View Full Version : Greatest Rock Band of All Time
Doc Safari
05-18-17, 09:24
I have loved a variety of rock bands over the years, from the Beatles to R.E.M. to not too much in the way of recent ones, although the Foo Fighters seem to be one of the best modern rock acts.
So I'm going to try to be objective here.
The criteria (my own personal criteria--no need for you to agree with me):
1. True to the art form, therefore preserving it through even the most radical changes to the market
2. Capable of producing classic, timeless singles and albums
3. Longevity in terms of "always being there"
4. Universally recognized as great by objective reviewers, especially among rock fans
5. Has at least one song recognized as having either changed the music forever, or being an icon of "all-time great songs".
FIRST RUNNER-UP:
Led Zeppelin
I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, and I'm always surprised to find portions of the latest crop of high-schoolers or twenty-somethings listening to a band that was filed into an esoteric niche of "heavy rock" when it was in its heyday. The only one of my bullet points that Zeppelin misses, to my mind, is the "true to the art form" criteria. Led Zeppelin were ground-breaking, always interesting, and often challenging. But they did not stick to meat-and-potatoes rock.
WINNER:
The Rolling Stones. They made frequently spotty albums through the years, and these days they seem to be reduced to a nostalgia act either playing their old hits live or issuing albums of old blues covers when they do record. Still, if there is one band that has stuck to the "basics" of what constitutes rock and roll music, it is the Rolling Stones. One may wince at Jagger's onstage posing, and one may make jokes at how long Keith Richards has been dead, yet one can look at the entire Stones' catalog and not find too many instances where the band deviated from what constitutes good 'ol every day rock music. And they don't show any signs of major stylistic changes in the future. One could sneer that for the last forty years it's been same-old-same-old. Yet if an alien were to land in the proverbial spaceship and ask "what is this rock and roll music you humans listen to?", one would be hard-pressed to pick any more representative band than the Rolling Stones.
Queen.
I'm partial to Tesla also.
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Averageman
05-18-17, 10:23
Rock and Roll is like Mercury.
There cannot be a "Best" because under changing circumstances and pressures it moves in new directions. The idea that a genre taken from so many cultures and times can be categorized in to columns and graphed and charted flies in the face of the nature of what Rock and Roll was, is and forever will be.
There may be some outstanding innovators and many have been mentioned here, but "best" at best is subjective based upon time and circumstance.
The "Best" Rock and Roll is still being played out there, it is obscure and not yet famous and it's being played by angry young men and women in a garage somewhere.
wildcard600
05-18-17, 10:26
AC/DC
I agree, Stones being a close second.
For my personal tastes: 1) The Who; 2) Led Zep; 3) Queen.
You hit the nail on the head with the Rolling Stones. They are the antithesis of rock and roll. They are actually recording a new album now at 70+ plus years old, the still touring and still put on a great show.
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Doc Safari
05-18-17, 10:34
You hit the nail on the head with the Rolling Stones. They are the antithesis of rock and roll. They are actually recording a new album now at 70+ plus years old, the still touring and still put on a great show.
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I think you mean "epitome" instead of "antithesis".
Yes, sorry was having another thought and typing. Bad combo.
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If "best" means most archetypical, Led Zeppelin, no doubt. When you inspire the greatest mockumentary of rock and roll, that pretty much confirms the status. Pretty much everything that comes to mind when thinking "rock band," Led Zeppelin did first.
But the 4-album stretch from Beggar's Banquet to Exile on Main Street is the greatest period of rock music ever made.
Sorry your all wrong!
Eagles
Best selling album of the whole century. Broke up and years later got back together and made even better music than ever.
Coal Dragger
05-18-17, 12:21
Motörhead
/thread
skywalkrNCSU
05-18-17, 12:22
As far as the more classic bands go I prefer The Doors but since they had their run cut short I can see why they wouldn't be considered the best. Another one I think fits as a more modern contender would be Pearl Jam. I saw them a few years ago and they still absolutely rocked.
I agree, Stones being a close second.
I agree as well. :cool:
Led Zeppelin
AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and Eagles round out the top five in no particular order.
As far as the more classic bands go I prefer The Doors but since they had their run cut short I can see why they wouldn't be considered the best. Another one I think fits as a more modern contender would be Pearl Jam. I saw them a few years ago and they still absolutely rocked.
Oh God, I knew someone would do it........:suicide2:
Queen. Freddie Mercury was a genius.
skywalkrNCSU
05-18-17, 14:07
Oh God, I knew someone would do it........:suicide2:
It's almost like people have different tastes. I'd say selling 60mm records and being one of the most popular rock bands of the last thirty years would solidify their qualifications regardless of your individual taste. For me, I think the Stones are meh. Their music never did much for me but I can definitely appreciate their contribution to music.
In no particular order.
Doors
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Bon Jovi
Who
It's almost like people have different tastes. I'd say selling 60mm records and being one of the most popular rock bands of the last thirty years would solidify their qualifications regardless of your individual taste. For me, I think the Stones are meh. Their music never did much for me but I can definitely appreciate their contribution to music.
While I can't stand Pearl Jam (mush-mouth Vedder sounds like Springsteen choking on a dick) I'm not a big Stones fan either. Couple of songs like Under my Thumb and Gimme Shelter are good, but generally not a fan. Beatles either. Maybe two or three songs at the most.
