So the other day I heard an ad on the radio for Van Halen’s local stop on their current tour in which the announcer called them “The greatest American rock band of all time”.
The greatest American rock band of all time? I took a minute to parse the phrase. Obviously it’s just promo hyperbole, but they made some attempt at accuracy by qualifying with the word “American”- didn’t want comparisons to the Beatles or the Stones. And I guess they didn’t want to say “the greatest band currently playing” or something because the Stones still tour I think.
So it got me thinking-- who actually is the greatest American rock band of all time? I appreciate Van Halen for the frat-party band that they are, and Eddie Van Halen is an amazing guitar player, but the greatest (American) of all time? Maybe in raw terms of money earned…
I would probably count Aerosmith or ZZ Top (pre- sellout era for both) above them not so much in terms of fame but in terms of influence or purely subjective rockness. Or heck, maybe The Band, even though they were 4/5ths Canadian. Without cheating and looking up other people’s “top 10 American band” lists I must be gapping out this morning and forgetting a lot of good ones off the top of my head.
What do you guys think? I’m thinking a general 3 point “success-fame/influential/rocking” scale, so the band wouldn’t have to be quite as well-known or successful as VH in their prime if they scored higher in the other categories. Very subjective, I know.
I initially had a problem considering Van Halen as the greatest, or among the greatest, rock and roll bands. I think that was my own biases, though: since VH was the soundtrack of my youth, there’s no way they could be old/classic/venerable, right? 'Cause that would mean that I’m old too (if not quite venerable)…
But I can actually see them being in the discussion. For my money, it’s still Aerosmith, but Van Halen was enormously influential (EVH in particular, but the band in general was the template for 80s hard rock).
The Doors, The Eagles, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Grand Funk Railroad, The Allman Brothers… it’s going to be a long discussion and much may hinge on which period you began to listen.
My personal favorite would be the Doors holding a slight edge over ZZ.
Arguments could be made for (and against) Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, the Mothers of Invention, the Byrds, the Stooges, the Ramones…
If we’re not disqualifying bands that are billed as “FRONT PERSON and the BAND NAME”, then Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have to be part of the discussion.
Do the various “FRONT PERSON and the BAND NAME” acts count for this topic?
Heh, “we’re an American Band” kept running through my head as I thought about it, but I don’t know if GFR would be in the running…maybe? How about “greatest song about being an American band”?
Bands like the Stooges and Velvet Underground count for influence and rock cred, but not fame/success, I’d say. Ramones maybe…don’t know how all-time famous or successful they were.
Doors is a good candidate. Springsteen and the E-Street band? Yeah, I’d say they qualify. As long as “person and band name” performed more or less consistently as a cohesive unit, sure. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" also comes to mind.
To my European ears, The Doors, Van Halen and Aerosmith don’t sound particularly American. They’re more international rock to me, if that makes sense. Purely subjective, of course.
On the other hand, The Eagles, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, ]Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band ? Very American to my ears.
I’d probably vote for The Eagles. Their music conjures up the sort of mental pictures that I’ve always associated with America. But then, so do Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as well as Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s got to be one of those three anyway.
Maybe more R&B than pure “rock” (just like you could call VH a heavy metal band), but the J. Geils Band blows all of the aforementioned out of the water, IMHO.
Bruce hits your 3 point criteria probably better than anybody, but he can’t be the answer to ‘best rock band’ IMHO.
He’s inordinately successful and has been for centuries. He has a measure of personal influence beyond almost any musician, he’s also influential in terms of being such a strong singer-songwriter that his stuff has been covered by all comers. (He’s not musically influential beyond that, though). Any no one rocks harder than the Boss.
His sound, though, has really sucked at times during his career - like a bad, synth-ridden pub band at its worst. At its best its pretty good, but not in the conversation for best ever American band.