No solos...bands only (skip the Boss, Dylan, etc.).

In no order:

J. Geils Band
The Velvet Underground
The Stooges
X
Creedence

Creedence
Aerosmith
J. Giles (pre-Centerfold crap)
Grand Funk (for the song alone)
Van Halen

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

Quote
sdstonesguy
No solos...bands only (skip the Boss, Dylan, etc.).

In no order:

J. Geils Band
The Velvet Underground
The Stooges
X
Creedence

OK,
(no particular order)
The E Street Band
The Heartbreakers
Social Distortion
Pearl Jam
ZZ Top

E Street w/o the Boss & Heartbreakers without Thunders? To each his/her own...

Iggy & The Stooges, CCR, The Replacements, The New York Dolls, The Ramones

Let's face it...it's a thin pool...

Doors
Velvet Underground
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Link Wray & The Wraymen
Ramones

Honorable mention:
Love
Paul Butterfield Blues Band

It's really difficult for me to fill out a top five of U.S. bands, since most of what I listen to is from the UK, and of the U.S. bands I can't seem to name anything that's come along since the last 40 years, even though I'm not yet 50 myself.

EDIT: Oops! Forgot to mention 13th Floor Elevators. First band to use the term "psychedelic" in an album title, and without Roky Erickson's trademark howl as a lead singer, the vocalist of Led Zeppelin would have sounded decidedly different, as would have Janis Joplin.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-29 01:51 by stonehearted.

Yeah, there are plenty of great American musicians...but the bands category is darn thin. You gotta skip Blues & Jazz right off the top. There are plenty of UK bands that played great American Music (Blasters...I shoulda put them there over Creedence), but you know us Americans, we never know it's any good until Europe tells us so.

Hey, I'm nearing 40...50 ain't bad (or so I hear).

Quote
sdstonesguy
E Street w/o the Boss & Heartbreakers without Thunders? To each his/her own...

That's why you can't Exclude Bruce or Tom if you put them with their band. It's no different then the Doors or Pearl Jam or the Foo Fighters except the name of the singer and chief songwriter is in the title of the band.

Kiss
CCR
The Band
The Ramones
Grateful Dead

We disagree...if 1 guy wants to stand alone with the "others" behind him, it isn't 1 band to me. Prince & the NPG was just that, Prince...and NPG. Bruce tours without E-Street...they are not one...to me. I respect the opion of others though...

Stonehearted...gotta get it down to 5...that's the game.

The Band were Canadian (outside Levon).

The Velvet Underground
The Doors
The Tubes
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Talking heads................or maybe Iggy & the stooges...........or Frank Zappa & the mothers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-29 02:56 by EddieByword.

Quote
sdstonesguy
gotta get it down to 5...that's the game.

That's just it--the number 5 slot frequently changes. Some days it's even.... Jefferson Starship (the mid- to late-seventies Marty Balin era).

What would this list look like if we limited it to bands still functioning today?

^ A whole lot of tribute bands.

Lynyrd Skynyrd
Grateful Dead
Aerosmith
Black Crowes
Jane's Addiction

Honorable mention: REM, Pixies, Ramones

In no order:

CCR
Van Halen
Aerosmith
Doors
Grateful Dead

Quote
sdstonesguy
The Band were Canadian (outside Levon).

Canadians are Americans too, Canada being part of the Americas.

1 the doors
2 grateful dead
3 van halen
4 aerosmith
5 black crowes

Hey yeah, true! Put in the Guess Who and B.T.O. as nominal bands for the rotating no. 5 slot. "American" bands could mean Central and South America as well. I didn't know the thread title simply meant "U.S." bands.

Beach Boys belong on any Top 5 list...

Beach Boys
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Earth, Wind & Fire
Talking Heads

Agh...Got me on the Talking Heads...they should have been there over Creedence.

So you guys like 1 Canadian band & no other bands outside the U.S. out of both Americas? Or...you knew I meant the U.S.

To be fair, my wife much prefers the term U.S., being from S. America. Then again, she also thinks we all view the map upside down...perspective...

Stooges
Ramones
Husker Du
Black Flag
Replacements

I would have to think you'd have the Allman Brothers band in their... of course, the heart and Soul of the band passed away in his prime, but what a Band they were, they STARTED Southern Rock IMHO...

Beach Boys
Flamin' Groovies
NRBQ
Big Star
Love

gotta mention The Byrds

Quote
Rollin' Stoner
gotta mention The Byrds

And the Byrds.

Quote
gripweed
I would have to think you'd have the Allman Brothers band in their... of course, the heart and Soul of the band passed away in his prime, but what a Band they were, they STARTED Southern Rock IMHO...

Amen. The Allman Brothers Band was the first Southern rock band. But they were so far beyond what any other Southern rock band was doing because they had a strong jazz influence. Play So What from Miles' Kind of Blue and Elizabeth Reed from Fillmore East back-to-back to see what I mean. For my money, the original lineup of the Allman Brothers Band was the greatest American electric band ever. The greatest Stones guest spot ever would have been Duane Allman trading licks with Mick Taylor on Love in Vain back in the day. The current lineup is no slouch.

The Allman Brothers Band
The Velvet Underground
The Stooges
The Ramones
Creedence Clearwater Revival