Led Zeppelin
Van Halen
AC/DC
Boston
skywalkrNCSU
05-18-17, 15:33
While I can't stand Pearl Jam (mush-mouth Vedder sounds like Springsteen choking on a dick) I'm not a big Stones fan either. Couple of songs like Under my Thumb and Gimme Shelter are good, but generally not a fan. Beatles either. Maybe two or three songs at the most.
Led Zeppelin
Van Halen
AC/DC
Boston
I'm with you on the Beatles. My most controversial music take but I think they are a whole lot of meh. No doubt they had an enormous impact on the music world but I don't find their music that great.
Doc Safari
05-18-17, 15:41
I'll have to grant you that without the zeitgeist of the sixties the Beatles would probably be as derided as the equivalent of one of today's boy bands. "I Want to Hold Your Hand?" Are your serious? Still, in 1964 there wasn't even any such thing as full frontal nudity in men's magazines IIRC. So you have to put it into context.
Personally, I don't have but a handful of classic Stones albums, like Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed, plus the obligatory "best of" sets, and I think at times that they are the biggest joke ever told in the music business. They are basically a garage rock band like the Standells or Count Five that just happened to appeal to screaming pre-teen and teen girls, and that allowed them to last long enough to put out some really great records and achieve legendary status. Let's not forget that bands like the aforementioned Standells and Count Five made their bread and butter imitating Mick Jagger.
Just listen to Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius XM sometime and make a list of every song you hear that is a blatant Rolling Stones imitation.
Mind-blowing.
That fact alone would make the Stones the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Love them or hate them: a lot of people imitated them, and that is the sincerest form of approval known to man.
more of a Clash kinda guy
never cared for the rolling stones or other music like that much ?
so not best rock band but best band for me was The Clash
Ned Christiansen
05-18-17, 16:12
For me, what is playing in my mind's background almost all the time, and what blares in my shop almost every day, the band that for me checks all those boxes:
Humble Pie.
Steve Marriott (came from Small Faces, think Itchicoo Park) I believe, made singing in a high voice OK. There is no hearing his Stentorian voice and thinking "not manly". I read somewhere in the early days that when they were all still at the club level, Townsend would not go on stage after Stevie because there was no sounding good after him!
Back in the days when I discovered them, you didn't know who was in a band, where they came from, or anything about them unless I guess you were reading the teeenie rock magazines which I did not. When Peter Frampton came out I was all pissed about him ripping off Humble Pie. Now I know-- he was in Humble Pie and you hear his unique style all over the place. They covered a lot of old blues stuff but unlike L-Zep they gave full credit.
AC/DC, close second. When I first heard them I though it was maybe a re-formed Humble Pie, as I had noticed there was no new Pie coming out.
After Pie Steve Marriott did a few different things. I never knew until about five years ago, he died in 1991. Damn.
Iron Maiden/ Black Sabbath would be a 50/50 split for me... I appreciate the giants like Zep and the Stones, just never listened to them much-
Sorry your all wrong!
Eagles
Best selling album of the whole century. Broke up and years later got back together and made even better music than ever.
He said rock n roll not chick band! :cool:
I would put AC/DC in a class sort of like ZZ Top. Those are just two really unique types of rock n roll.
The Who is really hard to top.
The Stones have done a lot
Led Zep... it's just really hard to pick a winner.
I would say Zep, Who, Stones always 1, 2, 3 and just keep shuffling the cards. either one could be 1, 2, or 3 depending on how you want to look at it.
Doc Safari
05-18-17, 16:31
After Pie Steve Marriott did a few different things. I never knew until about five years ago, he died in 1991. Damn.
I did the same thing with Paula Pierce of the Pandoras. I know, WHO? The Pandoras were an eighties girl group that were just too raw to have the success of the Go-Go's or Bangles. But I dug 'em.
They tried to duplicate all those sixties garage bands that had one hit, like the Sonics, Standells, Chocolate Watch Band, 13th Floor Elevators, etc.
Later on they drifted into trying to be a female heavy metal band before breaking up.
After I graduated from college I got too busy with life to care too much about any of the bands I liked while at the university.
I didn't find out until like 20 years later that she had died in 1991 at age 31.
Motley Crue
No one!? And Pearl Jam, I can't understand why they are popular.
IMHO Led Zeppelin is probably the most diverse band as far as the sound of their music is concerned. They run the gammet. Down By the Seaside, Boogie with Stu (reminds me of an old Western saloon song), When the Levee Breaks, The Immigrant Song, Kashmir, In the Evening, etc. all have a different sound to them. I believe they used a dobro in a lot of their music and I like the sound.
As far as the Beatles are concerned Ringo Starr made better music when he was on his own. There are a number of, uh, "older" folks who would look at you as if you had just spoken sacrilege if you dissed the Beatles!
My favorite Van Halen song is Dance the Night Away. Kind of has a "tropical" sound to it.
Sabbath, definitely. While the Beatles and Stones were playing pop songs and Zeppelin ripping off blues, Sabbath grabbed us by the throat and ripped out people's souls. The Paranoid l.p. was just wow. Into the Void has got to have one of the heaviest riffs ever.
Of course, then there's the Coop, who pretty much created the whole shock rock genre.
Depending upon your generation Led Zeppelin or The Beatles.
Other bands are great like Queen, Rolling Stones, etc. but I don't think anyone comes close to the above in concentrated talent. I really, really like groups of my generation like Rush, Yes and a dozen other greats but I don't think anyone comes close to Zeppelin or The Beatles.
