New York, NY— “Always chase your dream,” rock n roll bands normally say before concerts. Do you like listening to music? Do you want to remember some of your favorite bands or rock composers? Well, I know ten bands that everyone should remember throughout life. We will start from 10 and count down from there.
Tenth rock band or composer is Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is a famous musician who has made many songs, and many of them are amazing. “Bob Dylan is my favorite composer,” my older, very close cousin, Karran, who is like a brother to me, said. Karran is not exactly a huge music fan, but if the topic gets brought up he would choose Bob Dylan as his favorite composer.
Now for 9th place is one of my personal favorites. It is Bon Jovi!! Bon Jovi has amazing songs, and their songs are addicting to listen to on and on and on because of the teamwork throughout the band. They show teamwork in every way, but mostly by staying with the beat as a team. They make such amazing sounds with their instruments. Plus, they are much older these days and still love playing as a band. “Bon Jovi is the best band ever!” says Casey Mosley says with pride. Casey and I are best friends and the important part about this relationship is that Casey is an expert on Bon Jovi. Casey convinced me to like Bon Jovi when we were in 2nd grade. Somehow I not only liked Bon Jovi’s music, but loved it, and started learning about them. I am still learning all of their tunes on the guitar.
But wait, what lays ahead in 8th place? This band is a great really jamming band and the band is… Nirvana! Nirvana has a very famous song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” In this song, you can feel rock music from just hearing the intro! Nirvana could’ve made it to 5th or 4th place, but they are a little too wild to make it that far. Their music is amazing if you like metal rock! Heavy metal rock is not the only type of rock there is. What will 7th place be like?
For the 7th place award in rock ’n roll composers and bands comes Queen! Queen is a clean smooth playing band with the perfect amount of songs and a perfect amount of calmness! Queen is a very popular band and pretty much would’ve made it to the top 3, but there are more better bands up ahead with smoother music.
We are almost half way to 1st place! For our 6th place comes Journey. Journey is a kid friendly band and has many popular songs. One of their most popular songs is “Don’t Stop Believin,” which has amazing shredding and very good vocals. With amazing vocals and amazing shredding what could beat that?
5th Place is one of my favorite bands, The Cure, with amazing songs like “Caterpillar” and “Just Like Heaven.” The Cure has amazing guitar and vocals, and in the song “Caterpillar” they make these unusual sounds, which are unique. My favorite song by them is called “Friday I’m in Love.” It’s not because of the name; it’s because it has an amazing strumming to it and has an excellent tone of voice. It also has a very good solo part to it. On the other hand, my younger brother likes “Caterpillar” because of the sounds. The Cure is amazing, but there are definitely better bands in the world, like the one coming up in 4th.
For our 4th place comes: “Van Halen”! This band played back in the 80’s and 90’s and were a really well formed band. Van Halen had two brothers as part of the band. Sadly, Van Halen’s main guitar player died in 2020, so the band is not going to play ever again. With such amazing talent, Van Halen is a good band, but is not the best band ever.
For 3rd place is U2!! With amazing, calm music, U2 definitely deserves to be in 3rd place. U2 has many calm songs, but they are still part of rock ‘n roll music!! One of their calmest songs is “Moment of Surrender.” With an amazing talent of creating calm, these guys surely deserve to be in 3rd place.
Now we are on our last two awards. This may get intense, so be ready. For 2nd place, it was a very hard choice between two groups. I could not decide, so I chose both. So the 2nd place awards go to Bruce Springsteen and The Beatles! I chose Bruce Springsteen because his music is not full rock ‘n roll, but his music always has a story in it. Bruce played live in 2018, and my parents went to one of his live performances. They said it was amazing! Bruce has made many songs, and they all have a type of feeling in it.
The Beatles are definitely an amazing and popular band. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison are just a good match. One of the Beatles’ most famous songs is “Let It Be.” These are the lyrics to part of the song: “Let it be/ oh let it be/ whisper words of wisdom/ let it be”. The Beatles became a band in 1960 and ended in 1970. This will a disappointment to some people who think the Beatles should have made it to first place. But they made it far, and so did Bruce Springsteen.
Ok before we make it to 1st place, I need to tell you some bands who could’ve made the list. The first one is Led Zeppelin, because of their amazing songs and teamwork. Good try Led Zeppelin. There’s also the Rolling Stones, who played amazing music from 1962 to the present day. They really could’ve made it, but they didn’t. Still, they deserve a good job award. The last shout out is to Def Lepard. Their music is amazing, and they would probably make it to the top 14 if I went that high. Def Leppard is an amazing, well formed band that still plays songs. We shall now announce 1st place award.
In 1st place is… Coldplay!
I know that many people may not know Coldplay and may not think that it deserves to be the 1st place band. I definitely think that it deserves to be in first because they have so many songs and each song has its own meaning. Each song is very sorrowful, but also has some shredding and jamming. Coldplay has four members. The main member of Coldplay is Chris Martin. Then Coldplay has three other members, Will Champion, Jonny Buckland, and Guy Berryman. Coldplay’s songs are sorrowful but energizing, so if you like British rock and calm rock, Coldplay is perfect. Coldplay has many songs. Some of my personal favorites are: “Fix You,” “Scientist,” “Swallowed in the Sea,” “Viva la Vida,” “Head Full of Dreams,” and “Sky Full of Stars.” You also can see all the other songs here. You can also learn about Coldplay here. Coldplay has been my favorite band ever since I was a toddler. I love Coldplay because they have a really secure group and so many songs to hear. I haven’t even heard all of their songs yet! Chris Martin has an amazing voice. Plus, they have a great drummer and guitarist and bass player. Coldplay, you definitely deserve 1st place!This is one way this tournament could’ve ended, but you could make your own list and send it to sachin.mehta@writopialab.org. Rock is amazing and there is so much to learn from it! Keep on following your favorite bands forever, and stay safe.