When Def Leppard receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday (Oct. 9), they’ll join nearly two dozen other rock groups in the world’s most famous sidewalk star attraction.
Rock groups weren’t in the mix of honorees for the first two decades of the Walk of Fame’s existence. On Aug. 15, 1958, the first eight stars were unveiled on Hollywood Blvd. at Highland Ave. to demonstrate what the Walk would look like. The initial honorees included actors Ronald Colman, Burt Lancaster and Joanne Woodward. On Feb. 8, 1960, construction began on the long-planned Walk. The first star to be added beyond the initial eight was producer/director Stanley Kramer on March 28, 1960.
In June 1978, Crosby, Stills & Nash became the first rock group to receive this recognition. The trio were basking in the success of their 1977 album CSN, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and received a Grammy nod for album of the year at the February 1978 ceremony. It lost to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. In October 1979, Fleetwood Mac became the second rock group to get a star.
We’ve rounded up all the rock groups that have received a star. Keep in mind that our focus here is on rock. This list doesn’t include duos and groups that fit more comfortably in other genres, namely:
Vintage Pop: The Mills Brothers, The Andrews Sisters, Les Paul & Mary Ford, The Lennon Sisters, The Lettermen, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme
Pop: America, Backstreet Boys, The Everly Brothers, Bee Gees, Jonas Brothers, New Kids on the Block, Sonny & Cher, Carpenters, the Fifth Dimension, The Monkees, Daryl Hall & John Oates, The Osmonds, Pentatonix, *NSYNC
R&B: Earth, Wind & Fire, The Jacksons, Destiny’s Child, The Chi-Lites, New Edition, Kool & the Gang, Boyz II Men, The Miracles, The Pointer Sisters, The Spinners, The Supremes, Four Tops, The Temptations, War
Country: Alabama, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Sons of the Pioneers
Latin: Los Bukis, Los Tigres Del Norte, Los Huracanes Del Norte, Los Tigres Del Norte
Hip-hop: Cypress Hill, Salt N Pepa
Disco: KC & the Sunshine Band, Village People
Gospel: Bebe & CeCe Winans
Here’s a list of the rock groups that have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They are shown in order of the date of their star ceremonies. We also show the title of their album that climbed the highest on the Billboard 200 and/or stayed at No. 1 the longest. For brevity’s sake, we call that their top Billboard 200 album.