I have never seen another group like them that virtually reinvents their sound from album to album and still does it better than everyone else. Queen is the only one that comes close with that kind of broad range talent. Everyone else just made decent music with more than a few hits, but honestly the Stones sound like the Stones and AC/DC sounds like AC/DC.
KISS did it one time with "Beth" but for the most part KISS sounds like KISS and they are not terribly significant in the big picture despite how much I might like Detroit Rock City and can appreciate Beth.
Zeppelin, definitely. Followed second by CCR.
Not to muddy the discussion, but what "new" group - say last 10 years - do you like? For me, it's The Heavy.
It's almost like people have different tastes. I'd say selling 60mm records and being one of the most popular rock bands of the last thirty years would solidify their qualifications regardless of your individual taste. For me, I think the Stones are meh. Their music never did much for me but I can definitely appreciate their contribution to music.
Michael Jackson sold a shit ton of records at 350 million but I don't think he's the greatest anything so sales don't really mean jack. Beatles are the top selling at 600 million, then Elvis 500 million, then Jackson, then Madonna at 300 million along with Elton John and Zeppelin and followed by Pink Floyd at 250 million. But sales are more a popularity contest and not really a measure of talent.
I'm surprised not to have seen Metallica mentioned.
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I'll have to grant you that without the zeitgeist of the sixties the Beatles would probably be as derided as the equivalent of one of today's boy bands. "I Want to Hold Your Hand?" Are your serious? Still, in 1964 there wasn't even any such thing as full frontal nudity in men's magazines IIRC. So you have to put it into context.
Sure they did that silly crap, but the Stones did a lot of crap in the 80s that also sucked. But The Beatles did "I Am The Walrus", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Let It Be" which are every bit as ground breaking as "Paint It Black" or "Get Off Of My Cloud" but they did it with a little more frequency.
skywalkrNCSU
05-18-17, 20:25
Michael Jackson sold a shit ton of records at 350 million but I don't think he's the greatest anything so sales don't really mean jack. Beatles are the top selling at 600 million, then Elvis 500 million, then Jackson, then Madonna at 300 million along with Elton John and Zeppelin and followed by Pink Floyd at 250 million. But sales are more a popularity contest and not really a measure of talent.
Come on man Michael Jackson is easily one of the greatest pop stars ever. I don't like his music but to say he isn't the greatest anything is absurd. Yeah the guy was weird and probably diddled little kids but his reign as king of pop is legit. I'd also say every other band you listed as a top seller is an absolute giant in their genre.
This one is remarkably easy for me...
Led Zeppelin
After that it becomes a whole battle for second to fifth between AC/DC, the Stones, the Who, and Queen.
Metallica was mentioned - metal not rick
The Beatles were mentioned - pop not rock (don't even, they were The Backstreet Boys for my mom and aunts)
Black Sabbath - don't even talk trash about Zep integrating the blues, BSab started life as a blues act and then pretty much invented metal skipping "rock and roll"
Zeppelin, definitely. Followed second by CCR.
Not to muddy the discussion, but what "new" group - say last 10 years - do you like? For me, it's The Heavy.
Zeppelin is solid.
For your other question:
Last 10 years? Not my favorite, but in my top 5. Avenged sevenfold. Each album has a unique sound, and many songs are an adventure, they really remind me of a modern band with an old soul, where each song is a whole story.
My favorite is Amon Amarth, the music is pure heavy-epic, but outside the scope of "ROCK" and this thread, so I digress.
Led Zeppelin, without a doubt.
I actually just convinced my fiancé to make "Thank You" our first dance.
Queen. Freddie Mercury was a genius.
Exactly. Add in Brian May and you have the greatest rock & roll band of a time.
Come on man Michael Jackson is easily one of the greatest pop stars ever. I don't like his music but to say he isn't the greatest anything is absurd. Yeah the guy was weird and probably diddled little kids but his reign as king of pop is legit. I'd also say every other band you listed as a top seller is an absolute giant in their genre.
Michael Jackson was the king of music video, much like Madonna. If there was no video for Thriller, it would have been one of the least impressive tracks on the album. Michael Jackson was obviously talented but I don't even consider him to be the greatest R&B artists of the 70s or 80s, just as I don't consider Elvis to be the greatest Rock performer of his era, talented yes - a genius at marketing and promotion but hardly the greatest anything.
Michael Jackson was largely right time, right place, right image and a brand new means of promotion that he learned how to employ faster and better than most of his contemporaries. You can add Madonna to that list.
Gotta go with the Who even though they are not my favorite. More rock hits in more gggggggGenerations.
Runner ups:
Stones, AC/DC, Metalica, Boston, Jimi hendrix
And in the esoteric Prog Rock category (and my favorites): Pink Floyd, with Yes and ELP tied for 2nd, Genesis and Rush tied for 3rd
Beatles are too popish early on. Same for Eagles withe the exception of HC and their early country rock that does not count here.
Beatles are too popish early on. Same for Eagles withe the exception of HC and their early country rock that does not count here.
A lot of this is generational too, meaning if there wasn't a record buying group the size of the baby boomers in the 1960s The Beatles may have never left England, The Who would be a minor unknown and the Rolling Stones might have had a couple of hits. But when you have the largest teen population of the 20th century buying your stuff and talking about it, you get canonized deserving or not. They were such a powerful group the made "folk music" an actual thing for almost a decade even though the entire genre was horrid.
