I vote alongside the others in this thread who picked The Clash.
Stones - 1 dead guy
Who - 1 dead guy
Beatles - 2 dead guys
Ramones - 3 dead guys
Ramones win.
Excuse please.
The Who have 2 dead guys. The Beatles have 2 dead guys and 2 guys with no talent.
Besides, if body count is what matters, Lynrd Skynrd would be in the running. Hell, so would Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, etc.
I stand by my vote for the Stones. (With an honourable mention going to the hardest rocker working today: Bruce Springsteen.)
Paul McCartney has no talent?
Hey Jude
Let it Be
I Saw Her Standing There
Eleanor Rigby
Yesterday
The Long and Winding Road
Things We Said Today
To name a handful!
Those aren’t rawk, how about:
Paperback Writer
Helter Skelter
Back in the USSR
Live and Let Die
I’d have to go with the band with two dead guys and two guys with no talent as being the greatest (that was an asinine remark, by the way). You’d have had to have been there at the time, which I was. The Beatles simultaneously rejuvenated and reinvented rock and roll, and took everybody along with them.
The Stones come in second, because of their huge body of high-quality work, almost all of which can clearly be classified as rock and roll.
The Who come in third. Having a band where the lead guitarist is the rhythm section, and the bassist and drummer go off and do their thing, is certainly unique.
Led Zeppelin and Cream round out the top five.
Parenthetically, my all-time personal favorite band is Fairport Convention, but I doubt very many will go along with me on that. English folk-rock is a niche genre, but it’s where I live.
I can agree with arguments for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. I would also like to chime in and say that KISS should deserve some kind of honorable mention. And I know many would not think they really qualify, but I have to add The Kinks to the list for consideration.
I’d like to suggest The Police. I heard an interview with one of them (not Sting) who pointed out that they had nearly the idyllic rock band experience: They went from bar-hopping small band to bus touring, to jet-setting world tours; everybody enjoyed every step of the way, when they broke up they all had something to do, and nobody died of a drug overdose.
Plus, Roxanne.
Does Floyd count as rock? If so, then they’re my number one pick. Honorable mention goes to my lustful favorite of Aerosmith.
Hey, we gotta have some more American bands on here! 
The Pixies. Or Sonic Youth. Or Nirvana. Or Wilco. Or Radiohead.
I hate to disappoint those who see 1974 as the date that rock scientifically attained perfection, but, I have news for you: people have made music in the past thirty years.
Paul McCartney has zero talent. He was very talented. Everything in the last 20 years is so negatively-talented that it cancels out the previous genius. Therefore, he is a wash, talent-wise. YMMV. I was there. I got tear-gassed at my first Stones concert…the perfect 60’s concert moment. 
Kelly, right there with you on Fairport Convention, at least the first few incarnations. After Sandy died it just wasn’t the same.
What kind of logic is that? Hey, I agree his output since the Beatles broke up has been mediocre, at best, but that can’t possible negate his previous body of work.
If Picasso had painted poorly in his latter years would that mean his previous paintings were junk? How about comparing old Al Pacino to new Al Pacino?
I haven’t really liked anything by McCartney since the Beatles. His songs with the Wings were terrible in comparison. But surely that can’t take away from his earlier stuff. That being said, I like Lennon’s songs more!
Led Zepplin.
Appplying this logic, I nominate the Traveling Wilburys
Yes they have. With precious little innovation. Almost every thing labled r’n’r after 1980 has been repetition of things done before. The only thing which is close to new is the fusion of rap and r’n’r, and even that is just slamming to genres together, giving them a new paint job, a fresh set of attitudes and recycling what has already been done.
I don’t think AC-DC is the greatest band ever, but no one’s mentioned them, so I’ll throw them in as honorable runner-ups.
LZ is the greatest, Stones and Beatles don’t come close.
Seconded oh *hell *yeh.
btw- artistry aside, the Stones simply rocked more than the Beatles.
They have?
Well there’s The Smiths, not very rock though. I’m still voting for an English band, from a city starting with L.*****
Slightly more seriously, you and I might like The Pixies but they appeal isn’t broad enough for them to be one of the greatest bands of all time.
***** You might think exclude the Floyd but I say it doesn’t because the PA gear you see in Live at Pompei all clearly says “Pink Floyd London”. And I know that half of Zeppelin were northeners but Page was the main man and he’s a Londoner.
The Who Live At Leeds.
It was definitely past the best by 1974; I don’t care what Homer says. I’m a Radiohead nut, but I don’t think of them as a rock and roll band in the straightforward way that some of these older bands were. (Same for Nirvana, though they’re closer.) Radiohead hasn’t been a rock band since Kid A, or possibly further back. Incredible band, in my opinion, but it’d be a disservice to say they’re just a rock band.
Actually, using that logic (and I DO know the wilburys was a joke answer) I would nominate John Lennon’s the Dirty Mac. John Lennon, Mitch Mitchel, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton it may actually be a physical impossibility to cram more talent into a single band.
As far as longevity goes, I have to say its hard to compete with the Stones (I am going to just take the Beatles out of the argument because they are an entity unto themselves). From 1964 to 1973 they released thirteen classic albums, incluing a streatch of four albums that may be the greatest 4 album run in rock and roll history (I am of course talking about Beggars Banquette, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street) Most of the other bands mentioned just can’t compete with the sheer output of amazing rock and roll the stones put up. That said, after Mick Taylor left the band they started to suck fairly hard, fairly quickly. I like pieces of Goats Head Soup, Some Girls, and Its Only Rock and Roll, but not a one of them is a great album as a whole. And I prefer to pretend that Some Girls was in fact their last album.
I love the Kinks, Steppenwolf had great moments, Cream still blows me away, Pink Floyd is amazing, and if you give em another 15 years maybe Radiohead or Modest Mouse will be as prolific, but as of now no one can touch the stones for pure Rock and Roll greatness.