Top 10 Best Power Trios

"Power trio" bands are rock bands with a lineup consisting of an electric guitar, a bass guitar, and a drum kit. This list ranks the greatest power trios of all time.
The Top Ten
1 Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock style, and are also credited as being some of the earliest pioneers of heavy metal, ...read more.
2 Rush Rush was a Canadian progressive rock band that was formed in 1968. The band has had an iconic lineup since 1975, which included Neil Peart (Drums, Percussion), Geddy Lee (Vocals, Bass, Keyboards), and the guitarist, Alex Lifeson. Peart passed away after a 3 year battle with brain cancer in January of ...read more.

In the first instance Rush are nothing like Aerosmith, AC/DC, Van Halen or any other band alive or dead, they are totally unique. Even to compare them with these other bands shows you are either negitivly biased or have never listened to their music. They all play their instruments at virtuoso level and have had one line-up change in their entire history. No disrespect to any other band or power trio but Rush are at least 2 leagues ahead of the rest.

Dude rush is the greatest band of all time. Yeah how about of all time! When you listen rush you are changing your air instrument constantly.. Easily number 1!

Three guys who are individually the best of their craft = more than the sum of their parts. No other trio or band for that matter comes close

There is no doubt Rush is the best band of all time. But having only 3 people? Well, that's something else.

3 The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Jimi Hendrix Experience was an English-American rock band that formed in Westminster, London, in September 1966. Composed of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding, and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969. During this time ...read more.
4 Cream Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup power trio consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker, and guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton.

Cream was the ultimate power trio! The first true super group. And number one power trio.
Sorry there are no other groups that had the best drummer better than Moon.
The best bassist Bruce and Clapton on lead. Creams live recordings are better than most other trios studio work.

All due respect to the other trios in this list who are, indeed, very good, I believe Cream, for being one of the first (if not truly the first) power trios and for the influence they had on modern music and on blues rock, should be first.

The power trio literally started with Cream. Should be #1!

5 Emerson, Lake, and Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of keyboardist Keith Emerson, singer, bassist, and producer Greg Lake, and drummer and percussionist Carl Palmer.
6 ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band that formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. The band is composed of bassist and lead vocalist Dusty Hill, guitarist and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons, and drummer Frank Beard.
7 The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland. They are most known for their songs "Message In A Bottle", "Don't Stand So Close To Me", "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", "Roxanne", And "Every Breath You Take" .

They were like The Beatles of first half of the 80s. They were classic pop poets.

The Police should be higher. One of my favourite trios.

8 Muse Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The members are Matt Bellamy (lead vocal, lead guitar, piano, keyboard), Dom Howard (drums, percussion) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals). They've won several awards including 5 MTV Awards, 8 NME Awards, 2 Brit Awards, and 2 Grammy Awards.
9 Primus Primus is an American funk metal band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander. Les Claypool is regarded as one of the best bassists of all time for his slap-bass ability in notable songs like "My Name Is Mud", "The Toys Go Winding Down", and "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver".

They're my favorite band of course I voted for them.

10 Motorhead Motörhead were an English heavy metal band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister, who was the sole constant member; guitarist and songwriter Larry Wallis; and drummer Lucas Fox. The band's harsh vocals and fast paced tempos helped inspire speed metal and thrash metal.
The Contenders
11 Coroner Coroner is a Swiss thrash metal band from Zürich, formed in the early 80s. They have been called "the Rush of thrash metal" for their increasingly complex style of progressive rock-infused thrash. They garnered relatively little attention outside Europe .
12 Nirvana Nirvana was an American grunge band that was formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana disbanded after Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. The drummer of the band, David Grohl, went on to start the Foo-Fighters, an alternative rock band. ...read more.

Nirvana set the grunge scene and shaped alternative rock as it's now known with only 3 members. Blue cheer did it with early metal and hard rock but they do not deserve #1 if Nirvana can't even crack the top 10. Hope they go up

Nirvana is the best and most influential trio rock band, hands down!

13 Venom Venom are an English extreme metal band formed in 1979 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Coming to prominence towards the end of the new wave of British heavy metal, Venom's first two albums—Welcome to Hell and Black Metal—are considered a major influence on thrash metal and extreme metal in general.
14 Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their leader Phil Lynott was composer or co-composer of almost all of the band's songs, and the first black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. Thin Lizzy's most successful songs, "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak" ...read more.
15 Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
16 The Arcana The Arcana are a British rock band formed in 2016 in London, England. The band consists of Peter Lennodo (vocals, guitars and keyboards), Jack Aquiziac (vocals, bass guitar and keyboards) and Joey Silverheel (drums and percussion).

They have released four studio albums: Pastel Painted People In Candy Coloured Crowds (2023), Mesmer Theatre (2020), Lemon Freddy Phantom Of The Sky (2017) and Tomorrow Is Yesterday (2016). They have released three singles: Ghostwriter (2016), Lemon Freddy (2018) and Wishes Last Forever (2019). ...read more.
17 Green Day Green Day are an American pop punk/punk rock band formed in East Bay, California in 1987. The members include Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals and guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass), Tré Cool (drums) and Jason White (guitar). Green Day are associated with punk rock, pop punk and alternative rock. Some of their influences include The Ramones, Sex Pistols, NOFX, and Bad Religion. They are best known for their songs like ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘Basket Case’ and their ‘American Idiot’ & ‘Dookie’ albums. American Idiot sold 6 million copies in the U.S. and won a Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album". Green Day have sold over 75 million records worldwide and have won 5 Grammy Awards. They ...read more.

Why aren't the higher? They literally are the best Trio out of all of them

18 The James Gang
19 The Gun Gun were a late 1960s British rock guitar trio who had a single British Top Ten hit, "Race with the Devil" and recorded two albums before disbanding. The band included brothers Paul Gurvitz and Adrian Gurvitz.
20 Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad, sometimes shortened as Grand Funk, is an American rock band popular during the 1970s, when they toured extensively and played to packed arenas worldwide.
21 The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/punk rock band during the 1970s and early 1980s, which formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, in the county of Surrey.
22 Fields (1969)
23 The Winery Dogs
24 Blink-182 Blink-182 is a pop-punk band formed in 1992. The original lineup consisted of Mark Hoppus on bass guitar and vocals, Tom DeLonge on guitar and vocals, and Scott Raynor on drums. Raynor was fired from the band in 1998 and replaced by drummer Travis Barker. They gained mainstream popularity after the release of the album "Enema of the State." The band has gone on to produce eight studio albums during... read more
25 Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band currently consists of brothers Jared and Shannon Leto.
8Load More
PSearch List