Talent, especially original talent rarely factors. Elvis didn't invent rock n roll but the people who did are barely remembered today. Basically a group of mostly R&B acts took a different direction and next thing you know Chuck Berry and Little Richard were famous.
But then you have guys who invent something completely new, artists like Kraftwerk, James Brown and Hendrix who really are nothing but creative talent. But does that make them the best? Kraftwerk and James Brown redefined how entire groups of artists made music and if not for James Brown most R&B would still be heavily gospel inspired stuff that is damn hard to listen too. If not for four guys in Germany heavy into computers and electronica, hip hop and all forms of techno wouldn't exist. But most people have never heard of them even though many of the greats from this thread all know James Brown and Kraftwerk very well and have spent a good amount of time dissecting everything they ever did.
The rest of it is nostalgia, what moved you at the age you consider the highlight of your life, when you were most free to be yourself. That is why everyone from the 70s and 80s are saying Zeppelin and others are talking about AC/DC, Metaliica or Pearl Jam. And honestly if you had a record buying generation the size of the baby boomers in the 1990s Pearl Jam would have to be seriously considered as one of the greatest acts ever simply based upon record sales alone.
For me it's all of the above and longevity. How many decades after the fact does a song still hold up and not lose it's relevance? I think I started listening to the Beatles when I was about 10 and while I don't like everything they did some of their songs I can still listen to over and over the way some can still endure Stairway even though your local classic rock station feels compelled to play it 5 times a day at the same time slot. While I shy away from Stairway, I can listen to the Immigrant Song and so many others despite the fact that I've heard them hundreds of times and if I listen close I can sometimes find something new I missed for all those years.
Then somebody comes along like Queen and does insane arrangements and somehow makes it all work. Basslines that shame 90% or R&B artists, vocal arrangements from God knows where and it's absolutely seamless. And I'm not just talking about Bohemian Rhapsody (the defacto Queen Anthem), Radio Gaga is the one that leaves me amazed.
But at the end of the day, I still have to come back to Zeppelin and The Beatles, they both did amazing things, including things that should never have worked in a million years and they made it work and they did it more often than anyone else I can think of. Mick Jagger dancing in tights for the Emotional Rescue video it is not.
Doc Safari
05-19-17, 09:05
IMHO Led Zeppelin is probably the most diverse band as far as the sound of their music is concerned. They run the gammet. Down By the Seaside, Boogie with Stu (reminds me of an old Western saloon song), When the Levee Breaks, The Immigrant Song, Kashmir, In the Evening, etc. all have a different sound to them. I believe they used a dobro in a lot of their music and I like the sound.
As far as the Beatles are concerned Ringo Starr made better music when he was on his own. There are a number of, uh, "older" folks who would look at you as if you had just spoken sacrilege if you dissed the Beatles!
My favorite Van Halen song is Dance the Night Away. Kind of has a "tropical" sound to it.
That's my favorite Van Halen song too.
At one time I had Led Zep's entire catalog including the Immigrant Song single with "Hey, Hey What Can I Do" on the back.
Funny thing about Zeppelin: I used to lament that III was mostly acoustic on LP side two. I wanted more steam shovel rockers like "Out on the Tiles". Now the acoustic side (especially "That's the Way") is one of my favorite Zeppelin song suites. "Tangerine" is one of the most haunting songs of all time. Supposedly it's about Jackie DeShannon, but really it's about one of my girlfriends. :laugh:
Doc Safari
05-19-17, 09:09
Sure they did that silly crap, but the Stones did a lot of crap in the 80s that also sucked. But The Beatles did "I Am The Walrus", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Let It Be" which are every bit as ground breaking as "Paint It Black" or "Get Off Of My Cloud" but they did it with a little more frequency.
We'll have to agree to disagree here. Mostly the Stones started putting out crap as they became more and more geriatric and drug addicted. Time catches up to everyone. Hey, I like the Beatles. They just put out more embarassing sugar-coated swill than the Stones. If I ever have to hear "Hello, Goodbye" or "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" again I think I'll sell all my Beatles CD's.
"I Am the Walrus" was just John Lennon poking fun at people who read too much into their music. I don't take it seriously.
Doc Safari
05-19-17, 09:15
Talent, especially original talent rarely factors. Elvis didn't invent rock n roll but the people who did are barely remembered today. Basically a group of mostly R&B acts took a different direction and next thing you know Chuck Berry and Little Richard were famous.
Speaking of talent I'll give you one thing about the Beatles: the guys played a variety of instruments and most of the songs they wrote could have been hit singles. In contrast, most of the American bands were as fake as the Monkees, at least in the studio. Bands like the Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, even the mother-effin' Beach Boys relied on studio musicians like the Wrecking Crew to make the records. Mark Lindsey of Paul Revere and the Raiders said that there were basically two versions: the studio musicians that made the records and were mandated to try to sound like the Beach Boys, and the "real" group that toured the country and sounded more like the Rolling Stones.
At least the British bands were authentic. The Beatles threw open the door to "doing it yourself" instead of relying on session men to make a professiona product. Thanks to George Martin for putting the kibosh on interference from studio execs. Although the first official version of "Love Me Do" had a session drummer. WHEW! That was a close one! But authenticity won out.
RUSH is most certainly at the top for me...how just three guys could make THAT much sound is incredible.
I also like Dire Straights, Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Top Petty, Zep, AC/DC, CCR, ZZ Top, VH...blessed with a lot of talent & different styles.
