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<title>Top Rock/Pop Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
<dateCreated>Sun Dec 27 08:07:55 PST 2009</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Sun Dec 27 08:07:55 PST 2009</dateModified>
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<outline type="include" text="Michael Jackson" description="It doesn't really matter if Michael Jackson bullied the world's media into calling him the King of Pop in the early 1990s or if they just started using that sobriquet on their own. Either way, he earned it. Whether singing &quot;I Want You Back&quot; as the 11-year-old frontman of the Jackson 5, breaking the MTV color line with the explosive &quot;Billie Jean&quot; or defending the world's downtrodden and misunderstood (himself, that is), Jackson set the standard for pop singing, songwriting, dancing and, let's face it, weirdness for the better part of a quarter century. He came of age in the Jackson 5, then moonwalked out of the family's clutches and into his own universe with three groundbreaking albums made with producer Quincy Jones. &lt;i&gt;Off the Wall&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Thriller&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Bad&lt;/i&gt; blended soul, funk and rock influences into a taut dance-pop that transformed the sound of radio for the rest of the century. Singers and producers from Madonna to Timbaland are still trying to catch up. Prosecutors and paparazzi have been playing catch-up, too, with some of Jackson's questionable life choices, and since the late 1990s, he has seemingly spent more time in the tabloids than on the pop charts. On June 25th, 2009, Michael Jackson passed away at the age of 50.
- Matty Karas" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/michael-jackson/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kings Of Leon" description="Although the media pretty much ensured that their music would have the shelf life of a banana by pegging them as the &quot;Southern Strokes,&quot; the Kings of Leon's music really owes much more to the latter-day songs of Eddie Vedder than they do to any boogie-rhythmic Southern Rock. Sure, they sport John Fogerty-style bowl-haircuts, boot-cuts and beards, but the actual sound of their recorded music is truly more rooted in tasteful post-grunge pop (more Pearl Jam than Creed). Brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and cousin Matthew Followill comprise the Kings of Leon, and they did actually grow up in the south under the musical influence of their evangelist father, Leon (hence the moniker). But when you look past how they (and the music media at large) incessantly label themselves up as southern rockers and when you really listen to songs like &quot;Molly's Chambers,&quot; &quot;Holy Roller Novocaine&quot; or even the Strokesesque &quot;California Waiting,&quot; the guttural growl of the vocals and bent Neil Young and Crazy Horse influences seem to point more toward Seattle in 1992 than the 1970s heartland rock they wear so proudly on their tight-fitting thrift store T-shirts. But this is hardly a bad thing. When bands like Seven Mary Three and Puddle Of Mudd drive the grunge sound into the ground with over exaggerated baritone throat gymnastics and crunchy, new, Guitar Center six-string distortion, the Kings of Leon's music is a breath of fresh air with its toned down soulful vocal yelps and vintage tube-amp guitar tones. And they can write some pretty catchy songs to boot.
- Eric Shea" category="Garage Rock Revival" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kings-of-leon/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Black Eyed Peas" description="Hailing from Los Angeles, the Black Eyed Peas date back to the early 1990s,
when group founders Will.I.Am and Apl de Ap parlayed their breakdancing
skills into a band called Atban Klann. Eazy-E eventually signed them to
Ruthless Records, although the label didn't really know how to market their
non-violent sound, and their album was shelved. After Eazy passed away,
they picked up a third member, Taboo, and began performing around L.A. as
Black Eyed Peas. Known for their positive lyrics and lively show, complete
with singers and dancers, they developed a strong buzz, which led to a deal
with Interscope and their 1998 debut, &lt;I&gt;Behind the Front&lt;/I&gt;. They
returned with &lt;I&gt;Bridging the Gap&lt;/I&gt; two years later, bulking up their
sound through collaborations with Premier, Mos Def and De La Soul, among
others. For their third LP, 2003's &lt;I&gt;Elephunk&lt;/I&gt;, the group added Fergie
to the mix and scored enormous hits with the singles &quot;Let's Get It Started&quot;
(originally called &quot;Let's Get Retarded&quot;) and &quot;Where Is the Love?&quot; which
launched them into the stratosphere and paved the way for extensive
touring, advertising work, and a Grammy Award. In 2005, they released their fourth album &lt;i&gt;Monkey Business&lt;/i&gt;, which included the single &quot;Don't Phunk With My Heart&lt;/i&gt;, plus collaborations with James Brown, Justin Timberlake, and Sting, among others. As with Outkast, BEP's creative production style and anti-gangsta/good times vibes have endeared them to listeners who generally shy away from rap music, while simultaneously lightening up the airwaves and moving millions of units.
- Brolin Winning" category="Hitmakers" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/black-eyed-peas/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Coldplay" description="Coldplay create sparse, emotional soundscapes, dripping with melancholy. The London-based quartet is singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Their debut album, &lt;i&gt;Parachutes&lt;/i&gt;, was released in late 2000 in the U.S., and they quickly became a sensation. The record went No. 1 in the U.K. charts and won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2002 Grammys. Marked by Martin's falsetto-happy vocals, songs like &quot;Yellow&quot; and &quot;Shiver&quot; employ stop/start dynamics that allow serene verses to build to a crescendo, centering on the well-trodden theme of love. Sophomore effort &lt;i&gt;A Rush of Blood to the Head&lt;/i&gt; took home two Grammys and earned a spot on &lt;i&gt;Rolling Stone&lt;/i&gt;'s &quot;500 Greatest Albums of All Time&quot; list. Hits &quot;Clocks&quot; and &quot;In My Place&quot; were wistful and romantic, labeled by some as radio-friendly Radiohead. The group's third album, &lt;i&gt;XandY&lt;/i&gt;, became the best-selling album of 2005, and &quot;Speed of Sound&quot; topped the year's charts worldwide. After conquering the charts and the Grammys, Coldplay shifted their focus from chart-topping anthems to a more experimental approach for their fourth album, &lt;i&gt;Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends&lt;/i&gt; (which nevertheless topped charts upon its release). With ambient maestro Brian Eno co-producing, the 2008 album was an intriguing progression for the band, featuring a mix of global influences, classical strings, heavy piano and glistening bits of dreamy electronics.
- Dan Shumate" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/coldplay/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jack Johnson" description="Like G. Love, Jack Johnson plays groovy acoustic funk. The difference is that where G. Love relies on hip-hop, Johnson's points of reference are a bit more eclectic, incorporating lite jazz and classic singer-songwriter motifs (including interesting vocal experiments a la Joni Mitchell and Tim Buckley). It's all held together by earthy rock backing and topped off with a voice that at times sounds enough like Mose Allison to convince listeners that Johnson really has the goods. Before embarking on a musical career, Johnson was a successful professional surfer. His popularity simmered with his first few albums, but with 2005's &lt;I&gt;In Between Dreams&lt;/I&gt; Johnson's stock exploded, crossing over from the jam-rock crowd into the mainstream pop market. The record yielded hits in &quot;Sitting, Waiting, Wishing&quot; and &quot;Better Together.&quot; Johnson's comfortable voice and sweet melodies translated naturally to children's songs with his 2006 release &lt;I&gt;Sing-a-Longs &amp;amp; Lullabies for the Film Curious George&lt;/I&gt;. In 2008 he released a new studio album, &lt;I&gt;Sleep Through the Static&lt;/I&gt;, and in 2009 he confirmed his live reputation with &lt;I&gt;En Concert&lt;/I&gt;.
