The ‘Big 4’ Bands of 2000s Rock

Which bands would be in the “Big 4” of 2000s rock?

The 2000s was an interesting era for rock music because for the first time in several decades, it didn’t have a distinct identity the way it did in the ’80s and ’90s with hair metal and grunge.

Various subgenres were in the spotlight and being played on the radio at the start of the new century and there wasn’t a particular style that really seemed to dominate over the rest. We did see the rise of emo music and the continued popularity of pop-punk, especially thanks to Warped Tour, so that was something new and unique to the 2000s.

System of a Down, Slipknot, Lamb of God and Avenged Sevenfold made up our Big 4 of 2000s metal, so we decided to do the same for rock.

When it came to choosing four rock artists to represent the entire decade, we considered a couple of different factors. The group didn’t have to form in the 2000s but had to have peaked in popularity then and had to have had some sort of lasting impact on the rock genre.

READ MORE: The ‘Big 4’ Bands of ’90s Rock

There are a handful of groups that were pretty dominant on rock radio during the 2000s but we chose to stick with acts that are more on the hard rock side of things. Scroll below to see our picks for the Big 4 of 2000s rock.

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