Depending upon your generation Led Zeppelin or The Beatles.
Other bands are great like Queen, Rolling Stones, etc. but I don't think anyone comes close to the above in concentrated talent. I really, really like groups of my generation like Rush, Yes and a dozen other greats but I don't think anyone comes close to Zeppelin or The Beatles.
I have never seen another group like them that virtually reinvents their sound from album to album and still does it better than everyone else. Queen is the only one that comes close with that kind of broad range talent. Everyone else just made decent music with more than a few hits, but honestly the Stones sound like the Stones and AC/DC sounds like AC/DC.
KISS did it one time with "Beth" but for the most part KISS sounds like KISS and they are not terribly significant in the big picture despite how much I might like Detroit Rock City and can appreciate Beth.
We'll have to agree to disagree here. Mostly the Stones started putting out crap as they became more and more geriatric and drug addicted. Time catches up to everyone. Hey, I like the Beatles. They just put out more embarassing sugar-coated swill than the Stones. If I ever have to hear "Hello, Goodbye" or "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" again I think I'll sell all my Beatles CD's.
"I Am the Walrus" was just John Lennon poking fun at people who read too much into their music. I don't take it seriously.
Yeah, but name one group that made songs about snipers?
The Beatles - Masters Of Snipercraft...
Come together (bullet and target)
A story about a sniper on a mission to assassinate a ChiCom General
Here come old flattop
(Flattop, meaning he’s got an A3 upper or that he’s a jarhead)
he come grooving up slowly
(cool head, always checks his six)
He got joo-joo eyeball
(high power optic on his rifle)
he one holy roller
(top security clearance)
He got hair down to his knee
(wears his ghillie suit)
Got to be a joker he just do what he please
(definite covert op, Company disavows all knowledge of his activities)
He wear no shoeshine
(OD camo, blends in with the locals)
he got toe-jam football
(Codename for the mission)
He got monkey finger
(One shot, one kill trigger finger)
he shoot coca-cola
(HALO Jump insertion)
He say I know you, you know me
(He knows the recognition codes for extraction)
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
(He’s ready to make the world safe for democracy)
Come together right now over me
(Visualizes the bullet hitting it’s target through his scope)
He bag production
(humping through the jungle to target)
he got walrus gumboot
(“Walrus” his spotter is with him)
He got ono sideboard
(His target is in sight)
he one spinal cracker
(A kill shot coming into view)
He got feet down below his knee
(in shooting position)
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease
(Target hit, and eliminated)
Come together right now over me
(Bullet and target have come together, objective reached)
He roller-coaster
(He’s high-tailing it out of there)
he got early warning
(He sees the enemy approaching)
He got muddy water
(Crosses stagnant river to get away from enemy)
he one mojo filter
(Calls in for suppressing fire)
He say one and one and one is three
(He sees the enemy dropping one by one)
Got to be good-looking ’cause he’s so hard to see
(He signals the chopper by popping smoke)
Come together right now over me
(Recaps the mission for his superiors. Mission accomplished.)
Doc Safari
05-19-17, 13:59
Yeah, but name one group that made songs about snipers?
The Beatles - Masters Of Snipercraft...
Come together (bullet and target)
A story about a sniper on a mission to assassinate a ChiCom General
Here come old flattop
(Flattop, meaning he’s got an A3 upper or that he’s a jarhead)
he come grooving up slowly
(cool head, always checks his six)
He got joo-joo eyeball
(high power optic on his rifle)
he one holy roller
(top security clearance)
He got hair down to his knee
(wears his ghillie suit)
Got to be a joker he just do what he please
(definite covert op, Company disavows all knowledge of his activities)
He wear no shoeshine
(OD camo, blends in with the locals)
he got toe-jam football
(Codename for the mission)
He got monkey finger
(One shot, one kill trigger finger)
he shoot coca-cola
(HALO Jump insertion)
He say I know you, you know me
(He knows the recognition codes for extraction)
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
(He’s ready to make the world safe for democracy)
Come together right now over me
(Visualizes the bullet hitting it’s target through his scope)
He bag production
(humping through the jungle to target)
he got walrus gumboot
(“Walrus” his spotter is with him)
He got ono sideboard
(His target is in sight)
he one spinal cracker
(A kill shot coming into view)
He got feet down below his knee
(in shooting position)
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease
(Target hit, and eliminated)
Come together right now over me
(Bullet and target have come together, objective reached)
He roller-coaster
(He’s high-tailing it out of there)
he got early warning
(He sees the enemy approaching)
He got muddy water
(Crosses stagnant river to get away from enemy)
he one mojo filter
(Calls in for suppressing fire)
He say one and one and one is three
(He sees the enemy dropping one by one)
Got to be good-looking ’cause he’s so hard to see
(He signals the chopper by popping smoke)
Come together right now over me
(Recaps the mission for his superiors. Mission accomplished.)
LOL. That's funny. And I thought that song was about bukkake.
Still, "All My Loving", "If I Fell", "I'll Be Back", "I Saw Her Standing There", and a bunch of others show the Beatles gift for melody. People who weren't around back then don't know that one thing the Beatles did was elevate albums to a level of excellence. In the early sixties, most albums had one or two hits and a bunch of filler. The Beatles proved that entire albums could be good.
Unfortunately, I think that was mostly forgotten again by the mid-Seventies. I bought some rock albums during my teen years that had some of the most obvious and embarrassing filler tracks you could imagine.
