# The greatest American rock band of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690 "2015-09-02T11:55:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/221 "2015-10-02T14:18:12Z")
I’d still take RHCP or REM over Metallica. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/222 "2015-10-02T14:21:22Z")
REM are in the same boat as Nirvana: too strongly associated with one genre that didn’t really last. RHCP aren’t, but… well, I just don’t like their music. It’s a shame Rage Against the Machine didn’t stick around longer. They could have been a contendah. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/223 "2015-10-02T16:20:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > REM are in the same boat as Nirvana: too strongly associated with one genre that didn’t really last. RHCP aren’t, but… well, I just don’t like their music. > > It’s a shame Rage Against the Machine didn’t stick around longer. They could have been a contendah. Have you heard the Replacements? You too Mr Dibble? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/224 "2015-10-02T16:37:23Z")
One song, maybe. I don’t remember what it was so I assume I didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/225 "2015-10-02T17:34:10Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Have you heard the Replacements? > You too Mr Dibble? I love the 'Mats, I was just listening to them last week. But they never had the popularity or crossover cultural importance. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/226 "2015-10-02T17:42:22Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I love the 'Mats, I was just listening to them last week. But they never had the popularity or crossover cultural importance. I agree. I even just saw them when they passed through town in the spring, and they were great, if not Paul being a bit forgetful with his lyrics. 🙂 After thinking about this some more, and re-reading the thread, I still like my Beach Boys choice, although much of that is influenced by _Pet Sounds_, which is a good bit out-of-character for them. Van Halen, Metallica, and the Ramones also remain top-tier for me while still hitting the qualifications listed in the OP. My other personal choice would probably be The Pixies, but they don’t quite hit all the qualifications as much as the other bands. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/227 "2015-10-02T17:55:09Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > I’m having trouble accepting Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as a “rock band”. Not only is he clearly the leader of the band, but when he went off and recorded albums by himself, it just doesn’t sound any different. [Same with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.] To me, a band is where you can see input and direction from more than one member. Even more importantly, there is too little range and style differences in Springsteen’s music. > > If we include Canada, Rush is the clear winner Even as a Canadian I’m surprised this is being suggested by more than one person. How many Rush songs are universally beloved and iconic besides “Tom Sawyer,” which itself is not one of the 100 most popular and well known songs by an American or Canadian band? What was Rush’s influence? Doesn’t it matter that a Rush concert has fewer women than Ashley Madison? I’m not even sure which band would win a poll in Canada, Rush or The Tragically Hip. I mean, big props to Rush for being a good band for a long time, but greater than any American band? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/228 "2015-10-02T17:58:21Z")
No song is “universally beloved.” But there are plenty of iconic Rush songs in addition to Tom Sawyer: YYZ, Spirit of Radio, Red Barchetta, Closer to the Heart, Freewill, Limelight… ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/229 "2015-10-02T18:08:30Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I love the 'Mats, I was just listening to them last week. But they never had the popularity or crossover cultural importance. There wasn’t much money in being a great rock band in the 80s but the Mats were stellar. Three immortal LPs in a row plus. I hear them as being the last best band. Nirvana and after: don’t see it being at that level (of quality, not “popularity”. Remember when every band got a major deal and had their “Post Nirvana” video for MTV?). They were as influential among musicians as The Band was in the late 60s IMO. I do recall specifically that they were being called the best band in the world regularly for years. That’s why I ask those who cite REM or Chili Peps or RageMachine, or pixies if they ever heard them. Not being a snark. Just curious. PS: It was at a time when English bands were not so great. There’s that to consider too… ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/230 "2015-10-02T18:13:19Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > There wasn’t much money in being a great rock band in the 80s but the Mats were stellar. Three immortal LPs in a row plus. I hear them as being the last best band. Nirvana and after: don’t see it being at that level (of quality, not “popularity”. Remember when every band got a major deal and had their “Post Nirvana” video for MTV?). They were as influential among musicians as The Band was in the late 60s IMO. I do recall specifically that they were being called the best band in the world regularly for years. That’s why I ask those who cite REM or Chili Peps or RageMachine, or pixies if they ever heard them. Not being a snark. Just curious. The Band were four-fifths Canadian, as has been discussed. It’s funny, I went back to read Mystery Train, by Greil Marcus and lauded as one of the seminal works of rock criticism. It features a chapter on The Band and I realized that wow, their reputation was such a big deal for a few years, but man, they really are a sidebar at this point. That’s not a commentary on the quality of their music, just that they’ve fallen off the radar. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/231 "2015-10-02T18:26:17Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The Band were four-fifths Canadian, as has been discussed. It’s funny, I went back to read Mystery Train, by Greil Marcus and lauded as one of the seminal works of rock criticism. It features a chapter on The Band and I realized that wow, their reputation was such a big deal for a few years, but man, they really are a sidebar at this point. That’s not a commentary on the quality of their music, just that they’ve fallen off the radar. They spent it real fast. Too many problems with substances. But their influence is pretty strong. You can trace it in a hundred artists and movements since then. There were whole career arcs that were different because of them, and that is the butterfly effect I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/232 "2015-10-02T19:09:01Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I do recall specifically that they were being called the best band in the world regularly for years. By who? The closest references I can find are _Rolling Stone_ calling them “the greatest band that never was,” and \*Musician \*calling them “the last, best band of the 80s.” ETA: Wikipedia lists five later bands that say they were influenced by them. That’s not really very many. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/233 "2015-10-02T21:20:46Z")
> **[Hey, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Five Reasons The Replacements Should Be...](https://glidemagazine.com/113742/hey-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-five-reasons-the-replacements-should-be-inducted/)** > > Charles Moss gives us five reasons why The Replacements deserve to be inducted. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/234 "2015-10-02T21:28:22Z")
From Magnet magazine: "Westerberg denies he ever intended the song ‘World Class Fad’ (from his 1993 solo debut, ‘14 Songs’) to be about Kurt Cobain. ‘I never respected Kurt Cobain enough to write something about him,’ he says. ‘I was never a big Nirvana fan. To me, it had too much plod in it. It didn’t swing, and it had that allegiance to metal that I never cared for. It comes from the drumming, the whole stop-and-start thing and turn on the loud button for the chorus. God, wasn’t that tedious when every fucking band did that to death? We had too much humor to go out like that; he didn’t seem to have much humor.’ " ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/235 "2015-10-02T21:38:35Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > From Magnet magazine: "Westerberg denies he ever intended the song ‘World Class Fad’ (from his 1993 solo debut, ‘14 Songs’) to be about Kurt Cobain. ‘I never respected Kurt Cobain enough to write something about him,’ he says. ‘I was never a big Nirvana fan. To me, it had too much plod in it. It didn’t swing, and it had that allegiance to metal that I never cared for. It comes from the drumming, the whole stop-and-start thing and turn on the loud button for the chorus. God, wasn’t that tedious when every fucking band did that to death? We had too much humor to go out like that; he didn’t seem to have much humor.’ " Yep. He’s right in his way, and I love him for it. Doesn’t make The Replacements the fuckin’ greatest American rock band of all time. The only right answer is Chuck Berry, but he is not a band. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/236 "2015-10-02T21:39:33Z")
What’s that got to do with being the greatest American rock band? We all agree Nirvana is overrated. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/237 "2015-10-02T22:14:26Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Yep. He’s right in his way, and I love him for it. Doesn’t make The Replacements the fuckin’ greatest American rock band of all time. > > The only right answer is Chuck Berry, but he is not a band. Sorry I couldn’t resist slipping that in. It says something about the path that rock took in the 90s, not just Nirvana. but a lot of the post nirvana scene. Tom Waits, REM, Wilco, Green Day, Mojo Nixon have all had the highest praise for the Mats. (And many many more too numerous to count. Wiki???) Waits said they were the only band that had magic, and they did some stuff in the studio together. Tom Waits…Let it sink in. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/238 "2015-10-02T23:06:02Z")
To me the greatest American bands are (drum roll): Grand Funk Railroad and Blue Oyster Cult. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/239 "2015-10-02T23:26:23Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Yep. But to me that just means we have a !Div0/Null Set/NP Complete type situation and therefore the problem is unsolvable. (ETA: seriously, The Eagles just sucks as an answer to this question, even while they clearly satisfy the criteria you state. They aren’t remotely close in sheer rock danger, innovation/exploration/blues, songs, media phenomenon/cultural touchstones, etc. as the top dozen British bands.) > > The answer to this question illustrates Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems 😉 I tend to agree. It seems to me that the individualist culture of the U.S. works against the idea of rock bands. Either you have bands where one personality clearly dominates (e.g. Springsteen, Petty) or you have a sort of lowest common denominator formula (KISS, the Eagles). Or you have major instability where egos keep clashing and the band fizzles out (Van Halen). Asking who the greatest American rock band is is like asking who the greatest British solo rock artist is, where you basically end up with David Bowie, Phil Collins, Sting and Elton John. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690/240 "2015-10-02T23:43:47Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Sorry I couldn’t resist slipping that in. It says something about the path that rock took in the 90s, not just Nirvana. but a lot of the post nirvana scene. > > Tom Waits, REM, Wilco, Green Day, Mojo Nixon have all had the highest praise for the Mats. (And many many more too numerous to count. Wiki???) Waits said they were the only band that had magic, and they did some stuff in the studio together. > > Tom Waits…Let it sink in. Dude. I am with you. Mats = Good. That is not what we are discussing here and no, they aren’t the GARB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-american-rock-band-of-all-time/729690.md?page=13)