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 Pretty Things pioneered a raw approach to rhythm and blues that influenced a number of key bands of the 1960s British invasion, particularly The Rolling Stones. The Pretty Things were preceded by Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, which consisted of Dick Taylor, fellow Sidcup Art College stude

Classic rock, Cool, Distorted, Gritty, Hypnotic, Implosive, Intense, Joyful, Minimal, Physical force, Playful, Pop, Power, Primal, Quirky, Repetitive, Rhythmic, Rough

The SRC (short for Scott Richardson Case) was a Detroit/Ann Arbor based rock band from the late 1960's. From 1965 to 1970 they were a staple at many legendary Detroit rock venues such as The Grande Ballroom which is perhaps best remembered as the setting in which the MC5 album Kick out the Jams was r

Distorted, Fuzzy, Gritty, Implosive, In-your-face, Pop, Power, Primal, Psychedelic, Rhythmic, Rough, Visceral, Voluminous

Metallica was easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s, responsible for bringing the music back to Earth. Instead of playing the usual rock star games of metal stars of the early '80s, the band looked and talked like they were from the street. Metallica expanded the limits of th

Absurd, Agitated, Angry, Baroque, Bombast, Dark, Dramatic, Grand, In-your-face, Masculine, Metal, Monumental, Power, Primal, Repetitive, Rhythmic, Rough, Severe