Living skeleton · ~100 acts
100 Acts That Move the Timeline
Timeline eras and this canon now share one taxonomy. Genres (punk, metal, grunge…) are sound tags; eras are chronological story buckets. Punk is not filed with thrash; Britpop is not filed with Seattle.
Genres tag sound; eras tell time. One taxonomy drives Timeline and Canon.
Complete = full narrative chapters. Stub = short bio page only. Queued = not on the site yet.
Complete pages
57 / 87
Stub bios
30
Queued
0
Periods
9
How we pick
- Eras = when an act decisively changed the map (not only formation year).
- Genres = sonic family tags; one band can wear several.
- Punk/post-punk and metal are separate eras—even when years overlap.
- Grunge/US alternative and Britpop are separate eras—parallel 1990s, different arguments.
- Prefer lineage over sales; expand toward ~100 without pretending coverage is complete.
1950–1963 · Open era
Roots & Rock'n'Roll
Electric blues, backbeat, and teen radio invent the rock band format.
2/2 complete
- Open →
- Open →Chuck BerryComplete
Defines early rock guitar riff and story-song templates.
Johnny B. Goode · 1958 · St. Louis, USA
1964–1969 · Open era
Sixties Classic & Psych
UK bands re-export American blues louder; albums and studio craft take over singles.
7/10 complete
- Open →The BeatlesComplete
Redraws pop/rock borders; makes the album the main unit.
A Day in the Life · 1967 · Liverpool, UK
- Open →The Beach BoysStub
Studio craft and layered pop/psych production.
Good Vibrations · 1966 · California, USA
- Open →The Rolling StonesComplete
Blues-based rock posture at stadium scale.
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction · 1965 · London, UK
- Open →
- Open →The YardbirdsComplete
British blues lab that produces Clapton, Beck, and Page—then Cream and Zeppelin.
The Yardbirds · 1963 · London, UK
- Open →
Underground avant-rock; delayed influence on punk/post-punk.
Heroin · 1967 · New York, USA
- Open →The WhoComplete
Mod energy into arena rock; early synth and concept ambition.
Baba O'Riley · 1971 · London, UK
- Open →The DoorsComplete
Organ-led psychedelic rock with theatrical vocals.
Light My Fire · 1967 · Los Angeles, USA
- Open →
- Open →The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceComplete
Treats electric guitar as lead instrument, not just backing.
Purple Haze · 1967 · London, UK
1970–1979 · Open era
Hard Rock, Prog & Early Metal
Side-long suites and crushed riffs share the same decade of bigger rooms.
12/12 complete
- Open →
- Open →Fleetwood MacComplete
Soft/pop rock as radio craft and band drama.
Go Your Own Way · 1977 · London, UK
- Open →Black SabbathComplete
Foundational heavy metal tone and tritone riffs.
Paranoid · 1970 · Birmingham, UK
- Open →Deep PurpleComplete
Hard rock riff school plus organ-led drive.
Smoke on the Water · 1972 · Hertford, UK
- Open →King CrimsonComplete
Prog's sharp edge; repeated reinvention.
21st Century Schizoid Man · 1969 · London, UK
- Open →Led ZeppelinComplete
Hard rock + folk dynamics as stadium template.
Stairway to Heaven · 1971 · London, UK
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
1976–1989 · Open era
Punk & Post-Punk
Short songs and DIY labels reset the bar; post-punk rebuilds with bass, space, and art-school rigor.
11/12 complete
- Open →
- Open →Sex PistolsComplete
UK punk as cultural rupture; attitude over chops.
Anarchy in the U.K. · 1976 · London, UK
- Open →Talking HeadsComplete
New wave + global rhythm; art-school funk.
Once in a Lifetime · 1980 · New York, USA
- Open →Joy DivisionComplete
Post-punk / early gothic emotional template.
Love Will Tear Us Apart · 1980 · Salford, UK
- Open →
- Open →The PoliceComplete
New wave / reggae-rock into global pop hits.
Every Breath You Take · 1983 · London, UK
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →The SmithsComplete
Indie / jangle-pop with literary swagger.
