FogBlueInSanFran
Well-Known Member
Well we are finding a few differences musically but be a boring world if we all liked exactly the same music and all supported Man U or The Dippers!
I did think that you would get that Van Halen (not Van Hagar) are the greatest American band ever but, hey, it's all about opinions.
Steely Dan are a band: they are not a solo artist. Whatever you want to class them as, they are not underrated as far as my definition goes. As a sidebar, I still find a lot of comments on this thread just expressions of personal taste rather than genuine assessment of bands being overrated.
I think the Beach Boys is a good shout for the greatest US band but nothing like my fave American band although I like them very much and should get some more of their albums in my collection. My lists of the ten greatest and my ten favourite US bands would be different although VH would be in both and The Dan probably would be too.
I love American music and more specifically the music that Americans love. We've done a few U.S. road trip type holidays and one of my little pleasures is listening to classic rock radio and seeing how long we can go before they play a track that I don't have in my collection. My collection is pretty broad but the core of it would allow me to run a U.S. classic rock radio station.
We could have a debate about whether Bruce with the E Street Band is a band rather than a solo artist. I'd have Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in both my 10's.
The Grateful Dead would not make my top 10 fave US bands but they have to be one of the greatest. They are not popular in the UK but I have to say they are a band that I've grown to like and appreciate a lot more over the last ten years - maybe it's age and a frustration with modern bands and music. I have a fraction of their output, given how many live releases there are, but I've got a reasonable number of their studio albums and a few really good live ones. I never got to see them live myself and was mortified to find when as a lockdown project I was putting all my gigs onto setlist.com that I went to see Cher at Wembley the same week that The Dead played what I presume was their last gig in the UK (very early 90's) - WTF was I thinking. For some reason, I don't think I even knew they were playing as I'd have thought I would have gone just for the experience at that point. Funnily enough "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" is one of my favourite lyrics.
I missed this before but just for the record I LOVED Van Halen from day 1 — I saw them three times I think. Quintessential Southern California band and between Eddie who is masterful (best ever guitarist? Not sure but he’s in the pantheon) and David Lee Roth who was I think a hilarious goofball — that shriek of his is instantly identifiable — they have to be up there. The problem as you rightly point out is Sammy fucking Hagar, who is a very well-known Nor Cal shitbag whom no one likes (he owned a restaurant a few minutes from me). As soon as he joined you knew that band was going only one way — down the fucking tubes. Worst band replacement member ever and it’s not even close.