Indie-rock is alternative-rock’s younger brother. While some may say they look alike, and some even suggest that they might be twins, they insist that important differences distinguish one from the other.
I tend to be on board with the theory of differentiation here at Alt77, although the distinction becomes less clear for particular bands and artists. This is why, for the most part, we’ll settle on indie rock as a style of rock music that had its commercial zenith during the early 2000s, that is less about power and machismo as an alternative, and that, even if made by successful bands, can explore quirky, experimental and non-rock ideas.
That means that some famous alternative bands and artists, that you can find in one of our other lists, were purposely left off of this one.
This is Alt77’s list of the 100 greatest indie rock bands and artists of all time. And, because we hate when you leave anyone of importance out, we’ve included 50 honourable mentions to boot.
The Best 100 Indie Rock Bands and Artists of All-Time
1. Pavement
Pavement always appeared like a band that barely even tried in the first place. This made the quality of albums like “Slanted & Enchanted” all the more frustrating for the millions of musicians who were, in fact, giving it their all. Pavement fulfilled a vital tenet of indie-rock – never look like you’re stressing too much.
Measure Pavement’s success, not in record sales or successful reunions, but in the colossal number of slacker bands with a taste for obtuse poetry that they inspired.
2. The White Stripes
The White Stripes never failed to be unique, a challenge for the vast majority of indie-rock bands trying to stand out. Along the way, the duo of Jack and Meg White also produced some of the strongest collections of songs and the best live performances of a band of the era.
By the time it was over, in 2011, The White Stripes had reintroduced garage rock and blues as genuine commercial propositions, had caused dynamic duos to appear left and right, and had made bands everywhere want to learn about coordinating their stage clothes to the pre-established colour palette.
3. Pixies
Pixies was not a band that any producer could’ve put together in a lab or as a result of a casting call. Mismatched and nervous, the quartet stood in contrast to all the fashion-conscious groups of the time. Musically, they were even more unpredictable, constructing highly dynamic pop songs, usually about taboo topics and performed in an unorthodox way.
There’s hardly been an important band in the alternative or indie-rock genre that has not publicly revealed an admiration for Pixies. And, although “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” some of Radiohead’s early work, and a myriad of other songs are inspired by them, truly, Pixies remain one of a kind.
4. The Smiths
The Smiths were one of the best bands of the 1980s and, like many of the bands on the list, an assemblage of eccentricities. At the centre of the band’s great catalogue of songs stand the beautifully melodic guitar lines of Johnny Marr and the clever and anguished lyrics of Stephen Patrick Morrissey.
The Smiths’ albums are legendary, but they, too, didn’t stick around for long. What they left in their wake were countless imitators and millions wishing for a reunion that never occurred. While The Smiths straddle the line between alternative and indie, their influence alone on other groups on this list means that ignoring them would be unfair. The Smiths practically launched independent guitar music in Britain, and it’s hard to say that anyone bettered them.
5. The Strokes
The Strokes, unlike bands like The Smiths or Pixies, were programmed and groomed for success. But the arithmetic checked out. By the time of their debut, 2001’s “Is This It?”, no other band was as imitated in both terms of music and fashion. The Strokes was The Source for this music genre.
The New York band’s success was massive. But such a formula was bound to be run into the ground. To their credit, The Strokes retreated and came back with a more experimental, new-wave-inspired sound that helped cement their legacy. Still, plug into any modern indie playlist, and you’ll hear someone who sounds like singer Julian Casablancas. Millions of monthly Spotify users might not be wrong.
6. Big Star
Big Star was the ultimate indie cult band. Like The Velvet Underground, the musicians were fated to be loved by the critics, imitated by many other groups, and, practically, shunned by the record-buying public.
But the Alex Chilton-fronted group had the last laugh. More than a decade later, Big Star’s prognosis for the birth of indie rock back in the 1970s came true. By then, a plethora of bands sounded like Big Star and even covered their songs. Many songwriters rightfully view some of those tunes as some of the best ever committed to tape.
7. The Libertines
The Libertines in the U.K. wanted to be like The Strokes in the U.S. The quartet’s plan involved fashionable clothes and turning on a gossip mill that functioned on the internet. But when it came to the songs, Peter Doherty and Carl Barât couldn’t help but be influenced by the British way of life, like The Kinks or Blur before them.
