They sold their soul and trashed their dressing rooms for rock 'n' roll. From the Beatles to the Beasties, these are the people who taught everyone else how it's done. The band is back. During the past year or so, the pop world has completed a cycle that began in the mid 1990s. Back then, with grunge flannel on Macy's mannequins, the band model seemed a bit tired. Rappers, dancing teens, and DJs took over the dance charts, MTV, and magazines. Then, gradually, bands crept back. Groups like Creed, Incubus, System of a Down, and, most notably, Staind and Linkin Park have spent serious time in the Top 10. Once again, the band dynamic -- people interacting as musicians, friends, enemies, or fellow drug-addled lunatics -- is capturing our imagination.
This is "Spin's" definitive look at 50 great bands from the 1960s forward. To qualify the editors at "Spin" set out clear criteria, these groups had to have a roof-raising, history-changing sound, presence, or hairstyle. They also had to clearly influence today's music in undeniable ways. Finally, they had to be bands that spawned a special emotional attachment to their fans. No other band epitomizes these criteria better than "Spin's" No. 1 band, the Beatles. More than 30 years after their last proper album, the Beatles remain the band that revolutionized the world of pop culture and basically created the rock-band statutes that all musical youth end up following, sooner or later. Other bands that made "Spin's" list include: Led Zeppelin (No. 3), Nirvana (No. 5) Public Enemy (No. 8), U2 (No. 13), and Spin's February cover band Kiss (No. 32)! For a full ranking of The 50 Greatest Bands, as chosen by the editors at Spin magazine, see the full ranking to the right.
Also, Spin editors are available for interviews to discuss their criteria for choosing the bands as well as the acts that made it on to the list and the ones that didn't.
Spin's 50 Greatest Bands
1. The Beatles
2. Ramones
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Bob Marley & the Wailers
5. Nirvana
6. Parliament Funkadelic
7. The Clash
8. Public Enemy
9. The Rolling Stones
10. Beastie Boys
11. The Velvet Underground
12. Sly and the Family Stone
13. U2
14. Run-D.M.C.
15. Radiohead
16. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
17. Sonic Youth
18. AC/DC
19. The Stooges
20. Metallica
21. The Smiths
22. Patti Smith Group
23. N.W.A.
24. Kraftwerk
25. The Sex Pistols
26. Pearl Jam
27. Grateful Dead
28. R.E.M.
29. Black Sabbath
30. Pavement
31. FugazI
32. Kiss
33. Pretenders
34. Rage Against the Machine
35. Fela Kuti & Afrika 70/Egypt 80
36. David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars
37. Blondie
38. Bad Brains
39. The Who
40. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
41. New Order
42. Husker Du
43. Guns N Roses
44. Outkast
45. The Beach Boys
46. Massive Attack
47. Lynyrd Skynyrd
48. Korn
49. Pink Floyd
50. Red Hot Chili Peppers