Top 1000 Artists #270-#261

270 - The Gorillaz - A super-group that presents itself as cartoon characters on-stage, The Gorillaz seem to come out with two legitimately great songs per album, though unfortunately the rest of the songs are unremarkable.

269 - George Thorogood - One of the most commercially successful blues rock artists of the 70's and 80's, Thorogood's music is interesting, but it never transcends the level of pop music.

268 - The Dandy Warhols - One of the better indie rock bands of the late 90's, The Dandy Warhols had a series of decent-sized hits. They're still around today, but a shell of their former selves.

267 - The Breeders - The Breeders emerged from the ashes of the Pixies to create one of the greatest songs in all of indie rock, "Cannonball" as well as several great albums over the last 20 years.

266 - Travis - One of the last great bands of Brit-pop, Travis enjoyed a series of solid albums that were among the best of his genre.

265 - Nellie McKay - 99% of music fans have never heard of Nellie, but she's one of the best songwriters around at the moment and has produced about an album a year for half a decade to prove it.

264 - Diana Ross And The Supremes - One of the biggest stars in the history of pop music, Diana Ross was also the biggest star of the Motown scene in the 60's. Unlike most pop stars, her music is actually good, too.

263 - Tom Waits - Although he's shockingly been ignored by the rock n roll hall of fame, Tom Waits is one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century, though he never became big as his music really has no pop appeal.

262 - Billy Idol - One of the biggest stars of the MTV era, Idol is usually dismissed as a mere pop star, but his music is actually very good as a legend as significant as Warren Zevon regarded him as one of England's finest songwriters.

261 - Frank Zappa - Easily one of the most creative performers of the rock era, Frank Zappa's weird music was difficult to follow and frequently impenetrable, but also quite often brilliant.