Honorable Mention: Deep Purple
Deep Purple didn’t get branded the “globe’s loudest band” for nothing! These guys are pioneers of heavy metal, and set the way for so many of the successful hard rock bands we know and love. Queen, Metallica, and Aerosmith are just some of the bands that say they are indebted to Deep Purple because of the inspiration they got from songs like “Highway Star”.
Deep Purple
Not to mention of course, and inspiration to many, was a song that begins with one of the most recognizable 50 seconds in music history; the guitar riff at the beginning of “Smoke on the Water”. Even so many decades after they made their unmistakable mark on rock and metal, the band still plays with their sound at live shows.
Honorable Mention: Blondie
We definitely think that the women of rock don’t get their due credit, so we would like to give Debbie Harry and Blondie their moment that they so deserve! Debby Harry came from the proto-punk genre and brought in a new age of music with hits like “Heart of Glass” and “One Way or Another”, introducing new wave.
Blondie
Parallel Lines, Blondie’s third studio album, had punk rock, with pop thrown in, mixed with a little bit of disco, and you have the epitome of new wave music. A full-on recipe for an experimental sound that was so catchy and New York-y that you couldn’t help but sing along.
