Greatest?  Depends on How You Define It…

This morning I was scrolling through my feed on Reddit and came across an interesting topic.  The question was “What is the Greatest American Band?”

Wow.  That’s a head-scratcher!  Lots of comments, and things got a little snarky, as Reddit often does.  Nonetheless, a lot of people made good cases for a variety of bands – some bands I hadn’t even thought of.  But it got me thinking, how does one “rank” such a thing?  The number of songs and/or albums on the charts?  The amount of radio play?  Record sales numbers?  Duration of the band?  Cultural significance?  Innovation?  Influence on artists that came later?  All valid touch points to be sure, but what makes them great? And of all the greats, who is the greatest?

For example, the Grateful Dead were mentioned by a LOT of people.  Now, I’m not a huge fan of them, but I grew up with them as a constant feature on FM radio.  And I did see them live at least half a dozen times, quite possibly more, and Dead shows were unlike anything I’d seen before, or since.  There is a small army of people whose lives revolved around that band, some of them for decades. Their music is drawn from folk, bluegrass, C&W, jazz and rock and roll- all very American stuff.  Their cultural significance cannot not be overstated.  That being said, their albums didn’t make much of a mark on the charts.  You didn’t see them on variety shows or American Bandstand or the like.  They got on MTV very, very late into their career.  A strong contender, but are they the Greatest American Band?

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were another widely recognized band up for consideration. Their music, from beginning to end just oozed Americana. Honestly, these guys tick a LOT of boxes.  Longevity?  From the late 70’s through 2017.  Albums and singles on the charts?  Check.  MTV video awards?  Check.  Influence? Absolutely, undoubtedly.  Radio play and MTV?  Every day for decades.  Influential? Check. Die-hard fans?  Yep.  Heck, they even got a star on Hollywood Boulevard! As a fan of theirs since the very beginning, I’d certainly lean their direction in voting them in for the Greatest American Band.

But then somebody brought up Van Halen… OK, stop the presses.  While Van Halen didn’t exactly tear up the charts with their albums, you couldn’t listen to rock radio from 1977 until… yesterday? without hearing a Van Halen song.  David Lee Roth, while not the world’s strongest vocalist, is widely considered to be one of the greatest showmen to ever grace a stage.  He was kinda the standard by which all others were judged for a very long time.  And Eddie?  Good grief, the man REDEFINED rock guitar and inspired tens-of-thousands of kids to beg their parents for a guitar.  His innovation with the guitar hardware even, is unparalleled.  He became a living legend with the release of their DEBUT album, and then kept getting better!  One could argue the entire “hair metal” genre wouldn’t have even existed were it not for the influence of early Van Halen.  And while you might think the world would be a better place without hair metal, that is a magnitude of influence unmatched in rock and roll.  The kind of influence that might garner the title of Greatest American Band.

Then there were dozens of others, from the Beach Boys (whom I LOVE) to the Eagles (whom I generally loathe) to Lynyrd Skynyrd (I like a lot of their stuff but wouldn’t say I love any of it) and a bunch more that all had some outstanding qualities, but I would never have considered the greatest… Credence Clearwater Revival, the Doors, both the Allman AND Doobie Brothers, R.E.M., the Ramones…it was an impressive list of impressive bands, to say the least.

I guess when you boil it all down, there really is no “greatest band”, American or otherwise.  It’s really subjective and in the ear of the beholder.  But what I can say, with all sincerity, is that we Americans have been absolutely blessed with a plethora of amazing, supremely talented bands and decades of awesome music.  Our country has produced some of the most innovative bands the world has ever known.  And we often take that for granted.

For the record, the very first band that popped into my head when I first read the question was Stone Temple Pilots… Ok, I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet, so cut me some slack.  I hadn’t taken all the touch points into account.  After more consideration (and caffeine!) I came to the realization that STP might possibly be my favorite American band, but they had stood on the shoulders of Giants, who certainly would be worthy of the title more than them.  But after careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that there really is no such thing as a Greatest when it comes to music.  But as long as musicians are out there trying to be the greatest, all of us with ears to listen are the true winners! 

Thanks for stopping by! Now, go listen to something!!