Best Rock Bands of All Time: 50-31 Revealed

It is easy now, more than 40 years after their debut and after songs like “Under the Bridge,” “Scar Tissue” and “Californication” have become comforting rock radio staples, to forget just how subversive and groundbreaking the Chili Peppers once were. But the band’s explosion into the rock underground in the 1980s and early 1990s was a thunderbolt of sex, funk, driving rock and barely-contained kinetic energy, reinterpreting Funkadelic and the Sex Pistols in equal measure while adding in its own patented brand of SoCal hedonism to the brew. Even after lead singer Anthony Kiedis finally kicked the habit and the Chili Peppers began to show a softer edge, the quartet remained prolific and able to reinvent themselves, morphing into one of the great live acts of their time — or any time. – DAN RYS

When Trent Reznor inducted The Cure into the Rock Hall in 2019, the NIN frontman nailed it by calling the Robert Smith-led act “one of the most instantaneously recognizable and sonically unique rock bands of the 20th and 21st centuries.” From the goth rock/new wave group’s first appearance on a Billboard chart in 1980 to today, The Cure’s atmospheric, moody yet irresistible tunes have repeatedly appeared on our tallies, with the band cited as an influence by everyone from the Deftones to Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo, and even sampled by late rapper Lil Peep, proof of the act’s multigenerational and cross-genre impact. — ANNA CHAN

When riot grrrl veterans Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein teamed up to form a side project called Sleater-Kinney in 1994, the conversational alchemy between their wiry, razor-sharp guitars — augmented by Tucker’s vibrating banshee wail — served as a much-needed antidote to the decade’s trend toward juvenile pop-punk. Without sacrificing breakneck speeds or headbanging hooks, essential LPs such as Call the Doctor (1996) and Dig Me Out (1997) delivered three-minute screeds as musically complex as they were lyrically nuanced—not to mention politically aware. The group gradually expanded their sonic palette into ear-splitting Led Zeppelin territory on The Woods (2005) before going on hiatus and returning with a joyous roar on No Cities to Love (2015). Despite the exit of long-time drummer Janet Weiss in 2019, they’re still going strong. — JOE LYNCH

By its second album, High ‘n’ Dry, Sheffield, England’s Def Leppard had begun to refine the sound that would define it as one of the most popular rock bands of all time. Pairing with producer Mutt Lange, the British lads married hard rock with pop and new wave and, most importantly, massively big hooks; clean, muscular guitar riffs and Joe Elliott’s  undeniable rock roar that combined to shatter records for hard rock bands: 1987’s Hysteria remains one of the most successful albums of all time of any genre, while “Pour Some Sugar On Me” is the stripper anthem for the ages. — MELINDA NEWMAN

Without the massive Live ’25 reunion tour, perhaps the world would have remained under the (mistaken) impression that Oasis was strictly a U.K.-based phenomenon that came and went in the ’90s. But what we learned over the summer was that, worldwide, fans were still desperate for Liam Gallagher’s unmistakable, raw vocals and Noel Gallagher’s galvanizing, sing-along rock anthems, and that the once-again-brotherly band was best enjoyed swaying arm-in-arm, soaked from a beer rainstorm, and topped with a bucket hat. Basically, we learned that the world never stopped needing Oasis. – KATIE ATKINSON

Of the few groups who can reasonably lay claim to the title “first punk band,” none of them had the libidinous ferocity of the Stooges. Frontman Iggy Pop’s transgressive stage behavior (puking, slicing his own flesh, full-frontal nudity, peanut butter) attracted headlines and horrified onlookers, but there was nothing gimmicky about his voice, which could be harrowing, petulant, dangerous, seductive and apocalyptic within the space of one song. That haunted hellhound voice paired with the band’s atavistic sound — a caveman brew of blues, garage rock and avant noise banged out by brothers Ron and Scott Asheton, best distilled on Fun House (1970) — is what took them from infamy to immortality. A band often imitated, never bettered. — J.L.

