Ranking
Play this bracketGreatest Band of All Time
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| # | Preview | Candidate | Win rate | Match win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — |  | The Everly BrothersTwo voices in one harmony, and half of what came after. Bye Bye Love, class of 1986. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The CoastersYakety Yak is a nagging parent set to a sax solo. Inducted 1987. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Beach BoysGood Vibrations took months of tape splicing to sound this easy. Class of 1988. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The BeatlesHey Jude spends four minutes on a chorus nobody wanted to end. In since 1988. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The DriftersUnder the Boardwalk is summer sung by people stuck indoors. Class of 1988. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The SupremesMotown's biggest act, and Stop! In the Name of Love has the gesture to prove it. 1988. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Rolling StonesPaint It Black opens on a sitar and never lightens up. Inducted 1989. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The TemptationsFive voices and the choreography to match. My Girl is the one everyone knows. Class of 1989. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Four SeasonsSherry is Frankie Valli's falsetto arriving like a siren. In since 1990. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Four TopsLevi Stubbs sings I Can't Help Myself like he is losing an argument. Class of 1990. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The KinksYou Really Got Me is a slashed speaker cone and the first metal riff. Inducted 1990. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The PlattersThe Great Pretender is heartbreak with perfect diction. Class of 1990. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Simon & GarfunkelThe Sound of Silence went electric without asking them first. In since 1990. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The WhoBaba O'Riley opens on a synth loop and ends on a violin. Class of 1990. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The ByrdsMr. Tambourine Man turned Dylan into a jangle. Inducted 1991. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Ike & Tina TurnerProud Mary starts nice and easy and does not stay that way. Inducted 1991. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The ImpressionsPeople Get Ready is a gospel train Curtis Mayfield wrote for everyone. Class of 1991. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Booker T. & the M.G.'sGreen Onions is an organ, a groove, and no words at all. Class of 1992. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Isley BrothersShout has been getting wedding floors up for seventy years. In since 1992. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Jimi Hendrix ExperiencePurple Haze is a guitar being reinvented in three minutes. Class of 1992. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Sam & DaveSoul Man is two voices trading lines over Stax horns. Inducted 1992. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The YardbirdsThree of rock's biggest guitarists passed through. For Your Love outlasted them. 1992. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | CreamSunshine of Your Love rides one riff and refuses to get off. Class of 1993. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Creedence Clearwater RevivalFortunate Son is two minutes of pure objection. Inducted 1993. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The DoorsLight My Fire gives the organ solo more room than the singer. Class of 1993. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Frankie Lymon & The TeenagersA thirteen-year-old asking why fools fall in love. Inducted 1993. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Sly and the Family StoneEveryday People put a mixed band on stage and made that the point. Class of 1993. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The AnimalsThe House of the Rising Sun is a folk song Eric Burdon turned into a warning. 1994. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The BandThe Weight sounds like it was always there. Inducted 1994. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Grateful DeadThirty years of touring and one accidental hit in Touch of Grey. Class of 1994. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Allman Brothers BandTwin guitars, a long road, and Ramblin' Man. Inducted 1995. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Led ZeppelinImmigrant Song is two and a half minutes of Viking yelling. Class of 1995. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Martha and the VandellasDancing in the Street was a party record a whole decade heard as something else. 1995. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Gladys Knight & the PipsMidnight Train to Georgia is a failed dream told from the seat beside it. Class of 1996. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Jefferson AirplaneWhite Rabbit builds like a bolero and ends up somewhere else. Inducted 1996. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Pink FloydA children's choir told a school to leave them alone and it topped the charts. Class of 1996. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The ShirellesWill You Love Me Tomorrow asked what girl groups had not asked out loud. 1996. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Velvet UndergroundAlmost nobody bought the record. Everyone who did started a band. Class of 1996. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Bee GeesStayin' Alive is a walk turned into a rhythm. Inducted 1997. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Buffalo SpringfieldFor What It's Worth is the most quoted protest song by a two-year band. 1997. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Crosby, Stills & NashSuite: Judy Blue Eyes is three voices and a breakup in four movements. Class of 1997. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Jackson 5I Want You Back is an eleven-year-old out-singing grown professionals. Inducted 1997. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Parliament-FunkadelicA spaceship landed on stage and the funk never went back. Class of 1997. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The RascalsGood Lovin' is blue-eyed soul at full sprint. Inducted 1997. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | EaglesHotel California is a guitar duel you can check out of but never leave. Class of 1998. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Fleetwood MacGo Your Own Way is one band member telling another off in public. Inducted 1998. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Mamas & the PapasCalifornia Dreamin' is homesickness in reverse. Class of 1998. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | SantanaSmooth put Carlos Santana back at number one for twelve straight weeks. Inducted 1998. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Staple SingersI'll Take You There is a bassline, a church, and Mavis. Class of 1999. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Earth, Wind & FireSeptember is a horn section refusing to let the year end. Inducted 2000. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Lovin' SpoonfulSummer in the City has traffic noise in the mix and it works. Class of 2000. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The MoonglowsSincerely is doo-wop harmony at its most patient. Inducted 2000. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | AerosmithDream On is a ballad that turns into a scream. Class of 2001. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The FlamingosI Only Have Eyes for You sounds like it is coming from underwater. Inducted 2001. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | QueenBohemian Rhapsody has an opera section and nobody has explained it since. Class of 2001. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Steely DanSession perfectionists who hid jazz chords inside radio hits. Inducted 2001. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | RamonesBlitzkrieg Bop is two minutes, three chords, and the start of punk. Inducted 2002. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Talking HeadsOnce in a Lifetime is a nervous breakdown you can dance to. Class of 2002. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersAmerican Girl is a Byrds riff with a Florida accent. Class of 2002. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | AC/DCBack in Black is a riff, a bell, and no wasted motion. Inducted 2003. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The ClashLondon Calling is a warning read over a bass that will not sit still. Class of 2003. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Elvis Costello & the AttractionsPump It Up is spite played at speed. Inducted 2003. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The PoliceEvery Breath You Take gets played at weddings by people who never read the words. 2003. | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | The Righteous BrothersYou've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' is Phil Spector's wall at full height. Class of 2003. | — win | — match wins |