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Greatest American Rock and Role Bands of ALL Time

I have run into several advertisements saying that Aerosmith was the greatest American R&R band. I have thought about this claim and asked around and realize it is not an easy choice. So many of the great rock bands are not American..i.e. Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Rush, etc.

But before going further, who should/should not be considered?

 I think “band” means not Elvis, Elton John, etc or other single acts, that is another thread. However I would count Ted Nugent since he really is a band but with his name as a title…same with Hendrix, since he usually played with a band.
 They need to write at least most of there own music (another thing that would preclude Elvis).
 “Rock” any thing from the 50s up to alternative (which I consider a derivative of rock). This would include pop rock, so the Monkey’s might be considered (if they were American).
 Heavy metal would be ok.
 they should sustain their appeal over a period of time even if they weren’t able to produce a lot of music…i.e. Buddy Hollie, Hendrix

Anyway, there is no perfect guide so if you have other ideas, no problem. But here are a few of the undisputed best…..(that is bait)

 Amerosmith
 Kiss
 Alice Cooper
 Ted Nugent
Journey
….hey, I don’t know, I really would have a hard time putting any of these in a top 10 list of all time worldwide so I need some help,

Who are the greatest American Rock Bands of All Time???????????? Who is THE Greatest of all time
bbtuna
paulwp
585 posts
 
The questions were: Who are the greatest American Rock Bands of All Time???????????? Who is THE Greatest of all time?

Many of the names above were not rock and/or not American. There have been dozens, maybe hundreds, of really good, even wonderful American rock bands, but "greatness" implies either long life or long influence.

To my mind, there are only two that fit the criteria: Buddy Holly and the Crickets, so much influence almost 50 years later from such a brief career; and Los Lobos, still going after 30 years of excellence in writing and performing.

Paul
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Paul depending on how you define it I would need to say The Doors although Buddy Holly is a good call..............
It's interesting because I actually think in most era's(in overall terms I mean, obviously it's hard to argue against the Beatles as being no.1 in popular,cultural and musical influence terms )American music tends to shade it against the British but usually the main influence is down to individuals i.e. Dylan,Hendrix,Brian Wilson,Elvis,nearly all the Blues artists-even back as far as Sinatra-of course these individuals did benefit from amazing back up however for some reason Britain did seem to produce more influential bands,in the collective sense.........don't really know why that is........................
bbtuna OP
96 posts
 
Yes, Paul has it right. This was intended to be a thread to find out the truely

GREATEST, GREATEST, GREATEST......ONLY
AMERICAN, AMERICAN, AMERICAN, AMERICAN.......ONLY
BANDS (in general) and BAND (THE band of bands)

If this keeps going, I think we will end up naming every rock band, American or otherwise, that has ever played. Maybe I should add my friends garage band from the mid seventies, they were really good.

Now I think it is still great fun because the variety is so large. See, this is why I was trying to see if there was anything nearing a consensus for what I think is a difficult question.

I still note that Aerosmith is not on anyones list...hmmm, I guess the outside experts (non-agon) don't know what they are talking about or maybe that was just a marketing ploy for Areosmith, I wonder.....

I will post an updated list in a few minutes.

cd
trich727
67 posts
 
I'm pretty sure Left Banke is UK. But how can we forget ZZ Topp's first three albums or the bands ZZ came from; The Moving Sidewalks and American Blues. Also Amboy Dukes, The Third Rail, Shadows of Knight, did you mention The Seeds? Mountain? Electric Flag? James Gang, Canned Heat? Buddy Holly, Iron Butterfly, Grand Funk, MC5, Patti Smith Group, The Barbarians? And who could forget The Nightcrawlers, and Mouse and the Traps? I think since Jimi's first band, Jimi James and the Blue Flames was US, Jimi Hendrix is as American as apple pie. "And" also puts Johnny Winter in the list. Tom trich727
trich727
67 posts
 
Hey Paul, Buddy Holly certainly belongs on the list, but I'm afraid Los Lobos will fall by the way side as does my electee, Johnny Winter who cut his first record 42 years ago, and has a new one due out soon. If we are looking hard, Iron Butterfly was the first US band to go platinum, and CCR out sold the Beatles in the USA when together. So if we go by the criteria of who influenced R'n'R the most from the USA, that honor HAS to go to James Marshall Hendrix from Seattle. Followed closely by Elvis, Buddy Holly, Muddy Waters, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Velvet Underground, Little Richard, Robert Johnson, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan. I will argue until the cows come home or get hit by a Greyhound that these people/bands had the biggest influence on American music than any others. An interesting fact is that the Velvet Undergrounds' average sale on a new release was 3,000 copies. If you go by fewest copies sold versus affect, they are only beat by Robert Johnson. In that respect, Robert Johnson would be the clear winner of influence VS sales, and you can cash that in a UK bank. Tom trich727
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