If any band embodies reinvention, it’s Café Tacvba. Since their self-titled debut (1992), the Mexico City mavericks have expanded musical boundaries like no other, crafting a sound that bridges tradition and experimentation. The band’s breakthrough Re (1994) introduced jaranas and melodeón to its sonic palette, blending Mexican folk with rock, bolero, and norteño. From the wistful “Eres” and the dance-driven “El Baile y El Salón,” to its soulful takes on Leo Dan’s “Cómo Te Extraño Mi Amor” and Los Tres’ “Déjate Caer,” Cafeta honors Latin American greats with fearless originality. Whether collaborating with virtuosic violinists or delivering an explosive MTV Unplugged, the band’s boundary-defying creativity has made it an unparalleled force in Latin rock history. — ISABELA RAYGOZA

No Doubt didn’t make a big splash with its 1992 debut, but 1995’s nine-week Billboard 200 No. 1 Tragic Kingdom launched the band into superstardom and gave young girls a strong, glamorous queen of pop-punk-ska to look up to in singer Gwen Stefani. Explosive lead single “Just a Girl” —  which stands as a feminist anthem – peaked at No. 23 on the Hot 100, while breakup ballad “Don’t Speak” topped Radio Songs for an impressive 16 weeks. No Doubt’s music has endured through the band’s lulls, going on to influence the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and becoming karaoke-bar staples. The oft-reinvented band itself has been feeling “Hella Good” as of late, reuniting to play Coachella in 2024, with a residency set for Las Vegas’ Sphere in 2026. — A.C.

“I had a vision, and music was ­playing in my head that I wanted to bring through,” EWF founder Maurice White once told Billboard, describing the potent mix of R&B, rock, pop, jazz, funk and gospel that has fueled such hits as “Shining Star,” “After the Love Is Gone” and the perennial crowd-pleaser “September.” White’s astrological sign (Sagittarius) inspired the band’s unique name, but its richly rhythmic sound came from White’s collaboration with younger brother Verdine, lead singer Philip Bailey, and more than two dozen topflight musicians who have performed with EWF across more than five decades. Maurice White passed away in 2016. Earth Wind & Fire was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame four years later. — THOM DUFFY

By the time their first two now-classic albums arrived in 1968 and ’69, the musicians who comprised The Band boasted a decade of road work, first backing rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins as The Hawks and then Bob Dylan after he “went electric” for his world tour in 1966. But it was once they were billed as The Band that these four Canadian multi-instrumentalists — Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson—along with Arkansas drummer and vocalist Levon Helm — created the template for what became Americana music, a rich blend of country, rock, R&B and soul. Their original version of this brew has never been surpassed. — T.D.

Siphoning the reckless energy of punk into spirited, Brill Building-inspired pop tunes, Blondie — lead by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein — catapulted itself from CBGB to the top of the Hot 100 thanks in large part to Harry’s ability to code-switch from sneering punk to crystal-voiced siren with the unflappable cool of James Dean and the knowing wink of a Roy Lichtenstein painting. Not content to merely bridge the gap between girl group and punk, Blondie’s idiosyncratic forays into disco (“Heart of Glass”), reggae (“The Tide Is High”), dance-rock (“Atomic”) and even hip-hop (“Rapture”) helped to blast down sonic Walls of Jericho in an era of genre rigidity. — J.L.

Green Day started out as scrappy teenagers rubbing shoulders with the likes of Operation Ivy and Pansy Division at the famed Berkeley, Calif., DIY punk club 924 Gilman St. – and when the pop-punk trio began flooding the airwaves with its deeply catchy, deeply irreverent hits, the venue disowned them. But Green Day, which fused its punk spirit with the songwriting chops of ’60s greats like The Beatles and The Who, was always destined for bigger things. Since Dookie, its hit-filled 1994 major-label debut, the group has become synonymous with alt-rock radio, scoring 13 No. 1s and 40 entries on the Alternative Airplay chart, figures on par with Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters. But those artists didn’t also record a zeitgeist-seizing political rock opera, much less turn it into a smash Broadway musical. — ERIC RENNER BROWN

Iconic guitar riffs are basically a prerequisite for any all-time rock band, and Santana’s riffs aren’t just iconic — they’re perennially mined to create new hit songs, many across genres that emerged well after the band’s 1969 self-titled debut first reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The nine-time Grammy-winning band, fronted by legendary guitarist Carlos Santana boasts four Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and two Hot 100 No. 1 singles across four decades, underscoring the timelessness of its singular blend of Latin rock, psychedelic rock and jazz fusion. Throughout myriad lineup changes, its musical fearlessness fashioned Hot 100 hits out of jazz covers (1969’s “Evil Ways”) and R&B collaborations (The Product G&B-assisted “Maria Maria”) that helped push the sonic boundaries of rock music.  — KYLE DENIS

Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Thin Lizzy broke out in the mid-’70s with a twin-lead-guitar attack and the peerless, reckless charisma of frontman Phil Lynott. As undeniable and formidable an ensemble as ever crashed the U.S. shores, Thin Lizzy’s anthems were boisterous, romantic and unpredictable, packing all the excitement and possibility of a night out with friends equally likely to show you the time of your life or get you thrown in jail (or both). They burned too bright to last for very long — and Lynott tragically died in 1986 at just 36 — but as long as there are pubs and jukeboxes, them wild-eyed boys will never be too far away. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

As rock became virtuosic, thematically heady and all around bigger in the ‘70s, Ramones showed up with leather jackets, ripped jeans and three-chord songs about girls, horror movies, glue sniffing and brawls that whizzed through the air and smacked listeners like a rock from a slingshot. No band did more for codifying punk songcraft — Chuck Berry riffs with girl-group glee delivered with attitude and abandon —and fashion than the Ramones. Like Coney Island’s Cyclone, the ride isn’t smooth (or for the faint of heart), but it’s an exhilarating whiplash of a spin — one all about living in the moment, but nevertheless built to last. – J.L.

It’s all about the songs with the Eagles. The quality and range of those songs, from the tender ballad “Desperado” to the hard-driving rocker “Life in the Fast Lane,” made the band legendary. Linda Ronstadt recruited all four of the original members for her own band before they went off on their own in 1971. Songs aside, the band’s statistics are amazing too: Eagles are the only group to win Grammys for vocal performances in pop, rock and country, while their 1976 compilation Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 is No. 1 on the RIAA’s roster of all-time best-selling albums. — PAUL GREIN

When 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine debuted on the Billboard 200, Trent Reznor brought the gritty sound of industrial music to the mainstream’s consciousness. Whether it was lead single “Down In It” launching on a Billboard chart, the FBI investigating whether or not its video was a snuff film (it wasn’t), or NIN’s iconic mud-filled Woodstock ‘94 performance, the band showed it was here to innovate and never conform. Since then, country icon Johnny Cash has covered The Downward Spiral’s “Hurt,” while rapper Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus sampled “34 Ghosts IV” for megahit “Old Town Road,” as Reznor and musical partner Atticus Ross went on to bring their unique brand of bleak, atmospheric-but-danceable music to TV and film, work that has led them just a Tony shy of EGOT status – a feat few rock acts can boast. — A.C.

Taking inspiration from garage rock, the blues, punk and the pantheon of guitar-wielding greats that came before, Jack and Meg White stripped the combined essence of these influences down to its sparest, rawest, loudest form across the duo’s six perfect studio albums. Among the White Stripes’ litany of classics, 2003’s “Seven Nation Army” is now firmly woven into the global cultural fabric, used as an anthem of power and defiance that’s chanted at sporting matches and political demonstrations alike. Meanwhile, the pair’s live shows vibrated with intensity, creating a generation of believers who still hold out hope for an eventual reunion tour.  — KATIE BAIN

Aerosmith, which formed in Boston in the early ’70s and scored some of the most enduring rock hits of the decade, had largely faded from relevance by 1986, when group leaders Steven Tyler and Joe Perry appeared on Run-D.M.C.’s remake of their 1977 hit “Walk This Way.” The groundbreaking rap/rock fusion was a huge hit and set up a comeback that took Aerosmith to new levels of popularity in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The band improbably reached its commercial peak in 1998 when the Diane Warren-penned “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from Armageddon became its first and only single to top the Hot 100 — the only one of Aerosmith’s eight top 10 hits that Tyler didn’t write or co-write. – P.G.

From raising a generation of pop-rock devotees with early hits (2007’s “Misery Business”) to inspiring a generation of new-gen pop stars (Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, etc.) and continuing to top the Billboard charts (2023’s This Is Why topped both Rock and Alternative Albums), few bands have been as instrumental to rock’s transition between consumption eras as Paramore. Anchored by Hayley Williams’ soaring, remarkably malleable pipes, Paramore has spent two decades bending the worlds of rock and pop to their whim. Whether they’re resolving intra-band conflict through sly songwriting or blending the gospel influences of its Franklin, Tenn. roots into Hot 100 top 10 hits (2014’s “Ain’t It Fun”), Paramore is for the people. — K.D.

Pearl Jam, in a word, represents perseverance. Born from the ashes of grunge pioneers Green River and Seattle glam rockers Mother Love Bone, its members had already been through tragedy and chaos by the time San Diego surfer Eddie Vedder signed on to sing in 1990. Debut album Ten catapulted the band into the stratosphere the next year, in a way that made each of the members deeply uncomfortable, and set up an artificial rivalry between Vedder’s band and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. Its reaction was to turn insular, to try to eschew the rock star lifestyle — and resulted in a series of albums that turned Pearl Jam into one of the best, most consistent and most inspirational rock bands of the past 30 years.

