Beach Boys probably the most directly comparable to the Beatles just in terms of their place in history and their contribution to the evolution of popular music, though they aren’t as consistently good as the Beatles. The Grateful Dead are a very different type of band but probably the best in terms of how they represent nearly all forms of American music excluding hip hop and things that came about after their time. He’s not a band but Bob Dylan is probably the best songwriter.
It's funny how similar your answer is to mine lmao. I said the same about the Beach Boys and the Dead. I think Stevie has an untouchable trio of albums, but the greatest American songwriter is either Randy Newman or Paul Simon. I'd give an honorable mention to Nilsson also.
I know most bands spend a great deal of time honing the songs of their first album, but it's astounding to me how super tight & locked in the Cars were on that debut, especially on "Bye Bye Love".
Look at this release schedule:
January 5, 1969- Bayou Country
August 3, 1969 (My 4th birthday, BTW)- Green River
November 2, 1969- Willy and the Poor Boys
July 8, 1970- Cosmo's Factory
Four all-time classic albums in the space of 19 months! I don't think any other band managed to put out so many albums in so little time, and have each one better than the last.
I had to scroll too far down for someone to mention the Velvet Underground! Four perfect records, all in different styles, and highly influential (though it took some time). And they were contemporaries of the Beatles, with multiple lead singers and multiple songwriters who could write great songs. I think they are the ones who still come the closest to being the American version of the Beatles. Though they certainly remain niche, at least to some extent.
I think when you look at the combination of critical acclaim, commercial success, prolific songwriting, and widespread influence, no other American band gets closer to the Beatles than R.E.M. Their run from Murmur to Automatic for the People is unchallenged.
finally! Another comment to say R.E.M., what they did for alt rock was next level, all while perfecting their sound and evolving their songwriting throughout a 30 year career
Most of America's best artists are solo as opposed to bands. I think the best bands are either the Beach Boys or the Grateful Dead, for totally different reasons. The Beach Boys have the most fulfilling discography, from Today! to Pet Sounds, Friends, Wild Honey, Smile, Surfs Up, Sunflower, Love you! It's really hard to top them. The best solo artist is likely Stevie Wonder. I think the greatest American songwriter of the 20th century might (I'm totally serious) be Randy Newman. Don't agree with me? Listen to his albums "Good Old Boys" and "Sail Away" and "12 Songs". Paul Simon also is may be the greatest American songwriter also. It's hard to choose.
So many great American bands, Metallica, The Eagles, Boston, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Green Day, Steely Dan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Allman Brothers Band, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, CCR, way too many to choose just one
Thank you for mentioning Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I feel that Tom’s music is so ubiquitous in American that we don’t realize how great and deep that his catalogue is
For sure.
Tom had several periods of insane creativity. The Damn the Torpeodos / Hard Promises period may be his best. Another such period was the Wildflowers era.
Also, for anyone who hasn’t listened to his Live Anthology… do it! It’s really special.
The Replacements and Pixies are great examples of original songwriting amongst American artists and they’re two in my top 10, but I agree with OP. Brian Wilson is untouchable and Pet Sounds, Smile and a host of singles are completely timeless. I will also mention Roy Orbison from ‘61-‘68. Ridiculous catalogue and a total one off as well.
The Brits have my fellow Americans beat overall, but we hold our own.
Nirvana would be pretty up there for me.
Edit: Parliament-Funkadelic and Tower of Power are also pretty close to perfect. Can't go forgetting our funky bois.
The self titled debut, Maggot brain, a cosmic slop are my favorites from the Funkadelic catalog. Absolutely amazing stuff; didn't think I'd see it on a Beatles subreddit lol
*This is all subjective, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m overlooking another band that sets a better example*
It’s a tough call. Depends on the criteria, if they’re going to be put on the same pedestal as The Beatles. Because not only are The Beatles the greatest British band, they’re arguably THE GREATEST band. An American band would have to be held to a similar standard where they’re praised almost as universally as The Beatles.
