Did they make it? Was it any good? (available on iTunes?)
Rockabilly
Punk
Progressive
Rock Instrumental
Metal
The only french I have ever hear was jazz-fusion Jean Luc Ponty, which is pretty good.
Whattya got for me?
There is undoubtedly French rock and roll, but very little of it has achieved any commercial success outside France.
The best known French rock star was undoubtedly “Johnny Hallyday,” who was at his peak in the early to mid 60s. He billed himself as “The French Elvis,” and Jimi Hendrix reputedly patterned many of his stage antics and mannerisms on Hallyday, at the urging of Chaz Chandler.
In the progressive category:
Ange - Long-lived prog band in the vein of Gabriel-era Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator. Great, over-the-top vocals. iTunes has three of their classic early albums: Par les Fils de Mandrin, Emile Jacotey, and Le Cimitière des Arlequins, but Au-Délà du Délire, widely considered their best, is missing.
Magma - Awesome minimalist-jazz-prog band that single-handedly spawned the “zeuhl” subgenre. Noted for their weird, chanted vocals in an invented language. iTunes has their classic Magma Live album for a measly $3.92.
And if Magma isn’t weird enough for you, check out Art Zoyd–brilliant stuff, but getting pretty far afield from anything related to rock & roll.
The song isn’t in French, but it’s rockabilly by the French band “The Wolfgangs” Cannibal Family. (they may have some French language songs, I don’t know??)
Currently there is the band Phoenix, which can be heard on more alternative-y stations. It’s rock/pop with a pretty upbeat style, lyrics all in English.
A couple examples:
Lisztomnia
Entertainment Which is cool for being a music video shot entirely from a drone at Versailles.
Daft Punk — Ok, so not rock but still great stuff…
I like Les Fatals Picards
and Les Chausettes Noires
I like The Plasticines. Kinda pop-rock.
I came in to mention them. I have really enjoyed what I have heard off Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
Like astorian, I think of Johnny Halladay, as well as Plastic Betrand.
Belgian.
I’m not sure about his commercial success outside of France, but I know some fans of Matthieu Chedid, aka “M.”
I [most certainly did not] know that!
Certainly not a serious entry, regardless 
Beyon-D-Lusion was French, though they sang in English…I think they changed their name to something like “One Fate” but I haven’t heard any of that stuff yet.
You can’t talk about French rock without mentioning Indochine, which have been around for so long and are famous enough to be compared to U2, although they sound more like Dépêche Mode.
Likewise, you can’t talk about French punk without the legendary Bérurier Noir. Since a lot of their stuff consists of shouting political messages, it’s probably a bit hard to listen if you don’t understand French (and maybe even more if you do.) One of their members formed a band called Molodoï after they broke up, and their music is a lot more catchy.
After Bérurier Noir, a lot of French punk incorporated other styles. For instance, one of the ultimate live bands, Mano Negra blended punk, ska and latin. A lot of artists like Les Têtes Raides and Louise Attaque are largely acoustic bands that play more traditional music infused with punk rock sensibilities – political lyrics with a general fuck-you attitude.
One of the most successful punk-inspired acts were Noir Désir. Their music was great but
was somewhat tainted when their singer went and beat his (famous) girlfriend to death.
A lot of the better French musical acts put a lot of emphasis on the lyrics, so that artists like Damien Saez probably lose a lot of their appeal if you can’t understand what they’re saying.
Going back further, there is of course the late great Serge Gainsbourg who touched just about every genre including several varieties of rock:
Chez les Yé-Yé
Initials BB
Qui est in qui est out
Histoire de Melody Nelson
L’homme à tête de choux
Nazi rock
Mon légionnaire
We dig Les Rita Mitsouko, chez nous. They’re kinda…B-52s. Sorta.
There’s also Les Thugs, nice French noise punk.
Yeah, I like them too.
Also Les Négresses Vertes, who were great live.
I think this was the closest they came to an actual hit single in the UK. Or maybe this.
They have beeen around for many years and are pretty popular in Australia. Check out an oldy Rally.
Very fine band.