A relentless touring juggernaut who took on prevailing authority (including Ticketmaster and the Iraq War) at all turns, Pearl Jam also pioneered the fan club model, with deep follower loyalty that the industry is still searching to replicate today. After more than three decades, Pearl Jam remains just as pure as the band did on its first records, having persevered through it all. — D.R.

Few bands were as good and as adventurous for as long as R.E.M., who rose from jangly college rock stalwarts in the ’80s to major-label alt-rock heroes in the early ’90s to sneakily experimental veterans before their 2011 dissolution. And none of the R.E.M’s contemporaries did it like the Athens, Georgia quartet, who drew on influences from The Byrds to Television and added a Southern Gothic flair for a result singularly its own. Each of the band’s eras has its partisans, but it’s the breadth and scale of R.E.M.’s catalog that’s most impressive: Early classics like Murmur and Lifes Rich Pageant defined indie rock in the ’80s and inspired successors like Nirvana and Pavement, while subsequent albums Green, Grammy-winning Out of Time, and magnum opus Automatic for the People brought the band to the masses – and the upper reaches of the Hot 100. — E.R.B.

One of the main — if not the main — progenitors of southern rock, The Allman Brothers Band fearlessly combined blues, rock, country and even jazz, with seriously great musicianship, primarily courtesy of gunslingers Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. Few bands are credited with starting their own genre–and to be fair, ABB certainly had help from likeminded acts Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels Band — but their classic rock staples “Ramblin’ Man,” “Whipping Post” and “Midnight Rider” totally define the sound that dominated the ‘70s, and which they helped pioneer. — M.N.

Spearheaded by the inimitable George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic has one of the strongest claims to “greatest music collective of all time” that a group could ask for. For over half a century, tens of hundreds of musicians banded together under the P-Funk to pioneer head-spinning fusions of funk and psychedelic rock. With a legacy that stretches from the ‘50s New Jersey doo-wop scene to Clinton’s appearance on Kendrick Lamar’s decade-defining To Pimp a Butterfly LP, Parliament-Funkadelic’s idiosyncratic approach to fusing classic soul with elements of science fiction, Afrofuturism and high fashion make them one of the most continuously innovative bands in music. — K.D.

Formed in England but fronted by the Akron, Ohio-bred Chrissie Hynde, the Pretenders got the best new wave qualities from both sides of the pond — as clever and punchy as Squeeze or XTC, but as heavy-motored and as radio-ready as Blondie or The Cars. And in Hynde, they had a frontwoman truly beyond comparison: Deeply compassionate but equally allergic to foolishness, her voice carried a world-weariness that never threatened to lapse into cynicism, and her songwriting always betrayed a romantic at heart — albeit one who could kick your teeth in if you ever questioned just how special she was. — A.U.

Few bands have captured the heart of rock en español like Maná, whose soul-stirring lyrics and melodies have resonated across generations. Formed in Guadalajara in 1986, the group’s breakthrough LP ¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños? (1992) solidified its place in Latin rock history. With songs like “Corazón Espinado” with Santana, “Labios Compartidos,” and “Rayando el Sol,” it perfected a sound blending romantic longing with stadium-sized ambition. Beyond music, Maná has championed immigrant rights in the U.S. and spoken out for global causes. Nine albums charted on the Billboard 200, including Amar es Combatir (No. 4) and Drama y Luz (No. 5), cementing its legacy as one of rock’s most enduring forces. — I.R.

The Velvet Underground only released four albums in its lifetime, but entire generations of alternative and underground rock and roll can be traced back to each. The hypnotic art-rock drones of The Velvet Underground & Nico, the surrealist rave-ups of White Light/White Heat, the bedroom balladry of The Velvet Underground and the hooky garage rock of Loaded all generated rock strains that continue to run through the DNA of countless bands even today. And 99% of them will never even come close to the originals, four masterworks by a band whose sense of artistic disruption never came at the expense of grooves, riffs, or — in its own singularly jagged and uncompromising way — even hooks. — A.U.

