Top 1000 Bands #410-#401

410 - Rebels Victorious - A fantastic ska punk band that played twice in Pierre while I've lived there, the second time being their second to last concert before breaking up. The band had a great sound, mixing horns with a Jenny Lewis-esque lead vocalist.

409 - One Reason - A political punk band that played Pierre as part of the huge summer festival of 2 years ago, One Reason was one of the highlights for me personally and their music holds up well both live and on CD.

408 - The Kaiser Chiefs - A solid British indie band that seems to come up with a couple of brilliant songs per album and a handful of great ones as well. They haven't pulled together a full album yet, but these days, you really don't need to anyway.

407 - Melissa Etheridge - Once touted as the female answer to Bruce Springsteen, Etheridge made a huge splash in the mid-90's when she announced publicly that she was a lesbian, causing chuckles whenever her old love ballads would come on the radio. Still, many of her early songs have a great deal of power to them and even to this day she remains a gifted songwriter.

406 - 311 - One of the greatest and most popular ska bands of the mid-90's, 311 have enjoyed hit after hit over the course of their 10+ year career, filling a niche that no one else can compete for.

405 - The Modern Lovers - One of the most popular bands of the pre-punk era, The Modern Lovers never managed to put a full record out, but their demos became legendary and launched the all-time rock classic "Roadrunner".

404 - Ice Cube - One of the major stars of the early gangsta rap band N.W.A., Ice Cube never broke the band up when he went solo and pursued an extremely successful career on his own, creating some of the best West Coast rap before pursuing a career in Hollywood making films both great and wretched.

403 - Pete Yorn - A little-known indie rock singer-songwriter who keeps coming up with the type of slow-moving but brilliant lyrics that would have fit in nicely ten years before his time during the grunge days.

402 - The Editors - Among the best of the Joy Division clones that are sprouting up everywhere these days, the Editors definitely have the Ian Curtis vibe to them and they put together great singles and albums.

401 - The Faint - An underground indie dance rock band from Omaha, The Faint put together some of the best dance rock this side of Nine Inch Nails, not that anyone knows enough about them to tell anyone.