Formed in 1992, Stereophonics rose up alongside the nascent Britpop movement, but they always seemed to exist just outside that scene. For one, hailing from the small Welsh village where singer/guitarist Kelly Jones and drummer Stuart Cable grew up on the same street.

As Beatlemania was transforming rock 'n' roll from passing teen fad to permanent pop-cultural movement, Paul McCartney (born in Liverpool in 1942) became the driving force behind the band's rapid, dramatic maturation.

One thing you have to remember about The Beatles is that there was no Beatles before The Beatles. No model for a white band that credibly mixed early rock with real R&B. No model for performers who wrote their own material instead of vocalising others'.

Disregard any hyperbole about John Lennon and The Beatles being the most important thing to ever happen to popular music and ask yourself: How many artists can you name whose work has left people so energized and divided more than 40 years after their death?

Appearing on a movie soundtrack can give even established bands a career boost. The soulful Scottish pop band Wet Wet Wet already had two No. 1 singles under their belt-a jaunty 1988 cover of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" and the 1991 orchestral ballad "Goodnight Girl".

The qualities that make Guns N' Roses so divisive-the public altercations, the controversial outbursts, the scandalous decadence-are also the things that make them so captivating.

Savage Garden came and went in a flash, releasing just two albums in the late '90s before splitting up in 2001. But the Australian duo left behind some of the most indelible hits of the era, including the sweetly devoted lyrics and silvery harmonies of "Truly Madly Deeply".

At the helm of his world-famous Johann Strauss Orchestra, Dutch violinist impresario André Rieu transforms classical music into polished popular entertainment. Born in 1949, the year his father began conducting the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra.

Boston's blues-rock kings came together in 1970, when guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Brad Hamilton played a gig with and found kindred spirits in hard-hitting drummer Joey Kramer and lead yowler Steven Tyler. After bringing on rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford in 1971, Aerosmith lit up their home city with high-octane gigs.

The Feeling were one of a multitude of young U.K. bands to grab a moment or two in the spotlight during the mid 2000s. However, the band had a markedly different approach to rocking, passing on the typical Britpop and post-punk influences in favor of quirky MOR U.K. pop groups such as Supertramp and 10cc.

Back at the height of the Ziggy Stardust era, David Bowie told an interviewer that he'd always felt like a vehicle for something else, even if he could never quite figure out what that something else was. For all the times he changed his getup-the glam alien of Ziggy, the moody existentialist of the late '70s.

Snow Patrol's grandiose rock ballads give melody and mood to love's simple joys and tragic endings-the perfect soundtrack to both poignant onscreen moments and listeners' own romantic scenes. While the UK band seemed to follow in Coldplay's gentle footsteps, they began honing their craft in 1994.

In 1992, the U.S. Postal Service conducted a nationwide vote on a crucial subject: Should their upcoming stamp feature Young Elvis or Older Elvis? More than 75 percent of the million-plus ballots voted for Young Elvis.

New Wave group Spandau Ballet were one of the most successful English acts of the 1980s. Anchored by their chart-topping 1983 hit "True", the band launched 10 singles into the UK Top 10 between 1980 and 1986. Spandau Ballet formed as Roots in 1976.

It's impossible to talk about '80s pop music without mentioning a-ha, who conquered the world with their shimmering synth-pop, gravity-defying hair and, of course, the classic "Take On Me".

When rock invaded the mainstream yet again in the 2000s, Keane rose to the occasion-and the top of the charts-with their poignant, piano-fuelled ballads and electrifying, often guitar-less anthems. The Sussex rockers even managed to outdo their own heroes, surpassing U2's The Joshua Tree in sales.

On 1999's "My Name Is", Eminem entered the public imagination with a mandate: "God sent me to piss the world off". From his provocative early work to the redemption narratives of 8 Mile and beyond, he's more or less stayed true to form.

As an Irish band with big guitars and the kind of soaring anthems that feel built for stadiums, The Script inevitably attracted comparisons with U2 when the trio's self-titled debut album became a worldwide hit in 2008.

Emeli Sandé is no stranger to crowds-she performed to roughly a billion people at the London 2012 Olympics-but she knows that music's deepest meaning is often experienced alone. "To be able to have that privacy with someone is something I don't take for granted".

One of the most influential power metal groups to come out of Europe, Finland's Stratovarius emerged in the mid-'80s alongside genre heavyweights like Helloween, Gamma Ray, and Blind Guardian. Employing a versatile blend of hard rock and progressive, symphonic, and neo-classical metal.