Great American Rocks Band-compiling a list
 

A friend of mine at a Florida newspaper just sent this email.

I haven't read through the list yet but wanted to give everyone a head start.

Opinions?



Our Features section was trying to come up with the 64 greatest AMERICAN rock-n-roll bands. They needed to trim the list from their original 120. My suggested list is directly below, with the entire list at the end, so you could pick up some from that list and drop some from mine... also if you have ones that aren't mentioned anywhere here, note them, please...

what would be YOUR rankings?



These are mine, based on their breadth of influence and depth of their body of work. New additions to my newspaper's original list are marked NEW:




1. Buddy Holly and the Crickets
2. The Beach Boys
3. The Doors
NEW 4. The Band
5. Talking Heads
6. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
7. The Allman Brothers
8. The Grateful Dead
9. R.E.M.
10. Buffalo Springfield
11. The Everly Brothers
12. Mothers of Invention
13. The Eagles
NEW 14. Prince and the Revolution
15. Creedence Clearwater Revival
16. Nirvana
17. Lynyrd Skynyrd
18. Sly and the Family Stone
19. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
20. Jefferson Airplane
21. Velvet Underground
22. The Ramones
23. Red Hot Chili Peppers
24. The Byrds
25. Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young)
26. The Cars
27. Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
28. Booker T and the MGs
29. Santana
30. Phish
31. Pearl Jam
32. Van Halen
33. Steely Dan
34. Metallica
35. Parliament Funkadelic
36. Cheap Trick
37. Dave Matthews Band
38. The Lovin¹ Spoonful
39. The Doobie Brothers
40. Aerosmith
41. Linkin Park
42. Chicago
43. Journey
44. Collective Soul
45. Matchbox 20
NEW 46. System of a Down
47. Kiss
48. Earth, Wind and Fire
49. Blondie
50. Nine Inch Nails
51. Jane¹s Addiction
52. Megadeth
53. The Replacements
54. Hootie and the Blowfish
55. The Turtles
56. Steppenwolf
57. The Steve Miller Band
58. Blood, Sweat and Tears
59. Alice Cooper
60. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
61. Little Feat
62. Alice in Chains
63. Soundgarden
NEW 64. The B-52s



Folks,

Here's the Lifestyle department's list of 120 great American rock bands. We need to cut it to 64. If you could e-mail me in the next couple of days with your personal picks for the top 64, that'd be great.

(If one of your favorites isn't on the list, feel free to add them. But make sure they meet eligibility requirements ‹ really American, really rock 'n' roll and really a band. Great acts like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Simon & Garfunkel and The Supremes all bit the dust because they fell short in one of these categories.)

Just fill in the blank list of 64 at the bottom and send it back to me. Feel free to forward this to others in the newsroom if you like. I'll let you know the results soon.

Thanks.

