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Best Amercian Rock/Pop Band


Birdie Mac

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It's a historical oddity that Rock is an American invention, but most of the best bands - Beatles, Stones, Who, U2, Pink Floyd, etc come from other shores. Who are your picks for best American bands? Note it must be a band, and not an individual, so the Jackson 5 are eligible, but Michal Jackson is not. Here are my picks:

  • The Allman Brothers
  • Prince and the Revolution
  • Grateful Dead
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • Sly and the Family Stone
  • The Beach Boys
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Have at thee!

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Metallica

Eagles

Guns N Roses

 

Probably different definitions of rock/pop for different folks but these are prob some of the best selling American bands in history. Im sure there are individuals who have sold more but since you asked for groups/bands, there are mine.

 

Edit- Probably add Kiss and Aerosmith to those as well

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It's a historical oddity that Rock is an American invention, but most of the best bands - Beatles, Stones, Who, U2, Pink Floyd, etc come from other shores. Who are your picks for best American bands? Note it must be a band, and not an individual, so the Jackson 5 are eligible, but Michal Jackson is not. Here are my picks:

  • The Allman Brothers
  • Prince and the Revolution
  • Grateful Dead
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • Sly and the Family Stone
  • The Beach Boys
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Have at thee!

 

 

Great picks. I'm a big Allman Brothers fan, used to see them at The Beacon every year.

 

I would add The Doors, Steely Dan, Cars, Doobies, Steve Miller and Van Halen (early especially) off the top of my head.

 

Also, Talking Heads. Man, there's a lot.

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Golf Boys, obvs.

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There are a lot of great ones.

I think you have to start with the Dead due to longevity and what they were able to accomplish without radio play.

And secondly, I have to say Frank Zappa. He was a great musician, voted #1 Living Composer for Thing Fish, and wrote incredibly complex music. The only reason why I don't put him above the Dead is because of his early death. Oh, and he was an absolute genius, just ask Tipper Gore.

Then you have in the mid/late 70s the Talking Heads who were also brilliant, which paved the way for REM. Both of these bands were so great, and so influential.

Nirvana in the 90s. So influential in such a short time.

Then in the new century, the Hansen Brothers, "Mmmmm, Bop?" Yes please...

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It's a historical oddity that Rock is an American invention, but most of the best bands - Beatles, Stones, Who, U2, Pink Floyd, etc come from other shores. Who are your picks for best American bands? Note it must be a band, and not an individual, so the Jackson 5 are eligible, but Michal Jackson is not. Here are my picks:

  • The Allman Brothers
  • Prince and the Revolution
  • Grateful Dead
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • Sly and the Family Stone
  • The Beach Boys
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Have at thee!

 

While the most popular/ influential bands are, arguably, British almost all of them made their careers on the back of American blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and tons of other artists. The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Animals and other British invasion bands just flat out stole American blues songs and commercialized them.

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It's a historical oddity that Rock is an American invention, but most of the best bands - Beatles, Stones, Who, U2, Pink Floyd, etc come from other shores. Who are your picks for best American bands? Note it must be a band, and not an individual, so the Jackson 5 are eligible, but Michal Jackson is not. Here are my picks:

  • The Allman Brothers
  • Prince and the Revolution
  • Grateful Dead
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • Sly and the Family Stone
  • The Beach Boys
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Have at thee!

 

While the most popular/ influential bands are, arguably, British almost all of them made their careers on the back of American blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and tons of other artists. The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Animals and other British invasion bands just flat out stole American blues songs and commercialized them.

 

These artists took their beginnings from Robert Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, who in turn took their sound from slave music.

It wasn’t until Elvis that “Race Music” went mainstream.

It’s so hard to say who started what, but there is no doubt your statement is correct. and I don’t think any of those bands/musicians have ever denied blatantly ripping off the R&B artists who preceded them.

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So many great bands I forgot to mention in my post. Thanks for contributing guys. Can't believe I forgot Aerosmith, Eagles, and the Seattle grunge bands.

 

My personal favorite is the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but I'd have to give the Allman Brothers the nod for greatest American band. They have the longevity, the roots on the musical tree are deep and the branches have produced a lot of great musicians, and they have some great, classic songs.

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It's a historical oddity that Rock is an American invention, but most of the best bands - Beatles, Stones, Who, U2, Pink Floyd, etc come from other shores. Who are your picks for best American bands? Note it must be a band, and not an individual, so the Jackson 5 are eligible, but Michal Jackson is not. Here are my picks:

  • The Allman Brothers
  • Prince and the Revolution
  • Grateful Dead
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • Sly and the Family Stone
  • The Beach Boys
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Have at thee!

 

While the most popular/ influential bands are, arguably, British almost all of them made their careers on the back of American blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and tons of other artists. The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Animals and other British invasion bands just flat out stole American blues songs and commercialized them.

 

These artists took their beginnings from Robert Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, who in turn took their sound from slave music.

It wasn’t until Elvis that “Race Music” went mainstream.

It’s so hard to say who started what, but there is no doubt your statement is correct. and I don’t think any of those bands/musicians have ever denied blatantly ripping off the R&B artists who preceded them.

 

You are correct. I didn’t mean to insinuate that British bands were doing anything evil or cruel by playing American blues music. They all freely admit to being influenced by it and playing those songs. I was just trying to say that although the bands themselves were British the music was still American at the roots.

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Tool needs to be on the list.

 

I’d agree but give the majority of the credit to Manard. Similar to NIN and Trent Reznor. Manard is Tool, Pusifer and A Perfect Circle.

 

I can't say I agree with that. Pusifer and A Perfect Circle have some great stuff but it doesn't match Tool, and I think a big part of that is the music for Tool is written by the band, not just Maynard. But I'm not diehard so I might be incorrect. It's just my understanding from what little I've heard and read.

