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

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.

DAMN YANKEES

It seems like everyone (me included) is just naming good bands. The OT was about the 'greatest' American band. Most of the bands named are really good but few of them rate anywhere near 'greatest'. No one will agree on one greatest, obviously......but that list should be fairly short, I would think.

Atta boy Bill ;-). When NRBQ appeared on David Sanborn's TV show, he introduced them as one of the great R & R bands in the world. Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello also held that opinion. Rock 'n' Roll obviously means different things to different people. I should qualify my nomination of NRBQ as being only when Al Anderson was in the band.