The Best Rock Bands Of 2023
Updated October 1, 2023 8.2K votes 1.2K voters 23.6K views
Over 1.2K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Rock Bands Of 2023
Are you ready to rock out throughout 2023? In a post-pandemic digital age of endless TikTok reels and electropop dancing, rock has taken the backseat across pop culture. However, this year has a lot of great rock music that may be the ultimate cure to your social media Top 40 blues. From the legendary Grammy Award-winning Red Hot Chili Peppers to alternative punk royalty Fall Out Boy and Blink-182, 2023's hottest rock bands are moving full-speed-ahead with electrifying new music and international concert tours. Emo supergroups My Chemical Romance and Paramore return to the forefront of the music industry with new records and sold out shows; and Italian glam rock foursome Måneskin finally have a Grammy nomination under their belt.
Which trending rock musicians are you most excited to see live, and whose records are you currently listening to? Vote below for the best rock bands of 2023, and be sure to also check out this year's top new rock songs afterwards.
Most divisive: Green Day
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- 1712 votesFoo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1994. The band was founded by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of Nirvana after the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The group took its name from foo fighter, a nickname coined by Allied aircraft pilots for UFOs and other aerial phenomena. Over the course of their career, Foo Fighters have won 12 Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album four times. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, their first year of eligibility. Prior to the release of Foo Fighters' 1995 debut album Foo Fighters, which featured Grohl as the only official member, Grohl recruited bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith, both formerly of Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear. The band began with performances in Portland, Oregon. Goldsmith quit during the recording of their second album The Colour and the Shape (1997).
- 2719 votesRed Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk rock and psychedelic rock. When played live, their music incorporates elements of jam band due to the improvised nature of many of their performances. Currently, the band consists of founding members vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea (Michael Peter Balzary), longtime drummer Chad Smith, and former touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the best-selling bands of all time with over 80 million records sold worldwide, they have been nominated for sixteen Grammy Awards, of which they have won six, and are the most successful band in alternative rock radio history, currently holding the records for most number-one singles (13), most cumulative weeks at number one (85) and most top-ten songs (25) on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. In 2012, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band's original lineup, originally named Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, featured guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons, alongside Kiedis and Flea. Because of commitments to other bands, Slovak and Irons did not play on the band's 1984 self-titled debut album. Slovak performed on the second and third albums, Freaky Styley (1985) and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), but he died from a heroin overdose in 1988. As a result of his friend's death, Irons chose to leave the group. After short-lived replacements on guitar and drums, John Frusciante and Smith joined in 1988. The lineup of Flea, Kiedis, Frusciante, and Smith was the longest-lasting and recorded five studio albums beginning with Mother's Milk (1989). In 1990, the group signed with Warner Bros. Records and recorded the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) under producer Rick Rubin. This album became the band's first major commercial success, but Frusciante grew uncomfortable with the band's popularity and left abruptly in 1992 in the middle of the Blood Sugar Sex Magik Tour. After two temporary guitarists, Dave Navarro joined the group in 1993 and played on their subsequent album, One Hot Minute (1995). Although commercially successful, the album failed to match the critical or popular acclaim of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, selling less than half as much as its predecessor. Navarro was fired from the band in 1998. Frusciante, fresh out of drug rehabilitation, rejoined the band that same year at Flea's request. The reunited quartet returned to the studio to record Californication (1999), which became the band's biggest commercial success with 16 million copies sold worldwide. That album was followed three years later by By the Way (2002), and then four years later by the double album Stadium Arcadium (2006), their first number-one album in America. After a world tour, the group went on an extended hiatus. Frusciante announced he was amicably leaving the band in 2009 to focus on his solo career. Klinghoffer, who had worked both as a sideman for the band on their Stadium Arcadium tour and on Frusciante's solo projects, replaced him. The band's tenth studio album, I'm with You, was released in 2011 and topped the charts in 18 different countries. The band released their eleventh studio album, The Getaway, in 2016. The album was produced by Danger Mouse, marking the first time since Mother's Milk that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had not worked with Rubin, and topped the charts in ten different countries. As of November 2018, the band is in the process of working on their twelfth studio album which they expect to release in 2019.
- 3661 votesMetallica are an American heavy metal band formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine (who formed Megadeth after being fired from the band) and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton, and Jason Newsted are former members of the band. Metallica first found commercial success with the release of its third album, Master of Puppets (1986), cited as one of the heaviest metal albums and the band's best work. The band's next album, ...And Justice for All (1988), gave Metallica its first Grammy Award nomination. They've won nine Grammys since then.
- 4565 votesArctic Monkeys is an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Matt Helders (drums, vocals), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards) and Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals). Former band member Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released. They have released six studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009), Suck It and See (2011), AM (2013) and Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018), as well as one live album, At the Apollo (2008). Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in UK chart history, and in 2013, Rolling Stone ranked it the 30th-greatest debut album.The band has won seven Brit Awards – winning both Best British Group and Best British Album three times, and have been nominated for five Grammy Awards. They also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album, in addition to receiving nominations in 2007, 2013 and 2018. The band have headlined at the Glastonbury Festival twice, in 2007 and again in 2013. Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first bands to come to public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.
- 5553 votesGreen Day are an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For much of the band's career, they have been a trio with drummer Tré Cool, who replaced John Kiffmeyer in 1990 before the recording of the band's second studio album, Kerplunk (1991). Touring guitarist Jason White became a full-time member in 2012, but returned to his touring role in 2016. Green Day were originally part of the late-80s/early-90s Bay Area punk scene that emerged from the 924 Gilman Street club in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases were with the independent record label Lookout! Records. In 1994, their major-label debut Dookie, released through Reprise Records, became a breakout success and shipped over 10 million U.S. copies. The band is credited alongside fellow California punk bands Bad Religion, the Offspring, Rancid and Social Distortion, with popularizing mainstream punk rock.
- 6480 votesMuse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of Matt Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums). Muse signed to Maverick Records and released their debut album, Showbiz, in 1999, showcasing Bellamy's falsetto and a melancholic alternative rock style. Their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), incorporated wider instrumentation and romantic classical influences, and earned them a reputation for energetic live performances. Absolution (2003) saw further classical influence, with orchestra on tracks such as "Butterflies and Hurricanes", and was the first of five consecutive UK number-one albums. Black Holes and Revelations (2006) incorporated electronic and pop elements, displayed in singles such as "Supermassive Black Hole". The album brought Muse wider international success. The Resistance (2009) and The 2nd Law (2012) explored themes of government oppression and civil uprising and cemented Muse as one of the world's major stadium acts. Their seventh album, Drones (2015), was a concept album about drone warfare and returned to a harder rock sound. Their eighth album, Simulation Theory (2018), prominently featured synthesisers and was influenced by science fiction and the simulation hypothesis. Muse have won numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, five MTV Europe Music Awards and eight NME Awards. In 2012 they received the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. As of June 2016, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide.
