Greatest American Band?

[marnold***]

So I guess this is just another of those pointless subjective threads? So what are the criteria? Who is going to determine who (American band) has the most influence on American music? How do you prove that?

It wasn't intended to be. That's why I gave my criteria, not so much because they are the be all and end all, but because when I thought of the greatest American band, that's what I used to make my determination. Even with those criteria, I'm still not convinced of my choices.

The main reason I started this thread is because when my friend and I were talking about it, it seemed interesting. It also seemed unusually hard to come up with even a good answer to say nothing of the definitive answer.

I repent in sackcloth and ashes that ZZ Top (that's Zed Zed Top for you Canucks) never even came to my mind. Shame on me.

[R_of_G]

It wasn't intended to be. That's why I gave my criteria, not so much because they are the be all and end all, but because when I thought of the greatest American band, that's what I used to make my determination. Even with those criteria, I'm still not convinced of my choices.

The main reason I started this thread is because when my friend and I were talking about it, it seemed interesting. It also seemed unusually hard to come up with even a good answer to say nothing of the definitive answer.

I repent in sackcloth and ashes that ZZ Top (that's Zed Zed Top for you Canucks) never even came to my mind. Shame on me.

I think it's been a great thread so far. I doubt that without an exhaustive process of determining an empirical way to calculate the "greatest" it will remain a subjective discussion, but those are not without value in themselves. Anything that causes us to answer a question like this, and then compare and contrast and even revise our answers and reasoning with the rest has plenty of value. The value is in the critical thinking we all put ourselves through to generate our answers and responses to one another. Greatest will always be a matter of taste and our own perceptions of who influenced who, but to have had the discussion is better than not to [and certainly better than allowing the Eagles to call themselves that unquestioned].:

[Big_Rob]

Im going to switch my vote to ZZ Top as the greatest American band.

Heres the reason why.

Although Tom Petty does meet the criteria, ZZ Top has been around longer

[R_of_G]

I just wanted to add, that I am very pleased to see that as long as this thread has gone so far, there has not been a single mention of one of my most despised bands of all time, The Doors. I have just never been a fan of their music, and it was nice to see several dozen bands get named without them being named even once. Right on!

[duhvoodooman***]

Well, they've been mentioned now, haven't they? I'm just wondering why, if you hate 'em so much, you didn't just let sleeping dogs lie? :

[R_of_G]

Well, they've been mentioned now, haven't they? I'm just wondering why, if you hate 'em so much, you didn't just let sleeping dogs lie? :

Because I found it a valid observation that through pages and pages of posts about great american bands nobody mentioned them. Due to the amount of hype they've received over the decades, I found it interesting and noteworthy that not one of us mentioned them.

[mrmudcat]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest The Allman Brothers Band. Innovation, classic songs, stellar musicians, longevity...

100% agree,LYNRYD SKYNRYD would be either tied or one above my all time favorite American bands..Allmansude: :

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, they've been mentioned now, haven't they? I'm just wondering why, if you hate 'em so much, you didn't just let sleeping dogs lie? :

LOL!!! Now that you mention them, I'll go on record as liking them! LA Woman is a fine album as far as I am concerned. I'm not nominating them for greatest American band. I can't decide on that one, but I will stand up for Mr. American Poet and Co, lumps and all.

[duhvoodooman***]

LOL!!! Now that you mention them, I'll go on record as liking them! LA Woman is a fine album as far as I am concerned. I'm not nominating them for greatest American band. I can't decide on that one, but I will stand up for Mr. American Poet and Co, lumps and all.

See what I mean, R_of_G?!?

[Big_Rob]

LOL!!! Now that you mention them, I'll go on record as liking them! LA Woman is a fine album as far as I am concerned. I'm not nominating them for greatest American band. I can't decide on that one, but I will stand up for Mr. American Poet and Co, lumps and all.

The Doors were ohkaayee, If I had to pick their greatest album I would have to say Soft Parade is my favorite due to its non airplay

[Spudman***]

Oh man I'm so glad someone mentioned the Doors. I love that band. :

You know Queensryche is a band that has influenced a couple of generations around the world and they have been together for around 25 years.

They are nothing like the Doors except that they both have incredibly charismatic and gifted front men. Boy I'm sure glad someone brought up the Doors. Awesome!

[YerDugliness]

Nobody has mentioned Boston yet.

They have a unique sound, and most of those our age would recognize almost anything they play as being Boston.

They have longevity, as they are still around in various incarnations.

Now, having said that, I must admit I'm a bit disappointed we got to the 5th page of this thread without The Doors being mentioned, and even then negatively. I think they had huge influence on American music and had they not been mentioned yet, I would have.

