It is an ongoing though completely true "joke" amongst my friends and I that Rob Zombie was in fact the most expendable member to the band that shares half of his name. Live, Zombie has barely ever been able to control his breath long enough to even make it through a single line without reaching the mic out to the audience for help, even on record his growly raps sound silly, and good luck understanding what the hell he is saying in the first place. Though I will admit that "suck the juice from a fallen angel" is a pretty spectacular line. Elsewhere though, goddamn what a band. These guys combined fantastic, percussive, groove heavy riffs with endless horror/b-movie samples and basically looked like they walked with ducktape on their clothes through every Halloween, metal records, and occult bookstore they could find. Though they only put out two majorly released albums before imploding, it was enough to make them a metal band truly after my own heart.
Another incalculably influential artist, the man with a dozen nicknames James Brown remains the be-all-end-all, greatest funk musician we have ever seen. The Godfather of Soul moniker is also appropriate, but Brown always had more of an unchained, ferocious sexuality to everything he did, making even his ballads undeniably danceable. Also his voice was anything but soothing. He seemed to be boldly proclaiming every word and sound he uttered as Eddie Murphy once said, like "he meant that shit, what he just said boy". Though a social rights activist, he was also in many ways a walking cartoon character with various drug and domestic abuse charges thrown his way as well as his tyrannical reputation as a band leader. The best of his live albums and 60s and 70s output showcased just insane, balls-tight funkiness though, all coming from the man who proudly wrote the book on it.
In many ways, Neil Young was a godfather to the punk movement. From the onset, Young was bouncing from one band or album to the next, driven compulsively and solely by his whim regardless of whatever commitments he had made to record executives or even good friends and bandmates. He also came most alive when backed by the knowingly un-technical band Crazy Horse, who have primitively jammed away with him throughout large chunks of his career. Probably the most visceral of all singer/songwriters, Young's body of work is another that most musicians could never hope to catch up to in two of his lifetimes. He has written hundreds of songs that he has not even recorded yet and the ones he has have ranged all over the map, yet they always come from a highly intuitive place. As both a guitar player and vocalist, Young is way outside the norm and occasionally abrasive in a beautiful sense and he has never slipped from cherishing that commendable, "I don't give a fuck, here it is" attitude.
One of the many paramount bands to come out of the grunge scene's hotbed of Seattle, Soundgarden had the added edge of utilizing odd-tunings and time signatures while simultaneously featuring Chris Cornell's otherworldly vocal abilities. To say Cornell was the movement's best singers is short-changing him somewhat as he was simply one of the finest, most powerful voices rock music in general has ever seen. The band began humbly way back in the early 80s, being a noisy, garage metal outfit for years before they started to hone-in their songwriting on breakthrough releases such as Badmotorfinger and especially Superunknown. Very sadly, Soundgarden's much cherished return after over a decade of silence was forever abolished as Cornell hung himself in a hotel in Detroit last Spring; a frontman such as that being as irreplaceable as any.
New wave critical darlings Talking Heads sounded like exactly what they were; a bunch of college art nerds who started a group and inadvertently became hugely influential in doing so. Using the exceptional songwriting of David Byrne as a springboard, the Talking Heads began as a quirky art pop band that was deeply integral to the New York, CBJB's punk scene even if musically they were a considerable distance away. Once ambient rock guru Brian Eno came onboard to collaborate with them though, they made entirely bizarre, wildly creative stuff which culminated with the Remain in Light album, as high a water mark as any in recorded music. Long since disbanded yet as revered as ever, David Byrne continues to endlessly explore new terrains musically, but what he and the Heads achieved collectively stands prominently above the rest.
I have to admit that Atlanta, Georgia's mighty Mastodon have not been blowing my mind as they once did with their last few releases, but even at their most filler-esque, the band still towers above many. Incredible musicians front to back, (Brann Dailor's fill-heavy drumming and Brent "Walking Asshat" Hinds' blazing guitar playing most of all), Mastodon have evolved from a band that could not play their songs fast enough or scream their ridiculous lyrics aggressively enough to one that has grown melodically and dynamically as a classic rock-riff championing, occasionally very proggy and still plenty heavy outfit. Their three record run of Leviathan, Blood Mountain, and Crack the Skye were nothing short of amazing. Each of those flawless albums seemed to grow leaps and bounds from the last, though none of them are any less satisfying from each other. Mastodon's lineup seems irreplaceable, they remain as active as ever, and even if they only dip into their former glory now and again, few metal bands are on par with them.
Great singers are aplenty out there, but there may not be a greater one currently in their prime than Ray LaMontagne. A New Hampshire native, singer/songwriter, LaMontagne originally collaborated with Ethan Johns on a string of albums, the best of which remains his debut Trouble. Since God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise though, he has been self-producing and stepping outside of his folkrock comfort zone going everywhere from Motown style doo-wop to atmospheric, Pink Floyd laden space rock. No matter the style and no matter how many song titles he routinely borrows, LaMontagne's voice remains absolutely incredible. He is a perfect concoction of Otis Redding and Joe Cocker though smokier than both. The more musical experimentation he continues to take on, the more his vocal prowess always still adheres to the material.
