10 Greatest British Hard Rock Bands

Rock and roll is a genre that tends to get Americanized far too often. Though rock has extended to all corners of the world, the United States has always adopted the music genre as its own. For as much as America has brought to rock, the genre actually got hardened once it reached the English waters.

Starting with the British Invasion, these new acts that were emerging from the UK were giving the traditional rock formula a kick in the ass, with everything from loud guitars to bluesy romps. While it initially had a slow birth, the British rock scene ended up spitting out some of the greatest music acts of all time, whose impact on the hard rock world is limitless. From the emergence of modern metal to the rise of punk in the late ‘70s, every single great subgenre of rock music has been brought to its peak by the British public.

These bands not only crafted a legacy of their own, but also set the building blocks for what rock would look like going forward. America may claim to be the unofficial birthplace of rock and roll, but Britain was where rock really grew from a tiny subgenre to one of the biggest musical forces in the world.

Hard rock was in a bit of a transitionary period at the dawn of the '00s. While the ongoing trends of nu metal were still going strong, other new and exciting bands were taking the basics of rock and roll to stage the garage rock revival. Countless rock bands could have made millions off of these genres, but Muse rose to the top by just being their weird eccentric selves.

Molded in the vein of Radiohead at their inception, Muse blossomed into one of the most impressive power trios of the modern age, incorporating everything from electronica to arena rock to space rock to even Western styles into the mix. Though the band's sound is pretty singular, you'd be hardpressed to find any other singer in the rock pantheon who can reach the high notes that Matt Bellamy is able to deliver.

Ever since their debut, the band have surprised their audience on every record, whether it be the visceral stomp of something like Origin of Symmetry or the sonic trip through the cosmos on Black Holes and Revelations. The rock scene may have been about stripping everything down, but Muse took their initial songs and created musical skyscrapers that can still excite audiences today.