*Front page fixed up, as per paul's request.*

Probably the most important lo-fi band (so alternative, not punk).

And thanks for updating the first page. I can see how Sonic Youth probably qualify.

Perhaps you could add to the definition that the artists may have reocrded in non-'hard rock' styles as well and that only their hard rock output is counted.

I will do that, I'm also thinking about adding some pictures of the top 5 on the first page (something we used to do on the original ddd forum back in the day).

Also, how high do you reckon Pavement should place here?

Since I'm not even certain whether they belong at all, I really can't tell. Quite a bit of their work is definitely not hard rock though, so probably not all too high.

I think the next bunch could consist of the following:

Bon Jovi
Boston
David Bowie
The Clash
Def Leppard
The Kinks
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Rush
Patti Smith
The Stooges

Yea I was thinking about The Stooges as well.

Should have a 21-25 by tomorrow.

...which provides me with the opportunity to post my suggestion first. How about

21. Bon Jovi
22. Def Leppard
23. The Stooges
24. Boston
25. The Clash

Hmm. If anything, I'd have have Leppard over Bon Jovi.
It's funny, I've always given Motley Crue the most credit for kickstarting glam rock for the 80's, but honestly, Def Leppard deserves just as much credit, if not more. I'm pretty sure Leppard wins popularity (have to check), and I think influence and acclaim are Def Leppard's.

That's actually a pretty convincing list of names there, but let me look at all my research first and see what I come up with.

If this is Leppard vs. Mötley I agree. If this is Leppard vs. BJ I'd give popularity to BJ at least (sales in the US are about equal, but BJ had bigger initial popularity over a longer period of time and also wins popularity in the UK fairly easily). Leppard should probably take influence and maybe even impact/acclaim. So, yeah, I agree with Def Leppard > Bon Jovi. It might even be justifiable to move The Stooges ahead of them as well (immense win for BJ in popularity but very very solid wins for The Stooges in both influence and acclaim).

I think Rush beat all of those artists except for the Stooges and The Clash.

The only thing Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Boston have on Rush is popularity.

They probably beat all three in acclaim/impact but not by all that much and I don't see how Rush could possible take influence over any of them (it's close in influence between them and Bon Jovi but that's about it). I think they'd be very well off in the 25-30 range.

Also I still don't see Rush (or The Clash since you brought them up) as pure hard rock bands so they need to be lowered in comparison to their overall credentials.

This is where I think Rush would place among all the artists I mentioned:

21. Def Leppard
22. The Stooges
23. Bon Jovi
24. Boston
25. The Clash
26. Lynyrd Skynyrd
27. Rush
28. David Bowie
29. The Kinks
30. Patti Smith

Rush is without a doubt a hard rock band. I somewhat denied it at first, but then I heard more of their stuff (I only have four of their albums).
Even when Rush became more synth-oriented in the early 80's, they still had hard rock tunes like YYZ and Freewill.

I'd like to know why you think Bon Jovi and Def Leppard have more influence than Rush.