Predecessors and precursors (1900 - 1950)

• T-Bone Walker - blues guitarist; "Call It Stormy Monday", "T-Bone Shuffle"
• Ella Fitzgerald - jazz vocalist, known for scat singing; "A Tisket, A Tasket"
• Billie Holiday - jazz vocalist, "Strange Fruit"
• Les Paul - pioneer in the electric guitar
• Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five - innovative pre-rock and roll R&B music; "Saturday Night Fish Fry", "Caldonia"
• Memphis Minnie - blues guitarist
• Robert Johnson - legendary Delta blues guitarist; "Crossroad Blues"
• Stick McGhee & His Buddies - blues guitarist; "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee"
• The Treniers - swing and early rock and roll pioneers; "Rocking on Sunday Night"
• Sarah Vaughan - jazz vocalist; "Tenderly"

Early North American rock and roll (1951 - 1963)

• The Beach Boys - surf-pop and early psychedelia band; Pet Sounds, "Good Vibrations"
• Bill Haley & His Comets - key contributor of the rockabilly revolution from R&B to rock and roll; "Rocket 88", "Rock Around the Clock"
• Bo Diddley - singer-songwriter, guitarist, "Bo Diddley", "I'm A Man", "Who Do You Love"
• Bobby Darin - teen idol; "Dream Lover", "Mack the Knife"
• Bobby Lewis - "Tossin' and Turnin'"
• Bruce & Terry - surf duo; "Hey Little Cobra"
• Buddy Holly - rock and roll musician; "Peggy Sue"
• Carl Perkins - rockabilly pioneer; "Blue Suede Shoes"
• The Chantays - surf band; "Pipeline"
• Chuck Berry - singer-songwriter, guitarist, "Maybelline"
• Dave "Baby" Cortez - "The Happy Organ"
• David Allan & the Arrows - soundtrack surf composer; "Blues' Theme" from The Wild Angels
• Dick Dale - surf music pioneer; "Let's Go Trippin'"
• Dorsey Burnette - rockabilly singer; "Big Rock Candy Mountain"
• Johnny Burnette - rockabilly singer; "You're Sixteen"
• The Drifters - early rock and roll; "Money Honey"; "I Gotta Get Myself a Woman"
• Eddie Cochran - rockabilly guitar hero; "Summertime Blues"
• Elvis Presley - legendary popularizer of African American rock and roll; "Blue Moon of Kentucky", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Jailhouse Rock", "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
• Fabian - teen idol; "Tiger"
• Fats Domino - popular New Orleans piano player; "The Fat Man", "Ain't That a Shame"
• Freddy Cannon, hard rock, nicknamed "Boom Boom"
• Gene Vincent - rockabilly musician; "Be-Bop-A-Lula"
• Ike Turner - influential rock and roll pioneer; "Rocket 88"
• Jackie DeShannon - pop-folk singer; "What the World Needs Now"
• Jackie Wilson - legendary soul singer; "Lonely Teardrops", "Baby Workout"
• Jan & Dean - surf and pop doo-wop duo; "Surf City", "Baby Talk"
• Jerry Lee Lewis - pianist, singer; "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", "Great Balls of Fire"
• Johnny Burnette - rockabilly; "Train Kept A-Rollin'"
• Mr. Gasser & the Weirdos - surf music; Hot Rod Hootenanny
• Paul Anka - pop vocalist; "Lonely Boy", "Diana"
• Pat Boone - pop vocalist; "Tutti Frutti", "Ain't That a Shame"
• Ricky Nelson - an early television teen idol
• Ronnie Hawkins - rockabilly performer; "Forty Days", "Mary Lou"
• Ronny & the Daytonas - surf rock; "G.T.O."
• Roy Orbison - legendary soul and rock and roll singer; "Oh, Pretty Woman"
• Jack Scott - pop balladeer, "Burning Bridges"
• The Surfaris - surf band; "Wipeout"
• Tommy James & the Shondells - pop-rock; "Crimson and Clover", "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now"
• Wilbert Harrison - "Kansas City"
• Tinker Carlen

The "British Invasion" (1962 - 1969)

