Best American Band ever

[DewieCox]

No Allman Brothers, no Steely Dan, no Little Feat, no Byrds, Fail!

 

+no Doors, Bruce(don't really like them, but they deserve a spot in the poll above almost all those listed), Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, , CC fucking R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Tool, Hendrix, Metallica, RUSH???

[spongebob]

I voted The Band just because they're Canadian, R.E.M. is o.k. but not the best ever.

 

Me too. Only Levon Helm was from the states. Sorry to be a smart ass .

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I do want to clarify that statement to say i don't think they that have THE 60-70 greatest songs ever, just that their best songs are up there with the best songs in the genre.

Even as a serious Deadhead, I'm not sure I could come up with 60 or 70, but I could sure come up with a bunch: Sugar Magnolia, Truckin', Stella Blue, Box Of Rain, Ripple, Brokedown Palace, Terrapin Station, Cassidy, West LA Fadeaway, Throwin' Stones, Touch Of Grey, Scarlet Begonias, Fire On The Mountain, Chinacat Sunflower, Jack Straw...hmm, come to think of it, I bet I could come up with 70 if I looked at the entire catalog.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Me too. Only Levon Helm was from the states. Sorry to be a smart ass .

As has been said about a dozen times, "American" did not mean "from the US."

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Not The Castiles?

 

 

 

 

 

I'm more of a Steel Mill guy

 

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

One of America's greatest, most influential, and legendary cult bands, Flamin' Groovies came out of the San Francisco area in 1965 playing greasy, bluesy, rock & roll dashed with a liberal sprinkling of British Invasion panache, in an era soon to be dominated by hippie culture and hyperextended raga-rock freakouts. Caught in a double bind of playing the wrong kind of music at the wrong time (as well as not looking the part), the Groovies were almost completely forgotten as the Fillmore/Avalon Ballroom scenes, dominated by the Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, et al., rendered them anachronistic. The plain truth, however, was that despite not being in tune with the zeitgeist, the Groovies made great music, and managed to sustain a career that lasted for over two decades.

 

What made the Groovies such a formidable band was the double dynamite supplied by guitarist Cyril Jordan and singer/wildman Roy A. Loney. Together they formed an uneasy partnership that guided the band through its most fertile period, from 1968-1971. In 1968, for next to nothing, the band recorded a seven-song EP entitled Sneakers. This little bit of DIY ingenuity resulted in a contract with Epic and the huge sum of 80,000 dollars (1968 dollars, mind you) to be spent on their debut recording, Supersnazz. It was a great album that didn't sell, but did get them dropped from Epic. Quickly signing with Kama Sutra, the Groovies closed the '60s and started the '70s with two terrific records (Flamingo and Teenage Head), but public apathy and the increasingly tempestuous relationship between Jordan and Loney led to the latter's departure for a solo career in 1971. Jordan, now free to run the band as a "benevolent" dictator and indulge his passion for a more folk-rock (read: Byrds) focus, hired guitarist/vocalist Chris Wilson, curiously added the apostrophe to their first name, and in 1972 moved the band to England.

 

Oddly enough, the Groovies had a larger, more enthusiastic following in Europe (especially in England and Germany) than they did in the States, and it seemed perfectly reasonable to assume that if great rewards were to be reaped, it would happen in Europe first. Hooking up with Dave Edmunds, who was keen to produce them, Jordan and company recorded a handful of songs as early as 1972. However, this seemingly natural collaboration yielded little until 1976, when the Groovies released their finest post-Loney effort, Shake Some Action. Loaded with ringing guitars, great covers, and Edmunds' spongy, bass-heavy production, Shake Some Action became a well-received album in punk-era Britain, as was the fine follow-up, Flamin' Groovies Now. This new notoriety brought renewed interest in the Groovies in America, but the string of good albums ended abruptly with the mostly covers and mostly forgettable Jumpin' in the Night, in 1979. Clearly, the band had run out of gas. That fact, however, did little to convince Cyril Jordan that Flamin' Groovies in any form were no longer viable.

 

So, after five or six years of no new music -- there were instead countless repackagings, anthologies, and lousy bootlegs -- the band ended up in Australia, now reduced to Jordan and a bunch of unknowns (with the exception of longtime bassist George Alexander), shamelessly covering '60s material and living off the band's legend. It should be noted that after his departure in 1971, Roy Loney, after a couple of music industry jobs, made some wonderful records with his band the Phantom Movers (with ex-Groovies drummer Danny Mihm). Loney occasionally worked behind the counter at Jack's Record Cellar in San Francisco, and recorded with the Young Fresh Fellows.

 

The Groovies...good call

 

[tinnitus photography]

The Stooges are better than any of the bands mentioned so far.

