I haven't heard any new straight ahead Hard Rock bands in the last 15 years that I would call, "Great." Have I missed out on any?

I'm talking about bands that fit in with AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, UFO, KISS, Ratt, Dokken, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, etc.

The Foo Fighters were suggested on another thread, and I'm familiar with their singles, but I've never heard an entire album from them. (So I'm checking out their album tracks to see how strong they are - any album suggestions for them?)

Are there any other bands that you'd suggest?

About the only ones I can think of are bands like The Darkness and Airbourne. Maybe Wolfmother and Andrew WK, too. Whether or not they're "great" is up for debate, though.

I think that the problem is if a new band comes out with that kind of "hard rock" sound, they're going to feel like a novelty act. Music, especially the hard rock/metal end, has progressed beyond that kind of sound and attitude. If you're going to play hard rock/metal, then you're going to sound like Lamb of God or Slipknot rather than Dokken or UFO if you want to be taken seriously.

That's not entirely true. Look at Disturbed. Their latest album sounds like what 80's Heavy Metal (Judas Priest, DIO, Iron Maiden) would have led to by this point if Grunge had never happened.

And there are some straight ahead Hard Rock bands out there now (Nickelback, etc) - I just haven't heard any that stand out as well above average. I've got to think that there are some, but I'm just missing them.

I think you've pretty much hit upon it, right there.

It's kind of a tough call, because as has been mentioned, most of the bands I can think of came out of either the Alternative or Nu Metal scene, and were never initially labeled as just "Hard Rock". They were thrown in, or more likely joined in, with whatever term was selling at the time.

On the one hand you've got the more commercial sounding bands like Nickelback (and all their clones like Theory Of A Deadman, Hinder, Daughtry, etc..), The Foo Fighters, or Buckcherry. Then, you got the bands like Wolfmother, The Darkness (now defunct), Jet or Airbourne - who are all clearly riding the nostalgia train and imitating bands from the past (AC/DC comes to mind most often). Lastly, you've got the bands like Disturbed and Avenge Sevenfold, who also show their love of the style of old, but at least put a new spin on it.

There's tons of other bands out there that I've never bothered to even listen to. B5Erik, if you haven't, you should check out http://www.melodicrock.com/ to get some ideas on them. But as Josh-da-man pointed out, whether or not you'll find them "great" is a matter of opinion.

Buckcherry and Airbourne are the first two that came to mind.
It's hard to judge a band (Airbourne)after 1 album but I recently saw them live and it was one of the best hard rock shows I've seen in years.
I felt like I went back in time 25 years and it is good to see bands like them trying to bring back that old great hard rock sound.
Running Wild is just an incredible album and it will be interesting to see if they can build on such a strong debut.
Keep your eye on Stone Rider.They just toured with Airbourne and were a harder version of The Black Crowes.Endeverafter was also on the bill and they were good too if you like that LA sleaze rock sound.

Velvet Revolver made me think they were on their way with their first album. But the second was horrible.

Not sure if you are looking for progressive bands, but Dream Theater is about the best hard rock band going right now.

The Foo Fighters are the only ones that come to mind. Velvet Revolver is a little too heavy, as is Buckcherry. The Darkness don't sound like the 80's.

Collective Soul is pretty good hard rock, but that may be more than 15 years ago.

I wouldn't say that the band has to sound exactly like the 80's bands, (just like the 80's bands didn't sound exactly like the 70's bands - just obviously influenced by them), I'm just looking for some great, straightforward Hard Rock (or even Melodic Metal as heavy as Disturbed) - stuff that's more influenced by 70's and 80's Hard Rock/Metal, and isn't very influenced by the grunge stuff from the 90's.

Queens Of The Stone Age.

OP, as for a good Foo Fighters album, I assume most will agree with me in recommending The Colour and The Shape.

Bands like Nickleback and Disturbed are just flat out horrible. I can't really think of any good/respectable straight up hard rock bands besides The Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam. I'm sure there are some, it's just not really a genre of music I'm into. I guess Andrew W.K. fits into that category as well, and he's pretty good. Like Josh-da-man said, most bands nowadays, veer more towards the heavy metal genre.

The White Stripes

Winner.

If you want that 80's kinda rock, look no further than Tesla. They recently reformed a couple years back after a decade break and are still rocking the same sound they did on their first album in the 80s. They never pandered to what was hip then, and they certainly aren't doing it now. More importantly, they still got it.

Of course they aren't near as hard rock as some of the bands mentioned here like Disturbed or Avenged Sevenfold, but they are leagues above some of the others mentioned like Nickleback.

