Who was the most average successful rock band in history?

no they are awful bands!

 

According to the OP he was looking for bands somewhere in between not great and not awful. Creed is smack in the middle of awful, IMO.

 

The most ordinary average band of all time:

 

I believe The Beatles fit the OPs criteria.

 

Definitely not. Average for that era would be somebody like The Dave Clark Five.

 

Real contenders for me would be Grand a Funk, Steve Miller Band, The Ramones, and Talking Heads. Which only proves what makes a great rock band is alchemy.

It's not great musicianship, great singing, great harmonies, or great writing it is something intangible. Everything just comes together to make a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. That's why the answer to the OP's question is irrelevant.

 

BTO?

 

Nickelback
Oasis
Eagles
U2

 

U2 is the obvious example. No talented musicians, not great, for the most part not awful.

 

James Gang and Joe Walsh

And I like them/him.

Joe Walsh always reminded me of someone's dad who smoked a lot of weed back in the day and played in a wild rock and roll band. Then he became the "ordinary average guy"/dad type.

But there's nothing terribly amazing about Joe Walsh or the James Gang, even if I've had a few beers and "The Bomber" is tearing my head off.

 

KISS

 

I'm loving the fact that the OP specifically mentioned "competent musicians, not flashy"... And multiple posters STILL throw out Springsteen, a man in his 60s who regularly plays shows lasting almost four hours.

You may not personally LIKE Bruce Springsteen, but try finding me another artist even HALF his age who's still playing shows remotely that long. That kind of energy sure ain't "average."

As with almost all threads of this type, the original intent got immediately buried by posters name-dropping bands they don't personally like, regardless of success, longevity, or talent.

 

What's wrong with that? It always allows one more dig at U2 .

 

Right, it's not about who you hate. It's about bands that you don't love or hate, that were merely competent. But also got popular. BTO (a recent nominee) is another good example.

 

The first band that came to mind, because I just purchased my first cd or vinyl ever from this band, and when I listened to it, I was reminded of great times in my life listening to music on the radio and at parties But this one cd will be enough. Who is it? Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band.

Rick G

 

Brother of Pete Seeger??
In fairness, misspelling the name of a guy you don't really care about one way or the other seems about right.

 

And Wildflowers, and Hard Promises, and Full Moon Fever, and dozens of tracks that weren't included on the Greatest Hits Comp, and some of the deeper cuts like Girl on LSD, Trailer, Casa Dega...

Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, U2 even. They just don't belong in this thread because they have too many classic songs and classic albums cherished by too many fans. I'm not even a big Springsteen fan but I can say with confidence he's well "above average" as a songwriter and even as a performer. Same goes for U2. I could care less about them, but it's hard to say if you've heard one album you've heard them all, or that people don't love their songs.

I'm pretty sure the OP was at least heading in the right direction when he mentioned Huey Lewis.

 

Nothing average about Talking Heads.

 

Bob Seger is a really good answer.

 

The James Gang with Joe were hardly average

 

That is one lopsided list.

 

hah i suppose not. perhaps they're somewhere in between "true greatness" and "competent hard rock band"? they deserved to be bigger, but they also weren't The Who or Zeppelin.

 

And the fact they had boatloads of great songs.

 

Except they sold millions of albums and their fans are still legion, wrote terrific songs. I also wouldn't put McCartney in the average category as a bass player and while Ri go might not be a technically snowy drummer he was perfect for the time and his fills, etc. are all in the right spot. Add in terrific singing and, well, you'd be wrong.

I think Huey Lewis and The News is a good choice.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by lopsided?