Best AMERICAN Rock & Roll Band Of All-Time

[THUNDER HANDS]

Poll question: Best AMERICAN Rock & Roll Band Of All-Time

No Brits. No Krauts. No Swedes. No Canucks!!!

Tell me, who's the best Yankee band of all time?

[demnan]

1. The Byrds or the Beachboys - I can't make up my mind.

[FlashHarry]

50. Yes! Both!

And: The Sonics, The Standells, The Kingsmen...

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. seems somewhat competitive

I'm kicking it, just so it doesn't fall off the page too quickly.

[Loonman]

3. Missed an important one

The Beach Boys!

4. Interlopers

two-thirds of Hendrix Experience were Brits or else I might vote for them.

[idontwantaname]

5. MC5

.

[Speck Tater]

6. What!?! No Bee-Gees in the poll?

;)

[meegbear]

14. Australian ....

Phhhhtttttt.

[Speck Tater]

26. Nooooooo! Tell me it isn't so!

[FlashHarry]

56. Actually, they were born on the Isle of Man (UK)

And emigrated to Australia.

[ElementaryPenguin]

7. For me it's got to be The Doors!

Jimi Hendrix Experience not really an American band! Creedence is way up there!

[BigBigBigBear]

8. Hmmm

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was arguably a British band, since it was founded and based in London, and two of its members were British.

A pretty good case could be made for the Grateful Dead, in terms of depth of roots, longevity and loyalty to original design.

Another good case could be made for the Eagles, in terms of commercial success.

Or, the Byrds or The Stooges, for wide reaching influence.

I'd say the best band in America NOW is Los Lobos. All-time best? Tough one.

[JVS]

40. I have to agree with you there

It runs afoul the no brits rule

[AntiCoup2K4]

9. Van Halen!!

And no I do NOT include Van Hagar or that other godawful mutation in 1998 :puke:

[charlie]

64. Great band

Lousy showmen. I saw them maybe a dozen times. Towards the end of Roth's reign, up to an hour of a two-hour show would be just Dave holding court. And after Women and Children First, Michael Anthony ditched his solo spot for that painful Apocalypse Now on Bass thing -- that was always the time when the lines to the refreshments and toilets were the longest.

[XNASA]

10. The Stooges, The Velvet Underground........

....and the Beach Boys circa Friends, 20/20, Pet Sounds would get my vote before any of the bands listed.

And I can't believe that Cheap Trick didn't make the list.

[BigBigBigBear]

15. Agreed

on VU and Cheap Trick.

[quispquake]

20. And Hear Hear for the Stooges...

My all time fave :)

VU, Talkingheads, & Buttholes Surfers round out my list...

pp23

[XNASA]

23. Talking Heads

Jeesh. How could I forget about the Heads?

I'm changing my vote. No doubt, the Heads were the best American band ever.

[idontwantaname]

25. talking heads rock.

.

[Richardo]

31. I change my vote - Talking Heads

:thumbsup:

[no name no slogan]

41. Yay STOOOGES!!!!

They (and the Beach Boys) are my top two American faves, with honarable mentions to the VU, MC5 and Sly and the Family Stone.

"Funhouse" is one of my Top 10 desert island LPs. I even forked out $110 a few years back for that Rhino boxset of the full Funhouse Sessions. Forty-odd takes of every damn song on the album, plus a couple of others who didn't make the cut. Fan-freakin-tastic!

Glad to see fellow Stooge fans here! :toast:

[GreenArrow]

48. VU

absolutely!

[number six]

11. Pixies

A fat balding man screaming in Spanish wins every time.

[Richardo]

12. Steely Dan

[BigBigBigBear]

16. eh

I'm a huge Dan fan, but they were studio creatures, built largely on production and hired guns. Quality stuff, but more a songwriting partnership than a band, per se.

[theemu]

13. Velvet Underground

Definitely.

[noonwitch]

17. The Doors or the Dead

Groups that even some of today's young people like.

[Rainbowreflect]

24. My vote is for the Dead, of course.

[jobycom]

18. Lynard Skynard

[SCantiGOP]

22. Skynard? are you kidding

"well Watergate does not bother me.."

on edit: when they decided to trash Neil Young, I decided to side with the Canadian and not listen to anymore of their redneck rock.

[underpants]

27. Yeah but they were a HELLUVA band

That should be up there.

[jobycom]

35. Hell no I'm not

The line before "Watergate does not bother me" is "We all did what we could do." Try being a southern kid during the later stages of desegregation, and watching your parents and some friends fighting their neighbors, and then hear Neil young lump your parents with the sheet wearers. Neil Young (hasn't he become a conservative) is a great songwriter, but he was wrong on that one.

Besides, "Saturday Night Special" really pisses of the gun-toting wingnuts.

[no name no slogan]

42. Neil isn't a Conservative anymore...

But he did sing "Sweet Home Alabama" at a show he did right after Ronnie died in the plane crash.

And if you mention Skynyrd, you can't forget the Allman Brothers. They were the ones who cleared the southern-rock path.

But Skynyrd is consistently underrated, especially by the "rock elite" who think that REM is southern rock and "Losing My Religion" is a deep, meaningful song.

[jobycom]

51. Allman Brothers were good, but boring as dust in concert

All southern rock was commentary on Skynard and Greg Allman, though, as you say.

I hadn't heard that Young sang "Sweet Home Alabama" after Ronnie's death. Nice gesture.

Young is a great songwriter who still has an edge, unlike others of his era. But his grasp of politics is weak. He mostly fumes after the fact, rather than understanding which side to support during the fact. Great rager, though.

And for the record, I think "Losing My Religion" was a great love song from an otherwise over-rated band. One of the best videos ever, too, in the context of its time.