Wild and reckless, presented as drugged-out, drunken dandies, The Libertines caught the imagination of the British press in the early 2000s. Once the dust finally settled, the proof was there for all to see. For once, the press was right. The Libertines had made two exceptional records that have been copied ever since. It’s enough to warrant inclusion among the best indie-rock bands in the world. And, we’re just as surprised Peter Doherty’s still around to smell the tea leaves.
8. Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes share something with many of the best groups on this list—hearing them for the first time felt Earth-shattering. It wasn’t just that they were using vocal harmonies reminiscent of CSN&Y or that they were signed to grunge’s birthplace, Sub Pop Records.
Fleet Foxes, led by singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold, created beautiful, folk-inspired songs that let the indie-rock community know that looking at the past and using acoustic guitars was fine. Sure, numerous less-inspired copycats soon appeared and muddied the waters, but Fleet Foxes’ inspired experimentation made them one of the greatest indie groups ever.
9. Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel was the first band to be anointed by the internet. Previously, such changes in fortunes could’ve only been the result of a major record label push or a feature in a blockbuster movie.
But by the time the internet came into its own, Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” had been shared, praised, and ridiculed through memes millions of times over. Jeff Magnum’s bizarre and cryptic songs hit a chord with many. And the wave never sank back into the sea. Neutral Milk Hotel is one of the most influential bands of all time, almost exclusively on the strength of the aforementioned album.
10. Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur Jr. is the intersection point between the alternative rock and indie genres. Sure, on the one hand, J Mascis was a guitar superhero in love with his Big Fuzz pedal. On the other hand, the trio of Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph were total outsiders, completely disinterested in mainstream success, and entirely capable of inspiring a whole scene of bands.
The band’s legendary early albums were released on independent labels, and the musicians self-financed relentless tours. By the 90s, they were ready to sign for a major label but not quite ready to play the game as Nirvana or Soundgarden had. This endeared them to many, and their dadaist, fuzzed-out brand of indie-rock remains highly influential.
Top 11 – 20
11. Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes has always been a knowledgeable band about what’s trendy in the indie-rock scene. While their experimentation with folk, electronica, and even 2000s emo-rock is noteworthy, it is the quality of Conor Oberst’s songs that makes them one of the best indie groups of all time.
Comparisons to Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen may have sounded like an exaggeration back in the 2000s, but time has helped Oberst grow into those heavy purple capes.
12. Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse treated making independent rock records like a revenge mission. The band’s early years were filled with maniacal creativity, for which singer-songwriter Isaac Brock was especially responsible.
With a few underground classics behind them, Modest Mouse’s music finally made a commercial impact in the early 2000s. By that time, the group’s energy was spent, but the statue had long been erected in secret. Modest Mouse is surely one of the most important indie-rock bands of all time.
13. My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine nearly drove its chief songwriter, Kevin Shields, mad and nearly bankrupted Creation Records. What the label’s boss, Alan McGee, and the rest of the indie underground could agree on was that nothing sounded quite like this band. It makes My Bloody Valentine be viewed as a kind of The Beach Boys of indie-rock, with “Loveless” standing as their “SMiLE.”
14. Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys may be smiling down on the world from their personal jets right now. But in 2006, they were Sheffield-born indie-rock kids who didn’t quite look the part for world domination. What they did have was one of the greatest collections of tunes any beginner band has ever possessed.
“Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not” set the music press on fire. Alex Turner and co. were slow about replicating that kind of success, but they found global chart acceptance with the electro-driven grooves of 2013’s “AM.” While Arctic Monkeys seem content with making surreal, experimental records nowadays, millions of bands are still looking for a bit of the indie-rock magic they possessed.
15. Supergrass
Supergrass was never truly accepted among the Britpop of Oasis and Blur or alternative-rock bands dominating the charts during the 1990s. They were far too weird and giddy and hardly ever interested in repeating a formula that they’d found success with. Consequently, the band sold fewer records than it should have and achieved less fame.
Time has been kind. Listening back to albums like “I Should Coco” or “In It For The Money”, it’s a no-brainer that Supergrass ought to be judged as one of the best indie-rock bands of all time.
16. Interpol
Interpol was one of several bands that used timing to its advantage. By the early 2000s, New York and the music of The Strokes were a global obsession. Interpol was built as a kind of rival to the quintet. While The Strokes were said to be bringing garage-rock bands, Interpol was interested in reviving post-punk.