- Mike McGuirk" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jack-johnson/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lady Gaga" description="Raised on a musical diet of Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, Lady Gaga brings a sense of theatrical fashion and attitude to her dance-inspired, electro-rock performances. Named after Queen's &quot;Radio Gaga,&quot; the pop fashionista took the fast lane to success, starting at age four when she learned to play piano by ear. At 14, she began performing at open-mic nights in and around New York City's Lower East Side. After graduating from Convent of the Sacred Heart school (the elite private institution Paris Hilton attended), Gaga earned a coveted spot at the famed Tisch School of the Arts. Soon after, she started writing songs for the Pussycat Dolls, and at age 20, she was signed to Interscope Records. In 2009, she became one of pop culture's most ubiquitous figures, with the songs &quot;Just Dance&quot; and &quot;Pokerface&quot; dominating the pop charts and her public antics (Kermit dresses! A possible penis?) dominating discussions from TMZ to the blogosphere. Though Gaga's 2009 tour with Kanye West was cancelled, the fact that she was the one to call it off only confirmed her status as one of pop's reigning divas.
- Jamie Sanchez" category="Dance Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lady-gaga/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dave Matthews Band" description="What sets the Dave Matthews Band apart from other jam-inclined festival veterans is the solid foundation of catchy songs upon which all their instrumental explorations lie. Fans appreciate the way Matthews' songs change from one performance to another, as he always infuses the hook-packed structure of their favorite songs with fresh improvisational jams. His heartfelt singing layers unpredictable (but memorable) melodies on top of bouncy chords that seem to fit together effortlessly - sort of like rubber jigsaw puzzle pieces. Matthews also subtly incorporates some Latin rhythms and world fusion into his bouncy jam rock/pop, which gives his songs more sonic texture and extra dimension. With such elements at his disposal, Matthews and his band can confidently take risks playing live, which tends to make his performances (and bootlegs) a little more interesting than his polished and somewhat harmless studio recordings. 2003's &lt;I&gt;Some Devil&lt;/I&gt; is Matthews' first solo outing.
- Eric Shea" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dave-matthews-band/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Nickelback" description="Since the mid-'90s, Alberta's Nickelback (singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger, bassist Mike Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair, replacing original drummer Brandon Kroeger) have evolved from sounding like a Pearl Jam tribute band to becoming icons of radio-friendly, post-grunge modern rock. Nickelback's popularity first gathered steam with the single &quot;Leader of Men&quot; off their second self-released album, 1998's &lt;I&gt;The State&lt;/I&gt;. The song was in heavy rotation on Canadian radio, and soon American label Roadrunner signed them (and reissued &lt;i&gt;The State&lt;/i&gt;). They then toured with Creed, and in 2001, &lt;I&gt;Silver Side Up&lt;/I&gt; yielded subsequent hits, such as &quot;Someday.&quot; In 2005, Nickelback returned with &lt;I&gt;All the Right Reasons&lt;/I&gt;, featuring members of ZZ Top and Pantera, which pushed them into contemporary heavy-rock territory and made them one of the decade's biggest bands in alt-rock, thanks to hits like &quot;Photograph&quot; and &quot;Savin' Me.&quot; For 2008's &lt;I&gt;Dark Horse&lt;/I&gt;, they brought in producer Mutt Lange (&lt;I&gt;Back in Black&lt;/I&gt;, &lt;I&gt;Pyromania&lt;/I&gt;) to add extra punch to their arena-rock anthems and power ballads.
- Eric Shea" category="Contemporary Hard Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/nickelback/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Beyonce" description="Beyonce Knowles, the leader of Destiny's Child, always knew she wanted to be a star. She formed the first incarnation of Destiny's Child in 1990 -- when she was 9 years old. By 2001, the group began to dissolve. Knowles nabbed a lead role in Mike Myers' &lt;I&gt;Austin Powers: Goldmember&lt;/I&gt;; an appearance in MTV's &lt;I&gt;Carmen: A Hip Hopera&lt;/I&gt; cemented her reputation as a formidable entertainer. Her solo debut, &lt;I&gt;Dangerously in Love&lt;/I&gt;, came out in 2003. The first single, &quot;Crazy in Love,&quot; was a duet with beau Jay-Z that zoomed to the top of the charts. &lt;I&gt;B'Day&lt;/I&gt;, her stunning 2006 sophomore turn, featured hits like &quot;Deja Vu&quot; and &quot;Ring the Alarm.&quot; Later that year, Beyonce starred as Deena Jones in the Oscar-winning movie musical &lt;I&gt;Dreamgirls&lt;/I&gt;. In 2007, Beyonce made a Latin-crossover attempt, dueting with Shakira on &quot;Beautiful Liar&quot; and releasing a deluxe edition of &lt;I&gt;B'Day&lt;/I&gt;, featuring &quot;Amor Gitano&quot; with Mexican crooner Alejandro Fernandez and a Spanish version of the anthem &quot;Irreplaceable.&quot; For her third studio album, &lt;I&gt;I Am ... Sasha Fierce&lt;/I&gt;, Beyonce split herself into two personae -- the tender, traditional Beyonce and the club diva Sasha Fierce.
- Linda Ryan" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/beyonce/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Daughtry" description="A fourth-place finish in season five of &lt;i&gt;American Idol&lt;/i&gt; didn't dissuade contestant Chris Daughtry from trying to send his rock yawp to the top of the charts. After getting booted from the show, Daughtry rejected an offer to lead alt rock band Fuel so he could form an eponymous outfit in his home state of North Carolina. They were quickly snatched up by the majors and immediately set to work on a record that enlisted the talents of vet producer Howard Benson and Nickleback songsmith Chad Kroeger. The band's first single, &quot;Its Not Over,&quot; was released in the fall of 2006, followed by their eponymous full-length debut that same year.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Contemporary Hard Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/daughtry/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Madonna" description="One of the few megastars only needing a single name, Madonna's brand of dance pop began as the purest of bubblegum but has become increasingly sophisticated during the course of a career now in its third decade. Her influence has lessened a bit since the multimedia dynasty she lorded over in the 1980s and early '90s, partly because she's been busy raising children and partly because the focus of dance-oriented music has radically shifted in the years between &lt;I&gt;Bedtime Stories&lt;/I&gt; (1994) and &lt;I&gt;Confessions On A Dance Floor&lt;/I&gt; (2005). However her clubbing antennae remain finely tuned, and each subsequent release serves less as an indication of her musical development and more her ability to latch onto producer/writers of the moment. This, and her constant image-massaging to remain relevant to the dance community, allows a mother in her early forties to get away with acting like a club kitten without too much dissent, even less so with her triumphant 2005 return to form. A ruthless careerist and tougher than most of us, she does tend to show weakness with her lyrics, which at their best are simple ditties and at their worst just plain embarrassing. A catchy tune is usually there to save the day, however, and perhaps this is why she has failed to make it in the acting world -- she needs the music to shield her inability to deliver a really good line. And what music -- hit after hit, some still working a dancefloor just as effectively 20 years after initial release. Few other artists in the dance pop and electronica world show such staying power, and few receive such goodwill from their fan base, no matter which upheavals she drags them through as she hops and skips from fad to fad, laughing all the way to the bank.
