Top 25 most important bands of 1981-2006

[Liam]

25. Motorhead

24. Rage Against The Machine

23. Emperor

22. Marilyn Manson

21. Def Leppard

20. Slipknot

19. Soundgarden

18. Black Flag

17. Napalm Death

16. Fugazi

15. Nine Inch Nails

14. Blink 182

13. Judas Priest

12. Korn

11. Bon Jovi

10. Nirvana

9. Pantera

8. Faith No More

7. Slayer

6. Ozzy Osbourne

5. Green Day

4. AC/DC

3. Metallica

2. Guns'n'Roses

1. Iron Maiden

Credit: Kerrang!

First off, remember it says "important" in the title. This means that these may not be the "best", but have had huge influence on the music scene or have just basically been bands of note.

Secondly, good list for me. No real obvious omissions (I would have said Sabbath, but the date that this falls between is after Ozzy left them) as far as I can see, and I like the inclusion of Emperor and Napalm Death. Faith No More being as high as they are is a really good choice, as their influence seems to be missed by some.

[YI]

Not a bad list. Though personally I'd definately have had Bad Religion on the list.

[ROC]

Yeah, this list seems about right how it is. Good job by Kerrang.

[Summers]

Green Day so high is a bit shocking, I thought.

[Liam]

Green Day so high is a bit shocking, I thought.

So did I, but then I read the write-up and they not only had the "Dookie" thing (they basically sold fuckloads off of an independent label as far as I remember, which just didn't happen back then....similar to what Offspring did with "Smash" IIRC), and then the whole "American Idiot" re-birth (they were arguably the biggest band of 2005) means I can kinda see it.

Edited May 31, 2006 by HGwannabe

[fineintent]

Def Leppard?!

As much as I pretty much hate most of the top 10 (bar FNM and Nirvana), I can't really argue - they've sold shitloads.

[Summers]

Ugh, to think about Green Day being the biggest band of 2005 is sickening, even though it is arguably true, so many people latched onto them.

[thatshortguy]

I can see Green Day being on the list, even at their given position (it does initially strike me as a bit too high, though.)

Blink-182 higher than Rage Against The Machine, though? I'm a fan of both bands, but there was nothing Blink did that made me think they were more important than Rage.

[Liam]

I think Def Leppard was as much a sales thing as anything. I can't remember.

Plus the fact their drummer has one arm.

EDIT: As for Rage, I'm glad they aren't higher to be honest. I can see why people might prefer them to be, but yeah...I guess I'm just not a big fan of politics in music.

Edited May 31, 2006 by HGwannabe

[thatshortguy]

I think Def Leppard was as much a sales thing as anything. I can't remember.

Plus the fact their drummer has one arm.

EDIT: As for Rage, I'm glad they aren't higher to be honest. I can see why people might prefer them to be, but yeah...I guess I'm just not a big fan of politics in music.

Agreed concerning Rage. I feel their position is just fine...just that I think they were more important at their given time than Blink was in their own.

Regarding Leppard, you've also got to remember that they were on life support prior to "Pyromania". If that didn't sell, they were done and owing a lot of money. The loss of Mr. Allen's arm didn't help, either. So I can see DefLep's inclusion, even if they are quickly returning to a more C-list existance.

[YI]

Yes. Def Leppard are responsible for launching the revolution of one-armed drummers, which is still popular today.

[thatshortguy]

Yes. Def Leppard are responsible for launching the revolution of one-armed drummers, which is still popular today.

Buddy Rich says hey

[fineintent]

Why have Greenday's new fans supposedly "latched on"? Maybe it was the first time they'd heard them. I doubt every Metallica fan was around for Kill Em All, yet you don't hear that sort of elitism there.

[Summers]

Why get so picky? Latched on, became fans of the band, whatever. I wasn't taking a cheap shot at the fans or anything.

[Liam]

Why have Greenday's new fans supposedly "latched on"? Maybe it was the first time they'd heard them. I doubt every Metallica fan was around for Kill Em All, yet you don't hear that sort of elitism there.

I don't really care either way (since I didn't make the comment), but it was funny to hear my mates story of talking to some girl about Green Day and her getting confused when he named songs not on American Idiot....."are they on a new album of theirs?" I think was the response from her.

Doesn't really answer the question, but I hate that.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

As it's Kerrang! magazine it's no surprise I don't care about most of those bands.

[fineintent]

I wasn't being picky, but do you not hear "Oh, they didn't like Band X back then", when half the time they probably hadn't heard Band X.

[Liam]

As it's Kerrang! magazine it's no surprise I don't care about most of those bands.

Insightful comments, pressing and to the point.

I'll give it a ****3/4

[Bushmeister]

My only question is why Emperor instead of Mayhem? If we're talking about the impact on the black metal scene, then it should be Mayhem. Yeah, some people say they're overrated, but their members set the standards for action and thought in the early BM scene.

Napalm Death gets a thumbs up from me.

Do not care for the top 3, but that's just me.

[gunnar hendershow]

Pretty good list. But I disagree with Emperor being and there and Mayhem or Venom not being on it (If you're going with importance why not go with the inventors of Black Metal [Venom] or the band that created the image of Norwegian Black Metal [Mayhem]?). Bad Religion might be worthy of a spot too. Green Day is a few spots too high for me. However, Blink shouldn't even be on there. So what if they were the most popular of all the bands during the height of pop-punk? Limp Bizkit at the height of rap metal were the genre's biggest band and they aren't even on it. Rage should be higher too. And I like NIN, but Ministry, KMFDM, and Front 242 are much more important to the various aspects of Industrial music than NIN. NIN really, and I don't say this to be disrespectful, had the benefit of being in the right place at the right time. If they had come around 5 years earlier they'd be grouped in as a giant influence in the genre getting popular (Like people say about Ministry).

But I think all my changes are minor for the most part since I'm going to disagree with every list. So all in all, this is a very good list.

To add to Bushmeister. Dead (Vocalist of Mayhem before he shot himself) brought corpse paint to Black Metal.

Edited May 31, 2006 by damshow