The group’s obsession with Joy Division never really changed. Their profile grew over the years, and numerous other indie-rock bands, some unaware of Ian Curtis, imitated Interpol’s sound and look.
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ success, like that of The Strokes or Interpol, could have only happened during the early 2000s in New York City. All of these bands took ample inspiration from NYC predecessors such as The Velvet Underground or Television. This was ground zero for art rock.
However, frontwoman Karen O infused her lyrics with a tender, emotional touch and the live performance with a wild edge. Like their contemporaries, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs achieved both commercial and critical success while inspiring numerous other groups to follow them.
18. Slint
Slint is another indie-rock group that seemed destined for underground immortality and disinterest from the general public. However, as fate would have it, Slint’s daring, innovative use of strange song structures, unorthodox playing, and emotional material earned them many disciples and helped start the post-rock movement.
19. Beck
Beck may have become a star of alternative rock in the 1990s with the massive success of the single “Loser.” Far from an alt-rocker armed with a catchy novelty song, Beck had actually earned his stripes in the underground, releasing home tapes of his off-the-wall, experimental pop tunes.
While Beck would later, in fact, sign with a major label and add even more success, the artist has never really turned his back on the boldly experimental strategies of his past.
20. Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was the band that helped transition guitar-powered indie-rock toward the alternative-rock style that became successful during the 90s. Intelligent students of the history of the musical underground, and beloved by the music press, Sonic Youth released classic indie-rock records like “Evol” or “Daydream Nation” during the 1980s.
The group never quite achieved the commercial success that they seemed to be due, but, if anything, this has only helped Sonic Youth’s legacy since their split in 2011.
Top 21 – 30
21. The Hives
The Hives, like Ferrari or Rolex, provides just one luxury product, but has maintained wonderful consistency over the years. The Swedish group plays high-energy garage rock. But whereas The Stooges, a band that greatly influences The Hives, had a dark menace about them, the Swedes are almost cartoonish in their use of threatening imagery. It’s all about the colossal guitar riffs, Pelle Almqvist’s confident boasts, and the monumental live shows.
22. Sunny Day Real Estate
Sunny Day Real Estate was greeted upon the release of the group’s debut album, “Diary,” as the next big thing, as a band that could rival Nirvana’s success. Fortunately, this did not happen. And while the group’s general audience did not balloon, the long-time devotees never went away. No other indie rock group has had a bigger influence on the emo rock scene. And you can still hear traces of Sunny Day Real Estate in plenty of melodramatic modern rock still.
23. Cage the Elephant
Cage the Elephant beat the odds and outshone the competition through sheer consistency. There’s arguably no indie-rock band that’s produced a greater series of singles. And while the band’s pleasant, poppy hooks are its calling card, Matt Shultz and the group have also shown a good degree of ambition in how they’ve crafted recent albums. This indie rock band has received plenty of comemrcial attention. All of it is well-deserved!
24. Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was an art project just as much as it was an indie rock band. The Scottish band infiltrated the booming garage rock revival scene of the 2000s with enough hooks and dance grooves to quickly place them on par with the likes of The Strokes. Using ideas plucked from sources as diverse as Russian Constructivism and the delta blues, Franz Ferdinand earned a considerable following. And while their style has veered further away from dance music, their reputation remains as one of the greatest indie rock bands of all time.
25. Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend could’ve been an art-rock band in a previous decade. However, with global audiences fixated on stylish indie rock, the band’s Ezra Koenig saw an opportunity that needed to be seized. Of course, Vampire Weekend blended the pop hooks with African and ska grooves, hip-hop elements and challenging lyrics. Few indie rock bands have achieved equal success with both critics and fans.
26. Silver Jews
Silver Jews is as much a fabulous collection of spoken word poetry pieces as it is a lo-fi indie band. Led by the sensationally talented and deeply haunted David Berman, and often helped out by his buddy Stephen Malkmus of Pavement fame, Silver Jews recorded some of the most unique, challenging rock music of the 90s. The group’s sound became more country-influenced and ever more morose, with the final record being released in 2008. The albums made by Silver Jews make this one of the greatest indie bands of all time.
27. Kasabian
Kasabian had one single, clear goal in mind when the band released its debut album in 2004 – to replace Oasis as the premier, stadium-filling British indie band. And while Sergio Pizzorno utilised Noel Gallagher-like song structures, it was retro dance and modern hip-hop elements added to the sound that truly made it a sensation in England. One of the biggest arena pleasers on this list, Kasabian is one of the greatest indie rock bands in the world.