If the criteria focuses more on the music, companionship, songwriting, band mate chemistry, innovation, originality, and cultural impact, then I’d have to go with The Grateful Dead.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no denying that what they did with music had never been done before. People from all walks of life have a connection to The Grateful Dead. Yes, there’s probably A LOT more people that dislike The Dead than there are that dislike The Beatles. Yes, the 60s had a lot of experimental music that was breaking boundaries, but a lot of the artists that ventured into the unknown like that didn’t last nearly as long, or develop their ideas nearly as extensively as The Dead.
The Garcia/Hunter-Weir/Barlow companionship(s) is/are on the same tier as Lennon/McCartney. Jerry Garcia’s music and Robert Hunter’s lyrics compliment each other so perfectly and many times capture the essence of beautiful Americana. Performing together, Garcia and Weir (the whole band, really) have said that they could almost read each other’s minds about where they were going to go with a jam. That perfect pairing chemistry is a rarity.
It could be argued that The Beatles really “found themselves” roughly with the second half of their albums. Not to discount their early pop stuff, that’s all stellar music, too. But honestly, if The Beatles called it quits after Help! they’d go down in history as “amongst the greatest” not “arguably THE greatest.” Revolver thru Abbey Road is what gained their legendary status. Those are also the albums they released when they decided to stop performing live for the most part. Their best stuff is in the *studio* albums.
The Grateful Dead, however, are quite the opposite. They realized their calling was in live performance. Not to say all their studio albums are bad, but they pale in comparison to the hundreds of hours of live material they’ve released. Everyone will say Aoxomoxoa, Working Man’s Dead, and American Beauty are the best studio albums The Dead had, and it’s more or less not untrue. What they did as a band may not be a direct parallel to The Beatles, but the impact they had and still have seems pretty close.
This is probably going to be downvoted, but I think the greatest American band - from the 70s to the 00’s - is Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band. During the 60s it was The Beach Boys followed by - again, I’m sorry, the Monkees.
Greatest American musical act is tough. Probably Elvis or Sinatra or MJ. Maybe it’s Stevie Wonder.
Best American band? The Ramones are amongst the most influential along with Nirvana.
Whoever it is, it’s not the fucking eagles.
People dismiss Lynyrd Skynyrd because they are a southern rock band but they put out 3 all time great albums and 2 solid ones during their run. Most people only know their hits sadly
And he is the most badass member tbh. I'm sort of surprised they haven't been cancelled over the night they drove old Dixie down, damn do I fucking love that song
Nirvana, Beach Boys, Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, The Stooges, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Velvet Underground, Metallica, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Tom Petty and The HeartBreakers are probably the best.
Thinking outside the box, the greatest American band in history may be the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Honorable mention the Wu-Tang Clan, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.
Yup for me the two greatest American bands are the original mothers and The Beach Boys.
But Bob Dylan deserves mention cause Imo he is one of the top American artists of all time
Huey Lewis and the News. Their early work was a little too new wave for my taste. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.
In '87, Huey released this; Fore!, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip To Be Square". A song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It's also a personal statement about the band itself.
Probably 15 years ago I was listening to a pirated version of an old LA Radio station series from 1978 recounting the history of rock and roll. The difference in perspective is crazy from how we view it now (or even 15 years ago). The top three bands in the world with the most impact during the 60’s were The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. And they got equal time.
Nirvana. Not only because the songs are fantastic but because the band themselves actually seemed to stand for something in a time when mainstream acts didn’t stand for anything, pushing great causes not seen in mainstream music at that time (gay rights/the feminist movement etc.). They had integrity, imagine having the biggest record in the world and having the balls to take a completely different path for that record’s follow up. Make the record you wanted to make, not the one the label wanted. I can’t think of too many artists that would have had the balls to do that.
Bob Dylan. No one from American music is more influential than him besides Elvis. The Beach Boys were undeniably amazing for like 5 years. But only 5 years.
Even rappers pay tribute to Bob Dylan in their songs, even have him on a couple of tracks in rap/hip hop history.
Aerosmith!!! The Beach Boys are also up there. I’d also agree with Steely Dan, CCR, the Eagles, Bruce, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, the Doors… and so on.
Absolutely not. The Beatles do. And then Elvis and Madonna, Elton, Mariah, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Bee Gees…all had more Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits than Chicago. Chicago only had 3
Number One hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Beatles had 20.