- Nicholas Baker" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/madonna/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Miley Cyrus" description="Are you, do you have, or have you recently been around an eight-year-old girl? Then you know who Miley Cyrus is. In fact, we'd bet the young star of the Disney Channel's &lt;I&gt;Hannah Montana&lt;/I&gt; has been an omnipresent part of your life since 2006, when her series about a regular girl who leads a secret double life as a pop star named Hannah Montana premiered, and Cyrus became tween America's biggest star. She has talent in spades: she sings, she dances, she wears couture. On top of all that, she's apparently the most well-adjusted celebrity in the world, thanks in part to her mom and her famous dad (one Mr. Billy Ray Cyrus of &quot;Achy Breaky Heart&quot; fame, who is also her &lt;I&gt;Hannah Montana&lt;/I&gt; costar), who've helped her become an icon for how to do child stardom (and, for that matter, being a teenager) right simply by not spoiling their famous spawn rotten. So don't think Miley Cyrus is just going to be another young flame that burns out early. With several successful &lt;I&gt;Hannah&lt;/I&gt; soundtracks, a tour opening for the Cheetah Girls and a Top 20 hit on the grownup pop charts (2007's &quot;See You Again&quot;) under her belt at just 15, this girl's future looks bright.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Teen Beat" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/miley-cyrus/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Linkin Park" description="Naysayers predicted that this whole rap-rock thing would be dying a slow, silent death right about now, but it seems to be breathing just fine without needing to come up for air. Linkin Park are one of the most successful guitar-swinging, lyric-dropping scratch wizards to simultaneously glorify the big riff while bowing down at the altar of hip-hop. In the course of a single song they let their guitars run amok, push plodding rhythms and growl like angry dogs roused from sleep -- all while dexterously zipping back and forth along record grooves. Linkin Park formed in 1996, but all the pieces didn't fall into place until 2000, when Warner Brothers released &lt;I&gt;Hybrid Theory&lt;/I&gt;, dubbed after the band's original name. Thanks to &quot;In the End,&quot; the album was a massive hit and the second single, &quot;Crawling,&quot; won them a Grammy for &quot;Best Hard Rock Performance.&quot; Despite a somewhat cool reception from anyone over the age of 13, Linkin Park claimed a spot at the very top of the heap in the early 2000s nu-metal arena. They have since released an album of &lt;I&gt;Hybrid Theory&lt;/I&gt; remixes, a studio album and a live album chronicling their extensive tours. A single called &quot;Numb/Encore,&quot; featuring a collaboration with rapper Jay-Z, was released in 2004; the EP it was taken from, &lt;i&gt;Collision Course,&lt;/i&gt; and single hit No. 1, and firmly reset Linkin Park's place at the top of the charts. In 2005 the band concentrated on a number of relief efforts to aid victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. MC Mike Shinoda splintered off to work on his solo project, a hip-hop group called Fort Minor. The band released &lt;i&gt;Minutes to Midnight&lt;/i&gt; in 2007, another chart-topper that scaled back the rapping in favor of a more straight forward arena-friendly rock sound; the live album &lt;I&gt;Road to Revolution&lt;/I&gt; followed in 2008.
- Kali Holloway" category="Alt Metal" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/linkin-park/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jason Mraz" description="Raised in Mechanicsville, Va., Jason Mraz grew up under the sway of local jam-circuit heroes Agents of Good Roots and regional favorites like the Dave Matthews Band, but it wasn't until he moved west that his own career began to take off. Following in Jewel's footsteps, Mraz secured a weekly slot at San Diego's Java Joe's, and by 2002 he signed with Elektra and brought on the Agents of Good Roots as his own backing band to release his debut, &lt;I&gt;Waiting for My Rocket to Come&lt;/I&gt;. After extensive touring and a handful of live recordings, Mraz released his second studio album, &lt;I&gt;Mr. A-Z&lt;/I&gt;, in 2005, and he continued to refine his fusion of soft rock and coffee-shop spunk with 2008's &lt;I&gt;We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things&lt;/I&gt;.
- Philip Sherburne" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jason-mraz/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Rolling Stones" description="Few partnerships in rock 'n' roll have been as productive as the collaboration between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and of course having wunderkind Brian Jones along did nothing to hinder the Rolling Stones' popularity. From the get-go, the band played the raunchy, gritty doppelganger to the Beatles' dandified Merseybeat pop. They ventured a heavier, bluesier sound than their British Invasion counterparts, taking their cues from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. The band's greatest strength, besides Charlie Watts, has always been their ability to add stylistic touches drawn from their interests in Eastern music, psychedelia, country and even disco to a blues rock chassis. It's difficult to listen to the trippy &lt;I&gt;Their Satanic Majesties Request&lt;/I&gt;, the down-and-out honky-tonk of &lt;I&gt;Exile On Main Street&lt;/I&gt; and the clean modernist surfaces of &lt;I&gt;Bridges To Babylon&lt;/I&gt; and believe they were recorded by the same band. Of course, in some ways they weren't; the lineup changes that have dogged the Stones account for much of their musical diversity. Jagger's famous slur and Richards' sloppy guitar elegance are the two constants in the band's many life cycles that make every Stones song instantly recognizable.
- Chad Driscoll" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-rolling-stones/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="John Mayer" description="Initially viewed as a younger take on the music of Dave Matthews, John Mayer's earnest and earthy pop has grown in popularity and reputation since his 1999 debut. Mayer sings mellow pop songs in an expressive tenor voice, and is an assured, harmonically astute acoustic guitarist whose jazzy phrasing fills out his songs nicely. His 2001 sophomore album &lt;i&gt;Room For Squares&lt;/i&gt; was a pleasant, non-abrasive pop album that launched him to major label success. While maintaining his commercial appeal, he's since expanded his musical styles, proving that he's a true crossover artist that effortlessly commands the blues guitar. Mayer has collaborated with such diverse talents as Common, Herbie Hancock, Kanye West and even comedian Dave Chappelle, and receiving nods from legends like B.B. King and Eric Clapton hasn't phased the star. His 2006 release &lt;i&gt;Continuum&lt;/i&gt; reached platinum status and brought out Mayer's socially conscious side.
- Casey Lowdermilk" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/john-mayer/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="U2" description="There's no denying that U2 has become one of the most iconic, loved and, yes, important rock bands in the world. And if they're not bigger than Jesus, Bono's attempt to turn his celebrity toward the greater good -- rubbing elbows with heads of state as he tackles climate change and African debt relief -- hasn't hurt his saintly stature. With an unchanging lineup of Bono (vocals), the Edge (guitar), Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums), the Dublin-born band established itself with a string of post-punk-influenced, protest-minded albums in the early '80s. &lt;I&gt;The Joshua Tree&lt;/I&gt; (1987) and the following year's &lt;I&gt;Rattle &amp; Hum&lt;/I&gt; capped the first phase of the band's career. The '90s were U2's pop decade, as they at once embraced and undercut their mega-star status, experimenting with dance beats and multimedia theatrics. Beginning with 2000's &lt;I&gt;All That You Can't Leave Behind&lt;/I&gt;, U2 returned to their rock roots and embarked upon a &quot;mature&quot; career phase that included record-setting tour grosses and induction into the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame. &lt;I&gt;No Line on the Horizon&lt;/I&gt; -- released in March 2009, 30 years after their debut EP -- suggested that the band had no intention of slowing down.
- Philip Sherburne" category="Alt/Punk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/u2/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Pink Floyd" description="Early Pink Floyd recordings make space travel superfluous so long as we have keyboards here on Earth. Back when enigmatic lyricist and acid-eater extraordinaire Syd Barrett skippered the ship, the Floyd sounded something like Monty Python with instruments -- quirky, trippy and weird. Barrett made Bedlam seem a reasonable price to pay for such gems as &quot;Bike,&quot; &quot;Lucifer Sam,&quot; and the Space Rock tour-de-force &quot;Astronomy Domine.&quot; Upon Barrett's departure, the only marginally less maniacal Roger Waters took on singing and songwriting duties. The band dug even deeper into labyrinthine song structures, but nothing prior had prepared the world for 1973s &lt;i&gt;Dark Side of the Moon&lt;/i&gt;. The concept album par excellence, &lt;i&gt;Moon&lt;/i&gt; utilizes a narrative lyric structure and musical leitmotifs to give the album a sense of coherence. These compositional strategies culminated in '79s harrowing magnum opus, &lt;i&gt;The Wall&lt;/I&gt;, an unflinching look at England's soul -- its educational system, its flirtations with fascism, the conservatism leading up to Thatcher. After Waters' defection, the remaining members came down with a crippling case of the blands but decided to stick it out, releasing a series of flashy (note '95's &lt;I&gt;Pulse&lt;/i&gt;), nostalgic commodities that basically sounded like David Gilmour solo efforts (even if they continued to sell like genuine Pink Floyd productions). In July 2005, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and Roger Waters reformed for the Live 8 charity concert. Sadly, in July 2006, Syd Barrett died at the age of 60, from complications of diabetes.
- Chad Driscoll" category="Art &amp; Progressive Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/pink-floyd/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Pink" description="If cultivating an iconoclast status is a career, then Pink is one serious go-getter. Since her 2000 debut, the husky-voiced singer has overhauled her sound several times, changed her hair color even more, married motocross star Carey Hart and taken George Bush to task. Then there's &quot;Stupid Girls,&quot; the 2006 single in which Pink skewered tabloid perennials like Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. Born Alecia Moore, she started dancing and singing backup at club nights in Philadelphia at age 13 and eventually went solo with &lt;I&gt;Can't Take Me Home&lt;/I&gt;. Pink recruited Linda Perry to co-write her second album, 2001's &lt;I&gt;M!ssundaztood&lt;/I&gt;, a collection of soulful pop-rock that spawned the hit &quot;Get the Party Started.&quot; She then collaborated with Rancid's Tim Armstrong on 2003's &lt;I&gt;Try This&lt;/I&gt;. The album didn't do well, and Pink took some time off to regroup and get married, getting back to the business of spitfire sass with 2006's &lt;I&gt;I'm Not Dead&lt;/I&gt;. She has produced many of her own albums, built side careers in both songwriting and horror-film acting, and won a pair of Grammy Awards -- experiences that all informed the outspoken &lt;I&gt;Funhouse&lt;/I&gt; in 2008.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/pink/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Mariah Carey" description="Say what you may about her fashion sense or &quot;diva-tude,&quot; but there is no doubt that Mariah Carey defined 1990s urban pop music. Carey ruled the charts during the Clinton decade -- her 1990 self-titled debut album alone spawned four No. 1 hit singles, and she would have 11 more before the new millennium. Over the years, artists from Christina Aguilera to Ciara would name her as an influence. Her albums are always expertly crafted and performed, making her &lt;I&gt;MTV Unplugged&lt;/I&gt; EP a surprisingly warm change of pace. Her dominance of the charts in the 1990s earned her the title of Billboard's Artist of the Decade. Despite heavily publicized personal trials in the early part of the new century, Carey returned to the forefront of modern music with &lt;I&gt;The Emancipation of Mimi&lt;/I&gt;, which spawned her 16th and 17th No. 1 hits. In 2008, Mariah returned with the hit single &quot;Touch My Body&quot; and the subsequent album, &lt;I&gt;E=MC2&lt;/I&gt;. The single pushed her past Elvis into second place (behind the Beatles) for the most No. 1 singles for an artist in the modern era.
- Rachel Landy" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/mariah-carey/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Elton John" description="Although he made an initial splash with his flamboyant stage getups, it's Elton John's effortless way with simple, yet memorable melodies that have won him his ongoing popularity. With lyricist Bernie Taupin, the British pianist crafted a string of hits in the 1970s:
zoologically-themed numbers such as &quot;Crocodile Rock&quot;
and &quot;Honky Cat&quot; showed off his rock 'n' roll side, while &quot;Rocket Man&quot; and &quot;Bennie and the Jets&quot; proved he could slow things down just as effectively. A range of personal and artistic problems began to take their toll around 1976, but he reclaimed a place on the charts in the 1980s with songs like &quot;I'm Still Standing&quot; and &quot;Sad Songs (Say So Much).&quot; His work during this era generally ranked a notch below the earlier glory days, but he continues to make his presence felt, filling concert halls, contributing to soundtracks and issuing a massively-selling rewrite of the perennial torch ballad &quot;Candle in the Wind&quot; on the occasion of Princess Diana's death in 1997. That same year, John was knighted Sir Elton John. In 1999, he collaborated on an adaptation of Verdi's opera &lt;I&gt;Aida&lt;/I&gt;. With the coming of the 2000s, John became as much a humanitarian as a pop figure, raising millions for various charities and forming the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2005, he married longtime boyfriend David Furnish.
- Mike McGuirk" category="Adult Contemporary" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/elton-john/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Fray" description="When tour buses and Grammy nominations were just distant dreams, the Fray's Joe King had aspirations to start up a real estate company. Had it not been for his chance meeting with old schoolmate Isaac Slade in a Denver music store in 2002, he may well have been writing up contracts rather than lyrics. Instead, the two began composing songs together, soon adding drummer Ben Wysocki and guitarist Dave Welsh to the mix. In 2004, after turning down eight of their submitted songs, Denver radio station KTCL finally gave airplay to &quot;Cable Car,&quot; which quickly became a local favorite. Later that year, they were signed to Epic and their debut album, &lt;I&gt;How to Save a Life&lt;/I&gt;, was released in 2005. Their brand of sentimental piano pop quickly struck a chord, particularly among music supervisors for hit TV shows like &lt;I&gt;Grey's Anatomy&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;Scrubs&lt;/I&gt;, along with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences -- the album earned the band two Grammy nominations. In 2009, they followed up their double platinum-selling debut with &lt;I&gt;The Fray&lt;/I&gt;.
- Stephanie Benson" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-fray/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Bob Dylan" description="Bob Dylan is on the short list of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He coupled a love for all forms of American popular and folk music with a personal and poetic songwriting style instead of relying on professional craftsmen or standard tunes. Influenced by Woody Guthrie, Dylan proved that you didn't have to be a technically perfect singer or musician to make brilliant pop music. The songs on 1963's &lt;I&gt;The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan&lt;/I&gt; catapulted the artist to stardom but he was already burning to get away from acoustic backing and match his unique vision to rock, country and blues. Dylan's music influenced a whole new generation of musicians -- such as the Beatles and Stevie Wonder -- to start crafting songs about what was important to them. While Dylan kick-started folk and country rock in his '60s studio work, the ragged home recordings he made with the Band showed that not even poorly placed microphones could stifle brilliance. Dylan still tours these days and records less often then he used to, but as albums such as 1997's &lt;I&gt;Time Out of Mind&lt;/I&gt; and 2006's &lt;I&gt;Modern Times&lt;/I&gt; prove, the man still has a lot to say and continues to do it in a way that no one else can.
- Nick Dedina" category="Singer-Songwriter" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/bob-dylan/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gloriana" description="Brothers Tom and Mike Gossin formed the earliest incarnation of Gloriana when they moved to North Carolina for college. Schoolwork quickly fell by the wayside when the brothers decided to move to Nashville to pursue their musical ambitions. The twosome met Rachel Reinert through MySpace, and although the duo had never sung with a third party -- much less a woman -- once they heard Rachel and the harmonies she brought to their music, they were convinced to give it a go. At one of their earliest Nashville shows, they were spotted by &lt;I&gt;America's Most Talented Kid&lt;/I&gt; winner Cheyenne Kimball. After having released an album of teen-oriented pop, Kimball was looking to start a new chapter in her career. After the show, the mandolin-playing singer asked if she could join the band, and thus Gloriana was born. In February 2008, the quartet signed to producer Matt Serletic's Emblem Music Group and went into the studio with Serletic at the helm. Their debut single, &quot;Wild at Heart,&quot; was released in May 2009, with an album expected to follow later in the summer.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gloriana/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Elvis Presley" description="Elvis Presley is rock 'n' roll. He sang like a dream, he was sexy enough to send girls swooning, and he exuded enough cool not to have the boys resent him. Adults worried about his rebellious nature, but they were eventually comforted by his polite, courteous manner. Yet as perfect as Presley's 1950s rock recordings are, he excelled at so much: down-home country crooning, raucous R&amp;B belting, enraptured Gospel singing, and classic pop balladeering. Elvis wasn't a vocal chameleon: these styles seeped out of him naturally, allowing his own personality to shine through. Despite his high level of talent and achievement in his craft, it was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop and inspired countless kids around the world to pick up a guitar or step up to a microphone. That said, Elvis didn't have a faultless career: he starred in plenty of bad movies, sang dozens of lame songs, got fat, and wore a kitschy white suit. But so what? He forever changed pop music, recording acres of perfect material over two short decades. Elvis (deservedly) remains the King.
