Top 40 Psychedelic Rock Acts

Psychedelic Rock: Top 40 Acts

Psychedelic rock emerged in the mid-‘60s as music inspired, influenced, or representative of the experience of taking hallucinogenic drugs, most notably LSD. The Summer of Love in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969 were major cultural events which have been tied to the psychedelic rock movement. This list was created by aggegating 13 lists focused on the best psychedelic rock acts of all time. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. Pink Floyd 1. Pink Floyd 2. Jimi Hendrix 3. The Doors 4. Grateful Dead 5. Cream 6. Jefferson Airplane 7. Tame Impala 8. The 13th Floor Elevators 9. The Beatles 10. The Byrds 11. Love 12. the Yardbirds 13. Iron Butterfly 14. The Rolling Stones 15. Hawkwind 16. Quicksilver Messenger Service 17. Strawberry Alarm Clock 18. The Velvet Underground 19. The Moody Blues 20. Frank Zappa 21. T-Rex 22. Syd Barrett 23. Captain Beefheart 24. Steppenwolf 25. The Zombies 26. The Brian Jonestown Massacre 27. Spirit 28. Moby Grape 29. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 30. The Seeds 31. The Who 32. Janis Joplin /Big Brother & the Holding Company 33. The Animals 34. Traffic 35. The Hollies 36. Procol Harum 37. The Flaming Lips 38. Can 39. Status Quo 40. The Small Faces Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Psychedelic Rock Albums Dave’s Music Database: Top 100 Psychedelic Rock Songs Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre First posted 7/3/2026.

Top 30 Progressive Rock Acts

Progressive Rock: Top 30 Acts

Progressive rock is one of the most beloved and ridiculed of rock music’s sub genres. As a hilarious piece at Cracked.com says, it is “categorized by a sacking of traditional song structure, complex rhythms, odd time signatures,” and insane song lengths betraying the creators’ lack of awareness of when to stop a song. The players tend to be average singers and extremely skilled musicians, often working with wacky instruments. As the piece amusingly states, it is “the only rock genre in which the term ‘flute solo’ has any meaning.” Also prevalent are a propensity toward concept albums built on half-baked themes and philosophy. There tends to be plenty of drug inspiration and “a sense of inherent superiority over other rock genres.” All kidding aside, it is a difficult genre to absorb. The stereotypes detailed at Cracked.com lean toward the truth more often than not, but prog rock is largely defined by not being definable. It is an experimental form which doesn’t play by the rules. 16 lists focused on progressive rock acts were aggregated to create this list. The top 15 were determined by which acts appeared on the most lists. The next fifteen were determined by looking at all acts reaching 4 to 9 lists and then ordering them by overall status in Dave’s Music Database. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. Pink Floyd 1. Pink Floyd 2. Yes 3. Rush 4. Genesis 5. Jethro Tull 6. Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7. King Crimson 8. Tool 9. The Moody Blues 10. Porcupine Tree 11. Gentle Giant 12. The Alan Parsons Project 13. Kansas 14. Dream Theater 15. The Mars Volta 16. Styx 17. Supertramp 18. Asia 19. Electric Light Orchestra 20. Marillion 21. Frank Zappa 22. Queensrÿche 23. Procol Harum 24. Can 25. Mike Oldfield 26. Manfred Mann 27. Hawkwind 28. Soft Machine 29. Opeth 30. Tangerine Dream Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Progressive Rock Albums Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre First posted 7/3/2026.

Top 50 New Wave Acts

New Wave: Top 50 Acts

New wave was a genre of music which emerged in the late ‘70s in the United States and United Kingdom. It grew out of punk rock, a more guitar-based and aggressive sound, but became more commercial with its more smoothed-out synthesizer-driven and danceable sound as well as colorful, trendy wardrobe. This list was created by aggregating 15 best-of lists focused on new wave acts. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. Talking Heads 1. Talking Heads 2. Blondie 3. The Cure 4. Depeche Mode 5. The Cars 6. The B-52’s 7. Devo 8. The Police 9. New Order 10. Duran Duran 11. Tears for Fears 12. Elvis Costello 13. INXS 14. Culture Club 15. Echo & the Bunnymen 16. Psychedelic Furs 17. Eurythmics 18. Siouxsie & the Banshees 19. The Human League 20. ABC 21. Simple Minds 22. Pretenders 23. Joy Division 24. Aha 25. XTC 26. Adam Ant 27. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 28. A Flock of Seagulls 29. Erasure 30. The Smiths 31. Pet Shop Boys 32. Berlin 33. The Go-Go’s 34. Oingo Boingo 35. Soft Cell 36. Squeeze 37. Joe Jackson 38. Bangles 39. The Jam 40. Men at Work 41. Television 42. Billy Idol 43. The Fixx 44. Madness 45. Bananarama 46. Ultravox 47. Thompson Twins 48. Talk Talk 49. Spandau Ballet 50. Howard Jones Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 250 New Wave/College Rock Songs Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre First posted 7/1/2026.

