Top 1000 Bands #980-#971

980 - Ian Brown - The former lead singer of The Stone Roses has made a couple of fairly good albums as a solo artist as well.

979 - Sam Roberts - The indie rock singer-songwriter has produced one great album so far in his career and should continue to have success in the future.

978 - Manu Chao - The only world music artist to make the top 1000, I first heard Manu Chao on the Henry Rollins Show. They're one of the rare artists that I can enjoy without understanding a word that they're saying.

977 - Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five - The first great rap group and the first hip hop artist to be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Grandmaster Flash is best known for "The Message" and "White Lines (Don't Do It)", as well as their associations with New York punk artists such as Blondie.

976 - Frou Frou - One of many great indie rock bands that I first heard from on the Garden State Soundtrack. Their song on that album "Let Go" is by far their best, but they have a few songs outside of that which are worth listening to.

975 - Arcwelder - One of those bands that no one has ever heard of, but I've enjoyed what I've heard from them.

974 - Dios Malos - An up-and-coming hard rock band with indie stylings.

973 - Suicide - A New York '77 punk band that influenced a great many post-punk bands, Suicide's music is a slow and methodical take on the type of art rock that the Velvet Underground first mastered. I first found out about this band on the "Blank Generation" compilation, that introduced me to a dozen great artists I previously had no knowledge of.

972 - The Yardbirds - Essentially the AAA level where talented guitarists went before becoming huge stars on their own, The Yardbirds at one point included such legends as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. They never had the success of a Cream or a Led Zeppelin, but they did manage to put together a few solid albums before they went their separate ways.

971 - Bow Wow Wow - The second project from the man behind the Sex Pistols, Malcom McLaren, was essentially a one-hit wonder with their cover of "I Want Candy", but they did have a few more decent New Wave hits before fading away.