We list some of the best hard rock bands of all time. The term “hard rock” is often used as an umbrella term for genres such as punk and grunge in order to distinguish them from the more radio-friendly, pop rock genre. During the 1970s, hard rock inspired a new genre of music: Heavy metal. The emergence of this genre has led to some confusion about the difference between hard rock and heavy metal bands. Adding to this, distinctions between hard rock and heavy metal styles are usually subtle, and often are determined more by a band’s image rather than its songs.
1. AC/DC
AC/DC is an Australian hard rock band formed in Sydney, Australia in November 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. Although the band are considered pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, its members have always classified their music as “rock ‘n’ roll”. AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, 1975’s High Voltage. Membership subsequently stabilized around the Young brothers, singer Bon Scott, drummer Phil Rudd, and bassist Mark Evans. Evans was fired from the band in 1977 and replaced by Cliff Williams, who has appeared on every AC/DC album since 1978’s Powerage. In February 1980, Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning after a night of heavy drinking. AC/DC have sold more than 200 million records worldwide, including 75 million albums in the United States, making them the ninth-highest-selling artist in the United States and the 16th-best-selling artist worldwide.
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Read more:
- AC/DC’s Tragic Real-life Story
- AC/DC and the epic struggle behind For Those About To Rock
- Rolling Stone Exclusive: Angus Young, Brian Johnson, and Cliff Williams on the Resurrection of AC/DC
2. Guns N’ Roses
Guns N’ Roses is an American hard rock band founded in Los Angeles, California in 1985. Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who had been in a band together called Hollywood Rose, teamed up with some members of L.A. Guns to start a new group. Over the next few years, the band’s 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction, sold in huge numbers, with “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” both reaching Billboard’s Top Ten. Stemming from the LA rock underground, the ugly lyrics matched the sleaze of the music–driven by heavy blues licks–covering misogyny, violence, city life, sex, liquor, and hard drugs. The band’s hedonism and rebelliousness drew comparisons to the early Rolling Stones and earned them the nickname “the most dangerous band in the world”.
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Read more:
- A Snapshot of a Bygone Era: Looking Back at Guns N’ Roses Debut, ‘Appetite For Destruction’
- How Have Guns N’ Roses Impacted Modern Culture?
- How Slash and Guns N’ Roses Got Past Their Drama to Become a Sure Thing Live
3. Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is a hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 80s. Over the past 25 years, the band has sold over 120 million albums worldwide, 34 million of those sales being in the U.S. alone, making them one of the most successful modern groups of all time. They are famous for tracks such as ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’, ‘Always’ and ‘It’s My Life’. In 2018 the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Read more:
- Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Blaze of Glory’: Inside His Cowboy Solo Album
- Bon Jovi: How the New Jersey album nearly killed the band
4. Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock group famous for being one of America’s greatest rock and roll bands. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, and consists of Steven Tyler on vocals and keyboard, guitarist Joe Perry, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Brad Whitford. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop rock, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. Aerosmith have achieved twenty-one Top 40 hits on the US Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, and have also won four Grammy Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
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Read more:
- How Aerosmith Created ‘Walk This Way’
- Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler Enters Treatment Program After Recent Relapse
- Aerosmith: Hard Rock’s Down and Dirty Heroes – Rolling Stone
5. Led Zeppelin
Initially called the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page, the final lead guitarist for the legendary British blues band the Yardbirds. Bassist and keyboard player Jones, like Page, was a veteran studio musician; vocalist Plant and drummer Bonham came from little-known provincial bands. Zeppelin ushered in the era of album rock — they refused to release singles off their albums, even when they were garnering massive radio play — and of arena rock, playing ever-larger stadiums as their ticket sales skyrocketed. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. The band is also considered “as influential” during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s.
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6. Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1994. The band started as a one-man project for former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, following the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain. The group took its name from “Foo fighter”, a nickname coined by Allied aircraft pilots for UFOs and other aerial phenomena. Over the course of their career, Foo Fighters have won 12 Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album four times. The band has also won an American Music Award, four Brit Awards, and two MTV Video Music Awards.
