12 Greatest Duos In Hard Rock

Whenever talking about classic hard rock bands, it's anyone's guess as to who the leader is. While we all tend to see a band as a democracy amongst 4 or 5 different members, typically things tend to be the brainchild of just one person. On the other hand, it's sometimes better when you have a duo leading the charge.

It's always a bit of a different scenario when you have two creative minds working in conjunction with each other. Regardless of which instrument they play, these guys have overseen all the inner workings of their project throughout their vast history. With all that time spent together, you have to have a lot of compromise and a lot of patience to see it through. A lot of times, these plans haven't worked out, with many of these once-inseperable pairs becoming musical adversaries once free from their collaborative efforts.

However, what they did end up giving the hard rock world shows that they always work better together rather than apart. Many of these bands could be considered fantastic as a collective entity, but without these two musical thinkers leading the way, they would not have been half as successful as they are.

Every single record executive has had the same goal for the past half-century: try to find the next Beatles. Ever since they set the world on fire in the '60s, the Fab Four have set the benchmark that every other band since has tried to copy. You'd think some pop artist would be able to fit right in the band's style, but the band that came the closest was a little hard rock band from Rockford, Illinois.

When Cheap Trick first broke onto the scene, their sound was a welcome return to the pop-flavored tunes of the early days of rock and roll, with Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen leading the way. Given his versatile voice, Zander served as the teen heartthrob of the band, with a tone that could do both a John Lennon-esque croon and a visceral hard rock yelp. On the other end of the spectrum was Nielsen's guitar, which hit you like a buzzsaw whenever you heard it. The combination of Nielsen and Zander's songwriting skills went to another level live, where their shows were chaotic and melodic in equal measure.

Though the band may have never really made it into the top of the charts too often, their snarling approach to rock has influenced everyone from Pearl Jam to Foo Fighters. They'll probably never be another Beatles, but Cheap Trick's brand of power pop is certainly a welcome substitute.