• The Animals - British blues; Animalism
• The Beatles - psychedelic rock band; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, The White Album
• The Jeff Beck Group pioneers in heavy blues; Truth and Beck Ola
• The Dave Clark Five - British blues; Coast to Coast
• Gerry & the Pacemakers - merseybeat; Ferry Cross the Mersey, Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
• Herman's Hermits - pop merseybeat; "I'm Into Something Good"
• The Hollies - Folk Rock "Long Cool Woman in the Black Dress"
• The Kinks (Village Green Preservation Society)
• Marianne Faithfull - blues-rock; "As Tears Go By"
• The Moody Blues - psychedelia and early progressive rock; Days of Future Passed, On the Threshold of a Dream
• Peter & Gordon - merseybeat; "A World Without Love"
• Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale
• The Rolling Stones - long-running blues-rock band; Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Exile on Main Street
• The Small Faces - psychedelic mod band; Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, There Are But Four Small Faces
• Van Morrison & Them - folk-rock; Astral Weeks, Moondance
• The Who - mod and rock; Who's Next?, The Who Sings My Generation, The Who Sell Out
• The Yardbirds - psychedelic blues rock; Five Live Yardbirds, Roger the Engineer
• The Pink Floyd - Psychedelic Rock : The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn----

Psychedelia, progressive rock and early hard rock (1968–1974)

• 13th Floor Elevators - psychedelia
• AC/DC - hard rock, heavy metal
• Aerosmith - hard rock
• Alice Cooper
• The Allman Brothers Band - early country rock, jam band
• Badfinger - power-pop
• The Band - folk and rock and roll fusion
• Big Brother & the Holding Company
• Black Sabbath - heavy metal
• Blue Cheer - early heavy metal
• Blue Öyster Cult - heavy metal
• David Bowie - glam, early electronic music
• Buffalo Springfield
• Canned Heat
• Captain Beefheart - blues and psychedelia
• Clear Light
• Cream - blues/psychedelia/progressive rock
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - country rock
• Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young)
• Deep Purple - heavy metal
• Def Leppard - hard rock
• The Doors
• Eagles - country rock
• The Electric Light Orchestra
• The Electric Prunes
• The Fabulous Thunderbirds
• The Faces
• The Flying Burrito Brothers - country rock
• Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention
• Genesis - progressive rock
• Gram Parsons - country rock
• The Grateful Dead - psychedelia
• Harry Nilsson
• Heart - hard rock, early heavy metal
• Hot Tuna
• Humble Pie
• IF - progressive rock, jazz-rock
• Iron Butterfly - psychedelia, early heavy metal
• Janis Joplin
• Japan
• Jefferson Airplane - psychedelia
• Jethro Tull - progressive folk rock
• Jimi Hendrix - hard rock/psychedelia/blues
• Kansas
• King Crimson - early heavy metal, progressive rock
• Kris Kristofferson
• Led Zeppelin - hard rock/blues, heavy metal
• Love
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - Southern rock
• Moby Grape
• The Monkees
• Moving Sidewalks
• Nirvana
• The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
• Pink Floyd - psychedelia, progressive rock, pioneer of the concept album
• Roxy Music
• Rush - progressive art rock, heavy metal
• Scorpions - heavy metal
• Steppenwolf - hard rock, early heavy metal
• Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
• Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story, Never a Dull Moment
• The Stooges - garage and protopunk
• T. Rex - glam rock
• Terry Reid
• Traffic
• The Velvet Underground
• Yes - progressive symphonic rock

Punk, metal, and other trends (1975 - 1988)