Oh, I'm very familiar with Tesla. I picked up their 1st album the 2nd week it was out... (I've also got their reunion album from a few years back - good stuff).

I like a lot of the bands mentioned here (if not all of the there work, at least parts of their catalog); Tesla, Buckcherry, Daughtry, Foo Fighters, Nickleback, and Theory of a Deadman. I don't know how many of them are as "epic" as the bands listed/to whom they're compared, but in a day where there's much less readily accessible hard rock, those are still some bigger names to whom I enjoy listening.

My favorite hard rock act of the last few years, though, in spite of all the big(ger) names listed above is ZO2. It probably has a lot to do with seeing them live so many times, getting to know them (more so than just some act I go see), and becoming so familiar with their work. They're a small (or were, I suppose they're getting some notoriety now, what with their TV show on IFC), but I think they've really got the chops. It's just that in the music market that exists today, as of now, they don't have a big audience and a lot of people are only familiar with what it played on the radio.

I'm much more into the local band/indie band scene as opposed to the mass marketed bands on the radio these days.

I saw Z02 open for KISS in '04. GREAT set. I still need to get their debut CD. Is it still available?

Good call on ZO2

I got hooked to them through their Trans-Siberian Orchestra (David) and Blue Man Group (Joey) connections.

If you can catch them live, you can grab their first CD. Don't recall the price offhand. (I think it might be the same as the website "One CD for $15, both for $20" deal.)

You can get it through the store at their website. http://www.merchdirect.net/ZO2/CDs/T...productid=3257

BTW, for anyone who'll be up tonight, ZO2's new television show, ZRock, will premier on IFC tonight at 11:30 PM (ET). I only got to see the first 10 minutes or so, but it looks like it'll be pretty funny (in quite the raunchy way).

I'm surprised that there's less love for Shinedown out there. I thought they'd catch on more when their debut hit pretty big and then their cover of Simple Man.

I liked a couple Shinedown songs off of Us and Them, but I never followed up with another album because there were only a few. They were a little too modern for my tastes. (Which is where the downfall is with a lot of newer bands and my tastes.)

I'd be willing to give them another listen, but I've just never been motivated to go do it.
(The only reason I even got that album was because the WWE used a song of theirs as the them to a PPV.)

I don't know that much about good metal / hard rock bands from the past 15 years, I've been afraid to try out new acts because a lot of bands in the past 10-15 years have started with those growling vocals which I really hate. I don't have the money to experiment with bands like I did in the 70-80's so when I do buy a blind purchase and it has those growling vocals I lose a lot of money on something i'll never play again. I usually go after the bands that you mentioned in your original post. But one band that has been on again off again that I kind of like is Nightwish. Their cd Once was incredible, powerful, heavy a real winner. Their DVD An End of an Era was great too. But then some of their other cd's weren't that heavy or not even that good like Oceanborn.
They seem to be a band that doesn't know which way to go. But you can't miss with Once that really rocks. their other cd's i'm not so sure.

For classic, AC/DC style hard rock, Sweden's Hellacopters kick (kicked?) ass in their prime, as did Norway's Turbonegro. Both bands circa 1999-2000 were terrific.

I'd agree that most hard rock these days has been more influenced by Sabbath than Aerosmith. If you like Sabbath and want heavy/stoner rock, Torche, The Sword and High on Fire are three great stoner/desert metal/rock bands. All three bands have released great albums recently. It's my favorite hard rock/metal offshoot at the moment. Kyuss (Josh's Homme's band prior to QOTSA) was one of the first bands out there doing this particular style in the early ninties.

The first three Manic Street Preachers albums each rock very hard and the secod and third fit into the time window. I daresay The Holy Bible might be the best glam metal album of all time.

I just ordered both (2 for $20 + shipping, $24.88 total - not bad).

They just killed when they opened for KISS in '04, and I've been meaning to order that 1st CD ever since. Well, getting the 2nd for only $5 more? How could I say no?

(By the way, here's a thread I started about them back then, when I was still doing an internet radio show... http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=370730 I say I started the thread, but, unfortunately, it didn't get a lot of response.)

Great write up dude! I wish I'd been here back then to follow up on it. (I missed both of the KISS shows I was supposed to go to that summer, but saw them that fall for the first time.)

I agree that, in a just world, they'd be huge. I've seen them 30+ times and they always put on a killer show. They really are a great band, particularly live.

I just posted the first response to that thread. (Responding to my own post 4 years later! )

It's definitely worth checking out....