By “Tampa” Earl Burton
“Rock and roll” has now been in existence for almost seventy-five years. Going back to 1951 and the original “Rocket 88” (originally attributed to Jackie Breston and His Delta Cats, the only thing true was Breston sang the song; the band was Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm), rock and roll has been the predominant form of musical entertainment. But it has changed incredibly over those seventy-five years, with different stylings, genres, and performers taking the flag as the standard bearer for rock and roll.
Especially here in the 21st century, there are fresh faces that have taken the flag for rock music and are carrying it forward. Long gone are the days of the classic rock monoliths like Zeppelin, The Beatles, Aerosmith, or Lynyrd Skynyrd. These are the “new” faces of rock and roll, and they are the ones who are taking the brand forward as we run deeper into the 2000s.
(Writer’s note: For this list, we are considering bands that, at the earliest, were founded in 1999; yes, an arbitrary year, but we can guarantee that their influences have been felt in the past twenty-five years rather than the previous century!)
Halestorm
They have been around since 1999, and vocalist/guitarist Lzzy Hale is now on the other side of forty, spending all her adulthood in the rock life. The band – lead guitarist Joe Hottinger, bassist Josh Smith, and drummer Arejay Hale – have gone through thick and thin together and have given the world of rock some powerful tunes. Along the way, they have picked up a Grammy (2013, Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for “Love Bites (And So Do I)” and have a Gold and a Platinum album in their repertoire.
Five Finger Death Punch
Ever since they emerged from Las Vegas in 2005, Five Finger Death Punch has carried its unrestrained assault of rock without apologies. Vocalist Ivan Moody has interlaced the powerful blows of the guitars from a variety of virtuosos (Zoltan Bathory, Jason Hook, and Andy James) with lyrical content that deals with loneliness, desperation, and mental health throughout nine albums. About the only thing missing from their resume is a Grammy nomination or award, but various hard rock/metal outlets (Kerrang! and the Revolver Golden Gods) have recognized their conquering of the hard rock/metal world.
Shinedown
Coming from the swamps of Florida – OK…Jacksonville – Shinedown has etched their name into the annals of rock history. No other band has been to the #1 slot on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts more than this band – not Van Halen, not Tom Petty (with or without The Heartbreakers), not Red Hot Chili Peppers…NOBODY. With their latest tune, “Dance, Kid, Dance,” Shinedown has now hit the top of the chart twenty times, every one of their albums has had at least one track make the Mainstream Rock chart, and they have accumulated three Platinum and three Gold albums of their seven studio releases.
The Black Keys
Stepping more into the alternative rock world, The Black Keys have been a critical and fan favorite since they were founded in 2001. Dan Auerbach (vocalist/guitar) and Patrick Carney (drums) have crafted their blues/garage rock sounds over the past two decades and created through one of the benchmarks of rockers – constant touring in small clubs. Although they had a bit of a debacle in 2024 with the cancellation of the stadium tour for their album Ohio Players, it was a minor misstep for the group. In their career, they have wrapped up five Grammy Awards (three for their album El Camino alone) and continue to be in demand for studio work on both sides of the recording console.
Bring Me the Horizon
They have been around for less than two decades (their debut Count Your Blessings was released in 2006), but, arguably, no band has had more of an impact than Bring Me the Horizon. Led by Oli Sykes and (now former) keyboardist Jordan Fish, BMTH has been able to blend a theatrical edge to their brand of hard rock while also incorporating pop stylings along the way. You can sit and listen to their evolution as a rock band from the Blessings era to their work on their last two albums, Post Human: Survival Horror and Post Human: Next Gen, and marvel at the challenges that the band presents for itself and its fans.
There are other contenders that you could mention in this list, but these are the ones that I believe are the standard bearers for rock in the 21st century. What do you think are the bands that deserve to be mentioned alongside these 21st-century legends?
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