Prince

Prince is one of the most prolific pop and rock artists of all time. Starting in the late 70s through the 80s, prince released a barrage of hit albums, many of them pushing the use of classic analog and digital synthesizers. He used synths for many famous melodies, hooks, and harmonies in some of his biggest songs.

The Beatles
The Beatles are one of the most popular rock bands of all time. They acheived worldwide fame in the 1960s, and were instrumental in the counterculture movement and changing music scene of the period. Though they were only active for about a decade, they released over a dozen albums, and experimented in a variety of genres from pop, to classic rock to progressive and art rock.

Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin was one of the legendary British bands of the 1960s-1980s, originally starting as a classic hard rock and early metal band, but branching out into synthesizer sounds later in their catalog. John Paul Jones used many of the golden age analog synths of the 60s, 70s and 80s, penning many famous synth riffs and melodies in Zeppelin's later albums.

Radiohead
Radiohead hit the airwaves in the 1990s with a grunge and alternate rock sound, but quickly transformed the alt rock and experimental rock scene, becoming one of the most influencial bands over the past three decades. Thom Yorke and his fellow instrumentalists have incorporated various classic and modern synths into their sound, and many of their songs are synth centric.

Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd is one of the most successful and influencial bands in the classic rock, progressive rock and psychadelic rock genres. They found great success in the 70s and 80s, with David Gilmour and Roger Waters fronting the band. Keyboardist Richard Wright incorporated a variety of classic analog synthesizers into many of their hits, using them for textures, harmonies, melodies and leads in many of their most successful and critically acclaimed songs.

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode is one of the most successful new wave, synth pop and electronic rock bands of all time. Through the 80s, they released many highly acclaimed songs, and they used a variety of classic analog and more modern digital synths in their hit songs.

Muse

Muse is one of the most prolific alternative rock, hard rock and synth rock bands over the past three decades. Matt Bellamy has used a variety of analog and digital synths, plus synth effects on some of Muse's most popular songs from the past couple decades.

Rush

Rush was one of the most prolific rock bands from the 1970s through 2010s, writing 19 studio albums, and touring arenas for over three decades. The are perhaps the most influencial progressive rock band, and Geddy Lee incorporated a variety of classic analog and digital synths in their albums in the 80s through 2000s.

The Cars
The Cars were an American rock band that formed in the late 1970s. They achieved critical and popular success with several hit albums and songs in the late 70s and 80s. Their sound combined guitars, bass drums and synthesizers, and their new wave and pop rock melodies are often cited as influencial on modern bands.

Toto
Toto is an American rock band that formed in the 1970s. They achieved critical and commercial success with several hit albums in the 1980s. They have experimented in a variety of genres including pop, rock, progressive, and jazz fusion. They have used a variety of synthesizers in their hit songs.

Journey
Journey is an American rock band formed in the early 70s. Initially, they were focused on progressive rock, arena rock and jazz fusion type of sounds, but once Jonathan Cain joined the band, they branched out in the more usage of synthesizers for many of the harmonies and melodic hooks.

Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails was formed by Trent Reznor in the late 1980s. They achieved critical and popular success in the 90s with their distinctive industrial rock and electronic sound. Throughout the past three decades, they have released many hit albums, many of which include lots of synth and processed elecronic guitar textures.

Van Halen
Van Halen, the quintessential 1980s hair band, penned dozens of huge hit songs with both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar as front men. Virtuoso guitarist Eddie Van Halen is well known for his guitar chops, but he also played synthesizer on many of their biggest hit songs. The intro to Jump is perhaps the most ubiquitous and well known synth riff of all time.

Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel is one of the most prolific and successful artists over the past four decades. Starting with Genesis in the late 1960s, Gabriel showed his skills as a talented instrumentalist and vocalist in the progressive rock genre. After leaving Genesis, Peter Gabriel went on with a solo career, continuing his roots in progressive rock, but also incorporating elements of pop, electronic, world music, orchestration and more. He has used a variety of keyboards and synthesizers over the years.

U2
U2 are an Irish rock band that formed in the late 70s. In the 80s, they achieved critical and popular success with several hit albums and songs. They have continued to innovate and release new music over four decades now, and are one of the best selling bands of all time, with regular mega arena tours.

Talking Heads
Talking Heads is an American rock, new wave and art pop band that started up in New York in the mid 70s. Fronted by eclectic frontman David Byrne, they had a variety of hit songs in the 70s and 80s. They often featured classic analog synths on their hit songs.

Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke is best known as the frontman of Radiohead.  His solo work delves into even more experimental rock and electronica sounds than Radiohead, often using synths and drum machines, and incorporating very interesting time signatures and chord phrasing.  

Queen
Queen were a rock band formed in the 1970s in England. Their early works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and metal. They acheived critical and popular success in the 70s and 80s, with a string of hit songs that received regular radio play.

Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears is one of the most successful 80s pop and new wave bands. They had a string of hit songs in the 80s, and their hits get regular radio play to this day. They used a variety of synths on their albums.