Top 50 Musical Theater Composers

Musical Theater Composers: Top 50

This list was first posted on March 22, 2012 in honor of the births of two of musical theater’s most celebrated composers (Stephen Sondheim: March 22, 1930; Andrew Lloyd Webber: March 22, 1948). While this list focused on musical theater, a separate list produced around the same time focused on The Top 100 Songwriters of the Rock Era. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories. Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II 1. Richard Rodgers 2. Oscar Hammerstein II 3. Stephen Sondheim 4. Andrew Lloyd Webber 5. George Gershwin George and Ira Gershwin, image from wmky.org 6. Leonard Bernstein 7. Cole Porter 8. Irving Berlin 9. John Kander 10. Stephen Schwartz Stephen Sondheim 11. Jerry Herman 12. Frank Loesser 13. Frederick Loewe 14. Ira Gershwin 15. Alan Jay Lerner Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice 16. Tim Rice 17. Fred Ebb 18. Jonathan Larson 19. Jerome Kern 20. Harold Arlen Irving Berlin 21. Lorenz Hart 22. Alan Menken 23. Charles Strouse 24. Marvin Hamlisch 25. Lee Adams Cole Porter, image from hometownstohollywood.com 26. Cy Coleman 27. Jason Robert Brown 28. Jeanine Tesori 29. Dorothy Fields 30. Jerry Ross Leonard Bernstein, image from npr.org 31. Jule Styne 32. Richard Adler 33. Sheldon Harnick 34. Jerry Bock 35. Lin-Manuel Miranda Jerry Herman, image from jerryherman.com 36. Kurt Weill 37. Betty Comden 38. Adolph Green 39. Harold Rome 40. Elton John Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe 41. E.Y. “Yip” Harburg 42. Burton Lane 43. Richard Sherman 44. Robert Sherman 45. Claude-Michel Schönberg Jerome Kern, image from discogs.com 46. Mel Brooks 47. Lynn Ahrens 48. Bob Merrill 49. Johnny Mercer 50. Noël Coward Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Musicals/Cast Albums: Top 50 Dave’s Music Database: The Top 100 Songwriters of the Rock Era Dave’s Music Database: Lists Focused on Media, including Stage & Screen Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories First posted 3/22/2012; last updated 7/1/2026.

The Top 50 Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Acts

Heavy Metal/Hard Rock: Top 50 Acts

This list was created by aggregating 25 lists focused on the best heavy metal and/or hard rock acts of all time. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. Metallica 1. Metallica 2. Iron Maiden 3. Black Sabbath 4. Judas Priest 5. Megadeth 6. Slayer 7. Pantera 8. Tool 9. Motörhead 10. Led Zeppelin 11. Mötley Crüe 12. Guns N’ Roses 13. Van Halen 14. AC/DC 15. Ozzy Osbourne 16. Anthrax 17. Aerosmith 18. Kiss 19. Korn 20. Slipknot 21. Deep Purple 22. System of a Down 23. Jimi Hendrix 24. Bon Jovi 25. Def Leppard 26. Alice Cooper 27. Ronnie James Dio 28. Scorpions 29. Avenged Sevenfold 30. Queensrÿche 31. Alice in Chains 32. Marilyn Manson 33. Deftones 34. Rammstein 35. Queen 36. Nirvana 37. Rush 38. Linkin Park 39. Rage Against the Machine 40. Faith No More 41. Whitesnake 42. Ratt 43. Foo Fighters 44. Disturbed 45. Evanescence 46. Rainbow 47. Thin Lizzy 48. Five Finger Death Punch 49. Cinderella 50. Twisted Sister Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Albums Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Heavy Metal Songs Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Hair Band/Glam Metal Songs Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre First posted 7/1/2026.

Top 30 Grunge Acts

Grunge: Top 30 Acts

Grunge was a fusion of punk and heavy metal which originated out of Seattle. The movement developed in the latter half of the ‘80s and peaked in the early ‘90s. While its rise and fall was quick, it birthed a revival of interest in guitar-based, alternative rock. Some of the bands on the list might stir some debate as to whether they are grunge or not. Indeed, record companies rushed to capitalize on the grunge movement and signed many artists which bore a similar sound but didn’t have quite the same credentials and were sometimes dismissed by critics. There were also what I’ll call “grunge adjacent” acts (such as Smashing Pumpkins) that attracted a similar audience and had a similar sound but weren’t really grunge. 23 lists were aggregated to create this list. The acts were grouped in three bunches based on the number of lists on which they appeared. Then each of those groups was ordered based on the acts’ overall status in Dave’s Music Database. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. Nirvana 20-23 lists: 1. Nirvana 2. Pearl Jam 3. Alice in Chains 4. Soundgarden 5. Mudhoney 10-19 lists: 6. Stone Temple Pilots 7. Hole 8. Screaming Trees 9. Mother Love Bone 10. Silverchair 11. Temple of the Dog 12. L7 13. Melvins 14. Green River 15. Mad Season 16. Tad 4-9 lists: 17. Smashing Pumpkins 18. Live 19. Bush 20. Creed 21. Collective Soul 22. Garbage 23. Dinosaur Jr. 24. Soul Asylum 25. Candlebox 26. Blind Melon 27. Sponge 28. Meat Puppets 29. Veruca Salt 30. Days of the New Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 25 Grunge Albums Dave’s Music Database: Top 100 Grunge/Post-Grunge Songs Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre First posted 7/1/2026.