# Which band best typifies "hard rock"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 7, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397 "2021-03-07T18:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/141 "2021-03-15T19:21:49Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Ok, then the thread is over, cause Spinal Tap are settled at 11. Which song is 11? šŸ¤˜ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/142 "2021-03-15T19:26:35Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > > Ok, then the thread is over, cause Spinal Tap are settled at 11. > > Which song is 11? > šŸ¤˜ All of them, except for ā€œLick My Love Pumpā€. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/143 "2021-03-15T19:41:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > the loudest show Iā€™ve been to The loudest show Iā€™ve been to was Mountain. Their best-known song is ā€œMississippi Queen,ā€ one of the classic of hard rock. Not well enough known to typify the genre, but they were great at it, somewhere underneath the volume. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VbP4qf8PjfI/maxresdefault.jpg "Mississippi Queen") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbP4qf8PjfI) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/144 "2021-03-15T20:08:21Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > All of them, except for ā€œLick My Love Pumpā€. Wellā€¦ Thereā€™s ā€˜Cups and Cakesā€™, and ā€˜Listen to what the Flower People Sayā€™. And they were a skiffle band, so points off for that. However, they earn points back for the drummer dying by choking on vomit (perhaps not his own). ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/145 "2021-03-15T20:10:27Z")
Mountain is in the same class as Molly Hatchet, arenā€™t they? ā€˜Flirtinā€™ With Disasterā€™ could be considered hard rock adjacent, with just a little too much southern boogie to seal the deal. The same goes for Skynyrd. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/146 "2021-03-15T20:30:08Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Wellā€¦ Thereā€™s ā€˜Cups and Cakesā€™, and ā€˜Listen to what the Flower People Sayā€™. And they were a skiffle band, so points off for that. Well, Cups and Cakes was technically The Thamesmen. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The loudest show Iā€™ve been to was Mountain. For me it was Motorhead. Iā€™m glad I can still hear. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/147 "2021-03-15T20:44:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > For me it was Motorhead. Iā€™m glad I can still hear. Motorhead gave me permanent hearing loss. To be fair: - We were no more than 20 feet away from the amps - The concert was in a small gymnasium - It was 1985, and I was 20, so the idea of ear plugs or hearing protectors was completely foreign. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/148 "2021-03-15T20:48:26Z")
I used to be a lighting tech part time when I was in school, running a Souper-Trouper carbon-arc spotlight. We had to wear headphones to hear lighting cues but they werenā€™t sound isolating, so the volume had to be cranked over the music so we could hear. I remember after a loud concert being able to hear almost nothing but loud ringing for an hour or so. I worked lighting for both Heart and Van Halen among others in the late 1970ā€™s . Today I have constant tinnitus and my hearing starts to roll off at 8700k. Iā€™ll probably need hearing aids soon. But hey, Rock and Roll, amirite? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/149 "2021-03-15T21:04:21Z")
I donā€™t think ā€loudā€ really has much to do with a bandā€™s genre but rather their equipment and the venueā€™s acoustics and house sound system. The loudest concert Iā€™ve been to was X (roots/punk) in a small club. Hard Rock is a general term for a multiple of sub genres. To find the band that typifies it, you have to identify a band that canā€™t be inserted into any of those sub genres. That pretty much just leaves AC/DC. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/150 "2021-03-15T21:20:16Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I donā€™t think ā€loudā€ really has much to do with a bandā€™s genre Seconded. The loudest band I ever heard was Rockpile, and I think most people would classify them as ā€œpop.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/151 "2021-03-15T22:18:13Z")
