I’d still take RHCP or REM over Metallica.
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?
One song, maybe. I don’t remember what it was so I assume I didn’t like it.
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.
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?
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…
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…
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.
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.
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.
What’s that got to do with being the greatest American rock band? We all agree Nirvana is overrated.
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.
To me the greatest American bands are (drum roll):
Grand Funk Railroad and Blue Oyster Cult. 
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.
Dude. I am with you. Mats = Good.
That is not what we are discussing here and no, they aren’t the GARB.