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Greatest American Rock Band?

I love nirvana but they didn’t “invent” their sound, not even close. They just happened to bring It to the mainstream. I’d say foo fighters above nirvana all day, at least they are original. And the bassist for sunny day real estate plays in the foo.
 
WillP said:
I played Romeo and Juliet to my wife on our wedding day. One of my favorite songs of all time.
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Same. Well, not the wedding part. Haha
 
Jman said:
To this day, it’s one of those you have to go, woah.

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15 million 12-year old grommets covering it on YouTube. But they didn't invent it. It was freaking revolutionary.
 
I MIGHT be able to make a 1a - 1z list...but I doubt it.
 
Okay, in a little late, but I'll take a shot at this, kind of chronological:

Beach Boys
Creedance Clearwater Revival
The Allman Brothers Band
The Doobie Brothers
Aerosmith
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Boston
Van Halen
Pearl Jam
 
The greatest American rock band is, was, and forever will be CCR...Creedence Clearwater Revival!
 
Hard to pick one. My personal favorite for best American rock band is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Followed by Creedance and Allman Brothers. Jimmy Buffet is a fantastic American artist, but I don’t classify him as a rock band, just like I don’t count Michael Jackson, Elvis or Prince as rock bands.
 
Jimmy is still not getting traction

Dire Straits is a quality call

Talking Heads yes but I still struggle with the rock tag

Rock as a genre is now the catch all for the rest of the caps you can’t force on them

I want guitars = rock! JOWCO/ROWCO


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Motley Crüe, Poison, Gun n Roses, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, John Fogerty (CCR), Skid Row, Bon Jovi . I could name a bunch more and really hard to say who my favourite was/is.
 
I don't understand all the love for Van Halen. Oh look I can tap so I will overuse it over and over again with multiple annoying front men singing stupid lyrics.

Nirvana didn't create the grunge sound but they changed the music scene when they hit. One day you saw a naked baby and all of spandex and makeup was returned to the women.

Metallica is unquestionably the best Heavy Metal band of all time. There is no debate. I say that and I can give Dave Mustaine his props as an unbelievable guitar player. I love Megadeth as well as Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera among others but they are all second fiddle to the mighty Metallica machine.

But for my answer I will look a little deeper. The true American music is the blues. Created and mastered by American artists and the inspiration spans around the world. So the best American Rock band has to be centered around blues music morphed into rock. There you have your basic bands from Aerosmith to ZZ Top but the one that sticks out is Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble. That is the correct answer.
 
Bob Segar rings that bell for me. Longevity has a bit to do with it. So many great bands, some didn’t stay around all that long.

Motley Crue is another I really dig listening to while working out.
 
echico said:
I don't understand all the love for Van Halen. Oh look I can tap so I will overuse it over and over again with multiple annoying front men singing stupid lyrics.
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Eddie is best known for his fast 'wheedly wheedly' guitar work and all the tricks he does with the guitar, but he's hugely overlooked as a monster rhythm player.

Having seen them in concert three times during the DLR era, I can't argue with Diamond Dave being annoying. Sammy not so much so. Gary Cherone was only there long enough for a cup of coffee, so he hardly counts.
 
As a non American my view would be:-
Foo fighters - great live too
Aerosmith
Beachboys - not sure they are rock 🤔

Am sure you guys are aware but Dire Straights are British.... I blame my parents for my appreciation of this band.
As are the greatest rock band Queen.
 
I would say the band is in this bucket:

Lynard Skynard
Allman Brothers
CCR
The Doors
Metallica
Van Halen
GNR
Tom Petty
The Foo Fighters
 
A band I cannot give this too:

Nirvana - sure they really influenced rock and roll at a time when the 80's had fizzled into Warrant and Winger, but their songs sound like they were written by a depressed junkie. They would have fizzled out so hard if Kurt had not killed himself. He also would have killed Dave Grohl's career because you can't work with a junkie. Their music is also so damn depressing. The Foo Fighters are better than Nirvana in every single regard.
 
My favorites are the Eagles and Van Halen. Prefer Sammy to David Lee Roth, but they had some great early songs. And the Cradle Will Rock is one of my favorite songs.

Wish VH were adult enough to tour, but it never gets past being scheduled.
 
Canadan said:
The list of bands that have an entire career making songs worth listening to without altering their sound or turning into hot trash is rather low.

Foo is definitely one of them.
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RHCP VS FOO you only get one? Might go RHCP
 
I’ll go with Springsteen and the E Street Band followed closely by R.E.M., Billy Joel and Steely Dan.

While they aren’t in my top 4 or 5, I think The Band absolutely deserves to be on the short list. I didn’t see them mentioned in my quick perusal.
 
Parrot said:
I’ll go with Springsteen and the E Street Band followed closely by R.E.M., Billy Joel and Steely Dan.

While they aren’t in my top 4 or 5, I think The Band absolutely deserves to be on the short list. I didn’t see them mentioned in my quick perusal.
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I was having a hard time whether they counted or or not since Robbie Robertson is Canadian.
 
I just saw a great documentary on The Band and they are on lists as one of the best Canadian bands. Steeley Dan is a great add!
 
Jman said:
I was having a hard time whether they counted or or not since Robbie Robertson is Canadian.
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I’ll give Levon’s Arkansas heritage the win. But I definitely see the issue. Tough call on a great band, prob top 20 of all time.

Typo. That should be top 10 OAT.
 
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Gman79 said:
RHCP VS FOO you only get one? Might go RHCP
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Have you seen them both live? The Foo Fighters kick RHCP ass live. I saw them open for them in 2001 and they stole the show.
 
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