Marty Stuart on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

My girlfriend back in college (in the 1970s) used to say of some album  she was into at any given moment: "They are the best band in the world -- like so many other bands, of course."

NRBQ more musical and entertaining, that’s all.
Oh yeah, more output, longer track record and better songs.
They and the Isley's are America's bands.

Yeah @fuzztone, and NRBQ live are just incredible. Terry Adams’ piano and clavinet playing on stage, as well as Al Anderson’s guitar playing and Joey Spampinato’s bass playing (Keith Richard’s choice as Bill Wyman’s replacement in The Stones. Joey turned him down, choosing to remain in the true greatest Rock ’n’ Roll band in the world ;-) is about as amazing as any musician I’ve ever seen, and I saw Hendrix twice ;-) .

And then there’s the songs; Anderson left the band to concentrate full time on songwriting, relocating to Nashville. NRBQ have gone through three line-ups over their long history---dating back to 1968! (Terry Adams being the sole constant), and have made a LOT of albums. I have ’em all.

@bdp24:

"I know when I make my own statements (as apposed to Marty making his), I should use the term "my favorite" instead of "the best". But to tell you the truth, I choose to do that for a reason: I do it when I feel to do so is the only way I can make the point I am trying to make as dramatically as possible"

Well, OK-- at least you're aware of what you're doing. But there is so much hyperbole tossed around online and so many posters actually seem to believe that 1) if they like something it must therefore be "great" and 2) that art is a competition, like sports, that whenever I see such language used, I automatically assume the poster is just another aesthetically naive individual and move on. Others will no doubt respond differently.  

@roxy54:  

"...this is America, and in the USA, everything must be a contest, and there MUST be a number 1, a winner. That's probably one of the most unattractive things about American culture..."

So true, unfortunately and the stubborn persistence of this cultural attitude is evidenced by the "Best Of" category in this very forum!

As to Marty Stuart's assertion, well, that's a matter of taste.  If one is going to hold up Tom Petty, then why not J. C. Mellancamp?  Seems to me, JCM is every bit as good a songwriter as TP.  And it seems to me that it could be argued that neither is a better songwriter than Springsteen. 

For the record, none of them are favorites of mine. I don't have a horse in this race. My point is that I don't see, from a critical standpoint, how M. Stuart's assertion holds up, except as an expression of his admiration for T. Petty. 

... which brings us ful circle, back to the tendency for us to automatically conflate what we like with what is "good"...

Even though he isn't a showboat, Marty Stuart knows his way around a Telecaster and mandolin.

I remember a friend really into Tom Petty when he was still playing the local LA clubs-1976? Always reminding me to see him next show. Saw them on the "You're Gonna Get It" tour 1978, also my favorite TP album.

IMO, TP & the HB's were on the top of their game first 4-5 albums. I lost interest after "Damn the Torpedoes."

"The BEST?"  Marty Stuart must have some secret LP's that were never released to the general public.