-Tom

1. The Allman Brothers
2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
4. The Beach Boys
5. Bon Jovi
6. The James Gang
7. The Grateful Dead
8. Buffalo Springfield
9. Creedence Clearwater Revival
10. Aerosmith
11. The Eagles
12. Nirvana
13. Phish
14. Lynyrd Skynyrd
15. R.E.M.
16. Pearl Jam
17. Van Halen
18. ZZ Top
19. The Doors
20. Sly and the Family Stone
21. Jefferson Airplane
22. Velvet Underground
23. Steely Dan
24. The Lovin¹ Spoonful
25. The Black Crowes
26. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
27. Motley Crue
28. The Talking Heads
29. The Ramones
30. Alice Cooper
31. Metallica
32. Parliament Funkadelic
33. The J. Geils Band
34. Kiss
35. Red Hot Chili Peppers
36. Wilco
37. Earth, Wind and Fire
38. The Byrds
39. Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young)
40. Blondie
41. Cheap Trick
42. The Doobie Brothers
43. Guns N Roses
44. Smashing Pumpkins
45. Counting Crows
46. The Fabulous Thunderbirds
47. The Funk Brothers (backup band for innumerable Motown hits)
48. Boston
49. Journey
50. Chicago
51. Styx
52. Heart
53. Molly Hatchet
54. Alice in Chains
55. Soundgarden
56. Creed
57. The Pixies
58. Dave Matthews Band
59. Grand Funk Railroad
60. Little Feat
61. Buffalo Springfield
62. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
63. Hall and Oates
64. Mothers of Invention
65. Green Day
66. No Doubt
67. The White Stripes
68. The Cars
69. REO Speedwagon
70. Heart
71. Poison
72. Kansas
73. Live
74. Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
75. Three Doors Down
76. Nine Inch Nails
77. Jane¹s Addiction
78. Megadeth
79. War
80. Booker T and the MGs
81. Buddy Holly and the Crickets
82. The Everly Brothers
83. Santana
84. The Replacements
85. Collective Soul
86. Matchbox 20
87. The Goo Goo Dolls
88. Marshall Tucker
89. The Monkees
90. The Go-Gos
91. Foo Fighters
92. Tool
93. Weezer
94. Sublime
95. Hole
96. .38 Special
97. Limp Bizkit
98. Blood, Sweat and Tears
99. The Charlie Daniels Band
100. Hootie and the Blowfish
101. The Turtles
102. Steppenwolf
103. The Steve Miller Band
104. Three Dog Night
105. Garbage
106. Soul Asylum
107. The Offspring
108. Blues Traveler
109. Korn
110. Blink-182
111. Linkin Park
112. Incubus
113. Fuel
114. Staind
115. The Strokes
116. Modern Lovers
117. MC5
118. Third Eye Blind
119. Good Charlotte
120. Yellowcard

Definitely shit-can Dave Matthews Band, Linkin Park, Hootie, Matchbox 20 and Phish.

That list makes me even more saddened by the state of American rock and roll.
Wasn't MC5 pretty much a one-hit wonder, if that? Not even gaining the cult popularity of the New York Dolls.

Rock 'n Roll? I LOVE Nirvana (one of my absolute favorites), but they are NOT a "Rock 'n roll" band. In fact I think most of the bands in that list aren't "rock and/or roll".

For "rock and roll":

The Replacements should be there at about #1.

Soul Asylum in the top 10, easily.

NY Dolls should be top 3.

KISS in the top 5.

Uh, what???

Please explain because you lost me.

No idea ... lost me from Soul something a'nother down...

How is X not in the top ten on this list!?

MC5 had more than one hit. They were more about their live shows and their activism than they were about radio hits though anyway. I'd say that they were at least as popular as the NY Dolls.

I was going to write down some but I gave up ... this is a joke right?

I mean...
3 doors down
3rd Eye Blind
White Stripes
Black Crowes
Boston
Joan Jett
Creed
Poison
Good Char
Collective Sould
Yellowcard

Just some of them...but this is a friggin joke!

Nirvana is a rock and roll band, no question. The Replacements should be high on the list but I don't think that they rate #1. Soul Asylum wouldn't even make my top 200. The NY Dolls should rate high and Kiss should be up there too. I agree with those.

Agreed. Not only are those not great bands, they're not even good bands. Anyone who thinks that Dave Matthews rocks needs to have his or her suburbanite head examined.

I would never put the Dolls in the top 5...but I respect David J. Replacements I really like but #1? No way...Soul Asylum? I would put early Goo Goo Dolls way above them (before their mainstream crap)...

Agreed. The Dolls don't rate top five. More like top 25 or 50. Replacements deserve to be in the top ten though IMO. I do think that X should be in the top 5 or 10 though.

Well you guys must be using the loose definition of "rock and roll".

I define "rock and roll" to be bands like the Stones, NY Dolls, Bad Company, Led Zepplin...

Nirvana is "grunge" or even "metal". Though they had quite a few songs I'd call "alternative" (like "Endless Nameless"). I'd actually call them "punk" (if you don't believe me, go see "Live, Tonight, Sold Out". They did so much that was against the grain. Certainly they're more punk than Blink 182 and Good Charlotte).

