Who
9. Led Zeppelin
10. Ray Charles
11. The Beach Boys
12. Aretha Franklin
13. Fats Domino
14. Michael Jackson
15. Madonna
16. Jimi Hendrix
17. Little Richard
18. Bruce Springsteen
19. Marvin Gaye
20. Sam Cooke
21. Prince
22. U2
23. The Supremes
24. Pink Floyd
25. Elton John
26. Run-D.M.C.
27. Queen
28. Nirvana
29. The Temptations
30. The Everly Brothers
31. David Bowie
32. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
33. Neil Young
34. Bob Marley & the Wailers
35. Public Enemy
36. Sly & The Family Stone
37. Bill Haley & His Comets
38. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
39. The Kinks
40. R.E.M.
41. Bo Diddley
42. Black Sabbath
43. The Doors
44. Jay-Z
45. The Clash
46. Otis Redding
47. The Grateful Dead
48. The Byrds
49. Van Halen
50. The Drifters
51. 2pac
52. Eminem
53. The Beastie Boys
54. Roy Orbison
55. George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic
56. Metallica
57. Simon & Garfunkel
58. The Impressions
59. Jerry Lee Lewis
60. Eagles
61. Joni Mitchell
62. Fleetwood Mac
63. Creedence Clearwater Revival
64. Aerosmith
65. Pearl Jam
66. The Bee Gees
67. The Platters
68. The Clovers
69. Janet Jackson
70. Jackie Wilson
71. Ruth Brown
72. Donna Summer
73. Van Morrison
74. Cream
75. The Isley Brothers
76. The Police
77. Al Green
78. AC/DC
79. Deep Purple
80. Radiohead
81. Mariah Carey
82. Outkast
83. Rod Stewart
84. The Four Seasons
85. The Shirelles
86. The Dominoes
87. Kanye West
88. Elvis Costello
89. Crosby, Stills, & Nash (& Young)
90. Big Joe Turner
91. Johnny Otis
92. Whitney Houston
93. Guns N' Roses
94. N.W.A
95. The Allman Brothers Band
96. Billy Joel
97. Janis Joplin
98. The Band
99. Sonny Til & the Orioles
100. Paul McCartney / Wings

While this part isn't on the main site, here's a second hundred that I had posted in the old forum:

101. Wilson Pickett
102. The Ramones
103. Eric Clapton
104. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5
105. Red Hot Chili Peppers
106. The Four Tops
107. Green Day
108. Frank Zappa
109. The Coasters
110. Etta James
111. LL Cool J
112. Dion (& the Belmonts)
113. Earth, Wind, & Fire
114. Chicago
115. Santana
116. Yes
117. Martha & the Vandellas
118. Jefferson Airplane
119. Iron Maiden
120. The Moody Blues
121. Rick Nelson
122. Hank Ballard & the Midnighters
123. Lavern Baker
124. Talking Heads
125. The Jackson 5 / The Jacksons
126. John Lennon
127. Gladys Knight & the Pips
128. Roy Brown
129. Wynonie Harris
130. Eric B. & Rakim
131. Blondie
132. The Mamas & the Papas
133. The Velvet Underground
134. The Sex Pistols
135. Daryl Hall & John Oates
136. Lynyrd Skynyrd
137. Joy Division/New Order
138. The Five Royales
139. The Yardbirds
140. Rush
141. The Smiths
142. Tom Petty
143. Roxy Music
144. Bob Seger
145. The O’Jays
146. Carole King
147. George Michael / Wham!
148. Kraftwerk
149. KISS
150. Solomon Burke
151. Sam and Dave
152. Genesis
153. Eddie Cochran
154. King Crimson
155. Notorious B.I.G.
156. Patti Smith
157. Alice Cooper
158. The Flamingos
159. Def Leppard
160. James Taylor
161. Jackson Browne
162. Diana Ross
163. Bon Jovi
164. Little Willie John
165. War
166. The Animals
167. The Cars
168. Phil Collins
169. Kool & the Gang
170. Ivory Joe Hunter
171. Bonnie Raitt
172. Del Shannon
173. R. Kelly
174. Mary J. Blige
175. Coldplay
176. Chuck Willis
177. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
178. Afrika Bambaataa
179. Carl Perkins
180. Dr. Dre
181. Iggy Pop & the Stooges
182. The Pretenders
183. A Tribe Called Quest
184. Booker T. & the MG’s
185. Depeche Mode
186. Cher
187. Kate Bush
188. Bobby "Blue" Bland
189. Emerson, Lake, & Palmer
190. Salt-N-Pepa
191. The Carpenters
192. The Ventures
193. Nas
194. Boogie Down Productions
195. Journey
196. Johnny Ace
197. Chic
198. John "Cougar" Mellencamp
199. Dionne Warwick
200. Shirley & Lee

[Fido]

When will we give up on Sampson updating this?

[Brian]

When will we give up on Sampson updating this?

Good question. It has crossed my mind that it might be OK to make revisions to the list until Sampson updates it. If he does update it, we would have to leave it alone, but until then, revising it wouldn't prevent him from doing whatever he wants to do with it.

[ManPerson]

Since it's been almost 10 years since the list of was last updated, a temporary revision is probably in order.