- Nick Dedina" category="'50s Rock 'n' Roll" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/elvis-presley/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="David Gray" description="Welsh singer-songwriter David Gray had enjoyed immense success in Ireland for years before the rest of the world caught up with him. His simple, acoustic-fronted songs are canvasses on which Gray paints emotions, with his hoarse vocals acting as the brush with which he recreates scenes from his soul. Leaving Wales to go to school in Liverpool, Gray drifted through various bands trying to find his place in the world of music. Eventually he started doing his own solo work and moved to London. He signed with Hut Records shortly thereafter, releasing &lt;I&gt;A Century Ends&lt;/I&gt; in 1992 and &lt;I&gt;Flesh&lt;/I&gt; in 1994. Despite strong reviews and some astonishing live performances, his music oddly failed to ignite and he was dropped by his label. He continued to play out live, and a performer-audience connection was forged in Ireland, where the crowds appreciated the singer's stark, emotional style. EMI snapped Gray up and in 1996, &lt;I&gt;Sell, Sell, Sell&lt;/I&gt; was released. Again, the musician hit the road, this time in support of Radiohead and the Dave Matthews Band. But although the audiences were larger, sales stayed flat and he was dropped. Again. Thoroughly deflated, he went on a writing spree and with a &quot;glass is half full&quot; sort of optimisim, began recording his fourth album, &lt;I&gt;White Ladder&lt;/I&gt; in his London studio apartment. The self-financed project was released on Gray's own IHT Records in 1998, and almost overnight found itself firmly lodged in the Irish Top-40, where it remained for quite some time. Dave Matthews, whom had befriended Gray on their earlier tour, signed him to his imprint label, ATO Records and released &lt;I&gt;White Ladder&lt;/I&gt; stateside in 2000. American audiences warmed to the stirring single, &quot;Babylon,&quot; and &lt;I&gt;White Ladder&lt;/I&gt; went gold by the end of the year, and platinum a mere two months later. There was a glut of David Gray reissues in 2001 as well as &lt;I&gt;The EPs 92-94&lt;/I&gt;, which consisted of three singles from &lt;I&gt;A Century Ends&lt;/I&gt;, his very first single, &quot;Birds Without Wings&quot; and various other musical tidbits. This was quickly followed by 2002's &lt;I&gt;A New Day at Midnight&lt;/I&gt;, which went gold for the singer-songwriter, despite the fact there wasn't another &quot;Babylon&quot; on the album. In 2005, Gray branched out from &quot;bedroom recordings&quot; and entered a proper recording studio with Marius De Vries (Rufus Wainwright, Madonna, U2, etc) producing. The resulting album, &lt;I&gt;Life In Slow Motion&lt;/I&gt;, spills over with low-key but radio-friendly songs and an expansive aesthetic.
- Linda Ryan" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/david-gray/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Britney Spears" description="Britney. Over the past decade the name has dominated pop charts and tabloids. Uttered with a mix of adoration and repulsion, the first name of Britney Spears exists as shorthand for the magnificent mess of contemporary pop culture. It's been quite a ride for the former Mouseketeer, who first appeared in pearly smile and short skirt on the cover of 1999's &lt;i&gt;...Baby One More Time&lt;/i&gt;, with a glut of sugary singles. By 2000's &lt;i&gt;Oops! I Did It Again&lt;/i&gt;, she was a household name and a pop-music icon, and not yet 20 years old. Two more LPs -- &lt;i&gt;Britney&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;In the Zone&lt;/i&gt; -- were increasingly inflected with RnB and hip-hop, though flagging chart performances and record sales soon made her as much media sensation as music maker. Fueled by a messy breakup with Justin Timberlake, two sensational marriages (one commenced in Vegas and ended only 55 hours later; the other was to former backup dancer Kevin Federline) and rumors of drug and alcohol abuse, Britney's public image was in nonstop tailspin through much of the mid '00s. By 2007, the 'tween audience that squealed about her debut was engorged by tales of panty-less partying, drug-treatment programs and a custody battle over her two children with Federline.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/britney-spears/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jimmy Buffett" description="Jimmy Buffett was a country rocker before 1977's aptly titled &lt;i&gt;Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude&lt;/i&gt; cemented his image as a beachcombing sage. Although he hit his creative peak during this period, Key West, Fla.'s favorite son has continued to write amusing, often intelligent tunes. A wise businessman, he has become the hero of &quot;parrot heads&quot; -- blue and white-collar working stiffs who would love to lead the life about which he writes (music, novels, plays) and sings. Jimmy Buffett is indeed a genre of one.
- Eric Shea" category="Singer-Songwriter" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jimmy-buffett/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Demi Lovato" description="So you've seen &lt;I&gt;Camp Rock&lt;/I&gt;, right? No? OK, then you've at least watched &lt;I&gt;Barney&lt;/I&gt; once or twice. You haven't? What are you, some kind of grown-up? Well, then, chances are you've yet to come in contact with young Ms. Demi Lovato, who got her start showing her gums on the purple dino's cute-fest at age six and her big break as a star of Disney's 2008 rock-camp-themed movie-musical. But you're going to be seeing a lot more of her: The Dallas, Tex., native stars in the Disney Channel series &lt;I&gt;Sonny with a Chance&lt;/I&gt; and makes headlines for her BFF-ship with fellow Disney starlet Selena Gomez. And her buddies the Jonas Brothers (who also star in &lt;i&gt;Camp Rock&lt;/I&gt;) worked with Lovato, a longtime singer-songwriter, to put together her debut album in 2008. For album two, 2009's &lt;I&gt;Here I Go Again&lt;/I&gt;, she enlisted John Mayer as inspiration and collaborator.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Teen Beat" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/demi-lovato/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Shinedown" description="Formed in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2001, Shinedown have separated themselves from the ranks of their peers since the very beginning, when an acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's &quot;Simple Man&quot; found its way into local and then nationwide rotation. The modern hard-rockers' debut album, &lt;i&gt;Leave a Whisper&lt;/i&gt;, was re-released on the heels of the single's success and promptly went platinum, while carving out a Southern rock identity for the band. Second record, &lt;i&gt;Us and Them&lt;/i&gt;, appeared in 2005 and furthered Shinedown's popularity on the strength of the emotionally charged, grungy single &quot;Heroes.&quot; Third album, &lt;i&gt;The Sound of Madness&lt;/i&gt;, found the band moving away from their Southern rock label and toward more straight-up hard rock with strong elements of the salad days of grunge informing their sound. The album yielded hits in &quot;Devour,&quot; &quot;Second Chance&quot; and the title track.
- Mike McGuirk" category="Alt Metal" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/shinedown/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Billy Joel" description="Owner of more hit singles than there are strip malls in his native Long Island, N.Y., Billy Joel has fashioned the quintessential pop career from unparalleled songcraft, a penchant for genre-bouncing from one album to the next, and over-the-top stage performances. A child of 1950s R&amp;B and 1960s British Invasion, Joel has always maintained an extraordinary knack for coming up with songs that sound just as good (if not better) on the AM radio of your uncle's '73 Pinto as they do on the living room hi-fi. This devotion to the pop aesthetic over the course of twelve studio albums and innumerable radio hits -- beginning with the autobiographical &quot;Piano Man&quot; in 1973 on through &quot;The River of Dreams&quot; 20 years later -- has won Joel a fan base ranging from 20-somethings raised on his late '70s/early '80s classics (&quot;My Life,&quot; &quot;Only The Good Die Young,&quot; and &quot;Pressure&quot; among them) to the parents of those same 20-somethings who hear a bit of the Beatles, Dylan, and Smokey Robinson in those same classics. Although Joel removed himself from the pop fold following &lt;I&gt;River of Dreams&lt;/I&gt;, his mighty back catalog continues to sell in hefty chunks.