Gotta agree, though, Lynard Skynard is tops for me, not b/c I like their music that much (not that I don't, either), but b/c they really top the charts on all the criterion suggested. After L/S, I guess The Boss, or The Ramones (although other than musicians, I would suggest that the average music listener isn't all that familiar with their work), and nobody seems to have mentioned Guns 'N' Roses yet (wouldn't be my choice, either, but they do come to mind if one is looking for the one band that excited the youth of America, even if it was short lived), and what's wrong with The Doobie Brothers, anyway????????

Guess I might as well shut-up, before somebody else tells me to do so.

Dugly

[YerDugliness]

OK, so it didn't last long, did it ?

I couldn't go to bed without nominating "Spinal Tap". I mean, how many people who couldn't give a rats-A$$ about music saw that movie and came away raving about them???????? Think about it..........

............"onward through the fog" (to quote another great band).

Dugly

[R_of_G]

OK, so it didn't last long, did it ?

I couldn't go to bed without nominating "Spinal Tap". I mean, how many people who couldn't give a rats-A$$ about music saw that movie and came away raving about them???????? Think about it..........

............"onward through the fog" (to quote another great band).

Dugly

Technically speaking, Spinal Tap is not an "American" band. Firstly, they portray themselves as being an English band. Now I know that is just parody for the film, however I would also contend that as Christopher Guest is English, and Nigel is the primary songwriter for Spinal Tap, that they are, at least, an English/American combo band. Good choice anyway.

[R_of_G]

All I can say in response to the Doors posts which have followed mine is (a) we're all entilted to our opinions, and (b) if everybody who seems unhappy with my post thinks they are so great, why did it take a critical comment about them to draw everyone out of the woodwork with their praise? I would like to point out one more time that I simply made the comment about the Doors because when polling like this is done, often the results that don't show up in the poll are just as interesting or noteworthy as those that do. I mean here's a band whose music saturated classic-rock radio for decades, a band so culturally important that a feature film was made about them, and yet when it comes to polling here for greatest american bands, their name is nowhere to be found. I find that telling.

[Spudman***]

All I can say in response to the Doors posts which have followed mine is (a) we're all entilted to our opinions, and (b) if everybody who seems unhappy with my post thinks they are so great, why did it take a critical comment about them to draw everyone out of the woodwork with their praise?

Dude, you are way too serious about this. That is what we are trying to show you.

[Big_Rob]

All I can say in response to the Doors posts which have followed mine is (a) we're all entilted to our opinions, and (b) if everybody who seems unhappy with my post thinks they are so great, why did it take a critical comment about them to draw everyone out of the woodwork with their praise? I would like to point out one more time that I simply made the comment about the Doors because when polling like this is done, often the results that don't show up in the poll are just as interesting or noteworthy as those that do. I mean here's a band whose music saturated classic-rock radio for decades, a band so culturally important that a feature film was made about them, and yet when it comes to polling here for greatest american bands, their name is nowhere to be found. I find that telling.

I dont think they were the greatest. They were cool back when I was 17-18 and dropping acid every day. Now they're just campy and over played. Of course thats JMO

Dont get me wrong, Morrison was a great lyricsist buuuuuut,,,, As far as an influence on my style of playing, Robby Keiger wasnt

[mannydingo]

You may have seen the ads for the new Eagles album, calling them the "greatest American band." My friend and I grimaced simultaneously at that suggestion. I really can't stand the Eagles, to be honest. If Joe Walsh hadn't joined they would have become a veritable black hole of pretentiousness.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you and I know this is an old thread from Nov/2007 but that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. First of all, every Eagles album before Joe Walsh joined was steadily selling more than the last. Also, their most known song, Hotel California, was written by Ron Felder of the group. Just because you see Walsh exchanging lead work on that video doesn't mean Walsh had anything to do with it. As a matter of fact, listen to Walsh before The Eagles. He wrote NOTHING as melodic as the stuff the Eagles played. I think you just don't like that combination Rock/Country sound. That's fine. However, their popularity and album sales cannot be denied. They are not even close to being my favorite band but I like a lot of their old songs.

Speaking of Joe Walsh, look at his face on the Hotel California video(which is really live). Look at him between the 5 min and 15 sec portion of the video/song. That's 5:00 to 5:15. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcwr1nbmWLI

[marnold***]

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you and I know this is an old thread from Nov/2007 but that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. First of all, every Eagles album before Joe Walsh joined was steadily selling more than the last. Also, their most known song, Hotel California, was written by Ron Felder of the group. Just because you see Walsh exchanging lead work on that video doesn't mean Walsh had anything to do with it. As a matter of fact, listen to Walsh before The Eagles. He wrote NOTHING as melodic as the stuff the Eagles played. I think you just don't like that combination Rock/Country sound. That's fine. However, their popularity and album sales cannot be denied.

I didn't say that they weren't popular or talented or anything like that. I did not say that Joe Walsh made or broke the band. What I said is that Joe Walsh kept them from being utterly and completely pretentious. Walsh is the only one who doesn't seem to take himself hyper-seriously. That was my point.