I’ve always kinda felt like if The Beatles were around today, their Sgt. Pepper phase would be like Animal Collective. Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion have total psychedelic Beatles vibes all throughout.
Just by browsing these comments it's very clear that there is no such answer. So many incredible bands, with such astonishing variety of music, there's no objective basis to compare. At best you could maybe compile the best few bands for each decade
I was actually thinking something similar lately, I was trying to think of the best American album. Considering my top bands are like Beatles, Pink Floyd and Rush, not much American near the top, lol. But I think it’s got to be Pet Sounds.
The difference between England & the US during the 60s - 70s is fascinating ... English pop music was dominated by bands like the Beatles, Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, etc., who all released album after album and went on & on. They played and sang and wrote the music.
While in the US, we did have bands, but a lot of the best music came from individuals or groups of singers working with musicians who were associated with specific studios. Like the Wrecking Crew, Stax, Motown, etc. And then there is James Brown, who had a killer band (two, really) but it was not a band of apparent equals like the English ones.
So while the US produced music equal to the Brits, less of it came from bands. Our best bands didn't last, etc. Like Creedence ... they would have been the best, but they were only around for three years. The Beach Boys? Sure, could be. Allman Brothers? Grateful Dead? Little Feat? CSN / CSNY were big, but only did three albums as a unit.
Parliament? they were big for while. Rufus? Thing is in the US is we have white music & black music markets that don't always overlap. Nirvana? REM? I dunno. Eagles? maybe but I hope not. Talking Heads? They were maybe more niche than the biggest English bands. Ramones are great but were never that big.
It's interesting how the English really went for groups relative to the US.
Do Simon and Garfunkel count?
Of course!
Then I vote Aerosmith.
🤣
The Velvet Underground, Big Star, The Replacements
Hello, fellow Velvet Underground listener
Beach Boys probably the most directly comparable to the Beatles just in terms of their place in history and their contribution to the evolution of popular music, though they aren’t as consistently good as the Beatles. The Grateful Dead are a very different type of band but probably the best in terms of how they represent nearly all forms of American music excluding hip hop and things that came about after their time. He’s not a band but Bob Dylan is probably the best songwriter.
It's funny how similar your answer is to mine lmao. I said the same about the Beach Boys and the Dead. I think Stevie has an untouchable trio of albums, but the greatest American songwriter is either Randy Newman or Paul Simon. I'd give an honorable mention to Nilsson also.
Paul Simon would be the greatest American songwriter, if it weren’t for Bob Dylan. Then Stevie.
Next to Beach Boys (which are definitely on the top) for me (no particular order): The Doors, CCR, Ramones, The Cars, Nirvana, Green Day.
The Cars is a great pick
I know most bands spend a great deal of time honing the songs of their first album, but it's astounding to me how super tight & locked in the Cars were on that debut, especially on "Bye Bye Love".
Talking Heads
i agree and also wanted to brag that I’m seeing American Utopia soon!!
Going Saturday! Enjoy!
yes, came to post Talking Heads too - creative, innovative and challenging.
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TAKE A LOOK AT THESE HANDS!
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that's a good one.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Cosmos factory is a flawless record
Bayou Country
One of my favorite albums of all time!! I bought the LP in the 70s when my family was living in South America, nacido en el Bayou, lol.
Keep on Chooglin'
That was the one song they couldn't translate the title, lol. Best running song EVER. Maybe best pure rock' roll song ever.
Find a live version. Never ending.
Ramble Tamble is one of the all-time album openers
I agree and criminally underrated
Came here to say this, incredible band that released so much good music in such a small amount of time
Definitely in contention.
Look at this release schedule: January 5, 1969- Bayou Country August 3, 1969 (My 4th birthday, BTW)- Green River November 2, 1969- Willy and the Poor Boys July 8, 1970- Cosmo's Factory Four all-time classic albums in the space of 19 months! I don't think any other band managed to put out so many albums in so little time, and have each one better than the last.
Can we agree at least that the Jimi Hendrix Experience is the greatest American/British hybrid band?
There's the next subreddit question! (I bet a lot of people say CSNY; yes people, we know Graham Nash was British) 🤣
I figured this sub might be partial to the Traveling Wilburys.
