Led by depressive pop prince Robert Smith, the Cure have taken their legions of fans on a journey from post-punk to gothic to new wave to art rock, stopping only for refills of hairspray along the way. An amazing band both live and in the studio, the…

Based in Miami, Florida, USA, Muse comprise Paul Isaac (vocals), Gerson (guitar), Ari (bass) and Brett Thorngren (drums). Formed in 1992, they initially worked in isolation from the local music scene, before establishing an audience with alternative …

The Clash was one of the first and most important British punk bands. In the 1970s, they were the Beatles to the Sex Pistols' Stones, and went on to incorporate elements from all the roots music they loved--reggae, rockabilly, soul, blues--without ev…

AC/DC is generally regarded as a titanic force in the world of heavy rock, occupying a sphere of seminal influence right alongside Kiss. These Australian guitar gods--led by Angus Young, an axe-wielding man-boy in a school uniform--churn out songs la…

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

No other band has had quite the same impact as the four lads from Liverpool. Over the course of eight years and more than a dozen albums, the Beatles changed popular music and culture forever, spearheading the 1960s British Invasion and shaping rock …

Tom Petty is part of rock's gentry, and his recordings with the Heartbreakers are placed in the pantheon of "heartland rock" along with Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger et al. However, he was originally regarded as a part of the "new wave" of the late 19…

Hard rock was usually considered a testosterone-heavy genre--until Jane's Addiction. With his unorthodox image and vocal delivery, singer Perry Farrell broke all preconceived notions of hard rock, as the band combined Led Zeppelin's grandeur with the…

Pair a disciple of Oscar Wilde (Morrissey) with an innovator of the electric guitar (Johnny Marr) and you have the most clever cult band of the 1980s, the Smiths. Though they made some of the most effortlessly catchy music of the era, the tension bet…

Tool's sophisticated art-metal approach (some regard them as prog-metal) is marked by unrelenting aggression and focused intensity. The band's use of serpentine, syncopated rhythms, and tight staccato guitar riffs topped by singer Maynard James Keena…

Following in the footsteps their idols The Beatles, Oasis became a phenomenon in their home country in the 1990s. Taking the Fabs' template as a model, they added a thick wall of Pete Townshend-influenced guitars and stood at the vanguard of the mid-…

After getting his start with '70s punks Generation X, singer Billy Idol left the band for a solo career in the early '80s. An early MTV darling (with his peroxide-blond spikey hair and "rough boy" looks), Idol merged his punk roots with top-40 hooks,…

Charlie Feathers was the consummate rockabilly artist; a fearless stylist who melded the soulful heart of country with rocking abandon and set himself on a course from which he never strayed, digging in ever deeper over the decades.

A native of Canada Paul Janz trained for a musical career in Switzerland and joined the German group Deliverance in the 70s After the band split up Janz recorded a demo tape that interested AM enough to sign him and release High Strung in 1985 Electr…