As enormously popular now as they ever were, Iron Maiden has been beating a dead horse and basically reveling in being Iron Maiden for decades. I will admit that I have not bothered with any of their material post-Bruce Dickinson returning with A Brave New World since the saying "heard one Maiden song, you've heard them all" admittingly rings true, but man what a golden period they indeed had. A Paul Di'Anno fan I am not, so once Dickinson took the frontman mantle with a vengeance, Maiden could do absolutely no wrong throughout the entire decade of the 1980s. Willing slaves to the road, they have toured virtually non-stop since their inception and have more fist-pumping, scream along anthems than any other metal band will ever come close to. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son represents their peak in my eyes yet again, play practically anything from their Dickinson-fronted catalog and you cannot go very well wrong.
The band that would forever change the face of rock music much to the chagrin of hair metal musicians, Nirvana unwillingly exploded in the early 90s, only to have their success infamously overwhelm their frontman and songwriter Kurt Cobain to the point of suicide. So much has been written about and explored around Cobain's rise and fall, plus how especially important his band's emergence was that it is easy to lose perspective on how good they really were. Nirvana essentially produced the heaviest pop songs anyone had ever heard and took punk rock simplicity, (as well as attitude), to levels for the first time where it related to a massive, massive audience. Plus as a vocalist, Cobain was fiercely challenging, singing with a drawl and drone that would erupt into a cracking scream just as the band was tearing it up around him.
Death metal's textbook overlords Cannibal Corpse were one of my first loves in metal's most extreme subgenre and they remain my favorite. The Chris Barnes era was fine and all, (both Tomb of the Mutilated and The Bleeding can easily be called "classics"), but really once George "Corpsegrinder/Mutant Neck" Fisher jumped aboard, they have continued to improve in nearly every conceivable way. Musically they are as challenging as ever, impressively pushing themselves to keep their riffs as technically demanding as those of their peers. Their albums are usually immaculately produced and Corpsegrinder has long solidified his legacy as the best extreme metal vocalist of all time. One would think that fourteen albums into their career would leave nothing left to pummel us with, but the ridiculously sick riffs and rapid-fire cookie monster rants keep coming at a steady pace. Seasoned professionals, live they are as solid as they ever were, having long proven to be the most undisappointing band in the entire death metal community.
There may not be another singer/songwriter out there who truly lives in their own world the way Tom Waits does. Initially getting his feet wet in the San Diego folk scene, Waits' first slew of excellent records though comparatively more straightforward than his later work, showed a deep sophistication for not only personal lyrics yet also character studies on eccentric bar patrons and romantics. Once he made Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs though in the early 80s, Waits was living and reveling in a wild underbelly of sounds and styles that no one had ever bothered to explore. Junkyard rock that channeled Vaudeville as much as the blues while all the while experimenting with any instrument, (or non instrument), he could find, Waits music is as singular as they come. This is not even taking into account the man's ridiculous voice which sounds like an age old whino who has operated on a steady diet of all the alcohol and gravel he could stomach. Beautiful stuff.
Sir Elton John has never ceased being a household name, but his ridiculously busy period throughout the 1970s would be all that he would have to achieve to show up on this list. Becoming the frontman to his own songwriting duo with Bernie Taupin, Elton John produced nearly an album or two per year throughout the 70s and it was not until 2006 where he waited for more than four of them between releases in general. Helped by a top-notch band, (including guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Nigel Olson), Elton's string of still great albums are something I never grow tired of no matter how many classic rock radio stations continue to play the same material from them. The man's knack for turning another guy's (occasionally nonsensical), lyrics into pop masterpieces is pretty much unparalleled and Elton can continue to be a parody of a gay diva all he wants to since he has well earned the right.
A true favorite amongst hipsters and anyone who likes their often self-depreciating lyrics served up with an extra dose of self-depreciatingness, Cincinnati, Ohio's The National are one of the very best indie rock bands currently operating. I came late to the party with these guys, having heard their name come up by various friends and any "best albums of the 2000s" lists I ever laid eyes on. Yet by the time I dove in, a fan I have been. These guys have suffered zero dips in quality over their seven records thus far and so many fantastic songs grace them that almost every listen reveals new favorites, (at this writing, "Daughters of the Soho Riots" and "I Need My Girl" stand out the most to me). Matt Berninger's spoken-world droll is almost eerily calming and the band's simple yet textured music seems as inviting as their words seem dire.
