Alternative Rock: Top 100 Acts

Alternative Rock: Top 100 Acts

Alternative rock is one of the most difficult genres to define. It emerged most prominently in the 1990s in the wake of the grunge movement and the subsequent embracing of more rock-oriented acts. The alternative rock genre can be traced to the beginnings of experimental rock in the 1960s with the Velvet Underground and the 1970s with David Bowie. By the end of the decade, punk (Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash) created an audience for more left-of-center music. While it was more guitar-driven, the synthesizer-driven new wave (Elvis Costello, The Police, The Cars, Duran Duran) movement also gained attention. By the early ‘80s, college radio (R.E.M., U2, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Simple Minds) launched multiple acts into the mainstream while also embracing an array of British artists who gained little attention otherwise in the U.S. (The Smiths, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain). In the ‘90s, the explosion of grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains) gave voice to more guitar-oriented rock that was, at the very least, grunge-adjacent (Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, the Offspring) and fairly mainstream rock (Dave Matthews Band, Weezer, Foo Fighters). The UK responded with Britpop (Oasis, Blur, Manic Street Preachers) and more experimental rock (Radiohead). The 21st century saw emo rock (Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, My Chemical Romance), garage rock revival (The White Stripes, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys), and more folk-rock/Americana-driven acts (Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers) become successful. In addition, a wave of left-of-mainstream acts (Death Cab for Cutie, Vampire Weekend, Cage the Elephant) arose as well. This list was created by aggregating nearly 50 lists focused on alternative rock. Those acts featured on 4 or more lists were then re-ordered by overall status in Dave’s Music Database. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. 1. David Bowie 2. U2 3. R.E.M. 4. Nirvana 5. Pearl Jam 6. Elvis Costello 7. Radiohead 8. The Clash 9. The Police 10. Lou Reed 11. Red Hot Chili Peppers 12. Velvet Underground 13. The Smiths 14. The Cure 15. Green Day 16. Oasis 17. Talking Heads 18. Coldplay 19. Tears for Fears 20. Blondie 21. Ramones 22. Depeche Mode 23. Foo Fighters 24. INXS 25. Sex Pistols 26. Alanis Morissette 27. Beastie Boys 28. Smashing Pumpkins 29. Simple Minds 30. Beck 31. The White Stripes 32. New Order 33. Duran Duran 34. Pixies 35. Alice in Chains 36. Joy Division 37. Morrissey 38. Patti Smith 39. Blur 40. The Cars 41. Pretenders 42. Dave Matthews Band 43. Stone Temple Pilots 44. Soundgarden 45. The Replacements 46. Manic Street Preachers 47. Nine Inch Nails 48. Kate Bush 49. Arctic Monkeys 50. Roxy Music 51. Sonic Youth 52. The B-52’s 53. Imagine Dragons 54. Sinéad O’Connor 55. Tool 56. The Stooges 57. Arcade Fire 58. Nick Cave 59. PJ Harvey 60. The Stone Roses 61. XTC 62. Muse 63. Weezer 64. Live 65. Siouxsie & the Banshees 66. Violent Femmes 67. Nickelback 68. The Strokes 69. Hüsker Dü 70. Kings of Leon 71. Linkin Park 72. Mumford & Sons 73. Rage Against the Machine 74. Björk 75. Echo & the Bunnymen 76. Wilco 77. Bush 78. The Black Keys 79. Blink-182 80. The Jam 81. Devo 82. Television 83. The Offspring 84. Faith No More 85. The Killers 86. The Lumineers 87. Goo Goo Dolls 88. Counting Crows 89. Gorillaz 90. Jane’s Addiction 91. Korn 92. Franz Ferdinand 93. Fall Out Boy 94. Twenty One Pilots 95. The Cranberries 96. Queens of the Stone Age 97. Hole 98. Psychedelic Furs 99. Vampire Weekend 100. Garbage Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre Dave’s Music Database: The Top 100 Alternative Rock Albums Dave’s Music Database: The Top 100 Alternative Rock Songs First posted 9/8/2017; last updated 6/23/2026.