Best American Rock Band

[DFWJC]

Van Halen is very close to the top for me...both incarnations. (The Gary Cherone thing never happened.)

Among those mentioned, its the one I've seen live the most.

 

[cowboyec]

Lynyrd Skynyrd

 

[cowboyec]

also love:
KISS
Van Halen
Bruce Springsteen and the e st band
CCR
Journey

 

[Stash]

They're a very cool band in concert. I saw them the time Skid Row opened for them, and Sebastian Bach picked up a bottle that someone had thrown on stage and whipped it back at the guy. He missed, and hit some poor girl in the eye. It was in national news for a while, I don't know if you remember it.

Anyway, when Aerosmith started playing, a bottle flew by Steven Tyler. He stopped the music, and said, "The next mother ****** that throws a bottle on this stage, I'm gonna come down there and **** your old lady right in front of you!"

Nobody threw anything else all night. It was hilarious!

I met Sebastian Bach at a KISS concert way back when. Cool dude.

 

[jterrell]

For me it is Nirvana.
--it's no longer cool to say that but alas it is for me.

Tom Petty is phenomenal but I mostly consider him a singer/songwriter.

Aerosmith and RHCP are others at top for me.

 

[Runwildboys]

I met Sebastian Bach at a KISS concert way back when. Cool dude.

I despised him for a long time after that, because not only did he stupidly whip the bottle into a crowd, but after missing his target, he jumped into the audience and started fighting with the guy who may or may not have been the one who threw it. Then he got back onstage bragging to the audience that he kicked the guy's ***. That was probably a year after their first album came out. He was young, dumb, and full of.... himself. I've seen him since then and he seems to have grown up. It's possible I just happened to see him in his worst moment.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

They're a very cool band in concert. I saw them the time Skid Row opened for them, and Sebastian Bach picked up a bottle that someone had thrown on stage and whipped it back at the guy. He missed, and hit some poor girl in the eye. It was in national news for a while, I don't know if you remember it.

Anyway, when Aerosmith started playing, a bottle flew by Steven Tyler. He stopped the music, and said, "The next mother ****** that throws a bottle on this stage, I'm gonna come down there and **** your old lady right in front of you!"

Nobody threw anything else all night. It was hilarious!

I have seen David Lee Roth do the same thing. Someone threw something on stage one night and he basically said the same thing to the audience.
He and VH were kings of that kinda thing back around 78-79ish, A Sting is another word for it.

This is perhaps their biggest sting, it goes like this basically. Its time for the band to go on, no one can find the band. Where's the band? A few minutes latter the stage announcer says look up in the sky its VH. And here was 4 guys parachuting down towards the stadium, the land out back jump into a van, the van drives onstage and out comes the mighty VH in their parachuting equipment. The crowd went absolute bonkers.
Turns out if was trained skydivers doing the jump, wearing wigs/etc. They land out back get into a van where the band was waiting, everyone dressed identical. Heckuva sting lol.
The brown M&M story was another which wasnt what it seemed.

Roth put this into the middle of their concert rider, there shall be no brown M&M's backstage or anywhere close. If they found them you could bet the concert arena didn't read the rider and all sorts of technical errors were to be expected. Like the folks in Pueblo Colorado, who didn't read the rider. Well the stage that VH had weighted this side of a 747 Jet and ended up sinking the floor of the arena doing thousands of $$ worth of damage, The next day in the papers it was "Roth finds brown M&Ms backstage and trashes the backstage to the tune of thousands of dollars worth of damage. He let the rumor ride and said who am I to get in the way of a good rumor lol.

 

[Hardline]

 

[nobody]

It's really hard to say who the best is. How do you judge it? Music is subjective... would you do it by album sales, tour sales, both, quality of music? Number of albums made? Who they've influenced? What?


I don't think there is one band that you can point out and say "Yep, those guys...best American band ever."

 

[rags747]

The Doors, Green Day, The Offspring, Nirvana, Velvet Relvover, GNR. So many to list...

 

[jsb357]

As a yute, Lynyrd Skynyrd was a permanent fixture in the cassette player.

I did go through and Eagles phase, but then again so did most of America,

Of the bands mentioned, Van Halen and the Doors are my most listened to.

 

[CouchCoach]

It's really hard to say who the best is. How do you judge it? Music is subjective... would you do it by album sales, tour sales, both, quality of music? Number of albums made? Who they've influenced? What?


I don't think there is one band that you can point out and say "Yep, those guys...best American band ever."

Agree with all of that including adding the best gathering of musicians and quality of their writing and producing. I picked The Beach Boys, not remotely a favorite, as the most influential because I didn't want to argue with the OP because he asked for the best, not your very good reasons for not selecting a band.

DM, please try to be more cooperative in the future.