Now we have arrived at the only unsigned band on this list and one that I have the wonderful pleasure of calling chums of mine, it is the Maggot Twat! For those outside of the Chicagoland area who are unaware, Maggot Twat is a comedy metal duo that is assisted more than competently by a puppet drummer named Dick Pancakes. They are also easily both one of the best metal and live bands to ever exist. With performances featuring anything between plungers, unicycles, foghorns, construction site cones, garbage cans, foreign porn mags, Cheezits, toilet paper, a hot dog stand, and mass destruction of their stage, (which only covers a couple of the things that I have personally witnessed them bust out), Maggot Twat is as moronically entertaining as you could imagine. All three of their records though are just as hilarious as they are disgustingly heavy, with 8-Bit Apocalypse trumping all of them and remaining possibly my favorite metal record yet made.
Like many a band who have found a permanent home on FM radio since before my lifetime, Creedence Clearwater Revival and their truckload of hits have almost forever been known to me. Digging beyond their compilations though and taking into account that all of their legendary recordings were done in merely four years, it is rather staggering how impressive their output was. John Forgerty in such a brief time wrote more iconic and timeless pop songs than almost anybody and with a voice like no other. Forgerty's southern wail, (though he was a born and raised California boy), complemented their hodgepodge of sounds ranging from doo-wop, to heavy guitar rock, to country, and of course blues, none more prominently favored over another. Their production was also always outstanding and ahead of its time, forgoing the cardboard drumsound and becoming more sonically full and lively than most bands ever were.
Without The Stooges, it is funny to think where punk music would have eventually come from, if anywhere at all. Out of all of the staggeringly loud and obnoxious rock bands to emerge from the blue collar, working class Michigan factory towns, The Stooges had the most lasting impact even if they only did two albums initially and then a later one with half their members. Borderline incompetent musicians with Iggy Pop acting as the perfect embodiment of rock and roll chaos fronting them, these guys took all of the angry, rebellious, hyperactive, raw aesthetics possible that a bunch of guys in their early twenties were brimful of and unleashed them to a public that would end up taking years to fully embrace. The band is an institution now of course for so many and their first three albums are easily as essential as rock could ever possibly get.
I feel the same way about Metallica as I do The Simpsons. Many readers probably already know where I am going with this, but like the once greatest TV show of all time, Metallica have sucked so hard and for so long now that their once phenomenal legacy is unmistakably tarnished. I have never been the biggest Kill 'Em All fan though the album is fine, but Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All flat-out represent the best metal music period that any band has ever made. Hell, I even like the self-titled Black Album, as I see it as an incredibly solid, groove-metal experiment that all of us Metallica snobs would have preferred stayed an experiment and never derailed the band to the point of no return artistically. Nowadays they have gone back I guess to their more epic, thrash roots but it is far too little, too late. Besides, a bunch of millionaires trying to convince us how hungry and angry they are does not really translate where they are concerned. Still, their old stuff really was something wasn't it?
Endlessly wailing away about how many women he has laid on their backs while being an evil werewolf or something, Glenn Danzig had an utterly outstanding first four album run before briefly, (and kind of embarrassingly), toying with electronica because the 90s. He has long since settled back into his wicked blues metal shtick, but those first few albums are really all that was necessary to make me a permanent fan. Danzig the band was formed after Rick Rubin convinced Glenn to sign with his Def America label, at which point he changed his group's name from Samhain, added Chuck Biscuits and Johnny Christ to the line-up, and seeped his music further into the blues than ever before. The result was a sound that certainly no one had at the time and has not really had since; dark, heavy, and occasionally doom-laden with Glenn's evil Elvis howl soaring over it.
Another once incredible group whose current output leaves a bit to be desired, England's Coldplay were easily the very best post-Britpop band. Formed by a bunch of college friends in the late 90s, presently they are kind of in their U2 Pop phase, forgoing much of their atmospheric dream pop in favor of dance hits featuring Rihanna and Beyoncé. Which is all well and good mind you, but once again a trial of flawless records kick-started this band's career, possibly peaking with the Brian Eno produced Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. With songs such as "Trouble", "The Scientist", "Fix You", "Politik", "Lovers in Japan", "Warning Sign", and "Life in Technicolor" to name a small handful, these guys were on an outstanding role penning some of the best ballad-esque guitar pop in recent times.
A band that has clearly broken up into two eras, the original Peter Gabriel fronted, pristine prog rock Genesis were the very best in their field, beating out other such beloved heavyweights as Yes and King Crimson for me. Before replacing Gabriel behind the mic, Phil Collins established himself as a blisteringly proficient drummer and people who are only familiar with the drum break to "In the Air Tonight" need be reminded that the man in fact has dazzling chops on these records here. The entire band though were virtuosos, (as was appropriate), and together they made ridiculously challenging, grandiose music like no other. Gabriel's lyrics were as batshit bizarre as his stage costumes were and the group would have been laughably artsy and pretentious if not for how brilliant their material was. Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway represent prog rock perfected, pure and (not so) simple.
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