A little while ago I made a post asking “Who is the greatest American rock BAND of all time?” after I heard a Van Halen concert commercial make that claim for them:
Then I made a poll from the answers to that thread:
In both threads it was pointed out that GARBOAT was a tough call, because the U.K. seems to do great bands well, while the U.S. seems to produce great individual musicians. Maybe something to do with our great spirit of American individualism. Or maybe we just don’t play as nice with other people.
So some great American musicians got left out, like Hendrix and Dylan. And it was tough to define an “American” band- what’s CSNY, with a Brit and a Canadian? I decided to open it up to all of North America, and say the band had to have a majority of North American members.
But for this thread, none but American, born and raised. Same rules as eligibility to run for President.
As for what constitutes a great “rock” musician, I guess we can leave that open for now. Someone like Prince I’d say would be borderline. James Brown I would say no. Great? Sure. Rock? No.
I don’t know if I’ll do a poll for this one or not. Let’s see how it goes…
These are the first ones that come to mind. Prince clearly (no James Brown? Sly Stone? Aretha?), but since Hendrix paved the way (standing on the shoulders of giants, of course).
Lindsey Buckingham? No Michael Jackson? Elvis isn’t a “musician”?
My first thought was Duane Allman, but then I decided Chuck Berry was the greatest as he did more to influence Rock than any other guitarist. I’m sure he influenced all the other contenders.
I’m conflicted on Chuck Berry. His influence on pretty much every rock musician in the last 50 years cannot be overstated…but as a performer he leaves something to be desired (perhaps not back in his heyday, but definitely in the several decades since).
I’m guessing you must be new to this forum because only moderators have the authority to make and break those kinds of rules for threads.
Ooops. I think I just broke one of the rules here. It’s called “Junior Moderating” or something like that. I can never remember the name for that rule.
Umm … you see … it is a kind of rule that members here are discouraged from telling other members what they can or cannot do. Only moderators may do that.
Dang! Oh … what’s it called now? This will bother me for a few days unless someone posts the name of that rule here in this thread.
But, maybe you should read the rules for this forum again? Oh no! Dang! Dang! Dang! I dood it again. Sorry. Pay no attention to me. I just woke up and I just can’t think straight when I just wake up.