The Top 50 American Rock Bands of All Time acording to Gibson.com

[Ed Goist]

The Top 10.
I guessed 5 out of the top 10, though 9 of my top 10 guesses were in the top 20.

[journeybear]

Well, I think I gotcha there - all but The Beach Boys are on my "Probably gonna be there" list - admittedly more than ten there ... They didn't have my Little Feat - should have been on the list somewhere - but then they didn't have your QOTS either. I am glad they remembered The Byrds, from so long ago, one of the most influential bands. I'm not going to quibble about Bruce and the boys at #1, quintessential American band that they are. I am not crazy how highly ranked #2-#6 are; there are a lot of bands lower on the list that are better, in my opinion, but since this is partly driven by a reader poll, and everyone has an opinion, and you know what they say about those ... I wish they had included The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Neil Young And Crazy Horse, The Band, Pretenders, even Fleetwood Mac, but I guess they are too non-American. Still no idea what the criteria were.

Anyway, thanks for getting us all going on this, Ed. It was an occasion for some thought. Now let's get those grills spiffed up for the holiday!

[catmandu2]

Wrong. It is not fun, and it is mean. While you are having your fun, you are causing distress in me, and also in anyone reading our exchanges, or just interested in the topic, but bewildered by the ruckus you are causing, There is another word for this - trolling. You are also calling into question the validity of everything you say. While you are enjoying yourself shooting your mouth off, arguing for the sake of arguing, enamored with the sound of your voice, having a giggle at the expense of others' feelings, you are doing a disservice to everything the Café stands for and what people come to the forum looking for - the free exchange of ideas through considered discussion. Please do us all the favor of thinking through what you are saying before posting. And say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Thank you.

You're coming on a little strong there. You're kinda funny--when challenged, you cry "foul."
Relax, I'm really not so nefarious in my "design" (it only seems that way to you).

I must say, the final cut is rather anticlimactic

[Ed Goist]

I think it funny and ironic that an iconic player of Fender electric guitars is at number 1.
That had to sting the marketing boys at Gibson a little.

[Paul Merlo]

I think it funny and ironic that an iconic player of Fender electric guitars is at number 1.
That had to sting the marketing boys at Gibson a little.

THat is funny and ironic about the Fender bit. But, considering it's also funny and ironic that Mr. Born in the USA was announced as #1 as most of us are itchin to split for Independance Day weekend. Have a great holiday weekend everybody, I'll be off the 'grid' until Monday probably, starting in about 2 minutes.

And for the record, I would still rank Metallica above Nirvana. I'm not sure the Byrds belong in the top 10, and was bummed to see Little Feat left off the list. I am somewhat glad they remain a 'niche' band and off the general public's radar tho, because somehow that makes my fandom that much cooler. Ha ha.

[catmandu2]

Well, I can only say that I'm gratified that the Byrds ranked ahead of REM! But, I'm glad they made it at all...since songwriting doesn't appear to factor so heavily in the judging: consider Nirvana's and Metallica's (I presume they aren't particularly notable for their writing?) output compared with, say, #35 Talking Heads, #21 Grateful Dead and Buddy Holly, CCR and Doors all down around 20. It's funny--these have contrbuted some of the most enduring repertoire in American pop music, so we can see this "band" thing is a peculiar aspect. It's definitely a mishmash...you'd think the Crickets would be considered more for Holly's songs, but then we don't get anything from Robertson, Danko, Helm, Manual and Hudson (and that other guy...)

[Miked]

I can't believe that The Minutemen didn't make it.

These guys could really rock! At least there needs to be some kind of honorable mention.

[Markus]

I'm a little boggled still by leaving off Hendrix, being he's US through and through. Whatever.

I'd echo Journeybear with Little Feat being left off there ... there's certainly a `album' leaning here, par for the course for these though. Little Feat is among a handful of bands who can pull in a crowd over decades ... never the critically acclaimed, but in my book, a bigger achievement. [happy to see the Dead at #21, as their album output is pretty weak compared to the sheer tickets sold year on year]

Not too bad a selection - narrowing it to just USA did allow for some oft-forgotten bands to be noted. Sadly, then the other oft-forgotten ones seem just as neglected as always. Can't win for loosing as they say.

Ed, Thanks for starting this thread. I might critique their choices, but I'm happy for the coversation you got rolling.

[journeybear]

I think it funny and ironic that an iconic player of Fender electric guitars is at number 1.
That had to sting the marketing boys at Gibson a little.

Too funny!

I am so displeased with so many aspects of this list that I am considering gouging "Gibson" out of my headstock. Oh wait - my plain A doesn't have it. Bummer ...

Markus - in the absence of any published criteria, I must assume The Jimi Hendrix Experience and the other bands I mentioned were disqualified for incorporating non-American members. Carlos Santana was born in Mexico (he turns 64 on the 20th, BTW), so that seems to explain their exclusion. I dunno. I would think bands based in the US regardless of national origin would qualify, but then it's not my list.

I am OK with about 75% of the list, but would swap some out for others and change the order radically.

