Which rock acts do you think will be synonymous with the Oughts, the first decade of the 21st century?

I think the defining act of music in the '00s is not the bands the,selves but rather the way music is disseminated. While digital distribution started in the 1990's it is the 2000's that really defined it as not only a major distribution method but also the way we hear about new music. Between iTunes, bands having their own MySpace pages, on-line radio and music forums and fan sites the method way we hear about music has evolved and become much more diversified.

Consider as a comparison the 1980's where the music video became the defining method of discovering new music and this heavily influenced the style of popular music from that decade with things like the image-heavy hair metal bands. For 2000, as digital distribution has become the defining method of discovering new music and this has directly influenced popular music from this decade.

It's pretty hard to tell. Unlike previous decades, the 00's don't really have any bands that stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of influence and popularity. Radiohead, Tool, the Dave Matthews Band, and Greenday are 90's bands that have continued into the next decade, so unfortunately they can't really be considered 00's bands. The following bands are probably the most universally well-known rock acts of this decade:

Linkin' Park

Coldplay

The White Stripes

The Killers

Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers

Maroon 5

The only issue is that most of these bands don't really represent anything from the 00's. Linkin' Park was a rap-metal band, and by now we've all come to the realization that it was a bad combination; Coldplay is a watered-down version of U2; The White Stripes is 70's rock revival; The Killers is 80's rock revival; and Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers are corporate marketing at its finest.

Maroon 5 would probably be the best bet for a band being synonymous with the Oughts. Of course, they're not a whole lot more than a pleasant combination of pop, rock and R&B, but these days simply mixing two styles of music together is considered "creativity". In that sense, Maroon 5 and the 00's seem pretty synonymous to me.

Well, the first decade of the 21st century would be associated with the same "type" of acts that have transcended through time... which is usually popular rock music, like all the bands you mentioned. The reason for this is that those who enjoy music of the hour: ie. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, countless boy bands, American Idol, basically, heavy radio play music... will only be interested in music of the hour 20 years from now... so they'll forget these lost classics, like much of the top 10 hits of the 80s --> Magic by Olivia-Newton John, anyone remember that classic? No!

So based on that notion, the 00s will likely be associated with:

Coldplay - 100%

Unfortunately, Linkin Park is very likely

White Stripes - 90%

Weezer? maybe? they were a phenomenon in 1994/95 but they made their real break from 2001 and forward

Shakira - has done a prety good job

The Killers

Many might think Radiohead -- but the 00s are responsible for their having alienated their 90s fans (I would have included then alongside Pearl Jam, Nirvana & Soundgarden)

And of course, last but not least, the 00s might be remembered for the decade that housed "Chinese Democracy" the Guns N Roses album that was supposed to be released every year from 2000 through 2008. This might be a possibility since the album is actually very good.

It really is actually a difficult question. A lot of this is because bands only get to become synonymous if they keep on producing, touring, spreading their image long after their highs in their musical career. U2 and Springsteen define the 80's because they are still producing and making a fanbase. The same can be seen in the late 90's. All the big bands from that era (Collective Soul, Blind Melon, etc.) lost their popularity by 2000. Much of their music has disappeared off the airwaves, and therefore so has their legacy.

Chances are the bands that will become synonymous with this decade are the ones that follow the mainstream sound, and that is most obviously post-grunge. Spearheading that group is Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, and Foo Fighters. They're the 3 post-grunge bands with the most mainstream success. However, Nickelback's repetitive sound may result in their songs to stop being played in the decades down the road.

Coldplay will definitely go down in history as the most successful rock band of the oughties. They are one of the few bands this decade to have an ever-changing sound and worldwide success. If they keep on producing music (which they might, since those rumours of them splitting up ended up being false), they can have a huge legacy again of them.

In my opinion, this decade will go down like the 80's did. There are a few incredibly successful acts (Coldplay, White Stripes, Linkin Park, The Killers), and the rest will just be known in a more broader term. The 80's had hair metal and new romantic, and most people can only name a couple of the bigger bands from both styles (Motley, Guns n' Roses, and Def Leppard for hair metal, and Duran Duran, etc. for new romantic). This decade will be known for post-grunge and pop punk. People later on will remember bands like Foo Fighters and 3 Doors Down, or Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, but the others will be lost in a sea of similar bands.

For a summary, the most remembered bands will be, in my decided order are:

1. Coldplay

2. The Killers

3. White Stripes

4. Foo Fighters

5. Linkin Park

Every since the sixties (the second decade of rock music) there has always been a sentiment that the previous decade was the last good one, and the current decade is crap, but I think that the 00s are the first really terrible decade for pop/rock music.

It is not so much that there are no good bands out there, or no real musicianship or artistic integrity. The problem is that the dominant culture now is corporate - after decades of work (remember how the music biz was saved in the late 70s by the new wave, but turned on it by the mid-80s, stripping down bands and creating "personalities" like Stacey Q?) the music conglomerates have full control. Power producers, stylists, and media monopolies mean that contemporary music is packaged like candy.

So the public is treated to pathetic recyclings of 50s rebels, 60s hippies, 70s super groups, 80s new wavers, and 90s slackers. So far no genre of contempary music has produced a star who broke out of this cycle - no not even rap/hip-hop (Kanye West's comments about Elvis and the Beatles underlines this fact). Here is hoping that, if we do not get something new by the end of this decade, then we will get some hope in the next!

first off some of the people on the list are not reading the question... which is what ROCK acts define this decade... so people listing rappers, pop stars and such are just wasting space on here...