28. Phoenix
France’s Phoenix has always been one of the most forward-thinking of all the indie rock bands. Early records approximated sounds of the future by blending electronica flourishes with tight song structures. As the group advanced, it introduced stylish sounds picked up from influences as diverse as new wave and funk. 2009’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” manage to blend all of those elements together into one of the best indie-rock albums ever.
29. Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub is the indie group that best blended rock sounds with soft, glowing vocal melodies and chord progressions borrowed from power pop. While the group did not reach the commercial success enjoyed by some of their peers, Teenage Fanclub is one of the most highly respected groups in the genre. Anyone who has not heard “Bandwagonesque” will receive a good education on what indie-rock is when they seek it out.
30. Guided By Voices
Guided By Voices is the premier lo-fi, DYI pop-rock. Centred around Robert Pollard’s numerous guitar pop compositions that were, for a long time, released independently, Guided By Voices has acquired one of the most loyal fan bases in all of indie rock. The appeal, for the most part, involves owning all of the many albums that the group has put out since 1987. Still, it’s not sheer volume of work that gets GBV on the list, but the quality of much of it.
Top 31 – 40
31. Ariel Pink
32. Animal Collective
33. The War on Drugs
34. Galaxie 500
35. American Football
36. The Shins
37. Tame Impala
38. MGMT
39. Arcade Fire
40. Kurt Vile
Top 41 – 50
41. Half Japanese
42. The Jesus Lizard
43. Fountains of Wayne
44. Harvey Danger
45. Badly Drawn Boy
46. Deerhunter
47. Bikini Kill
48. The Flaming Lips
49. Sebadoh
50. Mercury Rev
Top 51 – 60
51. Yo La Tengo
52. Beat Happening
53. Protomartyr
54. Sleater-Kinney
55. The Detroit Cobras
56. The Walkmen
57. Elbow
58. Razorlight
59. Father John Misty
60. Liz Phair
Top 61 – 70
61. The Fratellis
62. The Last Shadow Puppets
63. Mac DeMarco
64. TV On The Radio
65. Superchunk
66. Iron & Wine
67. Sloan
68. Smog
69. The Kooks
70. The 1975
Top 71 – 80
71. Placebo
72. Throwing Muses
73. Sleaford Mods
74. Florence + The Machine
75. Husker Du
76. The Replacements
77. The Raveonettes
78. Super Furry Animals
79. Editors
80. The Clean
Top 81 – 90
81. Stephen Malkmus (& The Jicks)
82. The Bravery
83. The Orwells
84. Foals
85. The Afghan Whigs
86. Two Door Cinema Club
87. Soccer Mommy
88. Car Seat Headrest
89. Glass Animals
90. Tegan and Sara
Top 91 – 100
91. The Killers
92. Jellyfish
93. Built to Spill
94. Young the Giant
95. Dr. Dog
96. Foster The People
97. Hockey
98. The Drums
99. Peter Bjorn and John
100. The Feelies
How about a deep dive? Here you go. There’s the Alt77 accompanying Spotify playlist that you should check out. Furthermore, our 100 Greatest Alternative Songs of the 90s and 100 Greatest Alternative Artists & Bands of All-Time should tie things up nicely.
Honorable Mentions
Top 101 – 110
101. Kaiser Chiefs
102. alt-J
103. Parquet Courts
104. Wire
105. Circa Waves
106. Jawbone
107. Rocket from the Crypt
108. The Olivia Tremor Control
109. Nation of Ulysses
110. Man or Astro-Man
Top 121 – 130
121. Wet Leg
122. Bombay Bicycle Club
123. The Subways
124. Kula Shaker
125. The Enemy
126. Phoebe Bridgers
127. Bloc Party
128. Babyshambles
129. The Von Bondies
130. Band of Horses
Top 131 – 140
131. The Rakes
132. Beach House
133. The Wedding Present
134. Grimes
135. M83
136. The Coral
137. The Bats
138. The Thrills
139. The Raconteurs
140. Lorde
Top 141 – 150
141. The xx
142. Ash
143. Unrest
144. I Am Kloot
145. Warmduscher
146. Inspiral Carpets
147. The Rapture
148. Hot Hot Heat
149. Foster The People
150. The Bevis Frond