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Read more:
- Inside Taylor Hawkins’ Final Days as a Foo Fighter – Rolling Stone
- Dave Grohl on Foo Fighters, His Memoir, Life After Nirvana
- Foo Fighters: 10 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know
7. Kiss
Kiss (often stylized as KIϟϟ) is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss. KISS was born out of the ashes of Wicked Lester. Although ‘Heavy Metal’ didn’t exist when the band was formed in 1972 it can be said that they invented a big part of the sound and style which now belong to Heavy Metal. The band is known for its elaborate stage shows, loud music, and extravagant costumes. Kiss is regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of all time, as well as one of the bestselling bands of all time, claiming to have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 21 million RIAA-certified albums.
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Read more:
- Farewell to Kings: How Kiss built and sustained The Greatest Show on Earth for 50 years
- 18 Wild and Shocking Facts About the Rock Band KISS
- Kiss changed the look of music — and allowed us all to follow the beats of our own drummers
8. Scorpions
Scorpions is a rock band from Hannover, Germany that was formed in 1965. Known best for their 1984 anthem “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and the 1990 ballad “Wind of Change,” the German rockers the Scorpions have sold over 22 million records, making them one of the most successful rock bands to ever come out of Continental Europe. One of their most recognized hits is “Wind of Change” (from Crazy World), a symbolic anthem of the political changes in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it remains as one of the best-selling singles in the world with over 14 million copies.
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9. The Who
The Who were key figures of the British Invasion, the mid-60s mod movement, and 70s arena rock. They exploded conventional rock and R&B structures with Pete Townshend’s furious guitar chords, John Entwistle’s hyperactive basslines, and Keith Moon’s vigorous, seemingly chaotic drumming. They are cited as an influence by many hard rock, punk rock, power pop and mod bands, and their songs are still regularly played. The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
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Read more:
- The Who? When the brand is bigger than the band – BBC
- Pete Townshend on the Who’s Uncertain Future and the Legacy of ‘The Who Sell Out’
10. Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, which included primarily screamed vocals. The band changed their style on their third album and first major label release, City of Evil, which features more of a hard rock style. They have also created four original songs for the Call of Duty: Black Ops series, all of which were compiled together in the 2018 EP Black Reign.
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Read more:
- The Untold Truth Of Avenged Sevenfold
- Avenged Sevenfold: from hardcore outcasts to heavy metal heroes
11. Five Finger Death Punch
Five Finger Death Punch was founded in 2005 by guitarist Zoltan Bathory (formerly of U.P.O.). In the years following their 2007 debut, they amassed a slew of awards via gold- and platinum-selling outings like 2011’s American Capitalist, 2013’s ambitious two-volume set The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, 2018’s And Justice for None, and 2022’s AfterLife. Five Finger Death Punch are the recipients of the RadioContraband Rock Radio Awards for “Indie Artist of the Year” in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.
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- Five Finger Death Punch / Afterlife A Breathtaking Classic
- Zoltan Bathory on the Struggles That Informed Five Finger Death Punch’s New Album
12. Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is a rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States. The band is frequently labeled stoner rock, although they reject the label. They developed a style of riff-oriented, hard rock music which the band’s founder and mastermind Josh Homme described as “robot rock”, saying that he “wanted to create a heavy sound based on a solid jam, just pound it into your head”. Since then, their sound has evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences. The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
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Read more:
- Time means nothing to Queens of the Stone Age
- Queens Of The Stone Age: The inside story of their momentous Reading & Leeds secret shows
13. Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band. Initially formed in 1967 as Soft White Underbelly, they underwent several name and lineup changes before their 1972 debut album. The original lineup from their first album lasted from 1972 to 1981. They have sold more than 25 million records, and they released a handful of singles during the ’70s that became classic rock radio standards, among them “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” “Burnin’ for You,” and “Godzilla.” Their lyrics crisscrossed science fiction, the occult, and horror films. The band’s music videos, especially “Burnin’ for You,” received heavy rotation on MTV when the music television network premiered in 1981, cementing the band’s contribution to the development and success of the music video in modern popular culture.
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Read more:
- 50 Years Ago: Blue Öyster Cult Breaks Out
- Behind the Band Name: Blue Öyster Cult
- An Interview with Joe Bouchard of Blue Öyster Cult
14. Breaking Benjamin
Breaking Benjamin is a post-grunge band Formed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA in 1998 by vocalist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel, Breaking Benjamin quickly garnered a strong local following. The Pennsylvania hard rockers are known for their radio-friendly approach that’s aggressive and forceful yet melodic. The band has also produced one number one record on the Billboard 200.
