The Red Hot Chili Peppers November 4, 2006

Few rock groups of the '80s broke down as many musical barriers and were as original as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Creating an intoxicating new musical style by combining funk and punk rock together (with an explosive stage show, to boot), the Chili Peppers spawned a slew of imitators in their wake, but still managed to be the leaders of the pack by the dawn of the 21st century. Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez formed the Mars Volta after the fallout of At the Drive-In and wasted little time in branching out into elements of hardcore, psychedelic rock 'n' roll and free jazz that expanded on the boundaries of their previous work.