Best American Bands

[edwina]

In my humble opinion: 1)The Doors 2)The Ramones 3) The Stooges 4)Grateful Dead 5)Beach Boys 6)MC5 7)Velvet Underground 8)The Byrds 9)Creedence 10)Nirvana.
10a) The Replacements.
I guess I’d have to put The Allman Brothers Band in there, too.
I consider Hendrix and Dylan solo artists, while The Band is mostly Canadian.
Notable exceptions:Guns n’Roses, Van Halen, Aerosmith. All 3 are popular but just not my cup of tea.

 

[zacknorton]

SOOOOOOOooooooo many great bands. LOVE the doors. The original Heart band was pretty crazy good. the Southern Harmony.... through Three Snakes and One Charm era of the black Crowes was an incredible band.. I'd pick Soul Asylum over the Replacements: And The Horse they rode in on is an almost perfect album. Any band Dweezil Zappa puts together is going to tear things up. Living Color....and Extreme might have one bad note between them in all the shows they've ever played. Foo Fighters? Tool? the STP band is incredible. Deleo, Deleo & Kretz Groove Company and associates. Television? Heartbreakers?

The Mother Hips might fly under the radar but they've been incredible on stage and record for more than 20 years. LOVE the mother hips.

 

[LeonC]

By "best", I take it that what we will be discussing is "our favorites." I'm thinking in terms of how much they impacted me and how much they impacted music in general. Here's my eclectic list of 10 faves for today.

Jimi Hendrix Experience
Sly and the Family Stone
Stevie Wonder
The Alman Brothers
Leon Russell and just about any of the 8 gazillion people he played with...but my faves were the cats from the Mad Dogs and Englishmen era
Billy Preston
Steely Dan
The Beach Boys
Marvin Gaye
Mountain

 

[edwina]

Yes…I would have to say my favorites…it’s all subjective and there are no “wrong” answers…
CSNY doesn’t make my cut because Neil was born in Canada.
Mountain is up there. I don’t consider JH EXP to be “American” as the band was 2/3 English.
But, of course, Hendrix is way up there…probably my favorite artist of all time.

 

[goldtop0]

The Young Rascals, CSN&Y, Lovin' Spoonful, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears and the rest as above.

 

[Vics53]

Just some fav's from my youth.

When I was a teenager in the 60's I also loved the Doors. Didn't come to appreciate many years later as to how well those guys could craft a song. Love the interplay between them. They're still one of my fav's!

In the early 60's I loved the Funk Brothers although I didn't realize exactly who they were. Loved the Four Tops!

Being from Michigan, loved going to see the "bigger" local bands like the Frost, Amboy Dukes, SRC, the Rationals, Third Power, MC5 and Bob Seger. They all played at a skating arena in Livonia (a suburb outside of Detroit) where I lived and we used to see them for $1.50 back then! For us young kids who were just starting to learn to play these weren't just shows or concerts, they were events! To us, these guys were big time!

Also loved Mountain, Blue Cheer, Blues Magoo's and the Jefferson Airplane just to name a few off the top of my head.

Seemed like anything was possible back then.

 

[ampdan]

All the above and......ZZ TOP!

 

[RhinestoneStrat]

 

[JASIII]

Allmans, Dead (1968-1978, 87-90), Wilco, Black Crowes era listed above, Soundgarden, Gov't Mule, too many to name really. And yes they're favs. "Best" is too subjective.

 

[poor man's burst]

The Eagles, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Van Halen, the Beach Boys, the Punch Brothers, The Allman Brothers Band, Steely Dan, the Jackson 5, the Crusaders.

 

[Blind Lemon Chicken]

Partridge Family.

 

[gmann]

Buffalo Springfield & Los Lobos

 

[renderit]

Poco.

BB.King

Freddy King.

John Lee Hooker.

Johnny Winter.

Edgar Winter.

Roy Buchanan.

The Earl Scruggs Review.

Any Scruggs family member left in a room with anything with strings on it...

 

[Any Name You Wish]

The American bands that had the most influence on me as a young guitar player were 1)Allman Bros, 2) Hendrix Experience, and 3) a tie between Stooges/MC5/Alice Cooper. That last 3 are the result of growing up in Michigan near Detroit. The Motown Funk Bros were certainly influential. Freddie King too. Chuck Berry of course, but not a band. Eagles later. I would have to give the top spot to the Allman Bros.

 

[Blind Lemon Chicken]

Ry Cooder's Bands, any of them.

 

[Burst_in2_flames]

The Paul Butterfield lineup from the first two albums, with Bloomfield.

ABB for sure. I'd put Skynyrd just below them, the lineup with Steve Gaines over Ed King.

 

[Elmore]

For me, Aerosmith is in there.

 

[Cliff Gress]

MC5

 

[SpencerD]

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers wasn't on anyones list.

I fixed that shit!

 

[Vics53]

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers wasn't on anyones list.

I fixed that shit!

On a similar note, I've been digging Mike Campbells band the Dirty Knobs. Great stuff!

Ever see "The Collection" interview with him? Probably my favorite episode. He's such an eccentric character but comes across as a normal, laid back kinda guy. Was surprised how he doesn't obsess over certain details with his guitars. "Is that what that is? I didn't know that!" Kinda cool.