By my humble opinion..There are 6 GREAT bands of all time

Caveeze wrote:

Pearl Jam
Pink Floyd
Beatles
Beastie Boys (yep, I said it.. and fuck off if you dont like it)
Led Zep
The Band
**7th spot would certainly go to the Stones, if there was one**


individual:

Hendrix
Dylan
Howlin' Wolf
Muddy Waters
Elvis
Cash

Hey, we agree on Beastie Boys Anyone who questions their greatness/importance/influence/originality/genius is a complete dolt. See, we don't always disagree.

If we're talking rock and roll/ rock bands as a musical unit and not individual contributors I would go with:

The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Who
The Doors
Led Zeppelin
Pearl Jam

This leaves some hugely important individuals of course. My top six (I can't count very well) are:

Little Richard
Chuck Berry
Elvis Presley
Brian Wilson
Bob Dylan
Jimi Hendrix
Neil Young

Not to mention a whole slew of personal favorites. My Top six honorable mentions:

Lou Reed/ Velvet Underground
The New York Dolls
The Ramones
R.E.M.
Mission of Burma
The Replacements

jimc3 wrote:

(bands only)

I think the big 4 of the Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and the Who are all lock must-haves 1st tier, Mt Rushmore immortals.

I think the 2nd grouping (had the magic of the big 4 but not for long enough) is Floyd, Doors, Radiohead, Hendrix/Experience

third tier (ie at one point lit the WORLD on FIRE, but are just short of immortal) would be Beach Boys, U2, Ramones, Springsteen/E St, Prince/Revolution, Police, Clash, Aerosmith, Sabbath, Nirvana

4th tier (super-special, super-talented but just missing that thunder-god gene) would be REM, Niel Young/CH, Queen, G Dead, Ramones, Velvet U, Petty/Heartbreakers

All that being said, I think it's fair to slot Pearl Jam somewhere in the higher end of the 3rd tier.

additional thoughts:

I would love to see the Pixies, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, Buzzcocks, Mission of Burma, Minutemen more into these conversations, but obviously they never had the wide commercial appeal.

I also love S'garden, AIC, Pumpkins, Peppers and even Green Daybut they just miss the GREAT level

personally don't think Metallica, ACDC, J Priest, Van Halen, GnR deserve to make this list. and I like "metal".

aside from that, I don't get how Spoon never gets mentioned AT ALL in these conversations. they're not young pups anymore. they have more than a handful of incredible albums, are studio wizards AND live gems, and are absolute critical darlings. I know they only took off on the radio a tiny bit once, but I feel like history will judge them well.

This post = great read!

Spoon- new to me- will check it out.

10ctoronto wrote:

I agree to scratch off U2. They have a handful of good older songs, musicianship-wise/lyrically-wise... but they also have some really cheesy junk. If you are going to add U2, you might as well add Bon Jovi. :P

Love it! And please.................. Let's all make sure Bon Jovi end up nowhere near this list

brianlux wrote:

jimc3 wrote:

(bands only)

I think the big 4 of the Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and the Who are all lock must-haves 1st tier, Mt Rushmore immortals.

I think the 2nd grouping (had the magic of the big 4 but not for long enough) is Floyd, Doors, Radiohead, Hendrix/Experience

third tier (ie at one point lit the WORLD on FIRE, but are just short of immortal) would be Beach Boys, U2, Ramones, Springsteen/E St, Prince/Revolution, Police, Clash, Aerosmith, Sabbath, Nirvana

4th tier (super-special, super-talented but just missing that thunder-god gene) would be REM, Niel Young/CH, Queen, G Dead, Ramones, Velvet U, Petty/Heartbreakers

All that being said, I think it's fair to slot Pearl Jam somewhere in the higher end of the 3rd tier.

additional thoughts:

I would love to see the Pixies, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, Buzzcocks, Mission of Burma, Minutemen more into these conversations, but obviously they never had the wide commercial appeal.

I also love S'garden, AIC, Pumpkins, Peppers and even Green Daybut they just miss the GREAT level

personally don't think Metallica, ACDC, J Priest, Van Halen, GnR deserve to make this list. and I like "metal".

aside from that, I don't get how Spoon never gets mentioned AT ALL in these conversations. they're not young pups anymore. they have more than a handful of incredible albums, are studio wizards AND live gems, and are absolute critical darlings. I know they only took off on the radio a tiny bit once, but I feel like history will judge them well.

This post = great read!

Spoon- new to me- will check it out.

Love that post, too even though I don't like all the folks he talks about (Radiohead? really? I think Talking Heads are more properly put in that tier than Radiohead. There is no Radiohead without the Heads.) One thing these lists are all missing is Eric Clapton. There isn't a guitarist alive that would not point to him as one of the immortals. Not sure where he fits on your list, but he would be the Theodore Roosevelt on the Mount Rushmore of guitarists with Jimi, Jimmy and BB.

EdsonNascimento wrote:

brianlux wrote:

jimc3 wrote:

(bands only)

I think the big 4 of the Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and the Who are all lock must-haves 1st tier, Mt Rushmore immortals.

