Top 1000 Artists #440-#431

440 - Pennywise - One of the better political punk bands of the 90's, Pennywise will always have to live in the shadow of bands like Rancid and Bad Religion, but that doesn't keep them from their rightful place near the top.

439 - Elefant - An indie rock band with a handful of great albums, but little crossover success.

438 - Jimmy Eat World - The band that popularized the modern version of emo rock by bringing it to pop audiences, Jimmy Eat World manages to escape severe penance by actually being one of the best pop punk bands of the new millennium.

437 - Hollander - An obscure band that I caught in Pierre, Hollander is one of the better bands to come through the Pierre scene with their straight forward pop rock style.

436 - Seether - They're pretty damn awful these days, but their first album was fairly respectable for a blatant Nirvana rip-off.

435 - Willie Nelson - One of the great performers in all of country music and rock n roll for that matter, Willie Nelson is a consummate performer who refused to surrender his integrity to anyone.

434 - The Nightwatchman - Tom Morello provided the best Rage music since Rage broke up with his solo release of acoustic protest ballads and union songs. Now that Rage is together, we may have seen the last of the Nightwatchman, but you know what they say... "look for me Ma, I'll be there."

433 - The Toadies - Widely known as a one-hit wonder for their modern rock staple "Possum Kingdom", The Toadies put together two albums of brilliant metal-tinged rock before breaking up.

432 - Defiance, Ohio - A politically-charged punk band that I caught in Pierre during the big summer show in 2005 or 2006. One of the best punk bands that I had never previously heard of.

431 - Eddie Vedder - The lead singer of Pearl Jam has frequently performed shows or released live singles as a solo artist, but it wasn't until the Soundtrack to 2007's Into The Wild that he made an entire album on his own. The album is a classic and it was a major controversy when he got screwed out of an Academy Award Nomination.