If we're using the term "rock and roll" to encompass any music that has a guitar in it, well of course the Ramones would be number one. The NY Dolls #2. Replacements would be in the top 10. Nirvana would be top 10. Soul Asylum would be top 20 (you should've seen them live, kids... well '86 to '90 or so).

Huh? Soul Asylum I have seen a long time ago ... Cheap Trick today puts them to shame. Nirvana 'metal' ???? You must be joking...

You see, son, in this world there are lumpers and there are splitters. This here is a lumper list, and one that criminally undervalues punk rock.

Where are the Dead Boys, New York Dolls, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Husker Du, and Stooges?

I'd definitely would put the Goo Goo Dolls in there. If we're picking favorites, I'd put them in top 3 for me personally. If we're meaning "great" as in "influential" in addition to writing great songs and putting on great live shows and all that, a little bit lower.

If it wasn't for the NY Dolls there would be no Motley Crue, Replacements, KISS, etc... (as we know them).

The Dictators should be in the top 10 no matter what definitions people are using.

Nice adds there...DK, BF etc...

Again, I wouldn't call "punk rock", "rock and roll". "Punk rock" was rebelling against "rock and roll".

If we're using the loose definition of "rock and roll" (i.e. anything with a guitar in it), ALL those bands deserve to be in the top 20. Certainly Husker, the Stooges, and Black Flag!

IMO it's a common misconception that punk was a rebellion against rock n' roll. Those early punks, particularly the Ramones, epitomized the spirit and tradition of real rock n' roll.

Their rejection of the music establishment and 70's album rock was because of their love of rock n' roll.

Dude, I think you are loosing us all on this question, list etc. You can't add punk? but you can list funk?

The Ramones are already on the list so I think it's clear that Punk is a go. Funk shouldn't go though. Funk is too divergent from the rock format in a way that Punk, grunge, metal etc, isn't.

First of all, why 64? Why not 100, or 50 or something that makes sense? The only 64 I can think of in rock is "When I'm 64", and that was an english band.

Second, this is a newspaper lifestyles section list, so it's going to be pretty whitebread. No conceivable way in hell the Dead Kennedys are going to be added (although they do rule).

I'm not going to bother changing the order, but the 64 will probably end up something like this:

1. The Allman Brothers
2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
4. The Beach Boys
5. Bon Jovi
6. The Grateful Dead
7. Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. Aerosmith
9. The Eagles
10. Nirvana
11. Lynyrd Skynyrd
12. R.E.M.
13. Pearl Jam
14. Van Halen
15. ZZ Top
16. The Doors
17. Sly and the Family Stone
18. Jefferson Airplane
19. Steely Dan
20. The Ramones
21. Metallica
22. Parliament Funkadelic
23. Kiss
24. Red Hot Chili Peppers
25. Earth, Wind and Fire
26. The Byrds
27. Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young)
28. Blondie
29. Cheap Trick
30. The Doobie Brothers
31. Guns N Roses
32. The Fabulous Thunderbirds
33. Boston
34. Journey
35. Chicago
36. Styx
37. Heart
38. Molly Hatchet
39. Creed
40. Dave Matthews Band
41. Grand Funk Railroad
42. Buffalo Springfield
43. Hall and Oates
44. Green Day
45. No Doubt
46. The Cars
47. REO Speedwagon
48. Poison
49. Kansas
50. Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
51. Three Doors Down
52. Jane¹s Addiction
53. Booker T and the MGs
54. Buddy Holly and the Crickets
55. The Everly Brothers
56. Santana
57. The Monkees
58. The Go-Gos
59. Hole
60. .38 Special
61. Blood, Sweat and Tears
62. The Charlie Daniels Band
63. Hootie and the Blowfish

I'm only putting 63 on the list because Heart were in there twice. :)

Where's Patti Smith? Janis Joplin? Sonic Youth? Pat Benatar even?

I mean if you're listing Good Charlotte and Yellowcard... Heck put Bonnie Tyler on your list before you list Yellowcard.

Well, it does say bands, so JJ would have to go under Quicksilver Messenger Service...Patti would be Patti Smith Group...Elvis, was it ever Elvis and his (god I can't remember his backup band)?