NWA said it best.
I think there’s too much bad Stones out there for them to qualify, and I’ll concede the Beatles may be the best R&R songwriters. But best band? I don’t have a problem with the Kinks or the Clash.
Agreed, except that I’d extend that date to 1982: I date the End Of Rock to when Magazine split up. Hair Metal? The New York Dolls got there first and better. Speed Metal? Well, I suppose you can play Blackmore riffs faster if you really must. Grunge? File under Black Sabbath. Green Day and what currently passes for punk? Let’s make a fortune stealing from The Ramones. Rap Metal? File under marketing gimmick for softdrink commercials. Industrial? Motorhead with added sampling.
Which isn’t to say that there haven’t been good rock bands since 1982 - The Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, Ministry - just that they are {or were} in essence nostalgia acts, revisiting stuff that was done earlier and better. I like Jane’s Addiction, but you’d be a fool to deny that Led Zeppelin did it earlier and better.
This isn’t meant to sound curmudgeonly - well, it was better in my day - just a recognition that there’s only so much you can do within a particular genre, and rock had nearly 30 years in which to do it. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to put on Who’s Next.
The Band.
Led Zeppelin.
Yes, really, that’s who I am voting for.
Not quite. You still have to consider the output of the actual band itself. The Wilburys? They had, what, maybe two or three top-ten songs?
No, what went unstated in my original argument was that in addition to what the Beatles accomplished, the individual members each had stellar solo careers.
Of bands listed that I know, I would vote that
Cream played the Blues or Psychadelica, not Rock
The Beatles played Beatle music, and usually not Rock
Pink Floyd has some rock, but is generally Floyd music
Nirvana et. al. grunge bands play grunge which is Seattle style jazz-influenced metal, not Rock
Going to a Stones concert a few years ago seemed to reveal that they only had one song, at different tempos–but this may be a factor of age
Bands where the lead, male, singer sings in falsetto should automatically be decremented some points.
And since these ^ opinions probably don’t much vibe with a lot of you, defining the best rock band probably is going to first depend on coming up with a common definition of what rock is.
But as to who I think is best…I might suggest Queen, Queens of the Stoneage, Muse, the Pillows, or the Ramones-prerelease Mr. Dick Dale who created the genre. Probably the Pillows are the best writers + performers who also stick to core-rock of those.
You’re all wrong. It’s Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.
Why is everything derivative from that point, and not earlier?
Everybody knows that. I think they’re dodging it on the technicality that Chuck Berry performed as an individual, not a band.
Rock ‘n’ Roll evolved over time. At the time the Beatles were in their prime, what they were doing WAS Rock ‘n’ Roll, right in the heart of it.
My vote goes to the Beatles.
Well, sure, rock was derivative: it drew from the blues and later R&B, then the crunching guitars of British R&B acts developed into metal, a lot of the soul was stripped out as technical virtuosity became emphasised and it got too long-winded for its own good, then punk came along to strip off the padding and take it back to its earlier roots.
But there’s only so much derivation any genre can have before it starts repeating itself: derivation squared, as it were, and to my way of thinking by the early 80’s rock had pretty much said all it had to say. Later sub-genres were either just recycling old material, or cynically ripping it off as nostalgia waves got closer and closer together: remember the “definite article” bands of a couple of years ago, when The Strokes and their like decided to rip off old Television licks?
Where are they now? Still gracing magazine covers as the “latest thing”? Nah, they had their day in somebody else’s sun, then it was time to recycle 70’s “classic rock” with Scissor Sisters, Kings Of Leon and their ilk: in a couple of years it’ll probably be hair metal that comes around again. Derivation squared and squared again, and my eyes start to glaze over.
a recent USA Today poll says the greatest American rock band is Pearl Jam…
So…everyone forgot to mention The Grateful Dead?
Another vote for Led Zeppelin and I otherwise concur totally with everything Case Sensitive said. Except the bit about Jane’s Addiction being worth anything.
And we also forgot The Band.
I’m gonna come out of left field and nominate the various incarnations of Hawkwind, for a number of reasons:
Longevity. (Not as old as the Stones, granted, but they’ve still been around for 35+ years)
Frontman who was literally a mad visionary poet. (Robert Calvert RIP)
Drug use? Ohhhhh yeah.
One of the best live albums ever. (Space Ritual)
Variety of music:
Spacerock (they’re the definitive spacerock band)
Proto-heavy metal
Proto-punk
Industrial
Bubbly pop
Ambient electronica
Psychedelic folk
Country (well, almost)
World beat
Trance
Krautrock
Blues
Prog-rock
Jazz
Amazing visual show.
Innovative instrumentation (other bands occasionally refer to a guitar as an “axe”. Del Dettmar, on the other hand, literally played a double-bitted wood axe.)
Active in free festivals.
Notable members and collaborators, e.g.:
Nik Turner
Dave Brock
Lemmy
Robert Calvert
Michael Moorcock
The boys from Pressurehed
Genesis P-Orridge
Jello Biafra
Helios Creed
Whoops, forgot to mention that Hawkwind has also had cheesy science fiction novels written about them, which adds about a dozen coolness points right there.
With all due respect to Hawkwind (and by extention Motorhead), the Velvets, and countless other bands who come close, the greatest rock and roll band of all time is Television. OK maybe I’m just saying that because I’m listening to the 1991 album right now but there’s no denying that they’re a gazillion times better than the Beatles.
And I have to mention The Stooges, MC5, Jonathan Richman, PiL, and Frank Zappa, all of whom have had a profound influence on 95% of the rock and roll we listen to today.
Far be it from me to say rock hasn’t gotten derivative. I was just trying to understand the 1982 demarcation.
When hair metal comes back - I won’t even say “if” - I’m gonna off some people.
If by Jazz influenced metal you mean Black Sabbath sludge meets 60s era northwest white boy R&B shouters like the Sonics then yes, grunge is jazz influenced metal.
Not that grunge was anything more than a meaningless label. Bands like Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam etc. had nothing in common musically apart from being from the pacific northwest. Heck, even Nevermind sounded more like a cheap imitation of The Pixies than any grunge stereotype.
Purely an arbitrary personal benchmark based on a liking for Magazine: but definitely early 80’s, after punk and its offshoots had run their course and Duran Duran and their ilk began to appear.