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Read more:
- The much unappreciated Breaking Benjamin
- Breaking Benjamin Battle Mystery Illness on Painful Road to Number One – Rolling Stone
- Interview: Ben Burnley and the Afterglow of Breaking Benjamin
15. Whitesnake
Whitesnake is an English hard rock band, founded in 1978 by vocalist David Coverdale (formerly of Deep Purple) in North Yorkshire, UK. After recalibrating their sound to better adapt to the burgeoning ’80s hair and pop-metal scene, they found commercial success with 1984’s Slide It In and then cannonballed into the mainstream in 1987 with the release of their multi-platinum-selling eponymous seventh effort, which spawned the power ballad “Is This Love” and the massive crossover number one hit “Here I Go Again.” Whitesnake’s early sound has been characterized by critics as blues rock, but by the mid-1980s the band slowly began moving toward a more commercially accessible hard rock style. The band have been nominated for several awards during their career, including Best British Group at the 1988 Brit Awards.
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Read more:
- 5 Things You May Not Have Known About David Coverdale
- Inside the mind of guitarist who supercharged David Lee Roth, Whitesnake
- Flashback: Tawny Kitaen Cartwheels to Video Immortality in Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’ – Rolling Stone
16. Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band who formed in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969. The two founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met each other while still in school. Lynott, with an engaging and charismatic personality, took up the role of frontman and speaker for the band and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums. Thin Lizzy are best known for their songs “Whiskey in the Jar”, “Jailbreak” and “The Boys Are Back in Town”, all major international hits still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations. Rolling Stone magazine describes the band as distinctly hard rock, “far apart from the braying mid-70s metal pack”.
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17. Motörhead
Motörhead were an English rock band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, who was the sole constant member, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. The band are often considered a precursor to the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Though several guitarists and drummers have played in Motörhead, most of their best-selling albums and singles feature the work of Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor on drums and “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitars. Their lyrics typically covered such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse and, most famously, gambling, the latter theme being the focus of their hit song “Ace of Spades”.
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Read more:
- Motörhead’s Snaggletooth: The Story Behind Lemmy And Co.’s Iconic Mascot
- How Lemmy and Motorhead Gave Metal Its Umlaut – Rolling Stone
- The Story Behind the Song: Motorhead by Motörhead
- How Motörhead Became Legends
18. Godsmack
Godsmack is a hard rock/alternative metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States which formed in 1995. Through the decades, they matured to incorporate classic rock and heavy metal touches on mid-era releases like The Oracle and IV, with frontman Erna taking more vocal cues from Metallica’s James Hetfield. The band has three No. 1 albums (Faceless, IV, The Oracle) on the Billboard 200, four Grammy nominations, and eight No. 1 hits on Mainstream Rock Radio. Godsmack has sold over 19 million records worldwide.
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Read more:
- What makes Godsmack so “Bulletproof”?
- GODSMACK’s Sully Erna: “We’re A Rock Band. We’re Not A Metal Band.”
19. Rush
Rush was a Canadian rock band made up of Geddy Lee (bass, vocals, keyboards), Alex Lifeson (guitars), and Neil Peart (drums, percussion, lyrics). Formed in 1968 in Toronto, Canada, the band went through several configurations until arriving at its longest and most popular line-up when Peart replaced original drummer John Rutsey in July 1974, two weeks before the group’s first tour of the United States. This resulted in the final definitive form of the band. This incarnation has lasted for more than thirty-five years to the present. The band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
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Read more:
- The Spirit of Neil Peart – Rolling Stone
- Rush’s surviving members say the band is over after Neil Peart’s death
20. Nazareth
Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1968, that had several hits in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Despite numerous lineup changes, the group remained prolific and popular in Europe throughout the ’80s and ’90s, and continued to tour and record into the 2000s, with bassist and co-founder Pete Agnew serving as the sole constant member.
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Read more:
- Dan McCafferty Dies: Nazareth Co-Founder Who Sang Lead On ‘Love Hurts‘ Was 76
- 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Nazareth
Honorable mentions
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