Phil Collins
Phil Collins is an English drummer, vocalist and songwriter who is best known for his tenure with Genesis, and then his following solo career in the 1980s. He has penned many hit pop and progressive rock songs.

The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in the late 1970s. They achieved critical and popular success in the 70s and 80s with their unique and innovative new wave, reggae rock and pop rock sounds.

Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in the late 70s. They achieved critical and popular success in the 80s with several hit albums and songs that received regular radio play. They included synthesizers in many of their biggest hits.

Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English new wave band formed in the late 1970s. They achieved critical and popular success in the 80s with several hit albums and songs. They have used a variety of classic and more modern synths in their hit songs, and been at the frontier of the synth pop and new wave movements.

Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is an English rock band that has been one of the most critically acclaimed and popular progressive rock bands over the past three decades. Keyboardist Richard Barbieri incorporates many synth melodies, harmonies and textures into their intricate and unique compositions.

M83

M83 is a French rock group that formed in the late 90s. They achieved critical success in the 2000s and 2010s with their synth pop, shoegaze, post rock and ambient sounds. They have used a variety of classic analog and more modern synths.

Tom Petty

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band which formed in the late 1970s. They achieved widespread critical acclaim and popular success through the 80s and 90s with a variety of hit songs and albums. They incorporated keyboards, organs and synthesizers in some of their hit songs.

Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in the early 80s, that went on to massive success through the 80s and 90s and continue to release new material an tour to this day. They have penned many hit radio songs and been a constant stable of radio play for the past four decades.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in the 1960s. They have been active for six decades, and released many critically acclaimed and popular hits through the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine burst onto the radio airwaves in the 1990s with their distinctive funk metal, rap rock style. Though they don't use synthesizers, Tom Morello often uses synth effects to carve out distinctive tones and special effects. Morello is known for his use of synth pitch effects and gated stacatto sounds using kill switches on his guitar.

Gary Numan
Gary Numan is credited as being one of the earliest pioneers of the synth pop and new wave movements in the early 1980s. Starting with his 1979 Tubeway Army release, he release many albums with synth centric melodies and harmonies.

Genesis
Genesis are an English rock band formed in the late 1960s, which went through several phases, lineup changes and genres from the 60s through 1980s. They acheived critical and popular success with their progressive rock and art rock tunes in the 70s, with Peter Gabriel, and then Phil Collins took over as the front man and steered Genesis into more of a pop rock and progressive pop genre with huge success in the 1980s.

Linkin Park

Linkin Park is an American rock band formed in California in the late 1990s. They acheived critical and popular success in the late 90s and early 00s with a variety of hit songs and albums. Their sound started as primarily nu metal and rap rock genres, but they have also incorporated pop rock, electronic, and alternative sounds over the years.

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in London in the mid 1960s. They released many critically acclaimed and popular hit albums in the 60s, 70s and 80s. They used synthesizers and keyboards in many of their biggest hits.

The Eagles

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. They have released several number one singles and albums over the years. Their sound has varied from country rock to folk rock to pop.

The Doors

The Doors are an American rock band formed in the mid 1960s in Los Angeles. They were one of the most popular psychadelic rock and blues rock bands of the 60s and 70s, before Jim Morrison's death in 1971. They incorporated keyboard and organ parts in many of their hit songs.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in the early 1990s in Seattle. They were at the forefront of the grunge rock and alternative rock revolution of the 90s, and have released a variety of hit albums over the past three decades.

Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson is an English guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, best known for his work with Porcupine Tree and his solo work, but he has worked with a variety of other artists over the past three decades. He is regarded as one of the best progressive rock songwriters since the 90s. His catalog branches out into a variety of other genres as well, including pop, psychadelic rock, fusion, metal, and synth rock.

Foo Fighters

The Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in the mid 1990s by Dave Grohl, following Kurt Cobain's death and the ending of Grohl's previous project, Nirvana. The Foo Fighters have released a variety of hit albums and number one songs over the past three decades, and regularly sell out major arenas around the world.

Green Day

Green Day is an American rock band formed in California in the late 1980s. They received critical and popular sucess in the 90s and 00s with several hit albums and songs.

Guns n Roses

Guns n Roses is an American rock band formed in the late 1980s, that went on to massive commercial success in the late 80s and 90s with their distinctive hard rock and metal sound, which ushered in a new era from the glam rock trend of the 80s.

Def Leppard

Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in the late 1970s that went on to be one of the quintessential and best selling glam rock bands of the 1980s. They have released a variety of hit albums and radio hits over the years.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in the 1980s in Los Angeles. They received critical and popular success in the late 80s and 90s with a string of hit songs and records, and have continued to produce popular albums over the past three decades.

Nirvana

Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Seattle in the late 1980s. They went on to achieve massive success in the 90s, and were perhaps the most influencial grunge band on the scene. They are regularly cited as influencial for many bands that followed.

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band that formed in the early 1970s. They became one of the most popular arena rock bands of the 70s and 80s, releasing a variety of hit albums and songs. They have sold over 150 million records worldwide.