- Charles Hodgkins" category="Singer-Songwriter" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/billy-joel/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Queen" description="Heavy metal gods to some, studio-oriented power pop innovators to others, and purveyors of overblown sports arena anthems to still many more, Queen left a deep and varied legacy at the end of their nearly 20-year career. Despite a 2005 Broadway stage show that was written by guitarist Brian May, which featured the remaining members, the band never really recovered from the tragic loss of singer Freddie Mercury to AIDS in 1991. Combining a fondness for hard rock riffs with a knack for catchy melodies, Queen had forged a unique sound brought to life through elaborate (bordering on excessive) studio production. Of their many hits, 1975's &quot;Bohemian Rhapsody&quot; best exemplifies their range: revved-up guitars, near-prog rock complexity and operatic vocals courtesy of Freddie Mercury and a cast of thousands (all of whom also happened to be named Freddie Mercury). Moving from the glam-inspired sounds of their early days, the British quartet scored late 1970s/early '80s hits as they dabbled in rockabilly (&quot;Crazy Little Thing Called Love&quot;), disco (&quot;Another One Bites the Dust&quot;) and New Wave-leaning dance (their 1981 David Bowie collaboration &quot;Under Pressure&quot;). Say what you will, there's much more to Queen than &quot;We Will Rock You.&quot;
- Will York" category="Hard Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/queen/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Pearl Jam" description="Many accused Pearl Jam of being a mainstream hard rock band that happened to hop on the alt rock gravy train at its busiest stop (Grungeville circa late 1991/early 1992), thereby reaping the benefits of constant exposure on suddenly flannel-friendly MTV with hit videos for &quot;Alive,&quot; &quot;Even Flow&quot; and, most notably, &quot;Jeremy.&quot; In the wake of the unpredictable success of their multi-platinum anthem-fest/debut &lt;i&gt;Ten&lt;/i&gt;, Eddie Vedder eventually got used to being a celebrity. Not coincidentally, the band bravely began messing with its straight-ahead rock formula around that same time: &quot;Spin the Black Circle&quot; married punk with garage rock, &quot;Off He Goes&quot; put their own &quot;Daughter&quot; to shame for fireside ambiance, &quot;Around the Bend&quot; manifested the effects of &lt;i&gt;Mirror Ball&lt;/i&gt; (their 1995 collaboration with Neil Young) soft and clear, and &quot;Low Light&quot; out-R.E.M.'d R.E.M. in its waltzing, acoustic beauty. In 2000, Pearl Jam began releasing no less than 72 volumes of live material chronicling the American and European legs of their tour in support of &lt;i&gt;Binaural&lt;/i&gt;, which came out the same year. 2002's &lt;i&gt;Riot Act&lt;/i&gt; proved that the band was as relevant as ever, and in 2006 they returned with a self-titled, heavy blast of anthemic anger at the state of the world. Pearl Jam are one of the few stalwarts surviving from the long-ago age of grunge hype, and they've actually become bolder and better with age.
- Charles Hodgkins" category="Grunge" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/pearl-jam/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Journey" description="For the generation that grew up during the Reagan Era, Journey will always be associated with the sweaty palms and stomach-churning anticipation of grade school dances. Orgasmically dramatic break-up songs employed pulsating synthesizers, massive guitars, and innumerable vocal tracks backing up Steve Perry's pleading falsetto. With this astonishingly successful formula, Journey defined the blow-dried power-ballad that ruled '80s FM radio. After a long hiatus, Journey reformed in 1996, releasing a single and going on a reunion tour. In the early 2000s, minus original singer Steve Perry, Neal Schon and company went back into the studio and began recording new material, which produced &lt;I&gt;Arrival&lt;/I&gt; in 2001 and &lt;I&gt; Generations&lt;/I&gt; in 2005.
- Mike McGuirk" category="AOR" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/journey/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Radiohead" description="One of the 1990s' greatest success stories, Radiohead came to prominence largely on the success of their distorted, ingratiating single &quot;Creep.&quot; Drolly repeating &quot;I'm a creep / I'm a loser&quot; in the pounding wake of arena rock guitars wasn't going to win them any artistic grants, but those lyrics and bouts with piercing feedback would not be soon forgotten. It wasn't until &lt;I&gt;The Bends&lt;/I&gt; (1995) that Radiohead transcended the formula, crafting the patient, heart-wrenching &quot;Fake Plastic Trees&quot; and the magnetic, sunshine-driven &quot;Black Star.&quot; Thom Yorke's signature falsetto began to operate in a more deeply emotional capacity at this point. Finally producing to the caliber of their songwriting, Radiohead's &lt;I&gt;OK Computer&lt;/I&gt; demonstrated a staggering attention to detail, probably ranking as one of the greatest commercial artistic successes of the '90s. Rarely does a record offer masterpieces in varying moods. From the thunderously suspenseful &quot;Airbag&quot; to the moody chime of the blustery &quot;Let Down,&quot; Radiohead emerged victorious. The alt-rock superstardom and critical gushing that followed pushed them into their darkest and most creative space yet, and they delivered the electronic-tinged &lt;I&gt;Kid A&lt;/I&gt; in 2000 and &lt;I&gt;Amnesiac&lt;/I&gt; in 2001. Many critics and fans claimed to not &quot;get&quot; the group's twisted, skittering melodies and complicated, chorus-free rock songs but to the devout the band's cerebral art rock was like manna from the heavens. 2003's &lt;I&gt;Hail to the Thief&lt;/I&gt; offered up a mixture of guitar-driven tracks amid a more restless desire to experiment. In 2007, Radiohead shook up the music industry with &lt;i&gt;In Rainbows&lt;/i&gt;, an album released via their website in which fans could name their own price.
- Kelly Bauman" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/radiohead/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kelly Clarkson" description="The first-ever American Idol, Kelly Clarkson won over America with her soulful voice, bubbly personality and &quot;small-town girl makes it big&quot; story. Before &lt;i&gt;Idol&lt;/i&gt;, the native Texan had made a dismal run at Hollywood, and after she hightailed it back to Burleson, her friends convinced her to audition for the competition. The show launched Clarkson, and her debut album proved that America had voted correctly. &quot;A Moment Like This&quot; was a colossal hit, and the album went multiplatinum, winning Clarkson her first Grammy (for &quot;Miss Independent&quot;). On second album &lt;I&gt;Breakaway&lt;/I&gt;, Clarkson distanced herself from &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt;'s ickier aspects (&lt;I&gt;From Justin to Kelly&lt;/I&gt;, anyone?) and went off in a new direction: adult contemporary-approved rocker chick. She then released &lt;I&gt;My December&lt;/I&gt; in 2007. Co-written by Clarkson, the album is a more honest reflection of the &lt;I&gt;A.I.&lt;/I&gt; heroine. In fact, RCA tycoon Clive Davis deemed it too negative and offered her $10 million to scratch some of the songs. Clarkson refused the offer and held her ground. Her next album, 2009's &lt;I&gt;All I Ever Wanted&lt;/I&gt;, lightened &lt;I&gt;My December&lt;/I&gt;'s darkness with the pop touch that made fans fall in love with her in the first place.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kelly-clarkson/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="3 Doors Down" description="Can you raise your lighter high in the stadium and still keep your indie cred? Probably not, but you can combine the catchy hard rock of the Scorpions with the grungy street metal of Nirvana and get 3 Doors Down. Their debut hit, &quot;Kryptonite,&quot; was a surprise smash, selling quantities that would make Shania or Britney very happy -- 2000's &lt;I&gt;The Better Life&lt;/I&gt; went quadruple platinum in its first year of release, paving the way for still more multimillion sellers. Not bad for a rocking band that escaped from Escatawpa, Miss. (population: 8,000). Their 2008 self-titled album found them expanding their vision of modern rock, mixing heartland harmonies with touches of funk and world music -- but still delivering their music with an urgency as searing as ever.