[Ed Goist]

Thanks to everyone for all of the great submissions to the thread.
I completely agree that the exclusion of Little Feat is difficult to explain.
I'm also a little surprised that Journey, Heart and Blue Öyster Cult were completely left off of the list. Seems to me hard to argue that several of the bands included are more worthy than these four bands.
Oh well, that's what these lists are for...Causing us aggravation and giving us a reason to debate!
Have a great Independence Day everyone!

[catmandu2]

Yes, thanks Ed...fun. Good thing such opportunities only occur occasionally...apparently it's like chocolate, alcohol, or other such dangerous libation for some.

[Dan Hoover]

OMG!!!!....blue oyster cult!! i completely forgot...must be getting old...der...no grand funk,no feat..what do they know...they didn't ask me...this was fun..great thread Ed..

[barney 59]

Blue Oyster Cult and Fog Hat were the featured performers at a fair in Petaluma Ca the other night. I don't know if they had their walkers or not. The teen age girl at the KMart(my haberdasher) check out asked me if I was going. I guess I looked the part. Wasn't my cup of tea back then or now. Springsteen #1 --I like Springsteen, and maybe he even deserves it, but did he ever, even once, have a #1 hit? This seems to me to be a couple of guys in Gibson marketing picking the bands that they like and maybe a very small pool of people that participated,I mean where's The Band! The Byrds, Allman Bros. made the list so it wasn't completely bunk, just mostly bunk, my lord, do I hate the Beach Boys......

[catmandu2]

Nice one barney. Our girlfriends were heavily into beach boyz...this would have been 30-some years ago, That was one thing we never liked very much about our girlfriends--that they seemed to be so into such hokey music. But apparently, Mike Love and Dennis Wilson were quite the hipsters...and I think this music plays better with hallucinogens. I never could sit through American Graffiti, either. I really like the paradoxic world of Brian Wilson though.

A fun game to play when you don't want to get out of bed is scan the radio dial--all that stuff we listened to in high school is still playing all over the radio dial--it's a trip. Apparently, 20th century rock--most of it bad--is alive and well.

[Ed Goist]

I've been listening to Drive-By Truckers a lot this week, and the experience reminded me of this fun thread.
In my opinion, if they don't implode first, the Truckers will need to be included in this discussion before too long.
Of course, they are unfortunately off the public's general radar since almost none of today's important bands are getting any help from commercial radio.

[journeybear]

Fun thread? Are you serious? The tsuris this caused - OY!

DBT didn't make the list, so why resurrect it? You could start a new one, in which those interested can discuss the merits of such bands, and whether their work will stand the test of time, whether Kings Of Leon really are as good as Rolling Stone says they are, whether the persistent use of music by bands such as Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros and Peter Bjorn And John for commercials and TV show themes signal a hipness on the part of the powers that be in the entertainment industry establishment or a selling out by the bands in question - plenty of topics to discuss, but why here? Why not start a new thread, Ed? People will find it.

[Ed Goist]

Fun thread? Are you serious? The tsuris this caused - OY! ...snip...

'tsuris' - Awesome word!

...snip...Why not start a new thread, Ed? People will find it.

Sheer faineance.

[journeybear]

Now there's a word! You're too much!

[Elliot Luber]

These lists are always sooooo awful and so predictable. It's the same old list made by older people skewed toward whatever's "hot" at the moment to not look too old. There isn't ever a shred of legitimacy in these. It's like the list of best colleges, there are obvious errors that can't be explained away by a process, and of course it's subjective to begin with. That said, the Cafe debate should be good. Pass the popcorn!

[Dan99999]

Easily one of the most musically sophisticated American bands, Blue Oyster Cult should certainly be on the list. In fact I wish there were mandolin tab for a lot of their stuff but there doesn't seem to be much out there. In fact the new band Ghost completely copies their sound, a great tribute band even they play all originals

[Steve Ostrander]

I can't see the Dead being left off the list, and I can't see the Ramones being on it. Love the Ramones, but seriously...?

Also, Allman Bros at #10? Maybe they numbered the list backwards....

Never been a Nirvana fan, so I would have given that spot to the Allmans, and brought in Little Feat ahead of VH and Metallica. I'm a huge Feat fan.....

Not a huge Bruce fan, but I realize that I'm in the minority there...

[zedmando]

Getting ahead of ourselves here ... These lists usually suck because they don't agree with my tastes.

Pretty much

but it's just opinion--so no point in getting upset--you know who you like.
And if there's someone on the list you're not familiar with--maybe check them out.

[Roger Moss]

Doesn't match mine either. Or even come close in many cases. An awful lot of Fenders in there. Seems to me it just parrots a lot of "conventional wisdom".

[Dan99999]

Ok, so Slade wasn't an American band, but I would think Run Runaway and Hey Ho Wish You Well would sound good on mandolin as they are based on fiddle melodies

[Richard J]

No The Band, no Dead, no Jefferson Airplane, and more then I can mention... That list is not even close to the Top 10.