I agree with a lot of the people who say this decade was the worst musically since the 60's... the last 10 years cannot even come close to the 70's, 80's and 90's.. and i'm only 26 so it's not like I'm an old guy just sticking to what I grew up with here... I only really got into music in 93 or 94.

unfortunately the bands most likely to represent the 00's are :

Nickelback, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and many undeserving others...

the best bands who SHOULD be representing this decade are:

Coldplay (though they kinda fall into the above category), The White Stripes, The Killers, P.O.D, Blink 182 maybe...

but the funny thing is all the actual best bands of this decade are bands that have been started in previous decades such as : U2, Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Audioslave and Nine Inch Nails...... showing that not all, but a lot of these new bands just don't have what it takes like the bands of the past.

What I think should matter when it comes to classifying bands is whether they were innovators, and whether they were "rock" bands. All the bands Alan mentioned fit (although the Eagles "folked" off here and there...the "Dude" might agree).

For the 2000's, like the bands or not, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Nickelback, and the White Stripes. Maybe early Killers (their recent stuff is recycled New Wave). These bands all did something slightly different and generally (again, like it or not) spawned other bands that immitated their sound.

Foo Fighters and Radiohead were already well on the scene when 2000 hit, they don't count.

The UK scene is under-represented in my bands above, I love the Canadian scene (which for me doesn't include Hedley but sadly once included Simple Plan) and so I don't listen to many from the UK (they often sound the same to me). There's an earlier post with a good list of them though. Arctic Monkeys are way over-rated, Bloc Party and the Muse aren't talked about enough. God I hope the Muse are remembered for this decade, their sound and vision are incredibly innovative.

The thing to remember is that the biggest bands are the ones that become synonomous. It might suck to have to include Nickelback given the way their sound has changed (the State, I think, is still a great album), but their popularity is undeniable. The smaller bands, despite how awesome they are, don't hit the masses and can't be considered synonomous.

Why is everyone forgetting the AWESOMENESS that is THE DARKNESS! Haha but in all seriousness...

I'd have to say the best Rock show I've been to since 2000 was the Foo Fighters show I saw here in Saskatoon. They are probably one of the most underrated bands of the decade as well.

One of the most unique bands to hit the mainstream has been Muse. Huge in Britian, pretty unknown in North America, i think they have a sound unlike anything else out there.

The Killers are another great band that should be remebered for this decade. They took rock in a new direction when Nickelback, Three days grace, Rise against, Theory of a Deadman and all the other countless clones threatened to destroy rock as we know it.

While I agree Tool is a fantastic rock band I don't think this decade was where their biggest accomplishments lie.

Coldplay will definitely be remebered for this decade. Love em' or hate em', they are huge! However it seems like Coldplay maybe done after this year so perhaps they will just fade away.

All I can say is I hope the future of Rock is bright because while there have been some awesome acts over this decade, it was somewhat lacking in the LEGENDS category.

I think this is almost a trick question. There's a reason the rock music of the 60's and 70's is still going strong today: It was the real deal. Period. It defined an era and a culture. It wasn't just music, it was a movement. It was a time unlike any before or ever will be again.

When you compare the rock music of the 00's to this past music, it's really a joke. I think we have to look at the bands who were at least able to keep releasing music and keep their fans interested at the same time...

I think that Bo Bice from American Idol really captured the spirit of the old school rock and would have been much more successful had the majority of the population not been stuck on the bubblegum music that has pretty much dominated the last decade. Also, Chris Daughtry is doing well and I think he deserves to be mentioned.

I think 3 Doors Down, Nickleback, The Killers, Three Days Grace, and Theory of a Deadman have a pretty good sound. Although, most rock bands today have a more mellow sound than those that defined what rock music is. Also a personal favorite of mine is Sam Roberts. He sings about political and real life issues that would be capable of creating a movement if there were more like him.

I do hope that some of the greats from when rock was defined come back one more time and remind the generation of now what really great rock music is. If not, rock music could fade away and we will have to wait for a "Jukebox Hero" to bring it back.

I think that there are four main bands synonymous with the Oughts in the 21st century. In no particular order:

Nine Inch Nails

The White Stripes

Radiohead

Nickelback

Even though Trent basically disappeared in the early 2000s, since 2005 he has basically owned the music landscape. Four albums, innovation in selling music, innovation in licensing music so that it is more accessible to fans, ridiculous live show...

So maybe not the White Stripes, but Jack White for sure. In a decade where being able to play your instrument has not been a necessity, Jack has brought the guitar and creativity back to the forefront.

To start, I'm not really a Radiohead fan. But, I think that their influence on other Brit bands (Coldplay, Muse, etc.) and their recent 'In Rainbows' marketing strategy are enough to warrant such status.

Finally, I'm adding Nickelback. Or you can insert any other post-grunge, 3-chord band that you like. Staind, Hinder, 3 Doors Down, they are really all the same, except I think that Nickelback has been the most successful. These bands are typical of the over-saturation of the rock landscape in an attempt to win back the decade for rock music.

Its kind of sad actually... when I look back on the 00's I am almost embarrased by the music that is going to define this decade. This post music downloading era has produced some awful artists who's only reason for being given the chance is because they are fool proof pop hits, and not because there is true underlying potential and talent. I grew up in the 90's but I listen to music from the 90's, 80's, 70's, 60's, and even 50's! But when I reflect on the 00's I cant really think of any album I have purchased that was a real masterpiece. Its all forgetable music hits that were once catchy but now I cannot stand them. The true test of music is when it is still listened to years after release.