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I’m always liked:

 

Tom Petty Heart Breakers (and with the Traveling Wilburys)

 

Beach Boys (Pet Sounds fav album)

 

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

 

Neil Young with Crazy Horse

 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

Lou Reed with Velvet Underground

 

Van Halen

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I’m always liked:

 

Tom Petty Heart Breakers (and with the Traveling Wilburys)

 

Beach Boys (Pet Sounds fav album)

 

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

 

Neil Young with Crazy Horse

 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

Lou Reed with Velvet Underground

 

Van Halen

 

I think you nailed the problem in your response.... While the UK was exporting bands in the 60s and 70s, the US had a bunch of artists with big names forming and disbanding groups, as evidenced by so many person + band names you have. A good example you mentioned is Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but before they were that, you had Buffalo Springfield that had some hits. Then Crosby, Stills, and Nash, then Neil Young bounced in and it was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, then they broke up and all had solo records, then they reformed and broke up again and so on. The Eagles did the same thing. There were tons of great American songs in that timeframe, but no enduring legacy of bands since they often weren't together long enough to make multiple albums.

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I’m always liked:

 

Tom Petty Heart Breakers (and with the Traveling Wilburys)

 

Beach Boys (Pet Sounds fav album)

 

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

 

Neil Young with Crazy Horse

 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

Lou Reed with Velvet Underground

 

Van Halen

 

I think you nailed the problem in your response.... While the UK was exporting bands in the 60s and 70s, the US had a bunch of artists with big names forming and disbanding groups, as evidenced by so many person + band names you have. A good example you mentioned is Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but before they were that, you had Buffalo Springfield that had some hits. Then Crosby, Stills, and Nash, then Neil Young bounced in and it was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, then they broke up and all had solo records, then they reformed and broke up again and so on. The Eagles did the same thing. There were tons of great American songs in that timeframe, but no enduring legacy of bands since they often weren't together long enough to make multiple albums.

 

There is another problem, and I am a huge Neil Young fan but couldn't list him, he is from Canada.

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I’m always liked:

 

Tom Petty Heart Breakers (and with the Traveling Wilburys)

 

Beach Boys (Pet Sounds fav album)

 

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

 

Neil Young with Crazy Horse

 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

Lou Reed with Velvet Underground

 

Van Halen

 

I think you nailed the problem in your response.... While the UK was exporting bands in the 60s and 70s, the US had a bunch of artists with big names forming and disbanding groups, as evidenced by so many person + band names you have. A good example you mentioned is Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but before they were that, you had Buffalo Springfield that had some hits. Then Crosby, Stills, and Nash, then Neil Young bounced in and it was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, then they broke up and all had solo records, then they reformed and broke up again and so on. The Eagles did the same thing. There were tons of great American songs in that timeframe, but no enduring legacy of bands since they often weren't together long enough to make multiple albums.

 

There is another problem, and I am a huge Neil Young fan but couldn't list him, he is from Canada.

 

He is allowed due to NAFTA USMCA. Also: Barenaked Ladies, BTO, The Guess Who, Rush, and...

 

...Nickelback!

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There is certainly no shortage of great American rock bands. Some of my picks:

 

Dio

Alice in Chains

Soundgarden

Pantera

Stone Temple Pilots

Tool

Ramones

ZZ Top

Guns N' Roses

The Hooters

Live

Van Halen

Nine Inch Nails

Smashing Pumpkins

 

I could go on, but I'll refrain. Bottom line, there are a whole lot of great American bands out there

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Tool needs to be on the list.

 

I'd agree but give the majority of the credit to Manard. Similar to NIN and Trent Reznor. Manard is Tool, Pusifer and A Perfect Circle.

 

Disagree, Tool is the sum of all its members. Adam Jones is a stand out for me as a guitarist. Likewise with A Perfect Circle, Billy Howerdel is a huge part of the sound behind A Perfect Circle.

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Earth, Wind, and Fire is a great choice. I guess I should have been more unambiguous in the criteria. CSN&Y was formed in the states, but neither Nash nor Young are American, so that's a borderline pick. I was looking for bands that have been around for a while, and have been big influences on the music scene, not necessarily your favorite bands that most people haven't heard of.

 

Oh, and cdnglf - shame on you.

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Earth, Wind, & Fire.

 

Some nice bands mentioned, but when we are talking about "greatest" rock/pop, some of these suggestions are just foolish.

 

Kinda what I meant by rabbit holes. Rock and pop are not synonymous. Probably beginning in the 90s the 2 genres split drastically (I guess you could argue as far back as the 70s if you consider punk a rock sub genre) so many of your rock bands are not pop therefore probably not as commercially successful or known. So then what are the criteria? Music, sales, downloads, fans, longevity, and on and on. Hell, these days rock music has so many different variants that it is tough to compare bands to bands.

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Good point about the rabbit holes, but I said rock/pop because it covers a lot of ground. The Allman Brothers are primarily a rock band, but had lots of Chicago blues, country, r&b, and even some jazz. Prince was the same way; less interested in sticking to a particular style and more about telling a story any way he could. I think the best music borrows (steals...) from a lot of different sources and arrives at something completely different.

 

So it was a 'historical oddity' that rock found a home overseas when some were trying to bury it here.

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I was going to post Chicago with Terry Kath. Great call there.

 

It is a great question as to what constitutes the greatest. I think greatness would have to include several criteria. Certainly some level of commercial success. Also, I would add commercial success outside the U.S. Of course a level of music sophistication and preferably one that includes many influences and incorporates a vast array of styles.

 

I would also include some level of appeal across different race and cultures.

 

Fun thread.

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