Which band IS really America's Greatest (rock & roll band)?

Thanks for reminding me about REM. We saw them live about five times and I was shocked when they called it quits. I have most of their albums, and listen to them a lot. For me, they are a lot like Rush, very original and unique. I don’t love everything they have done but the songs I like, I really like.

Is REM the quintessential American rock and roll band? Maybe not, but they’re in my top ten.

Some good ones-
Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, BTO Bachman Turner Overdrive, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Weather Report, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels Band, Canned Heat

Steppenwolf, Grand Funk, Aerosmith,The Boss

I meant Traffic, not Weather Report

Based on the above, I’d probably say NRBQ as well. I don’t think of bands like Grand Funk or The Eagles as ’rock and roll’ in the narrow sense of it-and much as I enjoyed The Band, Traffic and some of the others mentioned, I don’t think they are American (though The Band did a great job at the homespun Americana sound before it was re-booted as a genre).
If we aren’t confining ourselves to American bands, listen to The Beatles early on-- that concert at the Washington Coliseum is almost all pure old ’50s style rock and roll, great harmonies and playing under circumstances that would excuse most bands from a bad performance, and that was anything but.