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out · 1986 · Manchester, UK
- Open →PixiesComplete
Quiet-loud dynamics that teach alternative rock.
Where Is My Mind? · 1988 · Boston, USA
1979–1992 · Open era
Metal Branches
NWOBHM gallop, thrash precision, twin-guitar harmony, late hard-rock hits.
9/9 complete
1990–1997 · Open era
Grunge & Alternative
Indie labels and major radio briefly share a playlist; loud/quiet becomes default song form.
8/13 complete
- Open →
- Open →
Funk rock as California mainstream brand.
Californication · 1999 · Los Angeles, USA
- Open →
- Open →RadioheadComplete
Modern progressive alternative high-water mark.
Paranoid Android · 1997 · Abingdon, UK
- Open →
- Open →NirvanaComplete
Defines 90s loud/quiet as generational radio grammar.
Smells Like Teen Spirit · 1991 · Aberdeen, USA
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
Rap-metal with explicit politics.
Killing in the Name · 1992 · Los Angeles, USA
- Open →
1989–2005 · Open era
Britpop & UK Indie
UK guitar bands fight for chart position with sixties lineage and class lyrics.
2/6 complete
2000–2009 · Open era
Garage Revival & Mass Alt
Post-punk and garage guitar bands reclaim radio after nu-metal and laptop pop.
4/16 complete
- Open →DeftonesStub
Atmospheric alt-metal / shoegaze weight.
Change (In the House of Flies) · 2000 · Sacramento, USA
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →Queens of the Stone AgeComplete
Desert / stoner rock with pop-lethal hooks.
No One Knows · 2002 · California, USA
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →Arctic MonkeysComplete
Digital-era UK indie that still writes riffs.
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor · 2005 · Sheffield, UK
- Open →
- Open →Them Crooked VulturesComplete
Supergroup bridge across Zeppelin/QOTSA/Foo lines.
New Fang · 2009 · USA
1998–now · Open era
Post-Rock, Psych & Now
Streaming fragments scenes; guitar records still chart via psych, post-punk, and festival indie.
2/7 complete
- Open →
Dark, anarchic post-rock cinema.
East Hastings · 1998 · Montreal, Canada
- Open →
- Open →
- Open →
American emotional instrumental post-rock.
Your Hand in Mine · 2003 · Austin, USA
- Open →Tame ImpalaComplete
Modern psych revival; studio-as-band method.
The Less I Know the Better · 2015 · Perth, Australia
- Open →IDLESStub
Modern hardcore-tinged post-punk urgency.
Never Fight a Man With a Perm · 2018 · Bristol, UK
- Open →Fontaines D.C.Complete
Contemporary Irish post-punk wave.
Boys in the Better Land · 2019 · Dublin, Ireland
Fan hubs & media
Places chroniclers actually argue—use them to deepen, not to replace listening.
Forums & charts
- Rate Your Music
Deep genre tags, charts, obsessive album scoring.
- Reddit — r/progrockmusic & r/indieheads
Long argument threads as research method.
- Sputnikmusic
User reviews with high craft.
- Steve Hoffman Music Forums
Pressings, mastering, classic-rock audiophile talk.
Press & databases
- Pitchfork
Indie / experimental taste-maker (agree or argue).
- AllMusic
Genealogy graphs and similar-artist maps.
- Discogs
Release data for collectors.
- Rolling Stone
Mass-memory rock history layer.
YouTube deep-dives
- Rick Beato
What Makes This Song Great? — riff/harmony/mix breakdowns.
- Polyphonic
Animated essays on rock history and album culture.
- Trash Theory
Punk / Britpop / post-punk documentary shorts.
- The Needle Drop
High-volume contemporary rock/indie critique.
What comes next
- Richer genre evolution graph (already started on /genres).
- Optional official audio embeds where licensing allows.
- Fan lists / Blend links as community layer—after the canon is solid.
Still expanding toward a fuller hundred:
Yes · Jethro Tull · Genesis · Electric Light Orchestra · Thin Lizzy · Buddy Holly · Little Richard · R.E.M. · U2 · Talking Heads (deep narrative) · David Bowie (full person+band pages)