- Nick Dedina" category="Contemporary Hard Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/3-doors-down/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Van Morrison" description="Van Morrison stands out in the youth-obsessed, disposable world of modern pop music. A grouchy fireplug of a man, he has earned a loyal following that's always kept guessing as to what direction he'll take next. Since the beginning, Morrison has ignored all fly-by-night fads and in doing so has amassed a timeless body of work. Coming out of Them's primal R&amp;B-fueled Garage Rock, Morrison's 1968 &lt;I&gt;Astral Weeks&lt;/I&gt; was a daring, exploratory work that painted a bleak picture of the acid generation, while &lt;i&gt;Moondance&lt;/i&gt; (1970) was a breezy celebration of life. These albums have set the stage for an artist who freely mixes soul, folk, blues, jazz, and his native Celtic influences into highly personal, idiosyncratic music. Only a handful of his later albums are masterpieces on the level of &lt;i&gt;No Guru, No Method, No Teacher&lt;/i&gt; (1986), but each release contains at least one brilliant track. A private man, Van Morrison is more comfortable talking about heroes such as Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, or Jerry Lee Lewis than himself.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/van-morrison/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Bruce Springsteen" description="No rock performer has spoken with more authority on the human fallout of the American Dream than Bruce Springsteen. &lt;I&gt;Darkness on the Edge of Town&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;Nebraska&lt;/I&gt; are American Gothics haunted by star-crossed lovers and noble souls hag-ridden by fate into crime, depression, and worst of all, ordinariness. But lest we forget, the original denim rocker has also written some of the most uplifting songs in AOR: every line of &quot;Born to Run&quot; and &quot;Glory Days&quot; offers an ideal place to hang your troubles out to dry. Springsteen plays the perfect tailor for the damaged lives that populate his lyrics, recognizing the tiny flaws and the holes that gape in the human fabric, and doing his best to mend them -- sometimes with simple compassion, sometimes with joy. Just about everything the Boss has done has an air of permanence about it. You just know that when generations hence try to grasp what life meant to us, his music will offer an important clue. But despite his many accomplishments and incredible fame, something has kept the Boss down to earth. He generously handed out hit songs to Patti Smith and Robert Gordon in the 1970s, and even today continues to promote the careers of lesser luminaries such as duet partner Elliot Murphy.
- Henry B." category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/bruce-springsteen/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jordin Sparks" description="You might call Jordin Sparks an amateur talent contest professional, although prodigy is perhaps more accurate. In 2007, the 17-year-old Sparks won &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt;. But before that, she appeared twice on &lt;I&gt;America's Most Talented Kids&lt;/I&gt;, received two awards from the Gospel Music Association Academy and finished second at Music in the Rockies, a competition for aspiring contemporary Christian artists. The year before she won &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt;, the multitalented Sparks also won Torrid's search for the &quot;Next Plus Size Model&quot; and appeared in a &lt;I&gt;Seventeen&lt;/I&gt; magazine ad for the clothing line. So winning &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt; was just the big, fat cherry on top of a talent show sundae -- and the culmination of a life spent working towards performance career.&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The child of NFL player Phillippi Sparks (formerly of the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys), the baby-faced belter grew up singing and doing children's theater. She got a string of gigs singing the national anthem at professional sporting events in her home state of Arizona, toured with CCM star Michael W. Smith and recorded an EP (2003's &lt;I&gt;For Now&lt;/I&gt;) at age 13. Despite all her experience, Sparks did not initially make the cut when she auditioned for &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt; in Los Angeles. She did, however, win the local Arizona Idol contest, which earned her the right to audition again in Seattle and, eventually, to become the youngest ever &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt;. Following her win, she toured with the other &lt;I&gt;Idols&lt;/I&gt; and began work on her debut album.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jordin-sparks/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Britt Nicole" description="Talk about focused. Britt Nicole began singing in church at age 3 and after high school she turned down a scholarship to Nashville's Belmont University music program, choosing instead to get her training on the job. The gamble paid off. She soon scored management, development and label deals, releasing her debut, &lt;I&gt;Say It&lt;/I&gt;, before she turned 21. Hit songs &quot;You&quot; and &quot;Believe&quot; followed before her track &quot;Sunshine Girl&quot; was featured on MTV's teen reality show &lt;I&gt;Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County&lt;/I&gt;. In summer 2009, Britt released her sophomore disc, &lt;I&gt;The Lost Get Found&lt;/I&gt;, filled with high-energy pop rooted in her faith." category="Alternative Christian Contemporary" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/britt-nicole/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Neil Young" description="Throughout his extraordinary career, Neil Young's Americana-rooted songwriting has dipped into a staggering variety of styles and tones. With the live &lt;i&gt;Time Fades Away&lt;/i&gt;, the spatial &lt;i&gt;On The Beach&lt;/i&gt; and the liquid &lt;i&gt;Tonight's The Night&lt;/i&gt;, Neil inadvertently presented his so-called doom trilogy -- three records that beautifully capture throwing in the towel. 1975's &lt;i&gt;Zuma&lt;/i&gt; signaled a return from the darkness to the sunny, rural rock he first explored on &lt;i&gt;Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;i&gt;Comes A Time&lt;/i&gt; found him hip deep in a fermentation of 1970s canyon and country rock, while &lt;I&gt;Rust Never Sleeps&lt;/I&gt; unfolded his career multi-dimensionally as he unleashed his acoustic/electric duality to a receptive commercial and critical audience. With &lt;i&gt;Freedom&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Ragged Glory&lt;/i&gt;, Young made a valiant return to form in the late '80s and early '90s before recapturing acoustic peace with &lt;i&gt;Harvest Moon&lt;/i&gt;, his 1992 release that many view as the sequel to his heroically pastoral 1972 album &lt;i&gt;Harvest&lt;/i&gt;. The Canadian transplant's high, watery tenor emotes with an elasticity that can effortlessly traverse into falsetto with natural warmth and heavenly tremolo. You'll find the real Young singing the hazy guitar epics &quot;Like A Hurricane&quot; and &quot;Cortez the Killer,&quot; or when songs such as the gentle &quot;Birds&quot; and &quot;Motion Pictures&quot; seem to weep from your speakers. True to form, Neil Young is one of the only songwriters in the world who can approximate the sound of a heart breaking with his voice.
- Eric Shea" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/neil-young/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Katy Perry" description="Katy Perry may or may not actually &lt;I&gt;be&lt;/I&gt; gay, but she's certainly made her young career with coy, playful references to sexuality -- her own and her paramours'. The young Californian singer-songwriter first generated a heaping helping of online buzz in 2007 with &quot;Ur So Gay,&quot; in which she accuses a disappointing boyfriend who &quot;doesn't even like boys&quot; of being, well, take a guess. Then, in 2008, she shot up the charts with the Sapphic sweet-talker &quot;I Kissed a Girl.&quot; Kind of a surprising turn of events for the daughter of two pastors who wasn't allowed to listen to secular music as a kid and got her start in Christian music, releasing a 2001 album under then name Katy Hudson. Or maybe not -- if you believe the old saw about preacher's daughters &lt;I&gt;and&lt;/I&gt; once you learn that Perry says her life changed when she discovered Queen as a teenager. By 2004, she'd worked with Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette) and the Matrix (Avril Lavigne), been signed to Columbia and been hailed by the likes of &lt;I&gt;Blender&lt;/I&gt; as the Next Big Thing! But nothing really clicked until she released her debut, &lt;I&gt;One of the Boys&lt;/I&gt;, on Capitol in 2008 and got her gay on.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/katy-perry/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Rihanna" description="Talent and a dose of good luck got Barbados-born Rihanna signed to Def Jam when she was 16 years old. She was discovered by producer Evan Rogers during his island visit in 2003, and went on to impress Def Jam CEO Jay-Z so much that he grabbed her for a multi-album contract. The singer's first single, &quot;Pon de Replay,&quot; was released in June 2005, with the full album &lt;I&gt;Music of the Sun&lt;/I&gt; dropping a month later. But her big break came in 2006 with the release of the single &quot;S.O.S.&quot; and the subsequent album &lt;I&gt;A Girl Like Me&lt;/I&gt;. The single, which sampled Soft Cell's &quot;Tainted Love,&quot; was one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially popular songs of that year. Though Rihanna had basically moved away from dancehall, she was moving toward a new aesthetic that married R&amp;amp;B, synth-pop and hip-hop. She continued in this direction with 2007's &lt;I&gt;Good Girl Gone Bad&lt;/I&gt;, which featured the infectious singles &quot;Umbrella&quot; and &quot;Shut Up and Drive.&quot; In early 2009, she was assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown en route to a pre-Grammys party; that November, she released &lt;I&gt;Rated R&lt;/I&gt;, a highly personal album with an unmistakable darkness.