[ManPerson]

Some recent-ish artists (1990- onwards) that could be in the list, in very rough order of importance (I don't think all of these should be on the list ftr)

Beyonce
Kendrick Lamar
Taylor Swift
Drake
The Notorious B.I.G.
Dr. Dre
Green Day
Rihanna
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Britney Spears
Fugees/Lauryn Hill
Missy Elliott
Adele
Coldplay
Mary J. Blige
TLC
Lady Gaga
Oasis
Daft Punk
The Weeknd
Justin Timberlake
Lana Del Rey
The White Stripes

[ManPerson]

Btw, does anyone know what happened to Spontaneous Lunacy? The last entry was almost a year ago now.

[Tim]

Sampsonover.

[pauldrach]

I suspect Sampson may either be bipolar or at least had a burnout after having increased the posting frequency.

[Tim]

RIP Ozzy Osbourne.

[ManPerson]

RIP

[Fido]

RIP to the Prince of Darkness

[Zach]

Gargantuan loss to rock. R.I.P.

[Bruce]

Billboard's Top 50 Bands of All Time:

[Zach]

My eyes! They burn! My eyes!

[Drew]

Hey everyone,

More than 20 years ago, Rolling Stone magazine gave the world a list that was so incorrect and gaslighting to this community, this community started this community in response.

The Rolling Stone eyesore was hideous and seemed to favor philanthropic reputation and politically correct guidelines instead of the tenants listed cleanly and thoroughly above (thank you by the way! really excellent explanation of the criteria up there!)

HOWEVER
It would appear that the current list may be a bit... broad?

Where to begin....

Ok, so the first thing I see

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley <- Not Rock
3. James Brown <- Not Rock
4. Bob Dylan <- SOME Rock
5. The Rolling Stones
6. Stevie Wonder
7. Chuck Berry <- Not Rock, but close sometimes
8. The Who
9. Led Zeppelin
10. Ray Charles <- Not Rock

Rock'n'Roll is not rock. But Funk is at least closer? And perhaps it is a kind of Rock and that's okay that's a good thesis honestly. I really just feel like Elvis is Rock'n'Roll with a few Rock songs and even records, but generally speaking shouldn't be included.

In the last 20 years I've made a few lists like this for fun, often not completing a total 100, here is my most recent. It's a bit gfoofy, has some funk on there, omits some things I'm not SUPER DUPER familiar with, favors the 70s and progressive rock and harder sounds. But what did I not include? Rock'n'Roll and Soul and RAP and POP, so why do I see them as so separated from eachother?


The Beatles
Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
Booker T. & The M.Gs
The Who
The Rolling Stones
Queen
The Beach Boys
King Crimson
Frank Zappa
Black Sabbath
Pink Floyd
The Doors
Parliament Funkadelic
David Bowie
Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead
Rush
Metallica
Nirvana
Stevie Wonder
Talking Heads
Radiohead
Fleetwood Mac
Yes
Swans
Sly & The Family Stone
Iggy Pop and the Stooges
The Kinks
Velvet Underground & Nico
Prince
The Moody Blues
Sonic Youth
ZZ Top
Cream
The Clash
Jeff Beck
My Bloody Valentine
Eagles
Dire Straits
Genesis
Tool
The Police
Sex Pistols
Steely Dan
Ramones
Joy Division
Journey
Van Halen
Aerosmith
The Cure
Pixies
Boston
Dinosaur Jr
Steppenwolf
Jethro Tull
The Smiths
Tom Petty
The Yardbirds
The Animals
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Phil Collins
Cocteau Twins
Peter Gabriel
Heart
Misfits
The Doobie Brother
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Curtis Mayfield
Deep Purple
Joni Mitchell
Stereolab
Motorhead
Linkin Park
Steve Miller Band
Black Flag
Brian Eno
Iron Maiden
Muse
Wilco
The Mars Volta
Coldplay
Bad Brains
Styx
Dinosaur Jr
Primus
Billy Joel
Slayer
The Dead Kennedys
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Big Star
Lynyrd Skynyrd
ACDC
The Sleepers
Supertramp
Judas Preist
Sigur Ros
Janis Joplin
My Chemical Romance
Porcupine Tree


This is more of a word cloud than a list, but the order is significant.

Ok idea 2, let's include Jazz and Country. That way Pink Floyd can be #50 on something called :The Greatest Rock Bands of all Time: and we can just knock Rush off the bottom of the 200.

ROCK, RnB/FUNK/SOUL, RAP/HIPHOP all have separated but intersecting lineages and I BELIEVE hole heartedly that the spirit of this list in its current state does not reflect that and alienates the audience by including SOME rocknroll and SOME hiphop.

If definitions are needed I can provide a phylogenetic tree to explain my reasoning. But a list called :The Greatest Rock Bands of all Time: should ONLY include:

ROCK
PUNK
PROG
FOLK ROCK
FUNK? (I GUESS)
SURF
POST-PUNK
POST-ROCK
METAL/HEAVY METAL

and not include older or parallel lineages

I will provide a tree thusly

[Brian]

Hi Drew,

Rock is just a short way of saying rock 'n' roll. Below is a link that explains why rap is a part of rock. A similar explanation could be given for why soul is also part of rock, except that since soul is closer to what rock originally was than rap is, the case for soul being a part of rock is even stronger than the case for rap is.

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/mobile/art ... -rock.html

[ManPerson]

Are Abba not considered rock?