Of all the major alternative rock bands of the early '90s, the Smashing Pumpkins were the group least influenced by traditional underground rock. Lead guitarist/songwriter Billy Corgan fashioned an amalgam of progressive rock, heavy metal, goth rock, psychedelia, and dream pop, creating a layered, powerful sound driven by swirling, distorted... [+] Read More

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5 out of 6 people agree

Pink Floyd is the premier space rock band. Since the mid-'60s, their music relentlessly tinkered with electronics and all manner of special effects to push pop formats to their outer limits. At the same time they wrestled with lyrical themes and concepts of such massive scale that their music has taken on almost classical, operatic quality, in... [+] Read More

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Tool's greatest breakthrough was to introduce dark, vaguely underground metal to the preening pretentiousness of art rock. Or maybe it was introducing the self-absorbed pretension of art rock to the wearing grind of post-thrash metal -- the order really doesn't matter. Though Metallica wrote their multi-sectioned, layered songs as if they were... [+] Read More

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4 out of 6 people agree

Formed by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel, A Perfect Circle is an extension of the alt-metal-fused-with-art rock style popularized by Tool in the early to mid-'90s. While similar to Tool in intensity and melancholy, A Perfect Circle is less dark and more melodic, with a theatrical, ambient quality... [+] Read More

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3 out of 4 people agree

Along with Limp Bizkit, the Deftones are often considered to be disciples of Korn, but in fact, they've been around for just as long (if not longer). They were also one of the first groups to alternate heavy riffs and screamed vocals with more ethereal music and hushed singing -- spawning a fair amount of imitators in their wake. The group first... [+] Read More

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Far is an alternative-metal band based in Sacramento, California. Vocalist Jonah Sonz Matranga, guitarist Shaun Lopez, bassist John Gutenberger and drummer Chris Robyn formed the band in 1991. Over the next five years, the group gradually expanded its fan base through a series of seven-inch singles, self-released cassetes and a pair of indie CDs... [+] Read More

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3 out of 3 people agree

Though he initially came to wider attention (at least in the U.K.) with No-Man, his long-running collaboration with Tim Bowness, throughout the 1990s, singer/guitarist Steven Wilson has gained as much of a reputation for Porcupine Tree. Embracing and exploring prog rock inspirations while always keeping an ear out for newer musical connections,... [+] Read More

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2 out of 2 people agree