[charlie]

65. The Allmans could be worse than boring

I only saw them once (post Duane and Berry, unfortunately) and went home tired, with a headache. Greg was nodding in the throes of his addictions and the rest seemed to want to be elsewhere. They were ungodly loud and distorted, their sound system driven way past its capabilities. One of the longest three hour shows I'd ever endured. Just awful.

[mitchum]

19. The Velvets are my favorite, but they had no popular appeal...

or success and since rockandroll is a populist "art form", my vote would have to go to the Byrds (who slightly edge out CCR)

21. others

I voted Creedence.
Looking over the list some more though... I notice that it does leave off quite a few that people have been mentioning. & what about artists that are not bands exactly? Dylan, Buddy Holly, Roky Erickson who can be argued to contain something seminal...

[Speck Tater]

29. Dire Straights.

[XNASA]

32. er.......um.............

<whispers>..they were English, mate.

[Speck Tater]

43. Dang, They speak American and everything!

They sure had me fooled.

[BigBigBigBear]

38. Well, Dylan

as a pop music personality is rivaled ONLY by Louis Armstrong and George Gershwin in this century, in my view.

[BigBigBigBear]

39. With Elvis

very close behind...

[grannylib]

28. Neil Young and Crazy Horse

The Rust Never Sleeps tour back in the late '70s ROCKED!!

[THUNDER HANDS]

34. weren't they canadian?

I know Neil Young is.

36. Which American

Canadians are Americans too, North Americans at that.

[number six]

37. Crazy Horse are all Yanks, I believe

All from 'round LA, i think.

[no name no slogan]

44. Neil may be naturalized in the US

but I don't know for sure.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

30. The Dead.

[markus]

33. Not even a "real" poll without 'em...

[Character Assassin]

45. They would fit into the real poll for the most talentless, boring group

Or possibly a Jeopardy category like "Human-based, Sentinent, Sleep-Inducement Agents"

[jobycom]

52. LOL! That's my opinion of them and Steely Dan, but I wasn't going to say.

nt.

[WilliamPitt]

57. Lemme guess. You never went to a show, right?

[charlie]

60. Saw them twice

I never was bananas about the Dead, thought their music was tepid and pedestrian. I was dragged to a show in the early 70s, while they were still in the midst of their "cowboy" phase (they had the world's largest sound system then, an awesome sight, looked like a city skyline with rafter-scraping towers!). It was an endurance test for me, four and a half hours of Jerry and the boys meandering and noodling.

A couple of years later I saw them again, and they were more jazzy and experimental, much more palatable, but still no great shakes. And this time they played for FIVE hours. However...

Some time around the second hour something happened, they found their sweet spot, nailed their groove, whatever. The hall seemed to get clearer and brighter and suddenly they were ON. The crowd was ecstatic, the hippies lost it in their version of moshing, roiling and tumbling on the floor and aisles. I was astonished, didn't have an inkling that the band had it in them. Lasted about an hour before they settled back into their usual splattery jamming.

I'm still not crazy about the Dead, but I finally understood the devotion they inspired, they could have their moments of greatness.

[Character Assassin]

71. Went to see them twice, both at Laguna Seca

And had the dubious distinction of waking up to find several of their followers sleeping on my front lawn (my house at the time was about 4 miles from LS).

What was astounding was that they were even more boring in concert.

[Spider Jerusalem]

46. The Pixies.

At least, that's my opinion...

[GreenArrow]

47. Creedence

with Ramones a tough second choice.

Where are the Byrds?

[argyl]

49. The Byrds.

xx

[maveric]

53. Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English band.

Hendrix couldnt get the american record companies to give him a break. He went to Britain and teamed up with Mitch and Noel and was signed by an English recording company.
Jimi was am american from Seattle but the band was british.

[Guaranteed]

67. That's true.

But they don't even count. They sucked.

[KG]

54. Boston (musically) Eagles (lifestyle)

[WilliamPitt]

55. The Grateful Dead

[lynndew2]

58. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

Watch out where the huskies go and dont you eat that yellow snow.

[SOteric]

59. Oooo.....Decisions, decisions,

The local boys at position 6, or the local boys at position 8...

[kyrasdad]

61. SHA NA NA!!!

NOT...

Just for longevity sake it should be Aerosmith... And besides that they are the best!

[ALago1]

62. Being from NJ...

...I had to go with Bruuuuuce!

[Search Party]

63. shit, I have tried, but I can't do it, I have to

break it down by decade:

60's: split: The Grateful Dead/The Velvet Underground/BeachBoys a.k.a. Brian Wilson

70's: Todd Rundgren and Utopia

80's: R.E.M.

90's: Pavement

00's: My Morning Jacket (so far)

[Guaranteed]

66. Most American bands

are shit. It's unfortunate. That's a paltry crowd to pick from. No Zeps or Beatles or Stones. :(
I dunno. I think Simon and Garfunkel and CSNY were damned good. The Doors. Hendrix was good but his band was shit, and, personally, I hate the Dead. After that you've got to go to your white trash bands....Creedance....Skynyrd...I dunno. It's starting to get real thin, now.....

Prolly have more luck with alternative bands if you're looking for the Americans to stick out. We blazed more trails in that area it seems.

[psychopomp]

68. Bad Brains!

Now you know!

[psychopomp]

69. FYI The Experience were Brits

Jimi had to go to England to become famous; his band was a UK creation. If you want to talk an American Hendrix band, then you can talk about Band of Gypsies (a much improved incarnation, IMHO).

[dbt]

70. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers!

Ya buncha Commie bastidges!!!!!

:P
dbt