When the question arises, what is greatest rock band ever,
who comes to mind? The Beatles? The Rolling Stones? The Who?
Maybe Led Zeppelin. Maybe Pink
Floyd. Some younger kids might say
Radiohead. They’d be wrong, but they may
say it. The thing is all these bands are
British. None of the bands that come
immediately to mind are American. We
created the genre, yet the bands that come out of our country just don’t stack
up with England. I’m sure it says something about us as a
country that we have tons of music legends, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Buddy
Holly, but no great bands, or at least, not as great as other countries. So, I’m going to list what I think are the
top 5 greatest American Rock Bands. As
with most of my lists, it’s going to be extremely biased. I don’t like the Eagles, so they won’t be on
there. You may also notice that all of
my picks are mainstream. How popular a
band is certainly plays a part in their greatness. I’m not listing necessarily the most talented
American bands. And lastly, I may have
missed some solid bands as well, it always happens. One of my future top 5’s will be the top 5
mistakes I made on this blog. But for
now, here are my Top 5 Greatest American Rock Bands…
5) Guns N’ Roses
When I was in middle school there
were two major camps of main stream rock fans, the Def Leppard fans and the
Guns N’ Roses fans. I was strongly in
the Def Leppard camp, but this is a list of American bands so I won’t go on
about that. I have, however, grown to
respect what Axl and Slash accomplished in creating music that has lasted
generations. As normal as it may sound
now, the sound Guns N’ Roses created was astounding at the time. This was a band that broke down barriers
between hard rock and main stream music and changed the face of the music
scene. Their demise is well documented
and tragic, but at the top of their game they were one of the best around.
4) Metallica
Another
band that I was never a big fan of, but can’t deny the greatness of or the
impact they had on music. They started
as a niche band known for how hard and fast they could play and grew into the
biggest act in the world. The growth in
just their sound alone shows how talented they were as musicians, forget about
how they were able to break free of the stereotype of having just a niche
sound. They essentially created a genre,
thrash metal, pushed it into the mainstream and became one of the biggest
drawing acts in the world. Yes, they
softened their sound as they grew and that had a huge effect on their ability
to cross over, but I won’t hold that against them.
3) Pearl Jam
Much like
when I was in middle school, when I was in high school there was two major
camps of music fans, the Nirvana fans and the Pearl Jam fans. I know that most music experts claim that
Nirvana was the better band, the band that had the bigger impact, but I just
don’t buy it. Nirvana may have broken
first, but in every other way Pearl Jam was the more successful band. Its hard to fault a band for not lasting long
when a member commits suicide, but the fact of the matter is Nirvana just
doesn’t have the library to match up to Pearl Jam. They also don’t have the record sales. And as fervent as Nirvana fans are, I’m never
met a die hard Nirvana fan. I do, on the
other hand, know a bunch of people who are way to into Pearl
Jam. It also helps that I’ve gotten the
chance to see Pearl Jam live, an experience that totally changed my feeling
about them as a band. This is a crazy
talented bunch of men who have continued to put out fantastic music while the
most of their contemporaries have gone to the way side.
2) Beach Boys
I am really
torn about this selection. I love the
Beach Boys. They were the first band I
really listened to, pulling out all my Dad’s LPs and making a greatest hits
tape I could carry with me everywhere. But
at the same time their level of musicianship just doesn’t feel like it holds up
to others on my list. Is that a product
of the era they wrote music in? Maybe, but
at times it just felt to much like a creation meant to make money more then
make great music. What made me
eventually put them on the list was the influence they seem to have in the
music community. Numerous music greats
list Pet Sounds as one of the
greatest albums ever recorded and the Beach Boys as a huge influence on their
music, and even though I ignored that fact with Nirvana, I’m not going to here.
1) Chicago
I’m talking early Chicago,
not the sappy ballad writing wedding band that they became in the early 80’s. Chicago Transit Authority was one of the most
original rock bands ever. They found a way
to combine jazz, soul and rock to form their own sound that was truly amazing. Oddly, as popular as they would become, they
are easily one of the most underrated and forgotten bands out there. Granted part of that has to do with the 80’s
and how far they fell from the genius they created early on. Terry Rath, their original guitarist, was
said to be Jimmy Hendrix’s favorite guitarist and if you listen to the first
three albums, you’ll understand why. The
horn section has to be the best horn section in any rock band ever put
together. Listen to “Free” on Chicago 3 and you’ll see what I mean. These guys can even rock a flute as good as
Ian Anderson. They might not be the most
influential band because their sound is so hard to reproduce, but they are hands
down the most talented American rock band I’ve listened to and one of the all
time biggest sellers.
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