I think the 2nd grouping (had the magic of the big 4 but not for long enough) is Floyd, Doors, Radiohead, Hendrix/Experience

third tier (ie at one point lit the WORLD on FIRE, but are just short of immortal) would be Beach Boys, U2, Ramones, Springsteen/E St, Prince/Revolution, Police, Clash, Aerosmith, Sabbath, Nirvana

4th tier (super-special, super-talented but just missing that thunder-god gene) would be REM, Niel Young/CH, Queen, G Dead, Ramones, Velvet U, Petty/Heartbreakers

All that being said, I think it's fair to slot Pearl Jam somewhere in the higher end of the 3rd tier.

additional thoughts:

I would love to see the Pixies, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, Buzzcocks, Mission of Burma, Minutemen more into these conversations, but obviously they never had the wide commercial appeal.

I also love S'garden, AIC, Pumpkins, Peppers and even Green Daybut they just miss the GREAT level

personally don't think Metallica, ACDC, J Priest, Van Halen, GnR deserve to make this list. and I like "metal".

aside from that, I don't get how Spoon never gets mentioned AT ALL in these conversations. they're not young pups anymore. they have more than a handful of incredible albums, are studio wizards AND live gems, and are absolute critical darlings. I know they only took off on the radio a tiny bit once, but I feel like history will judge them well.

This post = great read!

Spoon- new to me- will check it out.

Love that post, too even though I don't like all the folks he talks about (Radiohead? really? I think Talking Heads are more properly put in that tier than Radiohead. There is no Radiohead without the Heads.) One thing these lists are all missing is Eric Clapton. There isn't a guitarist alive that would not point to him as one of the immortals. Not sure where he fits on your list, but he would be the Theodore Roosevelt on the Mount Rushmore of guitarists with Jimi, Jimmy and BB.

first, I prefaced it was bands only. if we were including solo, Clapton is of course on Mt Rushmore guitar gods-wise. but I don't think his band, Derek and the Dominos, were crazy great for long enough to get on this list.

as for Radiohead/Talking Heads/influential: so I don't consider "influential" an ultra-primary criterion for all-time greatness like many people do. it's an element of it, along with talent, execution, broad appeal and critical acclaim, plus throw in a little bit of that mystic/mythic quality that only the greats have. I don't think Beatles, Stones, Zep and Who are tops because of their influence, I think they are because they wrote the best songs/albums, played the best and had the most impact on musicians and the masses. Talking Heads are great, creative and definitely influential. I toyed with putting them 4th tier, I don't have a problem with anyone saying they are top 15. but Radiohead took what they did (plus some other things) and blew them out of the water. OK Computer is widely regarded as one of the top 10 albums ever by tons of people. Talking Heads have a lot critical acclaim, but the average Joe knows nothing of Remain in Light, whereas everyone knows OK Computer. I love PJ way more than them, but I think Radiohead has twice as big a fanbase right now and WAY more critical acclaim (although they have sunk a bit recently. I'm prediciting a bit of a comeback for them sooner than later).

TheGhost wrote:

bold statement. I get what you're talking about. Great, huge, live bands that unite thousands in incredible shows... E street band definitely deserves to join the list beyond a doubt.

how about:
Stones
PJ
Dead
E street
U2
Zep
......?

Sort of agree here.
The list from the OP is solid, but the inclusion of The Beatles means it is certainly not a LIVE band list, only a "greatest bands of all time" list. The inclusion of the Beatles thus opens the OP list to criticisms like, "why the FUCK isn't REM on that list? They arguably put out more solid albums than any other artirst, period" etc ... make the list "incredible bands for the ages that have incredible live shows. not just GOOD live shows, incredible" and you instantly shut a bunch of bands out that otherwise would have contention.

jimc3 wrote:

I don't think Beatles, Stones, Zep and Who are tops because of their influence, I think they are because they wrote the best songs/albums, played the best and had the most impact on musicians and the masses.

I don't know what you mean there by "played the best", but the Beatles were self-admittedly poor musicians in a general sense, there was obvious tension within the band regarding Harrison's lead guitar abilities specifically, and they very openly stopped touring as a live act for the exact reason that they could NOT properly perform their newer material live. Again (although I LOVE the Beatles, particularly their pre-Sgt Pep work), including them in this list is asking for trouble. They didn't perform live for most of their supposedly "best" work, were rather lousy musicians who relegated themselves to "studio artist" status, and had no live following (given that they did not play live).

Also that sentence is self-inconsistent, starting with "are NOT tops because of their INFLUENCE" and ending with "because they *had the most IMPACT ON MUSICIANS and the masses*" [ie. INFLUENCE]

Yefa wrote:

EdsonNascimento wrote:

And please stop it with Neil Young. Not even his own fan club message board thinks that.

First of all...there is no official Neil Young fan club.
Second of all...you're wrong about the Neil fans thinking that. We surely do. :-)

Yes we do! :thumbup:

Last-12-Exit wrote:

What relevant band out today has said they were influenced by radiohead? Why should they deserve a mention in a list like this. I think that idea is absurd.

The fact that Radiohead is still relevant after 20 years is enough to get them on this list. I don't think they've been really that influential on any relevant bands, but the same could be said for PJ and I haven't noticed anybody's beef with their inclusion.