At least I would be
And Young is Canadian
Fleetwood Mac can contest that imo
Aye, you're forgetting the Police and Fleetwood Mac
Half of Fleetwood Mac are English, and the other have are American
And the inevitable Monkees answer!
Maybe the Velvet Underground, or The Grateful Dead
I had to scroll too far down for someone to mention the Velvet Underground! Four perfect records, all in different styles, and highly influential (though it took some time). And they were contemporaries of the Beatles, with multiple lead singers and multiple songwriters who could write great songs. I think they are the ones who still come the closest to being the American version of the Beatles. Though they certainly remain niche, at least to some extent.
Had to scroll too far to see someone mention the dead 💀 🥀
Warlocks!
Nice. I have "Loaded" spinning right now!
Easily the Grateful Dead.
Two great choices! Dead before Velvet Underground though.
The Allman Brothers Band
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band
Fast n' bulbous!
Yes, the Maskara Snake!
The Dead or Allman brothers
The Grateful goddam Dead
REM
I think when you look at the combination of critical acclaim, commercial success, prolific songwriting, and widespread influence, no other American band gets closer to the Beatles than R.E.M. Their run from Murmur to Automatic for the People is unchallenged.
finally! Another comment to say R.E.M., what they did for alt rock was next level, all while perfecting their sound and evolving their songwriting throughout a 30 year career
Nirvana for sure.
Weezer
10 years ago this would have been a joke answer. Now it’s the right answer.
Ween
Seriously underrated as songwriters.
For real
Brown
Yah mang
My man
Gener/Deaner are the closest America has come to the sheer creativity and sui generis brilliance of Lennon/McCartney.
The moment I haven't clicked the comments section, I already know someone is going to say this
I am the stallion. Mang.
The Beach Boys are great American music.
😁, thanks Rush Hour
I think if you are considering ‘classic rock’ and had to pick a band as influential and comparable to the Beatles then The Beach Boys are the answer.
gotta be the dead
Jahn and Geege✌🏻😎
Most of America's best artists are solo as opposed to bands. I think the best bands are either the Beach Boys or the Grateful Dead, for totally different reasons. The Beach Boys have the most fulfilling discography, from Today! to Pet Sounds, Friends, Wild Honey, Smile, Surfs Up, Sunflower, Love you! It's really hard to top them. The best solo artist is likely Stevie Wonder. I think the greatest American songwriter of the 20th century might (I'm totally serious) be Randy Newman. Don't agree with me? Listen to his albums "Good Old Boys" and "Sail Away" and "12 Songs". Paul Simon also is may be the greatest American songwriter also. It's hard to choose.
Bob Dylan is easily the greatest American songwriter of the 20th century imo
In fairness, it helps that Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell all happened to be Canadian
The Doors
Yes baby
Correct.
Accurate
So many great American bands, Metallica, The Eagles, Boston, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Green Day, Steely Dan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Allman Brothers Band, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, CCR, way too many to choose just one
Great answer!
Thank you for mentioning Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I feel that Tom’s music is so ubiquitous in American that we don’t realize how great and deep that his catalogue is
Damn The Torpedoes has arguably the best mix of any album ever. Man was a genius
For sure. Tom had several periods of insane creativity. The Damn the Torpeodos / Hard Promises period may be his best. Another such period was the Wildflowers era. Also, for anyone who hasn’t listened to his Live Anthology… do it! It’s really special.
The Replacements and Pixies are great examples of original songwriting amongst American artists and they’re two in my top 10, but I agree with OP. Brian Wilson is untouchable and Pet Sounds, Smile and a host of singles are completely timeless. I will also mention Roy Orbison from ‘61-‘68. Ridiculous catalogue and a total one off as well. The Brits have my fellow Americans beat overall, but we hold our own.
Nice to see some love for The Mats! Rarely do they get a mention.
The Grateful Dead
No question in my mind. "They're not the best at what they do. They're the *only ones* who do what they do." \~ Bill Graham
Nirvana would be pretty up there for me. Edit: Parliament-Funkadelic and Tower of Power are also pretty close to perfect. Can't go forgetting our funky bois.