LOL. That's funny. And I thought that song was about bukkake.
Still, "All My Loving", "If I Fell", "I'll Be Back", "I Saw Her Standing There", and a bunch of others show the Beatles gift for melody. People who weren't around back then don't know that one thing the Beatles did was elevate albums to a level of excellence. In the early sixties, most albums had one or two hits and a bunch of filler. The Beatles proved that entire albums could be good.
Unfortunately, I think that was mostly forgotten again by the mid-Seventies. I bought some rock albums during my teen years that had some of the most obvious and embarrassing filler tracks you could imagine.
Yeah, the Beatles, like Zeppelin, could do a wall to wall album. And while sometimes the shit they did made zero sense, tracks like "I Am The Walrus" still had brilliant arrangement and more than a little concentrated groove. There is no doubt they produced some "pop" and in some cases pandered to an audience with tracks like "Lucy In The Sky" but then they did something like "Penny Lane" that never should have worked...ever...but somehow the damn thing worked. And then they had a few epics like "Let it Be" and "The Long and Winding Road." I've listened to those tracks for decades and they have evolved over the years staying relevant and meaning something new as my experiences change and have never been played out.
So while "Paint it Black" might have been a no shit rock anthem for the ages, it never seems to evolve into anything else over the years. I still think it's a good track but it no longer moves me like it once did. I hesitate to equate Zeppelin and The Beatles with Mozart, Bach or Beethoven but like those classical "classics" they have grown with me and still make me think.
Pretty much every other artist reminds me of another time and place and are just nostalgic to me.
Doc Safari
05-19-17, 15:55
So while "Paint it Black" might have been a no shit rock anthem for the ages, it never seems to evolve into anything else over the years. I still think it's a good track but it no longer moves me like it once did. I hesitate to equate Zeppelin and The Beatles with Mozart, Bach or Beethoven but like those classical "classics" they have grown with me and still make me think.
The no shit rock anthem for the ages is "Satisfaction." Yeah, you can hear the sixites in it, but it doesn't sound "dated". Same for anthems like "Gimme Shelter". But play "The Last Time" and you know that song could not have been recorded in any decade but the sixties.
Even though Led Zeppelin will always be timeless to me, I can still hear the seventies in their music because simply nobody writes epics like "Stairway" or "Kashmir" anymore. I literally have visited music shops where there was a sign over the guitar section that says, "No Stairway to Heaven or Smoke on the Water, Please."
Oh, and I bet if you dig deep enough Mozart and Beethoven were derided as "long hair" music in their day, too. :lol:
Pretty much every other artist reminds me of another time and place and are just nostalgic to me.
Roger that. "Don't Change" by INXS is my favorite song of all time. I also have cover versions of it by Face To Face, Grinspoon, The Everymen, etc.
But mostly if I listen to INXS I remember my college days. Ditto The Hoodoo Gurus, R.E.M., The Bangles, etc. Fast forward and I could say the same about Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, etc., bringing back the nineties.
No matter how timeless some music seems to be, I don't think a person could pick a group that doesn't have at least a few songs that sound like its era. Maybe Pink Floyd doesn't sound like any particular period, but then again I think of "Arnold Layne" and, yep, you guessed it: sixties.
But I can listen to Beatles, Stones, Who, Zep and nearly anyone else and tell you what decade it was released.
The other day I was listening to the Eagles. For a micro-second I considered that their music might actually be timeless. Then "The Border" came on with all its background about the Watergate era, and I was momentarily sucked into the seventies.
I don't think there is any such thing as completely timeless. No music exists in a void.
How much longevity will our modern music have?
Will people living on the moon in the year 2525 actually be listening to the Beatles? Will they still dig "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans?
Or will there be very little left of our music? Will people only have Sgt. Pepper and ask themselves, "I wonder if that group did any other albums?"
We play Beethoven and Bach because their music survived. How many composers potentially made better music but it disappeared due to lack of distribution or reputation?
Maybe Mozart stole every note he wrote, but we will never know because he is the one that became famous.
Just like Led Zeppelin stole a lot of their early songs from early blues greats, but Led Zeppelin will be remembered while Willie Dixon is forgotten because Zeppelin had the record deal, the popularity, the distribution, and the LEGEND.
For me it is the Kinks. For a solid three decades they were relevant, and did a lot of groundbreaking stuff in the 60s, and 70s, but still made good albums, and got a lot of air play in the 80s. Their "rock opera" "Arthur" pre-dated the Who's "Tommy".
This one is remarkably easy for me...
Led Zeppelin
After that it becomes a whole battle for second to fifth between AC/DC, the Stones, the Who, and Queen.
Metallica was mentioned - metal not rick
The Beatles were mentioned - pop not rock (don't even, they were The Backstreet Boys for my mom and aunts)
Black Sabbath - don't even talk trash about Zep integrating the blues, BSab started life as a blues act and then pretty much invented metal skipping "rock and roll"
Yeah, I know Sabbath started as a blues band, I was referring to the lawsuit filed by Willie Dixon against Zeppelin for not crediting him for certain music. Ergo, ripping off the blues.
Metallica for me, hands down. Just seen them live for the first time a little over a week ago.
RetroRevolver77
05-20-17, 09:29
Lynyrd Skynyrd is the best rock band of all time- forever... FREE BIRD!!!!
Wooooooooooooo!