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

I left The Band out of the conversation because most of their members were Canadian. That said Levon Helm was from Arkansas and they cut their teeth playing the US behind Bob Dylan. I recommend watching The Last Waltz not only because it's a great concert, but to just see how much musical clout they carried with their peers. I'd say the Beetles, The Yardbirds, and The Band were probably the 3 most influential bands who ever played.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I always loved Kiss, especially in their early years with the original lineup.

 

[Point-of-the-Star]

The true Texas band ... ZZ Top.

I don't know how many of you are from Texas but not even mentioning ZZ Top is a sin !

I was watching them in 1969-70 at the Town House in Groves Texas. $1-$1.50 to get in ... twice a week.

https://www.panews.com/2016/06/23/groves-tips-hat-to-zz-top/

My 2nd pick would be Lynyrd Skynyrd . Just my Southern boy coming out!

 

[nobody]

Agree with all of that including adding the best gathering of musicians and quality of their writing and producing. I picked The Beach Boys, not remotely a favorite, as the most influential because I didn't want to argue with the OP because he asked for the best, not your very good reasons for not selecting a band.

DM, please try to be more cooperative in the future.

Oh Grand Poobah, being more cooperative goes against the PJG code. I'm afraid that I can't.


But by influence? Arguments could be made for the Beach Boys, Monkees, Bee Gees (crazy but true...given the number of hit songs Barry Gibb wrote for not just the Bee Gee's but others and his influence on music), Metallica, Prince and the Revolution, Aerosmith, Kiss..the list goes on.

And that's just by influence. So I'm going to say that the best American band was the British band "The Beatles" because they were so heavily influenced by Little Richard's American style. BOOM! Yes, I cheated..and no, I'm not ashamed.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

The true Texas band ... ZZ Top.

I don't know how many of you are from Texas but not even mentioning ZZ Top is a sin !

I was watching them in 1969-70 at the Town House in Groves Texas. $1-$1.50 to get in ... twice a week.

https://www.panews.com/2016/06/23/groves-tips-hat-to-zz-top/

My 2nd pick would be Lynyrd Skynyrd . Just my Southern boy coming out!

Or as they call them in Canada, Zed Zed Top.

 

[Stash]

I despised him for a long time after that, because not only did he stupidly whip the bottle into a crowd, but after missing his target, he jumped into the audience and started fighting with the guy who may or may not have been the one who threw it. Then he got back onstage bragging to the audience that he kicked the guy's ***. That was probably a year after their first album came out. He was young, dumb, and full of.... himself. I've seen him since then and he seems to have grown up. It's possible I just happened to see him in his worst moment.

It sounds like it. The guy I met was very cordial and friendly. To be honest, I'm not sure how I would have reacted if someone did the same thing to me while I was working.

You wouldn't believe how people fawned over him when they realized who it was. They were throwing $15 beers and joints at him left and right. And one girl literally left the guy she was with, and came over to him and pulled her shirt up to have him 'take a feel'. When he eventually told her to go back to her seat, the guy she came with ditched her and left her there. Well deserved based on her awful behavior. The crowd in that area applauded him as he left. I asked him why he sent her back and his reply was "I'm not Vince Neil man!" So I take it that Vince Neil was a dog who would steal anyone's girlfriend, or try to anyway.

 

[Runwildboys]

It sounds like it. The guy I met was very cordial and friendly. To be honest, I'm not sure how I would have reacted if someone did the same thing to me while I was working.

You wouldn't believe how people fawned over him when they realized who it was. They were throwing $15 beers and joints at him left and right. And one girl literally left the guy she was with, and came over to him and pulled her shirt up to have him 'take a feel'. When he eventually told her to go back to her seat, the guy she came with ditched her and left her there. Well deserved based on her awful behavior. The crowd in that area applauded him as he left. I asked him why he sent her back and his reply was "I'm not Vince Neil man!" So I take it that Vince Neil was a dog who would steal anyone's girlfriend, or try to anyway.

That's a respectable guy...much different than what I saw. I don't know if he ever did a lot of drugs, but that seems like it could be the difference between our experiences.

 

[Runwildboys]

Oh Grand Poobah, being more cooperative goes against the PJG code. I'm afraid that I can't.


But by influence? Arguments could be made for the Beach Boys, Monkees, Bee Gees (crazy but true...given the number of hit songs Barry Gibb wrote for not just the Bee Gee's but others and his influence on music), Metallica, Prince and the Revolution, Aerosmith, Kiss..the list goes on.

And that's just by influence. So I'm going to say that the best American band was the British band "The Beatles" because they were so heavily influenced by Little Richard's American style. BOOM! Yes, I cheated..and no, I'm not ashamed.

Bonus points for citing PJG policy.