The Top 10 Most Influential Bands Of All Time

Just for fun, my list of the 10 most influential bands (not solo artists, so Josh Groban didn’t qualify) of all time, in my humble opinion (and in no particular order):

1. The Beatles

2. U2

3. The Rolling Stones

4. Queen

5. Nirvana

6. The Who

7. Led Zeppelin

8. Metallica

9. The Beach Boys

10. Linkin Park

Others that I’d love to include but don’t quite cut it are Creedence and Toto. Beach Boys may come as a surprise but I really do think they’ve made an enormous impact.

Who have I left out?

60 Responses to “The Top 10 Most Influential Bands Of All Time”
  1. Sidney 8 July 2010 at 1:44 am #

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  2. Dan 12 July 2010 at 5:07 pm #

    how could you forget the cure, jeez

  3. Lou 12 September 2010 at 1:32 pm #

    The Beatles are no doubt the most influential and best band of all time. Metallica in there? There were plenty more metal bands before them..

  4. brian 9 October 2010 at 8:46 pm #

    Linkin Park??? WTF???
    Have you ever heard Faith No More’s Angel Dust? Released 1992, mixed rap metal was experimental used samples etc… way before Linkin Park…

    and you forgot Velvet Underground probably the second most influencial band of all time behind the Beatles.

  5. mark 2 June 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    The Pixies

  6. somebody 8 June 2011 at 11:48 pm #

    The Pixies should have some sort of mention… just my personal opinion…

  7. BULL 15 June 2011 at 10:54 am #

    The fact that this list includes Metallica but not Iron Maiden makes it invalid. If it weren’t for Iron Maiden, there wouldn’t be any Metallica, no Slayer, no Megadeath, no In Flames, metal would not even be near the same as it is now without Iron Maiden.

  8. Elliot 4 September 2011 at 12:20 pm #

    What about The Smiths and The Cure??

  9. Tom Selleck 22 September 2011 at 10:46 pm #

    U2 at number 2 and no Pink Floyd, Joy Division, Black Sabbath or The Smiths??!! I suggest you listen to Dark Side of the Moon, Unknown Pleasures, Paranoid and Hatful of Hollow and then have another go at your list.

  10. Gregg ory 4 December 2011 at 11:40 pm #

    Pink Floyd

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