Top 25 most important bands of 1981-2006

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Bon Jovi have done what few have or ever will. Over 100 million albums sold. Still putting out albums that go platinum and still able to sell out 50,000 seat stadiums. Meanwhile most of the bands that have come out in the last ten years can't play places that hold over 3,000.

Yup and Bon Jovi's longevity is nearly unmatched in this era. They've remained relevant and gone platinum off NEW(not older material) records from 1984 to the present with no signs of stopping. Worldwide they have sold as many or more albums than any other artist on that list with only Metallica, Ozzy and AC/DC coming close. They were also the band that defined hair metal and remain the only band to escape hair metal with their popularity and relevance in tact. Even Def Leppard hasn't had a new CD of theirs do good since the 80's. Bon Jovi has survived hair metal, grunge, rap metal and every other fad to remain big. So yah they're not only worthy of inclusion on a list like that but also are, probably, the most underrated band of the past 20 years.

[Guest Felonies!]

But they don't make good music.

 

If there was no Korn there would have been no Limp Bizkit, Staind, etc.

Good.

[Special K 0]

So yah they're not only worthy of inclusion on a list like that but also are, probably, the most underrated band of the past 20 years.

 

So... importance and quality are based strictly on album sales? Or how long a band manages to stay together?

 

I mean, I know this band doesn't fit the criteria of the list, but that makes the Velvet Underground a very unimportant band.

[skullman80 0]

Maybe your local bar band is better than Korn, but that doesn't make them important. Korn took their first album platinum with no radio play and a few showings on Headbanger's Ball. Then after people like Alanis Morissette had been dominating "alternative" radio, Korn broke huge into that, bringing heavy music to a whole new group of fans. A lot of these fans branched out and discovered Black Sabbath, Metallica and more extreme metal groups, but it was Korn that first turned them on to something heavy metal related. They were the first big downtuned "nu metal" band. If there was no Korn there would have been no Limp Bizkit, Staind, etc.

 

Korn is not important at all, if anything they are a glaring example of how shitty music has been recently in the rock/nu-metal scene.

 

They are absolutley horrid and have 0 talent, and they should be nowhere near a top 20 list for most important bands. They shouldn't even get a sniff of it.

 

One of the worst bands ever, and as you said spawned even more shitty bands like Limp Bizkit and Staind...

 

What an awful period of music that was....

[BUTT 0]

Jesus Christ people, Kerrang is like the British version of Metal Edge. They aren't going to put Neutral Milk Hotel and Cat Power on the list, you boners.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Jesus Christ people, Kerrang is like the British version of Metal Edge. They aren't going to put Neutral Milk Hotel and Cat Power on the list, you boners.

[Special K 0]

Sonic Youth and Pixies just aren't the kind of bands that Kerrang covers. Yeah, I know. Too indie I think. [/quote[

 

Without Sonic Youth and the Pixies, there wouldn't be Nirvana, which they ranked too low anyway, no matter what you think about the band.

 

And Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth had better guitar work than pretty much all those damn bands. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I like interesting guitars.

 

Sonic Youth's my favorite band, so I can't take any kind of objective stance. However, even though I hate Pitchfork, they ranked Daydream Nation as the very best album of the 80's, and I can't say I disagree, since it's my favorite album.

 

As a Seattlite growing up with the grunge movement, I can safely say that Smashing Pumpkins were better than Soundgarden and Alice and Chains, both bands I like. Siamese Dream is a fucking classic album. I listen to it to this day. Maybe because Corgan's voice was to whiny for KERRANG! or whatever. They were great. They did tend towards ballads later in their career, but they did their share of rocking out.

 

And Bon Jovi fucking sucks.

[SuperJerk 0]

Bon Jovi have done what few have or ever will. Over 100 million albums sold. Still putting out albums that go platinum and still able to sell out 50,000 seat stadiums. Meanwhile most of the bands that have come out in the last ten years can't play places that hold over 3,000.

Yup and Bon Jovi's longevity is nearly unmatched in this era. They've remained relevant and gone platinum off NEW(not older material) records from 1984 to the present with no signs of stopping. Worldwide they have sold as many or more albums than any other artist on that list with only Metallica, Ozzy and AC/DC coming close. They were also the band that defined hair metal and remain the only band to escape hair metal with their popularity and relevance in tact. Even Def Leppard hasn't had a new CD of theirs do good since the 80's. Bon Jovi has survived hair metal, grunge, rap metal and every other fad to remain big. So yah they're not only worthy of inclusion on a list like that but also are, probably, the most underrated band of the past 20 years.

 

If Jon Bon Jovi was ugly, no one would have ever heard of them. The only people they could be considered important to are horny middle school girls from the 80s who grew up to be horny women in their early 30s.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I don't think Special K still quite understands that Kerrang is a metal magazine. Now, if you wanted to argue whether Nirvana should be on a list made up of metal/hard rock bands, go ahead.

[Guest wahoo]

They are absolutley horrid and have 0 talent, and they should be nowhere near a top 20 list for most important bands.

 

Someone needs to look the word "important" up in the dictionary. Hulk Hogan is more important than the Ring of Honor roster put together, despite whatever wrestling skills they have.

 

The only people they could be considered important to are horny middle school girls from the 80s who grew up to be horny women in their early 30s.

 

You will find a wide variety of people of different ages at Bon Jovi shows. It wasn't that long ago that "It's My Life" was on TRL and a few weeks ago they became the first rock band to have a number one song on the COUNTRY charts. Let's see Billy Corgan do that.

[Guest Felonies!]

They've hung around forfuckingever, but they're still not very important. Nor are they any good.

[skullman80 0]

They are absolutley horrid and have 0 talent, and they should be nowhere near a top 20 list for most important bands.

 

Someone needs to look the word "important" up in the dictionary. Hulk Hogan is more important than the Ring of Honor roster put together, despite whatever wrestling skills they have.

 

 

I don't really care. They have done nothing for the music industry. Actually they did, they ushered in a terrible nu-metal scene that set metal back for years. They aren't important, no matter how many angry 15 year olds say they are.

[Guest wahoo]

Seriously, grab a dictionary and look up the word IMPORTANT. George Bush is important. It doesn't mean that he is smarter or a better speaker than your local mayor. The guy that won American Idol is now an important figure in the world of music.

 

What more could Bon Jovi possibly do to be considered important? Sell 500 million instead of 100 million albums? Have number one songs on the rap and jazz charts?

 

Korn brought tons of new fans to metal at a time when it had been declared dead. And even if they really did "set metal back for years" that in itself would make them important.

[snuffbox 0]

If each member off bonjovi shot themselves to death...I would consider that an important moment.

[Red Baron 0]

Korn is important, though shitty, but they have made an impact (positive or negative).

 

As a Seattlite growing up with the grunge movement, I can safely say that Smashing Pumpkins were better than Soundgarden and Alice and Chains, both bands I like. Siamese Dream is a fucking classic album. I listen to it to this day. Maybe because Corgan's voice was to whiny for KERRANG! or whatever. They were great. They did tend towards ballads later in their career, but they did their share of rocking out.

 

Too bad the Pumpkins have zero live talent at all. Fuckin memorex band.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

More appropriate list name: 25 bands

 

Not even, because as Ravenbomb pointed out, Ozzy and Manson aren't bands (I though Manson was, but whatever.) You could just call it, 25 Music-Making Entities, but even then you've got stuff like Korn on there... fuck! What a dumb list.

[Guest Felonies!]

Marilyn Manson is the name of the band that Marilyn Manson plays/played in. I think the same might go for Ozzy, as I've heard both "Randy Rhoads played guitar in Ozzy Osbourne" and "for Ozzy Osbourne," so I thought maybe his post-Sabbath band was just self-titled.

[SuperJerk 0]

Seriously, grab a dictionary and look up the word IMPORTANT. George Bush is important. It doesn't mean that he is smarter or a better speaker than your local mayor. The guy that won American Idol is now an important figure in the world of music.

 

What more could Bon Jovi possibly do to be considered important? Sell 500 million instead of 100 million albums? Have number one songs on the rap and jazz charts?

 

You don't seem to understand the difference between the words "important" and "popular".

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Seriously, grab a dictionary and look up the word IMPORTANT. George Bush is important. It doesn't mean that he is smarter or a better speaker than your local mayor. The guy that won American Idol is now an important figure in the world of music.

 

What more could Bon Jovi possibly do to be considered important? Sell 500 million instead of 100 million albums? Have number one songs on the rap and jazz charts?

 

You don't seem to understand the difference between the words "important" and "popular".

Ok, how about being the defining band of an entire genre(hair metal/pop metal/whatever you call it), good enough for importance?

[k thx 0]

Hair metal was kind of a dead end genre though. Metallica and Iron Maiden (much as I hete them) have had an influence on a generation of metal bands. No bands are really inluenced by Bon Jovi, and if they are they aren't that metal. Plus the fact that very few of Kerrang's target audience would listen to Bon Jovi as anything more than a nostalgia act.

[Guest Felonies!]

WHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAA

WE'RE HALFWAY THEEEEEEERE

WHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAA

LIIIIIIIIIIVIN ON A PRAAAAAAAAAIR

[Copper Feel 0]

The guy that won American Idol is now an important figure in the world of music.

 

How? He (for lack of a name) will probably have disapeered from music all together in 5 years time and his influence will be zero since "he" is just another in a long line of manafactured pop acts desinged for today.

[Anorak 0]

Sonic Youth and Pixies just aren't the kind of bands that Kerrang covers. Yeah, I know. Too indie I think. [/quote[

 

Without Sonic Youth and the Pixies, there wouldn't be Nirvana, which they ranked too low anyway, no matter what you think about the band.

 

And Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth had better guitar work than pretty much all those damn bands. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I like interesting guitars.

 

Sonic Youth's my favorite band, so I can't take any kind of objective stance. However, even though I hate Pitchfork, they ranked Daydream Nation as the very best album of the 80's, and I can't say I disagree, since it's my favorite album.

 

As a Seattlite growing up with the grunge movement, I can safely say that Smashing Pumpkins were better than Soundgarden and Alice and Chains, both bands I like. Siamese Dream is a fucking classic album. I listen to it to this day. Maybe because Corgan's voice was to whiny for KERRANG! or whatever. They were great. They did tend towards ballads later in their career, but they did their share of rocking out.

 

And Bon Jovi fucking sucks.

 

The Pumpkins were actually featured a lot in Kerrang, at least when I bought it for a while in the mid 90's. After grunge broke out the types of bands magazines like that covered used to be a bit more random and less predictable. They realised there was a younger and larger group of people who wanted to read about Metallica alongside stuff as different as Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day. A so called 'alternative rock' mag sold better than an exclusive old school hard rock/metal one. The result? They sold more copies and we get silly lists that make no sense.

[k thx 0]

Billy Corgan is kind of like Morrissey was in the late 90s. Very good as an artist, but passed over by magazines as he's deemed as "uncool". In another 10 years though, Smashing Pumpkins will be near the top of these lists.

[Guest wahoo]

If you are popular, especially for a long time, you are going to affect the course of events and become some type of position of authority. If Bon Jovi walk into some restaurant or club, they are more likely than Hoobastank or whoever to get whatever special table they want.

 

Bon Jovi took the whole pretty boy radio friendly hard rock to another level. Def Leppard, Ratt, Motley Crue and a few others that came before them were harder than Bon Jovi. Def Leppard and others became more pop after Bon Jovi broke big. Ozzy was laying the hair spray on and doing ballads with Lita Ford. Bon Jovi discovered Cinderella and got them signed. Winger, Slaughter, White Lion and a 100 bands that sold 100s of millions of albums all owe a debt to Bon Jovi for helping pave the road ahead of them.

 

MTV Unplugged was started after an MTV person saw Bon Jovi play acoustic at an awards show. "Blaze of Glory" was nominated for an Oscar. The huge Moscow Peace Festival was headlined by Bon Jovi during the cold war. Even if they retired in 1992 they would still be a very important act in music history, but go ahead and live in an alternate reality just because you don't like them.

 

As for the new American Idol... they might not be that important, but they are more important than they were. They have went from being a normal person tol now going on talk shows, making an album with top writers and producers, touring, making money.

[k thx 0]

Bon Jovi have done a lot of stuff, but what wouldn't have happened if they'd never existed? How have they changed the face of music?

[Murmuring Beast 0]

Huey Lewis are more important.

[Guest wahoo]

Bon Jovi have done a lot of stuff, but what wouldn't have happened if they'd never existed? How have they changed the face of music?

 

Umm, have you read any of what I've typed? Why are you holding them to some weird standard but not the other bands on the list? Bon Jovi paved a big chunk of the road for future hard rock bands. The labels wouldn't have signed as many bands like that if they hadn't existed. No Bon Jovi = no Nirvana unplugged.

 

You might as well buy a book on them if you're that confused, but I'll give you another one -- the guitarist from Skid Row used to be in Bon Jovi. They were still friends and Bon Jovi helped them get signed with their label. Now it's 2006 and Sebastion Bach is on Gilmore Girls and Supergroup.

 

Pantera are there on the list. They used to be a hair band. What was Alice In Chains doing around 1988? Sitting around all depressed listening to Sonic Youth records? No, they were a hair band looking like Poison and rocking out in clubs. They had "SEX" and "we perform so good you can taste it" printed on their flyers. Members of Korn, Disturbed and Rivers from Weezer are just some others that were involved in the same scene.

 

Now would any of these guys say in an interview "yeah, those bands like Ratt and Bon Jovi really made me want to pick up a guitar and get involved in the world of music." No, they are only going to mention the bands that are looked at as cool.

[snuffbox 0]

Give it up, sport.

[Henry Spencer 0]

You guys arguing about Bon Jovi are missing the deeper issue here, which is who the fuck cares about Kerrang magazine anyways?