# Rank Your Top Ten Rock Bands **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793 "2009-10-22T23:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/21 "2009-10-23T04:47:50Z")
Hey lots of non-band solo artists have been named. I would’ve included Kate Bush and Bowie in my list, for example, except I thought we were limiting our lists to bands, not solo artists? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/22 "2009-10-23T05:05:28Z")
1. Husker Du 2. The Replacements 3. The Beatles 4. The Clash 5. XTC 6. The Go-Betweens 7. The Velvet Underground 8. The Pogues 9. Sleater-Kinney 10. R.E.M. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/23 "2009-10-23T05:07:27Z")
1. Nirvana 2. PJ Harvey 3. Big Star 4. Beatles 5. X-Ray Spex 6. Radiohead 7. Pink Floyd 8. Pixies 9. The Velvet Underground 10. R.E.M. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/24 "2009-10-23T05:09:38Z")
Kate Bush and David Bowie are ineligibile, as are the Beastie Boys (don’t use guitar often enough to qualify as a _rock_ band). ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/25 "2009-10-23T05:16:42Z")
TOMY 1. The Clash 2. Radiohead 3. The Beatles 4. Pink Floyd 5. U2 6. The Smiths 7. The Doors 8. Talking Heads 9. Rolling Stones 10. Love ---
**Author:** ![Notorious\_Nik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/858c86/32.png) [@Notorious\_Nik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notorious_Nik)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/26 "2009-10-23T05:34:07Z")
1. Aerosmith 2. Fleetwood Mac 3. Tool 4. The Beatles 5. Oasis 6. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 7. Garbage 8. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 9. Live 10. The Eagles ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/27 "2009-10-23T06:06:12Z")
1. Beatles 2. King Crimson 3. Frank Zappa 4. Genesis (with Peter) 5. Adrian Belew 6. Ramones 7. They Might be Giants 8. “Weird” Al Yankovic 9. Thin Lizzy 10. Devo Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/28 "2009-10-23T10:40:15Z")
1. The Beatles 2. Led Zeppelin 3. The Who 4. Pink Floyd 5. Steely Dan (for a certain definition of ‘rock’) 6. The Soft Boys 7. The Smiths 8. The B52s (first two albums) 9. Frank Zappa (pretty much any of his bands) 10. Thin Lizzy (for Live and Dangerous, possibly the best ‘live’ album ever’) There are a bunch of bands I don’t care for (The Rolling Stones, Eagles, Van Halen) that should really be in the list, but I honestly I do prefer the B52s. As personal favourites I’d put **Doll by Doll** and **Holly and the Italians** in there except there’s no chance anyone\* else has ever heard of them. \*except **Wordman** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Haunted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@Haunted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/29 "2009-10-23T10:46:02Z")
Black Sabbath Led Zeppelin AC/DC Lynyrd Skynyrd Aerosmith The Who Alice Cooper Beatles Rolling Stones Pink Floyd ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/30 "2009-10-23T10:59:51Z")
1. The Rolling Stones 2. The Beatles 3. The Byrds 4. The Who 5. The Kinks 6. The Velvet Underground 7. Neil Young with Crazy Horse 8. The Clash 9. R.E.M 10. The Band This was hard to do. I combined personal taste with importance and influence of the bands to compile my list. If the OP would allow to include solo artists, my list would look very different, since I think some of the greatest artist in Rock did their stuff predominantly solo (think of Elvis(both), Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and so on). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/31 "2009-10-23T11:31:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Kate Bush and David Bowie are ineligibile, as are the Beastie Boys (don’t use guitar often enough to qualify as a _rock_ band). Hmm. While I agree that Kate Bush and David Bowie are not bands, I’d disagree that the Beastie Boys are not Rock. Even within your guitar definition: they’ve done a lot more than “Fight for Your Right to Party.” ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/32 "2009-10-23T12:02:46Z")
> [@Small\_Clanger](#): > > As personal favourites I’d put **Doll by Doll** and **Holly and the Italians** in there except there’s no chance anyone\* else has ever heard of them. > \*except **Wordman** 🙂 I’d tell you to Shut Up, but that is Holly’s job. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/33 "2009-10-23T12:21:45Z")
[QUOTE=Me] except **Wordman** 🙂 [/QUOTE] and **WreckingCrew**. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/34 "2009-10-23T12:24:39Z")
1. Queen 2. Marillion 3. Pink Floyd 4. Metallica 5. Jethro Tull 6. Black Sabbath 7. Alice Cooper 8. The Beatles 9. Wall of Voodoo 10. Rush ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/35 "2009-10-23T12:37:24Z")
> [@Small\_Clanger](#): > > and **WreckingCrew**. > > Anyone else? You guys are killing me. I gotta tell my bassist (who was in Holly & the Italians back in London in the 80’s, for those of you not in on the joke…) he got name-checked. I could never do a list like this - my brain would explode from constantly updating the rankings… ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/36 "2009-10-23T13:02:58Z")
1. Naked City 2. Uncle Tupelo 3. The Pretty Reckless 4. Bad Brains 5. Josie and the Pussycats 6. Lillix 7. The Fiery Furnaces 8. Blur 9. Avril Lavigne 10. Landscape ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/37 "2009-10-23T13:04:01Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > 1. The Rolling Stones > 2. The Beatles > 3. The Byrds > 4. The Who > 5. The Kinks > 6. The Velvet Underground > 7. Neil Young with Crazy Horse > 8. The Clash > 9. R.E.M > 10. The Band > > This was hard to do. I combined personal taste with importance and influence of the bands to compile my list. If the OP would allow to include solo artists, my list would look very different, since I think some of the greatest artist in Rock did their stuff predominantly solo (think of Elvis(both), Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and so on). Chuck Berry would be eligible. He had a pretty conventional backing band, right? Again, solo artists are allowed as long as they recorded with a generic 5 (ish) piece band. > [@lissener](#): > > Hmm. While I agree that Kate Bush and David Bowie are not bands, I’d disagree that the Beastie Boys are not Rock. Even within your guitar definition: they’ve done a lot more than “Fight for Your Right to Party.” Yeah, but what, one song per album? I can’t think of any other guitar-based BB songs other than Sabotage (although admittedly I’m not a big fan anyway). Their sound is _usually_ based around drum machines, turntables and synthesizers, yes? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/38 "2009-10-23T13:14:17Z")
1. The Beatles 2. The Rolling Stones 3. The Who 4. The Master’s Apprentices (Aussie band from the 60s) 5. Led Zeppelin 6. Pink Floyd 7. The Pixies 8. Neutral Milk Hotel 9. The Ramones 10. The Eagles ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/39 "2009-10-23T13:26:13Z")
1. Rush 2. Cowboy Mouth 3. U2 4. Queen 5. The Police 6. Barenaked Ladies 7. The Rolling Stones 8. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts 9. Everclear 10. Emmet Swimming The bottom half of that could easily be all switched around without my being upset. There are a LOT of my favorites that wouldn’t make the list. Jill Sobule, for example, would be in #2 and fighting for #1. Same with Loudoun Wainwright III. But they don’t qualify. ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793/40 "2009-10-23T13:31:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Kate Bush and David Bowie are ineligibile, as are the Beastie Boys (don’t use guitar often enough to qualify as a _rock_ band). Why is Bowie inelegible? He has experimented with some non-rock forms, but even taking them out of his catalog, he has had a significant rock presence. Ziggy Stardust alone puts him in my top ten. ETA and you might as well disqualify the Doors as they have no bass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-your-top-ten-rock-bands/514793.md?page=3)