The Streets are basically the project of Mike Skinner, who wanted to (and succeeded in) taking the U.K. Garage and Alternative Hip Hop genres to a more socially aware place. Skinner, who does most of the vocals, arranging, producing and mixing is unarguably multi-talented but again the lack of an American impact does him no favors for this argument.

Like so many other bands, the Strokes knocked it out of the park with a powerful debut album, though they were unable to maintain that momentum. It is a common story, but it is not like they faded into obscurity like others, as they are generated a devoted group of fans, sold over five million albums and also for many revitalized Rock and Roll in the early 00’s. We can see the Strokes enter our list at a decent rank, but the Hall may be a little out of their reach at this time.

Darlings of the Indie Pop/Rock scene for years, The Shins were essentially a side project that evolved into Songwriter, James Mercer’s main outlet. The Shins echo back to a simpler era, yet at the same time managed to pump a Folk feel that took them to levels of introspection without being pretentious. Considering that in the well received 2004 Film Garden State, the lead character referenced a song by the Shins will change your life. For many fans of the Shins, they actually did change lives!

Arguably one of the more important Indie Rock bands of the 2000’s, The National drew from Country, Brit Pop, Punk and their adopted home of New York City to create their own unique sound. They combined that with some of the most melancholy (or undecipherable depending on your point of view) that came from the United States in a long time but who said music had to be cheery?