• Lee Aaron
• Bad Brains
• Bad Religion
• The Bangles
• Black Flag
• Blondie
• Bob Geldof
• Bon Jovi
• The Boomtown Rats
• Bryan Adams
• Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band
• Budgie - heavy metal
• Camper Van Beethoven - alternative rock
• The Cars
• Cheap Trick
• The Clash - punk rock
• The Cult
• The Cure - Gothic rock
• The Damned
• Dantalion - heavy metal
• Danzig - heavy metal
• Dave Edmunds
• Dead Kennedys - punk rock
• Dead Milkmen - punk rock/pop
• Def Leppard
• Depeche Mode - New Wave
• Dio - heavy metal
• Dokken - heavy metal
• Donna Summer - disco
• Duran Duran - New Wave
• Echo & the Bunnymen
• Elvis Costello
• Erasure - New Wave
• The Fall
• The Gears
• Graham Parker
• Guns N' Roses - heavy metal
• Hanoi Rocks
• Hüsker Dü - alternative rock
• The Indigo Girls
• Iron Maiden - heavy metal
• The Jam - punk rock
• Joe Jackson
• Joy Division - post-punk
• Judas Priest - heavy metal
• KISS - heavy metal
• The Knack
• The Mau Mau's
• Meat Loaf
• Meat Puppets - Arizona trio playing punk and psychedelic desert music
• Megadeth - heavy metal
• Metallica - heavy metal
• Midnight Oil
• Minor Threat - hardcore punk
• Minutemen - San Pedro trio blending punk, blues, jazz, folk, pop into angular delights; one of the SST bands
• The Misfits
• The Modern Lovers
• Mötley Crüe
• Motörhead - heavy metal
• New Order
• New York Dolls
• Nick Lowe
• Ozzy Osbourne - heavy metal
• Patti Smith
• The Plasmatics
• Poison
• The Police
• Prince
• The Pretenders
• Prism
• Queen
• Queensrÿche - heavy metal
• The Ramones - punk rock
• Rockpile
• The Romantics
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - funk, alternative rock
• R.E.M. - alternative rock
• The Replacements - alternative rock
• The Sex Pistols - punk
• Slayer - heavy metal
• The Slits
• The Smiths - alternative rock
• Sonic Youth - alternative rock
• Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
• Squeeze
• Steve Miller Band
• Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - blues rock
• Talking Heads - New Wave
• Television
• Thin Lizzy - heavy metal
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
• Tom Waits
• Triumph
• U2
• UFO
• Uriah Heep
• Van Halen - heavy metal
• Van der Graaf Generator
• Violent Femmes - alternative rock
• Wishbone Ash
• Whitesnake - heavy metal
• X (US) - punk rock]], alternative rock
• X (Australia) - punk rock
• XTC

Contemporary rock (1988 to the present)

• 10,000 Maniacs
• Alanis Morissette
• Alice in Chains
• Barefoot Bison
• Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
• blink-182
• The Bloodhound Gang
• Blues Traveler
• Blur - Britpop
• bob hund
• The Breeders - alternative rock
• Clover
• The D4
• Divinity Destroyed
• Dream Theater-Prog
• The Darkness
• Dave Matthews Band
• The Datsuns
• Energy Orchard
• Evanescence
• Everon
• The Faint
• Faith Hill
• Fishbone
• Foo Fighters - alternative rock
• Fountains Of Wayne
• Franz Ferdinand - indie rock
• Goldfinger - ska punk
• Green Day - punk rock
• Hazerfan
• Hole
• Hootie and the Blowfish
• Brodie Foster Hubbard
• Joan Osborne
• Kelly Clarkson - pop-rock
• Kid Rock - rap-rock
• KoЯn
• Less
• Limp Bizkit - nu metal
• Linkin Park - nu metal
• Living Colour
• Manic Street Preachers
• Mansun
• Menswe@r
• The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones - ska punk
• The Mooney Suzuki
• Morissey
• MxPx - punk
• Nine Inch Nails
• Nirvana - grunge
• No Doubt - alternative rock with ska and new wave influences
• NOFX - punk
• Oasis - Britpop
• The Offspring - punk
• Pantera - heavy metal
• Pavement - indie rock
• Pearl Jam - grunge
• Pennywise - punk
• Phish
• Pixies - alternative rock
• PJ Harvey
• Placebo
• Primus
• Radiohead - alternative rock
• Rammstein
• Rusted Root
• Sarah McLachlan
• Sepultura
• The Shins - indie rock
• Sinombre
• Sleater-Kinney
• The Smashing Pumpkins- alternative rock
• Soundgarden - grunge
• Skin Games
• Stereolab
• Stereophonics
• The Stone Roses - Madchester
• Stone Temple Pilots
• The Strokes - Indie Rock, Garage rock revival
• Sublime
• Suede (band)
• Sum 41
• Superchunk
• System of a Down
• Suzanne Vega
• The Oblivians
• Third Eye Blind
• Tool
• The Tragically Hip
• Ultrasound (band)
• The Vandals
• The Verve
• Weezer - alternative rock
• Wheel of Doom
• The White Stripes - Garage rock revival
• The Young Werewolves