I donā€™t think [UFO](https://youtu.be/xTE4NNqmnbw) or [The Scorpions](https://youtu.be/upp3Hx9vy9U) have been mentioned yet. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/152 "2021-03-15T23:00:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > To my mind itā€™s AC/DC. There was hard rock before them, and hard rock after them, and BETTER hard rock, Just curious, but: who did BETTER hard rock than AC/DC? Iā€™ve been re-listening the holy trifecta of Let There Be Rock, Highway To Hell, and Back In Black (whole albums, not just the title songs), and I canā€™t think of better, purer hard rock than that sets of songs. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/153 "2021-03-16T01:45:17Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Ten Years After This certainly captured the essential hard rock sound, a year or so before it became a well-defined thing. (No, Iā€™ve never heard or seen anything but their Woodstock performance.) The ā€˜67-ā€˜69 hard blues (and psychedelic rock) trios Cream and the Experience rocked hard, but they werenā€™t quite hard rock. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/154 "2021-03-16T01:55:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Motorhead gave me permanent hearing loss. To be fair: > > - We were no more than 20 feet away from the amps > - The concert was in a small gymnasium > - It was 1985, and I was 20, so the idea of ear plugs or hearing protectors was completely foreign. My buddy and I attended a Motorhead concert in (I think) 1987. Bogartā€™s in Cincinnati. We stayed 20 minutes and then left. It was unbearable. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/155 "2021-03-16T02:02:19Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Ten Years After Humble Pie is in the same place in the pantheon. (I was reminded of them by Rick Beatoā€™s 100th ā€œWhat Makes this Song Great,ā€ on Peter Framptonā€¦who didnā€™t typify hard rock after Humble Pie, thatā€™s true.) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/156 "2021-03-16T02:45:04Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > The loudest band I ever heard was Rockpile, and I think most people would classify them as ā€œpop.ā€ They grew out of the pub rock movement in England, with Nick Lowe building off what he helped create with Brinsley Schwartz. But they had heavy doses of New Wave and Pop as well. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/157 "2021-03-16T11:58:57Z")
Like for many, AC/DC was the first band I thought of. For me, ā€œWhole Lotta Rosieā€ typified their hard rock sound (but any of their songs might do as well). Hereā€™s a glorious AC/DC-Beatles mashup: > **[Hold Your Hand All Night Long](https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/deeerin/episodes/2008-08-20T00_24_49-07_00)** > > This song is actually the reason I used any AC/DC in the 1st place. I was looking for another song to use in conjunction with I Want to Hold Your Hand and Shook Me All Night Long kept popping in to my head. When you hear it you'll see why! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/158 "2021-03-16T12:47:25Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Just curious, but: who did BETTER hard rock than AC/DC? Led Zeppelin. As magnificent as AC/DCā€™s finest work is, Zepā€™s better. Different, sure, but better. AC/DC is my choice though because their music is just pure, undistilled hard rock. There is no pretense to it. There is no other kind of music there. They werenā€™t trying to incorporate sitars or country music or some other style. They arenā€™t trying to be Taken Seriously As Artists or write deep, meaningful lyrics thatā€™ll change the world. They are CERTAINLY not trying to keep up with music trends; AC/DC does not bother with grunge, synthpop, disco, trance, hip hop, new rock, mumble rap, or whatever the hell Post Malone does. The only thing AC/DC says through their music is ā€œHere are four power chords and some lyrics about sex and being a badass.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/159 "2021-03-16T12:50:27Z")
Led Zeppelin is one of the all time very greatests, and obviously way more versatile than AC/DC. The thing is, when Iā€™m listening to LZ, I donā€™t feel or think Iā€™m listening to hard rock. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397/160 "2021-03-16T12:53:00Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > What is it about GnR that makes them slide under the radar? They were also one of the biggest bands of their era. As to this, GnR is kind of an oddity. They do not fit into a clear musical category - they arenā€™t really hair metal exactly, and arenā€™t grunge. Their run of hits is squeezed between the hair metal era and the rise of grunge, a style of music that was taken really seriously (too seriously, to be honest) by critics and media. GnR doesnā€™t exactly fit anywhere and unlike other unclassifiable ā€œThey are their own genreā€ acts like U2 or Aerosmith, they didnā€™t roll out hits for decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-band-best-typifies-hard-rock/937397.md?page=9)