- Sam Chennault" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/rihanna/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Shakira" description="Latin pop diva Shakira has achieved phenomenal success and become a genuine pop icon. Born to humble beginnings in Barranquilla on Colombia's Caribbean coast, she left for the capital city of Bogota as an aspiring model at age 13. Ironically it was her music that garnered attention. Singing and writing lyrics since she was 8, her first album for Sony was released when she was 14. Although sales were meager, the album helped launch her career as a soap opera actress. Then came &lt;i&gt;Pies Descalzados&lt;/i&gt; (1995), an album which showcased her bold, flexible voice and yielded a string of huge hits. Her mixture of rock ballads and Dance Pop (with an occasional tropical touch) is filtered through her image as a talented, beautiful and headstrong young woman. Departing from the traditional image of Latin American women, Shakira's music and persona aroused controversy when her multiplatinum records put her in the spotlight. Following in the footsteps of Selena, she represents a bold new Latina who will be neither obsequious nor silent. As Shakira has matured, so has her music, as demonstrated in songs such as the Arabic-inflected &quot;Ojos Asi&quot; as well as in her live performances.
- Robert Leaver" category="Latin Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/shakira/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Jackson 5" description="The Jackson 5's bubblegum-flavored soul helped Motown usher in the 1970s with a string of chart toppers that included hits such as &quot;ABC,&quot; &quot;I Want You Back&quot; and &quot;The Love You Save.&quot; Raised in Gary, Indiana by devout Jehovah's Witnesses, the brothers endured the kind of strict upbringing that groomed them perfectly for the &quot;Motown machine.&quot; And what a well-oiled machine it was! The Jackson 5's likenesses could be found on everything from lunchboxes to dolls to Saturday Morning cartoons. But by 1974, the machine showed signs of wear and tear: songs weren't charting as highly as they had previously, and demand for Jackson 5 merchandise was drying up. The machine broke down completely when, frustrated by Motown's refusal to allow the brothers to write or choose their own material, the Jackson 5 parted ways with the label and signed with Epic. Motown won a breach of contract suit, thus retaining the rights to the name Jackson 5. The brothers changed their named to the Jacksons. The Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame in 1997.
- Linda Ryan" category="Motown" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-jackson-5/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Norah Jones" description="This young singer and pianist has so much talent that she can't be
contained by one genre of music. The American-born, Texas-bred daughter of
Indian music legend Ravi Shankar has after-hours jazz, soul, country,
blues and folk music at her command, and combines each with natural,
dreamy ease. It's almost as if Rickie Lee Jones or Diana Krall were
recording for an absinthe-soaked 4AD label that specialized in Americana. Some of our greatest artists
-- from Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles, from Elvis to the Beatles -- were
genres onto themselves, and it's refreshing to see a performer as young as
Jones craft her own sound and style. Blue Note Records signed her in hopes
of slowly building her into the kind of crossover jazz success that the
Verve label has enjoyed with Diana Krall and Cassandra Wilson. But it
didn't turn out quite that way: the buzz around Jones's debut, 2002's
&lt;I&gt;Come Away With Me&lt;/I&gt;, was so enthusiastic that the album eventually
became one of the biggest sellers of the new millennium. Blue Note wisely
chose not to &lt;I&gt;try&lt;/I&gt; to make her even more successful and left Jones
and her band to their own devices for 2004's &lt;I&gt;Feels Like Home&lt;/I&gt;, a
slightly darker return to the sophisticated but comforting acoustic sound
of her debut. Jones and her band avoided the sophomore slump with the
album, which hit the gates as a massive hit and further secured her career
in music. In early 2007, Jones released &lt;i&gt;Not Too Late&lt;/i&gt;, her first all self-penned set. She also performs regularly with other bands and musicians, including the Little Willies, Peter Malick (she appears on every track of his &lt;I&gt;New York City&lt;/I&gt;album), jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, electronica band Wax Poetic, and a number of her heroes, among them Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
- Nick Dedina" category="Pop-Jazz" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/norah-jones/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Beach Boys" description="In the early 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson fused innovative chord arrangements with elastic-ranged vocal harmonies onto a foundation of Chuck Berry-inspired rock 'n' roll. The resulting music, set against a backdrop of surfing, girls, and cars, was unfortunately panned by the media as America's answer to Beatlemania. By the end of 1964, Wilson had retired from live performances to focus on composing and producing the band's recordings. Desperately trying to get the sounds from his head onto tape, the Beach Boys released the epic &lt;i&gt;Pet Sounds&lt;/i&gt; in May of 1966. In the liner notes of this orchestrated pop masterpiece, Wilson admits that his aim was to write a &quot;teenage symphony to God.&quot; Generally hailed as the greatest rock 'n' roll album ever, &lt;I&gt;Pet Sounds&lt;/I&gt; struggled to attain the commercial success of the band's earlier suburban hymns. Although the Beach Boys (as well as Brian Wilson) went on to make many more successful albums, they never came close to approximating the innovative genius and transcendent, childlike innocence that was &lt;i&gt;Pet Sounds&lt;/i&gt;.
- Eric Shea" category="'60s Oldies" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-beach-boys/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Enya" description="After leaving her siblings' outfit Clannad, Enya (born Eithne Ni Bhraonain) enjoyed a short stint of television and film score appearances before embarking on a solo career. Produced by Nicky Ryan to accentuate her angelic, atmospheric vocal style, lush, swelling synths and minimal rhythms accompany ever so delicately as her voice crests upon lush, tearful soundscapes with astounding grace. Not necessarily pop, nor decidedly its antithesis, Enya's intensely melodic, ethereal music is downright chilling.
- Kelly Bauman" category="Ethnic Fusion" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/enya/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Tom Petty" description="&quot;The weak ones fall, the strong carry on.&quot; When Tom Petty offers those words on &quot;Straight into Darkness,&quot; he may as well be singing about his career, which has produced a steady output of punchy power pop that's made him an impervious fixture in American music. Petty first made the scene in the '70s with his Heartbreakers, offering tales of blue-collar outsider love that employed the Byrds' sunny 12-sting sonance to achieve an indubitably apple pie aftertaste; it all began, appropriately, with the Top 40 triumph of &quot;American Girl.&quot; Petty's third record, &lt;i&gt;Damn the Torpedoes&lt;/i&gt;, cemented his staying power, and by capitalizing on the MTV revolution with brilliant videos, it made his dour smirk iconic. More than any other quality, though, it's Petty's reliability that has made him so enduring; there's hardly a misfire among his three decades of quality album-oriented songwriting. As if these records don't speak for themselves, Petty's membership in rock 'n' roll's paramount old boys club, the Traveling Wilburys (alongside Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynn, George Harrison and Roy Orbison), demonstrated his towering status as a long-lasting hero of American rock's middle generation.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/tom-petty/data.opml?rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
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