10 Most Influential Rock Bands

If there is any genre that is a direct descendant of rock music, it's the blues. With its lowdown and dirty guitar tones and attitude, blues quickly began being morphed into rock and roll in the 60's. Once Led Zeppelin came along with their bluesy delivery, rock grew up very quickly with a newfound power.

Led Zeppelin became the forebearers of how a rock band should exist today. John Bonham's drum hits were animalistic while still being suitable to each rager and mellow song. In Jimmy Page, the band had its guitar wizard who perfected the guitar riff as we know it. Add to that John Paul Jones's stellar bass and keyboard work and Robert Plant's incendiary yowl and the band became a compact musical machine.

Once they hit it big, the band also spread to include genres such as Eastern music and more acoustically driven material. After this, not every band had to feel pigeonholed into just the ragers and slow jams. As long as the guitars were chugging and the rhythm hit hard, rock music could be taken down any avenue the musician's heart desired. From blistering riffs to sonic tapestries, anyone who takes rock seriously has studied under the records of the mighty Zeppelin.