Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg) played in several Ann Arbor, Michigan-area bands as a teenager, including The Iguanas and later The Prime Movers. The Prime Movers nicknamed Osterberg 'Iggy' in reference to his earlier band. Osterberg was first inspired to form The Stooges after meeting blue

Absurd, Agitated, Angry, Dark, Deconstructive, Distorted, Dystopic, Gritty, Hallucinatory, Hard rock, Implosive, In-your-face, Physical force, Power, Primal, Profane, Psychedelic, Repetition, Repetitive, Rhythmic, Rough, Sardonic, Saturated, Sensual, Slangy

Sonic Youth was one of the most unlikely success stories of underground American rock in the '80s. Where contemporaries R.E.M. and Husker Du were fairly conventional in terms of song structure and melody, Sonic Youth began their career by abandoning any pretense of traditional rock & roll conventions

Atmospheric, Composed, Contemplative, Cool, Deconstructive, Dissonant, Distorted, Dreamy, Eclectic, Elegant, Expansive, Experimental, Fuzzy, Hallucinatory, Intense, Layered, Lyrical, Pioneering, Political, Pop, Psychedelic, Punk, Quirky, Rhythmic, Rough, Sensual, Slangy, Smart, Sophisticated, Sprawling, Subtle, Tense, Trippy, Urban

The Sex Pistols may have provided the shock-value dynamite for the punk explosion in 1970s Britain, but it was the Clash who channeled the energy of that explosion into a discrete form of music. Or rather, they channeled it into several forms simultaneously; they diversified the space of punk. The Cl

Bombast, Pioneering, Political, Punk, Slangy

With lyrics that range from musings on the Eiffel Tower to thoughts on the nature of space, The Pixies clearly transcend the categories of pop, punk, and rock 'n' roll. Their songs, which vacillate between light, almost airy pop tunes and grinding, sci-fi punk, might as well have come from another pl

Absurd, Alternative rock, Intense, Pop, Post-punk, Slangy, Smarty arty pop, Visceral