MetallicA
Maiden
Megadeth
EVH
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Nirvana
Soundgarden
Pearl Jam
Alice in Chains
Stone Temple Pilots
Averageman
05-20-17, 22:55
So while "Paint it Black" might have been a no shit rock anthem for the ages, it never seems to evolve into anything else over the years. I still think it's a good track but it no longer moves me like it once did. I hesitate to equate Zeppelin and The Beatles with Mozart, Bach or Beethoven but like those classical "classics" they have grown with me and still make me think.
Pretty much every other artist reminds me of another time and place and are just nostalgic to me.
And then I hear this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usNsCeOV4GM
I can't pick a single favorite.
Queen, AC/DC, Rush, Van Halen, Heart, Pink Floyd, Nirvanna.
I heard too many of the original versions of Zeppelin songs. That sort of ruined it for me.
I like some Stones, but not nearly as much as those top ones above.
Ever since Eddie Vedder started blabbering on about politics I can't even listen to his music.
Ditto for Neil Young/CCR, Skynard, Metallica (Who seem to have a vocal opinion about everything…), Bono (Who said Bill Clinton was the best pres we ever had…) etc…
And then I hear this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usNsCeOV4GM
I always do that one back to back with "Across the Universe."
Lynyrd Skynyrd is the best rock band of all time- forever... FREE BIRD!!!!
Wooooooooooooo!
Anti gun, drug addled hillbillies. I hear one more amateur hack sing Free Bird I'm gonna hurt somebody.
I will go with my top 5
1 LED Zepplin
2 The Who
3 Pink Floyd
4 The Doors
5 The Rolling Stones
diving dave
05-21-17, 09:22
For me my hands down favorite, Rush. Those guys have been rocking along time, and I dont think anyone can instruments better
Anti gun, drug addled hillbillies. I hear one more amateur hack sing Free Bird I'm gonna hurt somebody.
I don't think the Stones, Rush, Zep, or anybody mentioned in this thread isn't anti-gun besides Metallica and Skynyrd.
While I'm sure you're talking about "Saturday Night Special" when you believe them to be anti-gun, I think the picture is larger than that. Read these lyrics, they are pretty clear:
"God & Guns"
Last night I heard this politician
Talking 'bout his brand new mission
Liked his plans, but they came undone when he got around with God and guns
I don't know how he grew up
But it sure wasn't down at the hunting club
Cause if it was he'd understand a little bit more about the working man
God and guns
Keep us strong
That's what this country
Was founded on
Well we might aswell give up and run
If we let them take our God and guns
I'm here in my back of the woods
Where God is great and guns are good
You really can't know that much about 'm
If you think we're better off without 'm
Well there was a time we ain't forgot
You caressed all night with the doors unlocked
But there ain't nobody save no more
So you say your prayers and you thank the lord
For that peace maker
And the joy
God and guns (God and guns)
Keep us strong
That's what this country, lord
Was founded on
Well we might aswell give up and run,
If we let 'm take our God and guns.
Yea we might aswell give up and run,
If we let 'm take our God and guns!
Yeaaa
Ooh
God and guns
Don't let 'm take
Don't you let 'm take
Don't let 'm take
Our God and guns
Oh God and guns
Ye keep us strong
That's what this country, lord
Was founded on
Well we might aswell give up and run,
If we let 'm take our God and guns!
Wohoho
God and guns
Wohohoo
Ooh
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't think the Stones, Rush, Zep, or anybody mentioned in this thread isn't anti-gun besides Metallica and Skynyrd.
While I'm sure you're talking about "Saturday Night Special" when you believe them to be anti-gun, I think the picture is larger than that. Read these lyrics, they are pretty clear:
"God & Guns"
Last night I heard this politician
Talking 'bout his brand new mission
Liked his plans, but they came undone when he got around with God and guns
I don't know how he grew up
But it sure wasn't down at the hunting club
Cause if it was he'd understand a little bit more about the working man
God and guns
Keep us strong
That's what this country
Was founded on
Well we might aswell give up and run
If we let them take our God and guns
I'm here in my back of the woods
Where God is great and guns are good
You really can't know that much about 'm
If you think we're better off without 'm
Well there was a time we ain't forgot
You caressed all night with the doors unlocked
But there ain't nobody save no more
So you say your prayers and you thank the lord
For that peace maker
And the joy
God and guns (God and guns)
Keep us strong
That's what this country, lord
Was founded on
Well we might aswell give up and run,
If we let 'm take our God and guns.
Yea we might aswell give up and run,
If we let 'm take our God and guns!
Yeaaa
Ooh
God and guns
Don't let 'm take
Don't you let 'm take
Don't let 'm take
Our God and guns
Oh God and guns
Ye keep us strong
That's what this country, lord
Was founded on
Well we might aswell give up and run,
If we let 'm take our God and guns!
Wohoho
God and guns
Wohohoo
Ooh
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The picture IS pretty clear.
‘Why don’t we dump ’em, people, to the bottom of the sea?"
Ronnie was advocating in the song was greater control of illegal handguns – specifically a type of gun that was freely available on the black market in 1970s America, and could be bought for as little as 20 dollars; a gun commonly known as a Saturday Night Special. As Ronnie stated in the song’s chorus: ‘Mister Saturday Night Special, got a barrel that’s blue and cold/Ain’t good for nothin’, but put a man six feet in the hole.’
So while he may not have known it at the time, he was still an anti gun ahole.
