I am sure you have had this discussion before. Who is the greatest American rock band of all time? At first the question seems easy enough but as you think back through all of the greatest bands you soon realize just how many were NOT from America. Wasn't the U.S. the birthplace of Rock 'n Roll?
First, a set of criteria needs to be set because this can be very opinionated and one's taste could vary drastically from another's. Hence Brittney Spears sells billions of records. (Isn't it funny that we all refer to Spears as a bad music example? Poor thing.)
This is a quick and general set of standards to start us off. A "great band" has to:
1) Have music considered to be of good quality to the masses or reliable critics
2) Remain successful for an extended period of time
3) Sell a significant amount of their work
4) Be well known and recognizeable
5) Be within the genre of Rock (R&B, Soul, Rap, Electronica etc are a different topic)
This could lead to some great debate so let's have at it. Before long my criteria may change drastically due to apsects I am missing and so on. I eagerly await my Indie expert to chime in.
So who are the greates rock bands? The Who? Beattles? Rolling Stones? Led Zepplin? Pink Floyd? U2? AC/DC?
I deliberately named those first since they are not American but generally though of as great.
Who can America contribute? Aerosmith? Metallica? Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers? Are they considered a band like the others? The Beach Boys? Are they rock? The Eagles? Blondie? The Cars? They are American right? Does Punk Rock count? If so, there are more great British Punk Rock bands aren't there?
What do you guys think?
7 comments:
Easy. The Velvet Underground.
They're in the hall of fame and are generally considered one of the most accomplished rock bands from any era or country. It was once said (I'm paraphrasing)that although they only sold X amount of their first record, nearly everyone who heard it picked up a guitar and started a band.
My second choice would be Sonic Youth...
Velvet Underground! Excellent. That's the enlightenment I am looking for. You nailed another aspect of criteria...influence on music or listeners.
I'd like to hear more about Sonic Youth.
No band has taken the rock format to the places SY has gone. Additionally, they have been around for 25 years and have had a juge influence on the music of the last 20 years, maybe more than any other rock band. No other band has reinvented rock music like SY has.
Then I'd go with maybe REM...
Sounds like Velvet Underground is a great band, but as far as the Greatest American Rock Band, they don't satisfy the "well known" criteria (I'm sure we could debate the criteria).
It's gotta be Aerosmith.
Take down the Albert Belle picture!
Radiohead is an English band, not American.
This is an interesting question - the greatest AMERICAN rock band. Everyone knows Led Zepplin is the greatest rock band, but who is the greatest American band. hm. I must give this some thought. I would have given credence to the Aerosmith argument before all the sell out formulaic crappy love songs.
Take personal opinion out of it, dailyliving. I, too, agree they went over the deep end with the love ballads, but thinking objectively if that drops them out of the running. It may not due to the loads of other "popular" crappy American bands.
I still like the Velvet Underground idea but Douglas' point of their "well known-ness" is a legitimate one in my mind. Do the fringe people know enough of them?
So how much weight do we give to popularity vs. quality? And how objective can we be when opinion of qulaity comes into play. You can measure success and popularity in album sales and such but can yu measure quality?
Just thinking out loud here.
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