[uncool2pillow]

I love the Stooges, but they're more important than they are good.

[gryffe]

I can't understand how this poll can have Nirvana and Pavement but not The Pixies or Husker Du, much as I love Pavement and a good few Nirvana songs.

In terms of quality of output, and influence on bands that came after they are just as important as The Replacements if you ask me.

[Sir Stewart]

The Beatles are Canadian.

[tinnitus photography]

The Beatles are Canadian.

 

you are thinking of Klaatu

[dtram]

Even as a serious Deadhead, I'm not sure I could come up with 60 or 70, but I could sure come up with a bunch: Sugar Magnolia, Truckin', Stella Blue, Box Of Rain, Ripple, Brokedown Palace, Terrapin Station, Cassidy, West LA Fadeaway, Throwin' Stones, Touch Of Grey, Scarlet Begonias, Fire On The Mountain, Chinacat Sunflower, Jack Straw...hmm, come to think of it, I bet I could come up with 70 if I looked at the entire catalog.

 

Eyes of the world, Mississippi Half Step, Ship of Fools, China Doll, US Blues, Estimated Prophet, Franklins Tower, Craxy fingers, Music Never Stopped, Shakedown Street, I Need A Miracle, Althea, Hell in a Bucket, Black Muddy River, Foolish Heart, Standing on the Moon, So Many Roads, Tennessee Jed, Brown Eyed Women, He's Gone, Cumberland Blues, Uncle Johns Band, Dire Wolf, High Time, Casey Jones, Attics of my Life, Candyman, Friend of the Devil, St Stephen, The Eleven, Dark Star, I'll inlcude the stuff from Ace and Garcia since they were effectively Dead records anyway, Greatest Story, Playin in the Band, Black Throated Wind, Looks Like Rain, Mexical Blues, One More Sat Night, Birdsong, Deal, Sugaree, The Wheel, Loser, To Lay Me Down, Bertha, Wharf Rat, The Other One. That's 46 right there coupled with the 15 or so listed above is an easy 60 and I'm sure I missed some.

 

That is an undeniable body of great songs by any measure. You dont have to like them but dont diminish them.

[tinnitus photography]

a random smattering of those songs via youtube sunk me into a great and vast coma.

[dagwave]

Due to bono's obsession with the good ol USA, i think we need to include U2 in the conversation.

[Synthesizer Patel]

obivously, the beach boys from that list.

 

but what about:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHfU67ywL30

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

obivously, the beach boys from that list.

 

but what about:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHfU67ywL30

 

Great Beginnings and Middles are important...but people really remember bad endings.

[Synthesizer Patel]

Great Beginnings and Middles are important...but people really remember bad endings.

 

Do you mean Small Talk? That's the last album with the band, although Sly kept the name. Apart from Nirvana (who I don't like, but were definately getting better before Kurt Cobain died), everyone on that list have significantly gone, or went, downhill from their best work during their history. Quite a few of them went, or are, far worse than Sly and The Family Stone, even if you do include the stuff Sly did after the band broke up.

 

Another one of my favourite American bands are The Turtles, although they weren't really very influential:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfKmKjykJXk

[Mr. Heartbreak]

That is an undeniable body of great songs by any measure. You dont have to like them but dont diminish them.

We're like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.

[Sparky speaks]

Buffalo Springfield

[spongebob]

As has been said about a dozen times, "American" did not mean "from the US."

 

Really? (See this is me being a smart ass again here.)

This "loose" definition includes the entire west....but the selections cover the U.S. and four musicians from Canada.

So I'll say it another dozen times because I think it's funny....The Band are from Canada. Hell, we are all from Canada.

[IRememberDBoon]

tinnitus its kinda sad that you know so much about such good music but have never given GD a chance but I gave up on that argument 20 years ago

 

I actually think The Stooges are top ten but I think Phish should be on the list. Theyre all good but Wilco might be my favorite just because I love almost 90 percent of all songs

[tinnitus photography]

tinnitus its kinda sad that you know so much about such good music but have never given GD a chance but I gave up on that argument 20 years ago

 

so many people have tried to convince me otherwise, but the band just doesn't work for me.

[roadhse ma]

Some of My Favorite American Bands..

The Goliwogs

Tom & Jerry

The Castiles

The Escorts later the Allman Joys later...>> ?

The Warlocks

Uncle Tupelo

 

Yep there is my Top 6 in no particular order

[GtrPlyr]

If were talking greatest ever, we can't forget Funkadelic and Parliament too for that matter. Definitely top 10 for me.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8JE-d2TESc

[PopTodd]

A bump of this thread, for its relevance to the new "Best American Bands Poll" thread.

I knew we had this in here, somewhere.