@Brianna George Hill

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Armenian parents, Serj Tankian moved to Los Angeles at age 5. After studying music in college, Tankian, Daron Malakian, and Shavo Odadjian formed System of a Down after the dissolution of their short-lived band Soil in the early '90s. SOAD hit mainstream in 1998 with their self-titled debut, but reached fame with 2001's Toxicity LP. After three more albums, the band went on an indefinite hiatus and Tankian began a solo career. He experimented with prog, symphonic rock, and art rock on albums like Harakiri, as well as classical on 2013's Orca.

As the 2000s began, hard rock had a nu-metal hangover: Limp Bizkit’s rugged riffage still had teeth, while P.O.D.’s thundering anthems and Papa Roach’s slash-and-burn approach rose to prominence. The genre was given an electrifying creative jolt by Linkin Park, a California group whose hip-hop-tinted take on nu-metal—and frustration-filled lyrics that zeroed in on the pain of personal shortcomings—felt fresh and energetic, not to mention all too relatable to a generation paralysed by post-September 11 uncertainty and turmoil. In fact, although ’90s superstars such as Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers continued to churn out comfort-food hits, a new breed of ambitious hard rockers captured the decade’s winds of change. Muse and My Chemical Romance unleashed heroic glam epics, Evanescence embraced an operatic vocal delivery and radio-ready acts like Shinedown merged unstoppable hooks with roiling emotional angst.

Kiss are a hard act to follow, visually and musically, but the bands and singers on this list are more than up to the task, having learned their explosive stage craft and songwriting chops at the platform shoes of New York's finest. Prepare for the ultimate rock 'n' roll soundtrack to some crazy (crazy) nights.

Rage's rapid-fire riffs, guerrilla funk, and political grit have stirred artists across the genre map. While Slipknot's “Duality” contorts RAtM's innovations into brooding, industrialized nu-metal, Death Grips' “Guillotine” slams rap metal up against a wall of noisy dissonance. On “Show Me How to Live,” spin-off act Audioslave pour their predecessors' crunchy syncopation into hook-filled rock.

Like denim and late-night raging, some things never go out of style. This playlist delivers dependable hard-rock classics and the latest in high-powered air-guitar anthems. We update these songs every month. If you like a track, add it to your library.

Not only did Ross Robinson create the template for nu-metal in the ‘90s with his production work for bands like Korn, Slipknot, and Fear Factory; he was also a driving force in everything from post-hardcore (At the Drive-In) to thrash (Sepultura) and industrial rock (Black Light Burns). Check out some of his best work here.