With their blistering energy and incendiary sound, Guns N’ Roses pushed rock to its breaking point with their high-voltage anthems and unpolished grit, while fully embracing chaos on and off the stage. Formed in L.A. in 1985, they erupted with Appetite for Destruction (1987), delivering era-defining songs like “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” and “Paradise City.” Slash’s searing guitar solos paired with Axl Rose’s volatile vocals fueled a visceral, unapologetic force that reshaped the genre for decades to come. GN’R embodied rebellion and innovation, securing their legacy as one of the most culturally influential (and audacious) bands in rock history. — I.R.

“Rage has the best rock lyric of all time,” Ice-T declared when inducting the band into the Rock Hall in 2023: “‘F–k you, I won’t do what you tell me!’” The line from “Killing in the Name” off RATM’s 1992 debut album has encapsulated the band’s mission, which guitarist Tom Morello noted is to “stir up a s—t ton of trouble” in the fight against greed, injustice and oppression. And Rage has done just that, not only delivering rousing protest songs — powered by expert guitar work and precision drumming, and punctuated by frontman Zach de la Rocha’s masterful rhymes — but stirred up good trouble, from disrupting the New York Stock Exchange and performing across from the Democratic National Convention in protest in 2000, to playing a 2010 benefit show to raise money to fight Arizona’s anti-immigration bill SB1070. Though Rage disbanded for a third time in 2024, its message is more relevant than ever: “We gotta take the power back.” — A.C.

The best rock band from Pasadena is a sort of prism that refracted and reflected other flavors of the genre. Rocket launching to fame with their eponymous 1978 debut, Van Halen was arena rock just as it was becoming arena rock and hair metal well before hair metal, balancing elements of metal, prog and glam and making it all their own, with David Lee Roth’s histrionic swagger and Eddie Van Halen’s generational and genre-defining guitar solos. The group also of course helped create the template for rock band in-fighting that would eventually form the entire Behind the Music model, with Roth famously being replaced by Sammy Hagar, who brought his own anthemic flavor and helped push five Van Halen albums to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 between 1986 and 1995. — K.B.

Emerging from a post-grunge U.K. scene about to be in Britpop’s thrall, Radiohead decided to eschew the dominant trends of ’90s rock and set its sights on the ages. OK Computer updated Floyd and VU for the anxious pre-millennial set, Kid A upped the ante on Berlin-era Bowie for the digital age and In Rainbows introduced 21st century kids to King Crimson grooves and Brian Eno thrums without even making them pay for the privilege. It’s no real surprise that generations after their peak, Radiohead is still constantly going viral for no real reason: The Oxford quintet has burrowed its way so deep into the DNA of rock’s past, present and future that they now belong equally to all of us. — A.U.

Upon their early 1960s arrival, The Beach Boys almost instantly became synonymous with Southern California, thanks to the group’s sunshiny odes to surfing, cars and beach babes. But the family-ish band (brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, cousin Mike Love, and buddy Al Jardine) had much more gas in the T-Bird tank, evolving into the existential masterpiece Pet Sounds and the experimental symphony of “Good Vibrations” all within the course of a few short years, and even experiencing an unexpected revival decades later, revisiting their beachy roots (and the top of the Hot 100) with “Kokomo” in 1988. For all the well-documented drug abuse and mental health issues faced by their genius leader Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys crafted an enduring legacy by musically capturing a place and time for a catalog that still shines as bright as the Redondo Beach sun. – K.A.

For one of the bands most synonymous with ’77-era punk rock, the thing that most defines the greatness of The Clash is how quickly and successfully the quartet used it to springboard into one of the widest musical, sonic and thematic expanses of any band in its era; by 1981 triple album Sandinista! calling them punk would be like calling Martin Scorsese a B-movie director. But like Scorsese, as big as The Clash got, it never lost either the grit, the passion or the intent that defined it from day one — whether doing dubbed-out instrumentals of wartime protest anthems or stadium-rocking howl-alongs about being bugged by indecision, it was always worth tattooing on your heart, timeless and true. — A.U.

When the sister duo from Seattle broke through in the mid-70s, one could count the number of female-led rock hitmakers with one hand, and you didn’t even need to use all five fingers. Ann and Nancy Wilson not only carved out a space for women in the genre, but lent a genre fueled by unchecked testosterone with the dually lusty and withering female gaze of songs like “Magic Man” and “Barracuda,” with the latter being a direct commentary on the sexism the Wilsons experienced in the music industry. But to frame Heart simply through the Wilsons’ women-in-rock accomplishments would be tacky: From the swaggering power and pastoral delicacy of their ’70s classics to the chest-thumping bombast of their wrongly underrated ’80s output, the duo put forth some of best guitar playing, singing and storytelling in all of rock music, still able to electrify a karaoke bar with their searing riffs and chilling high notes. — K.B.

