2. Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Paige, Robert Plant, John Paul
Jones, and John Bonham revolutionized
rock and roll music in the late 60’s and
early 70’s. With face melting guitar solos
by Jimmy Paige, thumping blues bass
riffs of Jones, the shrill piercing voice of
Plant, and backing drums of Bonham,
Led Zeppelin experimented the full
range of what rock and roll music could
be. Perhaps the best all time rock and
roll group, Zeppelin put out nine full
length albums in just over a ten year
period.
3. The Doors
Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger,
and John Densmore helped pioneer the
psychedelic rock movement of the early
60’s. Forming in 1965 in Los Angeles, Jim
Morrison’s vocal stylings pushed The Doors
into the spotlight, his dominating, wailing
voice and insane stage antics championing
their live performances. The Doors were
once of the first rock and roll bands of the
60’s to experiment with keyboards and
synthesizers as an instrumental part of their
sound. Unfortunately The Doors tenure was
cut short by the death of Jim Morrison at the
age of 27
4. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding, and Mitch
Mitchell formed one of the first great Brit
psychedelic rock bands of the 60’s (the
Beatles and Stones don’t truly fall under
this category). Jimi Hendrix might be
held as one the greatest guitarist of all
time. A natural lefty who filliped his guitar
over to play it right handed as lefty
reinvented some of the ways people
thought about playing the guitar. The
Jimi Hendrix Experience was one of the
first bands to execute the power trio of
guitar, bass, and drums.
5. The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards make up the
bulk of the Rolling Stones, followed by other past
musicians and musicians they currently tour with,
Jagger and Richards are accredited with a
majority of the creative genius of the Stones. The
Rolling Stones were one of the first “stadium
rock” bands to pack full houses of sports
stadiums and actually have a great sound while
doing it. The Stones “blue M&M” rider became
something of famous legend, in which the rider
was placed to ensure the venues cared enough
about their music to get even the tiniest details
correct before they would go out and perform.
6. Pink Floyd
Originally Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger
Waters, and Richard Wright, Pink Floyd added
David Gilmour after Barrett’s mental
breakdown from drug abuse. The British
psychedelic rock band became famous for
more progressive rock stylings, as well, Pink
Floyd was one of the first rock bands to
conceptualize their albums as one piece of
art. All the songs on each album would lend
themselves to a higher theme or idea, making
their albums The Dark Side of the Moon,
Animals, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall
massively popular in the 70’s.
7. Queen
Arguably one of the best stadium rock bands
of all time, Queen’s ability to control
audiences is legendary. Freddie Mercury,
Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor
formed in 1970 in London. A true rock band
of the time, Queen rarely broke from rock
and roll into psychedelic or other types of
rock music, but Mercury’s voice powered
them into the stratosphere of fame. Songs
like “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Are the
Champions”, and “We Will Rock You”
became anthems for generations following
Mercury’s death.
8. Nirvana
Nirvana championed the 90’s punk rock
movement. The Washington trio of Kurt
Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl
immortalized the punk rock aesthetic of
loud, in your face grunge rock music. They
destroyed how people thought about rock
and roll music in the 90’s, they played a
harder more visceral type of rock and roll
most had never heard before.
Accompanied with brilliantly dark lyricism
from Kurt Cobain, the group’s second
major album Nevermind brought them
unimaginable stardom, which ultimately
drove Kurt to suicide at the age of 27.
9. The Who
One of the earlier bands of the British rock
invasion consisting of Roger Daltrey, Pete
Townshend, John Entwistle, and Kieth
Moon, The Who became famous for a
more mainstream type of rock and roll.
Some critics now deem some of The Who’s
music as hard rock or power pop, the
band became famous for their classic
guitar licks and power ballads.
10. The Beatles
Last but certainly not least, the arguably most
influential band of all rock and roll, and perhaps
the band that started rock and roll: The Beatles.
Britain's first rock band consisted of John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George
Harrison. The evolution of sound the Beatles
produced was unheard of, from where they
started to where they ended, with the amount of
music they produced, a group such as the
Beatles will never be heard of again. They
transformed the genre of rock and roll music
from early pop rock beginnings to the
psychedelic transformations in the Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beatles (White
Album). In only a mere ten year span, the Beatles
put out 12 full length albums and a plethora of
unreleased music still hangs around in the vaults.
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