Top 1000 Bands #150-#141

150 - Dire Straits - One of the biggest stars of the early 80's, Dire Straits was also one of the first big stars of MTV, back when MTV played rock videos, let alone videos at all.

149 - Liz Phair - An indie sensation from the start, Liz Phair struggled to live up to the early hype her first few albums promised. In the end, she never lived up to that promise, but along the way she still managed to have a sensational career.

148 - Echo And The Bunnymen - They'll be going up in my next evaluation, but for now, Echo falls in the top 150 of my list. Echo was one of the best bands of the early alternative era, cranking out epic new wave song after epic new wave song during the late 70's and early 80's.

147 - Rilo Kiley - From one of the best alternative bands of the past two one of the best in the present. Rilo Kiley is an alt-rock beast propelled forward by the vocals of Jenny Lewis and some of the most clever lyrics and hooks of the new century.

146 - The Eels - Another fantastic alt-rock band comes in at #146. The Eels are tragically anonymous, though they've put a lot of big hits on college rock and alternative rock radio over the years. They definitely deserve more attention than they've got, but that seems to be a reoccuring theme in modern rock music.

145 - The Decemberists - One of the most promising new indie rock bands on the scene, The Decemberists broke through onto the alt rock scene with their brilliant Rushmore send-up video to their best song "Sixteen Military Wives" and continued to improve their awareness with a gimmick rivalry with comedian Stephen Colbert. Their last few albums have been quirky, but brilliant and they've shown a lot of promise for the future.

144 - White Zombie - Possibly the biggest metal band of the 90's, White Zombie filled a gap created by the alt-rockification of Metallica during that decade. They only had a couple albums, but they carved their own niche in the genre that's carried on long after the band itself broke up.

143 - Blur - The loser of the Brit Pop battle, Blur never crossed over in America the way that Oasis did, but they still did manage to create some of the best albums of the 90's.

142 - Paul Simon - After the break-up of Simon And Garfunkel, Paul Simon went solo and explored world music, bringing it to the masses in a way that no American artist had at that point. The songwriting wasn't quite as good as it used to be, but it's still stellar.

141 - Heart - The female Led Zeppelin, Heart tore into the classic rock era with shredding guitars and wicked lyrics, easily making them one of the biggest snubs at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame.