My Top 5 Rock Bands

‘Wish you were here’ was released in 1975. I wasn’t even alive back then but somehow I can still relate to this song– I get goose bumps. Inducted in the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1996, Pink Floyd were pioneers in progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their elaborate shows, meaningful lyrics and the album art– nothing was short of genius. Did you know that the band used very creative ideas for the stage lighting in their shows– from mirrors, polarisers and even stretched condoms! It hasn’t been smooth sailing all the time for Pink Floyd. As surprising as it sounds, the band hit an all-time low during and after the production of ‘The Wall’. Yes, all the band members stayed separately during concerts and bonding was close to nothing. They’ve been rocked by bad times, drug use and leaving members. Still, Pink Floyd weathered the storm and came out as one of the most successful rock bands of all time – in commercial terms and their influence on rock music. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, the Smashing Pumpkins, and many more – many have been influenced by their music and have even done Pink Floyd covers. Comfortably Numb, Another Brick in the Wall, Wish You Were Here, Hey You, and many more – I’m sure three generations can relate to these hits. Not many bands can boast that kind of an audience!

What is the one thing that I love about Guns ‘N Roses? It’s their incorporation of the keyboard/piano into their music. Hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock or blues rock– this American rock band has quite a fusion going on. Marilyn Manson, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Bullet For My Valentine – many bands have been inspired by GNR. When a friend told me GNR have not yet received a Grammy award, I went “Are you serious dude?” I looked it up and you will find this hard to believe, GNR have only been nominated for a Grammy thrice, winning none. What the @#$%! 100 million albums sold worldwide and highest selling debut album of all time - ‘Appetite for Destruction’. Forget the numbers – GNR have given mankind legendary music. November Rain, Paradise City, It’s So Easy, Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child o’ Mine, Night Train, the list is endless. No Grammy? Seriously? Well Grammy or not, this band is definitely in my top 5.

The Doors, where do I start? What do you think makes The Doors so popular? The controversies? The wild lyrics? Their charisma? Or was it their unpredictable on-stage nature? I think it is a mix of everything. This American rock band’s popularity has increased day by day even though the band disintegrated in 1973 due to the death of their lead singer, the legend, Jim Morrison in 1971. Some of my top favourites of this band are Riders of the Strom, Hello I Love you, L.A. Woman, Beak On Through, Light My Fire, Strange Days, Touch Me, The End and many more! The electic stage performances of this band took the world by a storm– acts that were unpredictable and unprecedented. For the sake of some rock trivia, did you know that Jim Morisson was the first rock star to be arrested on-stage? Yeah. Apparently he had been making out with a fan backstage. I do wonder sometimes how the rock music scene would have been different if the untimely death of Jim Morrison would have been averted. Epic!

This American heavy metal band started out as a founder of ‘thrash metal’ music. Known as one of the ‘big four’ of thrash metal, Metallica has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Their music has quite an influence of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and a few more hard rock bands. In the late 80’s, the underground music scene was afloat with their music– on themes revolving around rage, monsters, insanity and religion. Moving on, Metallica decided to move in the direction where we saw them churning out numbers which were more commercial. I have practically grown up with a lot of Metallica tracks playing on the radio all around the shop– Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, The Unforgiven, Sad But True, Battery, Blackened, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Bleeding Me, I Disappear and Master of Puppets are some tracks that come to mind. And how can I forget the infamous soundtrack for Mission Impossible II. Do you remember Napster? Yes, the file sharing software. Metallica led the battle against Napster and filed lawsuit against it. This ultimately led to Napster going bankrupt! All that aside, Metallica’s music is legendary and is here to stay.