Who's the greatest American band of all time?

I just looked through my music on my phone to see if there were any that could be considered the best American.
I was surprised at how few american bands I have on there. Some of them:
Pixies
R.E.M
Steeley Dan
Beastie Boys
Ted Leo
Spoon
Interpol
 
Quality over time, longevity of career, influence on the direction of music generally, popularity across the nation and abroad, iconic tunes and iconic performances, a sense of universality to tunes but also reflective of what is uniquely American, not derivative nor regional, not pigeon-holed into a genre regardless of where they started. What American artist fits this best?

The complexity here is difficult because we are talking about a BAND, not really an individual artist. That's where things get tricky, because Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Madonna or Prince all have claims. Then there's Elvis or Simon & Garfunkel too.

But personally, I consider Springsteen and the E Street Band effectively a band because of the popularity in the US of Clarence Clemons, Max Weinberg and of course Steve Van Zandt -- clearly hugely influential on Bruce's sound. As such, they'd be number one for me because I think they fit the above criteria best.

Beach Boys are runners up, and pretty close. Very close actually. Their sound is somewhat more regional which offsets how iconic they were. It's near a tie.

To me, Steely Dan and REM are next in some order. After that is tougher, but Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers stand out.

I want to say Lynyrd Skynyrd because I love them so, but they weren't around long enough. CCR is in the top 10 but there's another shortish career. I can make a case for Van Halen or Aerosmith, but I bet I can make as good or a greater case for the Grateful Dead, The Ramones, Metallica, Beastie Boys or Talking Heads despite them all being "sub-culture" bands to some degree.

I leave out The Doors and The Eagles because I've never understood why either are as popular as they are.

Here's one nobody's mentioned yet -- The Cars. For several years they looked like they might be The Next Big Thing. But their geeky leader being super rich and married to a swimsuit model may have truncated their ambitions a tad.
 
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Barcon said:
I just looked through my music on my phone to see if there were any that could be considered the best American.
I was surprised at how few american bands I have on there. Some of them:
Pixies
R.E.M
Steeley Dan
Beastie Boys
Ted Leo
Spoon
Interpol
Click to expand...
Loved Ted Leo’s collaboration with Aimee Mann (The Both) a few years ago.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Quality over time, longevity of career, influence on the direction of music generally, popularity across the nation and abroad, iconic tunes and iconic performances, a sense of universality to tunes but also reflective of what is uniquely American, not derivative nor regional, not pigeon-holed into a genre regardless of where they started. What American artist fits this best?

The complexity here is difficult because we are talking about a BAND, not really an individual artist. That's where things get tricky, because Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Madonna or Prince all have claims. Then there's Elvis or Sion & Garfunkel too.

But personally, I consider Springsteen and the E Street Band effectively a band because of the popularity in the US of Clarence Clemons, Max Weinberg and of course Steve Van Zandt -- clearly hugely influential on Bruce's sound. As such, they'd be number one for me because I think they fit the above criteria best.

Beach Boys are runners up, and pretty close. Very close actually. Their sound is somewhat more regional which offsets how iconic they were. It's near a tie.

To me, Steely Dan and REM are next in some order. After that is tougher, but Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers stand out.

I want to say Lynyrd Skynyrd because I love them so, but they weren't around long enough. CCR is in the top 10 but there's another shortish career. I can make a case for Van Halen or Aerosmith, but I bet I can make as good or a greater case for the Grateful Dead, The Ramones, Metallica, Beastie Boys or Talking Heads despite them all being "sub-culture" bands to some degree.

I leave out The Doors and The Eagles because I've never understood why either are as popular as they are.

Here's one nobody's mentioned yet -- The Cars. For several years they looked like they might be The Next Big Thing. But their geeky leader being super rich and married to a swimsuit model may have truncated their ambitions a tad.
Click to expand...
Bruce and the E Street band, too true mate, wonderful musicians you mentioned plus Nils Lofgren, Gary Tallent, Soozie Tyrell, Roy Bittan, etc, all consummate professionals. Seen them several times including Toronto, at the venue next to the Bluejays Stadium (Rogers Centre?).
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Quality over time, longevity of career, influence on the direction of music generally, popularity across the nation and abroad, iconic tunes and iconic performances, a sense of universality to tunes but also reflective of what is uniquely American, not derivative nor regional, not pigeon-holed into a genre regardless of where they started. What American artist fits this best?

The complexity here is difficult because we are talking about a BAND, not really an individual artist. That's where things get tricky, because Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Madonna or Prince all have claims. Then there's Elvis or Sion & Garfunkel too.

But personally, I consider Springsteen and the E Street Band effectively a band because of the popularity in the US of Clarence Clemons, Max Weinberg and of course Steve Van Zandt -- clearly hugely influential on Bruce's sound. As such, they'd be number one for me because I think they fit the above criteria best.

Beach Boys are runners up, and pretty close. Very close actually. Their sound is somewhat more regional which offsets how iconic they were. It's near a tie.

To me, Steely Dan and REM are next in some order. After that is tougher, but Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers stand out.

I want to say Lynyrd Skynyrd because I love them so, but they weren't around long enough. CCR is in the top 10 but there's another shortish career. I can make a case for Van Halen or Aerosmith, but I bet I can make as good or a greater case for the Grateful Dead, The Ramones, Metallica, Beastie Boys or Talking Heads despite them all being "sub-culture" bands to some degree.

I leave out The Doors and The Eagles because I've never understood why either are as popular as they are.

Here's one nobody's mentioned yet -- The Cars. For several years they looked like they might be The Next Big Thing. But their geeky leader being super rich and married to a swimsuit model may have truncated their ambitions a tad.
Click to expand...
The Cars are a fantastic band, love 'em but I couldn't make a case for them as the best American Band.

The issue I'd have with Bruce and his backing band is that as iconic as some of its members are - you missed Roy Bittan, the finest of rock pianists - Bruce does overshadow the rest, more so than Tom Petty does the Heartbreakers. However, Bruce with his band is such a great proposition as a live act and wasn't half as good when he had that spell where he ditched them that if you do class them as a band, they are hard to top.

Van Halen though from 78 to 84 were phenomenal. As Gene Simmons said recently, in those days, Diamond Dave was simply the best rock front man ever and Eddie of course is one of the greatest and most influential guitarists ever.

The Beach Boys are great, been buying and listening to a fair bit of their early stuff recently; they did lose their way a bit when they started to try and get clever and the Wrecking Crew played all the music.
 
People naming bands known to maybe 349 people in an effort to show superior knowledge of music and avoid the obvious answer of The Beach Boys.

(It's like asking who's the greatest City player and me ignoring Aguero or David Silva and picking Bobby Johnstone. Oh, hang on ...)
 
Barcon said:
I just looked through my music on my phone to see if there were any that could be considered the best American.
I was surprised at how few american bands I have on there. Some of them:
Pixies
R.E.M
Steeley Dan
Beastie Boys
Ted Leo
Spoon
Interpol
Click to expand...
Love Interpol. Not listened to them for ages so going to crack them on!
 
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