No band has woven together the many strands of American music like the Grateful Dead, the psychedelic pioneers who incorporated early rock ‘n roll, blues, folk, country and jazz into a singular sound. The band’s studio catalog is highlighted by its two 1970 albums, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, rootsy masterpieces that remain touchstones for scores of artists. But the Dead built its true legacy on the road: From its 1965 formation to the 1995 death of singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia, the band played more than 2,300 shows where it relentlessly iterated and improvised on its repertoire; the road warriors allowed their burgeoning cult following to record and distribute their shows, helping to grow its mythos. Decades later, fans continue to dissect and compare this voluminous live catalog – and seek out the myriad Dead tribute bands of all sizes keeping its legacy alive. — E.R.B.

Combining art-school quirkiness (three of the members met at Rhode Island School of Design), endless inventiveness and new wave and punk rock, Talking Heads sounded like no one else when the quartet’s debut came out on Sire Records in 1977. But it wasn’t just the wildly imaginative music, fronted by David Byrne’s distinctively anxious vocals on such songs as “Burning Down the House,” “Psycho Killer” and “Once in a Lifetime,” it was the mind-blowing visuals and barely contained manic live energy — all captured in the eternal Jonathan Demme-directed concert film Stop Making Sense — that made Talking Heads one of the all-time groundbreaking and enduring bands. — M.N.

John Fogerty was undeniably the songwriting genius behind the comet-like streak of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the wailing lead vocalist of the group’s astonishing nine Top 10 Hot 100 singles released from 1968 to 1970, including five No. 2 hits. But Fogerty was no one-man band: Those classic songs were cut in the studio (and performed at Woodstock on Aug. 17, 1969, at the height of the band’s popularity) by Tom Fogerty on rhythm guitar, Stu Cook on bass and Doug Clifford on drums. Want proof of this quartet’s musical might? Listen to their cover of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” from Cosmo’s Factory—a deep, dark, soulful, eleven-minute jam. — T.D.

For those about to rock, good luck trying to match the bombastic heights of shredding and wailing that have always seemed to come so naturally to AC/DC. Across five decades and more than a dozen high-profile lineup shifts – including the death of singer Bon Scott and introduction of new vocalist Brian Johnson in between its two best-selling albums, 1979’s Highway to Hell and 1980’s Back in Black – the Australian rockers, led by brother duo Malcolm and Angus Young, somehow stayed shockingly consistent, delivering powerful rock classics whose titles instantly invoke their shout-along choruses (“Back in Black,” “Highway to Hell,” “Thunderstruck,” “TNT,” “Hells Bells,” etc.). It’s no surprise that School of Rock held the band up as a symbol of the genre, from the 2003 movie’s closing number “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Want to Rock ‘n’ Roll)” to Jack Black’s schoolboy uniform; AC/DC, in all its many incarnations, has always embodied rock and roll. – K.A.

For many people, Metallica is the epitome of rock: unfiltered, excessive, living on the edge with the volume turned up past 11. From their virtuosic, breakneck beginnings as speed thrashers in the ’80s to the decidedly more mainstream and melodic turn they took in the ’90s to the orchestral blending of genres of later years, they’ve done it all, lived it all and rocked it all. Among its peers, Metallica became the byword for metal, with albums such as Master of Puppets and …And Justice For All escaping contain and seeping into the popular consciousness. By the time of The Black Album in 1991 — and its sinister lullaby “Enter Sandman” most prominently — they had become legends in their own right, inventing new approaches to the form while keeping their sneering, razor-sharp edge intact. It may be impossible to find another band that so transcended genre and geography to become such a truly global phenomenon without abandoning their niche-metal roots, while remaining a force to be reckoned with. — D.R.

Unlike a number of British pop and rock bands that emerged from the ‘60s and ‘70s, there was nothing polite about the Who — just pure, raw energy. From the late Keith Moon’s unhinged drumming to Pete Townshend’s aggressive guitar playing and Roger Daltrey’s vocal howl on songs like “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” the band exhibited a feral edge that merged with a strong melodic sense. However, The Who is equally well remembered for concept albums like the 1969 masterpiece Tommy, about a deaf, blind and mute pinball wizard. Written by Townshend, it is credited as bringing the rock opera to music’s mainstream, and clearly influenced such future projects as Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Green Day’s American Idiot. — M.N.