The Greatest American Rock Band Of All Time

R.E.M. for me.

 

Longevity....How many years qualify?

 

Longevity is definitely no virtue, examples abound.

 

roughly half Canadian, no?

 

Why are there (almost) no african American (or checkerboard) bands in this discussion? Let me put up a few for consideration:

Dave Bartholomew's band, who backed almost everyone from New Orleans, including fats Dominoe and Little Richard.

The Muddy Waters band, how many brit bands wished they could play like them?

The Funk Brothers at Motown, more hits than the Beatle, Stones, and Beach Boys combined.

Atlantic's '50s session band, think Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll"

And, my choice, Booker T & the MGs + Memphis Horns = Markeys/Stax session band, hits on their own and with Otis, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Eddie Floyd, Albert King, on and on. and a great live band when they got the chance.

 

Reading this thread makes me realize just how much better England is than the U.S. in producing rock bands. I can think of at least 10-12 British bands I'd take over any of the bands listed here.

But my vote would be for Metallica.

 

Are these rock bands though?

 

They are to me, and why not? or the Paul Butterfield Band or the Buckeroos or Willie's bands, or...point being this board is extremely rock-ist which not only blinkers you to things outside 'rock', it diminishes what rock is/can be.

 

To me it's Bruce and the E street band, but through the first 10 pages or so I didn't see a mention of Chicago who is (was) a great R&R Band.

 

or this band, rocking out a little song 'n dance 'bout shooting folks you have some beef with, Bob wishes he'd written "Shoot him 'fore he runs/Do the jerk baby, do the jerk now" and few of the bands mentioned above rock this hard.

 

Well the specific question was rock band. For the record I think Booker and MGs was best performing "band" there ever was.

 

We could say Neil Young in all his guises.

 

Yea...ahhh...Neil is Canadian.

Would the Jimi Hendrix Experience be an American band, or a British band?

 

Buffalo Springfield is an L.A. group for me, regardless of where they were individually born and raised.
You bring up a good point which made me think that Canada has an unusually high percentage of talent. Neil, Cohen, most of The Band, Joni, Lightfoot, the Paupers, the Collectors, Clayton-Thomas, Denny Doherty, the Guess Who...

 

....and Bruce Cockburn. Extremely underrated.

 

Why don't we worry more about where he wrote and recorded his music. If he truly was a Canadian artist that had just stayed north of the border we wouldn't be talking about him.

 

So would John Lennon be considered an Anerican artist? He was an American citizen.

 

this is all American music, southern at that, regardless of where anyone was born or grew up or recorded.

 

John's recording career as a Beatle, which is his main claim to fame, was in England.

 

Did anything come out after Ten and Vs???

Apparently Pearl Jam had an influential career after 1996..... I didn't see or hear it.

 

NRBQ

 

What's with all the comments about " I haven't heard a Pearl Jam album since vs. " or "I haven't heard a Pearl Jam album since 1996" ? Like that's the band's fault ? Was Stone Gossard supposed to drop each new album off in your mailbox on New Music Friday ? Man, if I'd known that, I would have joined Ten Club years ago....

D.D.

 

Oh, is this a test? You can have your opinion and I can have mine and I don't have to validate it through your quirky set of rules. Get it?

 

I'll second that nomination, with the silver being the Byrds, and the bronze either the Ramones, Velvets, or the Dead.

 

No...not a "test"...just a disussion.