On down the list (in no particular order) some "honorable mentions" and others:
Rainbow, Dokken, Van Halen/Van Hagar, April Wine, Triumph, Deep Purple, Asia, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Steppenwolf, Dire Straits, Bob Seger, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Boston, Kansas, Rush, etc.
And we can't forget "New Wave" from the late '70's-early 80's: Blondie, The Police, The Cars, Gary Numan, etc.
Straight Shooter
05-21-17, 15:25
I could live the rest of my days quite nicely with only Deep Purple & Pink Floyd.
And we can't forget "New Wave" from the late '70's-early 80's: Blondie, The Police, The Cars, Gary Numan, etc.
This would be some of my favorite music, but I don't really consider it "Rock and Roll", so I omitted all those bands from my lists.
You reminded me that I forgot Judas Priest in my initial list. They are another favorite that I still listen to to this day. They had the best cover art ever! Iron Maiden was a close second for cover art...
I tend to lump it all together into "Classic Rock".
And we can't forget "New Wave" from the late '70's-early 80's: Blondie, The Police, The Cars, Gary Numan, etc.[/QUOTE]
Some great groups there too. I would add the Pretenders too.
The picture IS pretty clear.
‘Why don’t we dump ’em, people, to the bottom of the sea?"
Ronnie was advocating in the song was greater control of illegal handguns – specifically a type of gun that was freely available on the black market in 1970s America, and could be bought for as little as 20 dollars; a gun commonly known as a Saturday Night Special. As Ronnie stated in the song’s chorus: ‘Mister Saturday Night Special, got a barrel that’s blue and cold/Ain’t good for nothin’, but put a man six feet in the hole.’
So while he may not have known it at the time, he was still an anti gun ahole.
Along with every band in this thread but Metallica. Gotta say **** Pearl Jam, stones, Beatles...all of them. Meanwhile Skynyrd has since put our blatantly pro-gun tunes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
On topic, I'd probably say the Stones as a easy out. After that, Metallica def in the running, but I do have my preferences when it comes to music and honestly listen to all kinds of stuff and some of my playlists on my ipod when I drive can make passengers look at me funny when you have stuff like the Stones, then the Alan Parsons project, then Godsmack, followed by Johnny Cash followed by 5FDP, and finished off with Lindsey Sterling.
That said, it subjective, it art, and like 9mm VS 45 the argument goes on and on until knives come out and fists get thrown and things get awkward.
Now a little off topic. My problem, and this may be one on the point that I just think too much, I mean I do, I had one the other day where I was wondering after driving past a tree farm, "Just when does a tree farm become a forest?" I has issues, I don't deny. Anyway, back to my problem and me over thinking every goddamn thing, what do we qualify as rock or rock and roll? Serious question. Is there a marked style, a time frame, does the band need to self identify, is there a scale, because I would honestly like to know. I mean when I can go on itunes and be looking up a particular band and see there albums listed everywhere from blues to heavy metal, I get confused. Then you look at home some bands are described and you get some that go, and I mean literally go, "the style would be best described as acid house, blues, country, rock, electronica, with some spoken word and rap." At which point I do, "What in the unholy ****!"
For me, what is playing in my mind's background almost all the time, and what blares in my shop almost every day, the band that for me checks all those boxes:
Humble Pie.
Steve Marriott (came from Small Faces, think Itchicoo Park) I believe, made singing in a high voice OK. There is no hearing his Stentorian voice and thinking "not manly". I read somewhere in the early days that when they were all still at the club level, Townsend would not go on stage after Stevie because there was no sounding good after him!
Back in the days when I discovered them, you didn't know who was in a band, where they came from, or anything about them unless I guess you were reading the teeenie rock magazines which I did not. When Peter Frampton came out I was all pissed about him ripping off Humble Pie. Now I know-- he was in Humble Pie and you hear his unique style all over the place. They covered a lot of old blues stuff but unlike L-Zep they gave full credit.
AC/DC, close second. When I first heard them I though it was maybe a re-formed Humble Pie, as I had noticed there was no new Pie coming out.
After Pie Steve Marriott did a few different things. I never knew until about five years ago, he died in 1991. Damn.
30 Days in the Hole
Grand58742
05-22-17, 01:50
While it's kind of a subjective question, I have to say my all time favorite is Van Halen.
However, honorable mention, and perhaps it's because I just got done with two days worth of concerts of this band, would be U2. Outstanding show they put on.
Can't forget the ladies: Pat Benatar, Ann & Nancy Wilson (Heart), Patty Smyth, Doro Pesch (Warlock), Terri Nunn (Berlin), Aimee Mann (Til Tuesday), Debbie Harry (Blondie), Joan Jett, etc.
Doc Safari
05-22-17, 09:00
Too bad Nirvana didn't stick around that long. I think they would eventually have rivaled the "giants" for best band of all time.
Too bad Nirvana didn't stick around that long. I think they would eventually have rivaled the "giants" for best band of all time.
Agreed. Still listening to them to this day. Nevermind is one of my all time favorite albums.
At least we still have Dave Grohl! Musical genius and a good guy too.
Iron Maiden for me.....although Led Zeplin and The Rolling Stones are very high on the list.
Can't forget the ladies: Pat Benatar, Ann & Nancy Wilson (Heart), Patty Smyth, Doro Pesch (Warlock), Terri Nunn (Berlin), Aimee Mann (Til Tuesday), Debbie Harry (Blondie), Joan Jett, etc.
You forgot Lita Ford.....agree on all otherwise.
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