Top 1000 Bands #50-#41

50 - System Of A Down - The best political punk band since the break-up of Rage Against The Machine, SOAD was highlighted by the bizarre vocals from lead singer Serj Tankian and the sharp political lyrics.

49 - The Beach Boys - One of the first great bands of rock n roll, The Beach Boys were the best band in surf rock before they branched out into more experimental and brilliant styles in the later stages of the band.

48 - Stone Temple Pilots - Not really a grunge band, but frequently lumped with them, STP was a straight-forward rock band and one of the best of their era. The band didn't last long before breaking up, but they managed to carve out their own niche and release a string of great albums along the way.

47 - Neil Young - The Godfather of Grunge, Neil Young was one of the greatest songwriters of the 60's and went solo to become one of the most significant performers in rock history.

46 - Alice In Chains - Although their music pre-dated the grunge era, AIC's music fit in perfectly with the style of the genre. Their music is heavy as hell and frequently gloomy, dealing with topics such as war and heroin addiction.

45 - John Lennon - The best of the Beatles solo, Lennon wrote some of the greatest songs in all of rock n roll and used his music to advance important social issues until his untimely death in 1980.

44 - The Ramones - Although there's an unnecessary controversy, The Ramones were the first punk band to break through and inspire thousands of bands to pick up guitars. Their music is fast and simple, but as close to a distilled form of rock n roll as we'll ever see.

43 - AC/DC - Blues rock never got more straight forward than it did in the hands of AC/DC. They haven't changed their sound one bit during their career, but they keep finding interesting things to do with the basic formula of raunchy lyrics and wicked guitar licks.

42 - Devo - The weirdest of the New Wave bands to achieve greatness, Devo represented an avant garde take on rock n roll that was as musically valid as any music of their era. The lyrics were twisted, the vocals were bizarre and the music was infinitely unique.

41 - Oasis - The best band of the Brit Pop era, Oasis has spent the last decade creating one epic modern rock song after another with sweeping guitars and intense vocals.