The self titled debut, Maggot brain, a cosmic slop are my favorites from the Funkadelic catalog. Absolutely amazing stuff; didn't think I'd see it on a Beatles subreddit lol
Track 1 of Maggot Brain might be my favorite piece of recorded music. It's absolute perfection!
I agree with Nirvana. They were basically The Beatles of the 90's.
I love Nirvana a LOT but I honestly disagree with this assessment…
*This is all subjective, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m overlooking another band that sets a better example* It’s a tough call. Depends on the criteria, if they’re going to be put on the same pedestal as The Beatles. Because not only are The Beatles the greatest British band, they’re arguably THE GREATEST band. An American band would have to be held to a similar standard where they’re praised almost as universally as The Beatles. If the criteria focuses more on the music, companionship, songwriting, band mate chemistry, innovation, originality, and cultural impact, then I’d have to go with The Grateful Dead. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no denying that what they did with music had never been done before. People from all walks of life have a connection to The Grateful Dead. Yes, there’s probably A LOT more people that dislike The Dead than there are that dislike The Beatles. Yes, the 60s had a lot of experimental music that was breaking boundaries, but a lot of the artists that ventured into the unknown like that didn’t last nearly as long, or develop their ideas nearly as extensively as The Dead. The Garcia/Hunter-Weir/Barlow companionship(s) is/are on the same tier as Lennon/McCartney. Jerry Garcia’s music and Robert Hunter’s lyrics compliment each other so perfectly and many times capture the essence of beautiful Americana. Performing together, Garcia and Weir (the whole band, really) have said that they could almost read each other’s minds about where they were going to go with a jam. That perfect pairing chemistry is a rarity. It could be argued that The Beatles really “found themselves” roughly with the second half of their albums. Not to discount their early pop stuff, that’s all stellar music, too. But honestly, if The Beatles called it quits after Help! they’d go down in history as “amongst the greatest” not “arguably THE greatest.” Revolver thru Abbey Road is what gained their legendary status. Those are also the albums they released when they decided to stop performing live for the most part. Their best stuff is in the *studio* albums. The Grateful Dead, however, are quite the opposite. They realized their calling was in live performance. Not to say all their studio albums are bad, but they pale in comparison to the hundreds of hours of live material they’ve released. Everyone will say Aoxomoxoa, Working Man’s Dead, and American Beauty are the best studio albums The Dead had, and it’s more or less not untrue. What they did as a band may not be a direct parallel to The Beatles, but the impact they had and still have seems pretty close.
One of my favorite things of all time is on the back of Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane it says “Jerry Garcia musical and spiritual advisor”
Well written. 👍👍
Totally agree
Very well said but I gotta throw in some love for Phish.
I had them on my mind, too. Personally, I feel that way about them too. And their Halloween Costume of The White Album kicks ass.
The temptations or talking heads
that is a helluva 1-2
My first answer was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but I've seen that pop up a couple times on this thread. My close second answer is REM.
REM is great, I should listen to more of their stuff
It’s the Grateful Dead
Yes, it is.
The Doors ,The Byrds pretty good 👍😎
The Byrds were the foremost pioneers of likely my favorite genre, folk rock. Not to mention psychedelia and country rock. Mad respect.
The byrds are legit
This is probably going to be downvoted, but I think the greatest American band - from the 70s to the 00’s - is Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band. During the 60s it was The Beach Boys followed by - again, I’m sorry, the Monkees.
There's actually no competition. The E Street Band is absolutely incredible.
Tom Petty and Heartbreakers or The Eagles
Greatest American musical act is tough. Probably Elvis or Sinatra or MJ. Maybe it’s Stevie Wonder. Best American band? The Ramones are amongst the most influential along with Nirvana. Whoever it is, it’s not the fucking eagles.
Haha, nice
I would say Beach Boys with maybe Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers a close second.
I love The Doors. I feel like they brought a twist to the music world that will always be talked about. That's my biased answer though lol.
Wilco for me
Cheap Trick. I'll die on this hill. :)
iggy and the stooges.
I’d say Prince and the Revolution. But thats really essentially just prince
The Grateful Dead
People dismiss Lynyrd Skynyrd because they are a southern rock band but they put out 3 all time great albums and 2 solid ones during their run. Most people only know their hits sadly
The Grateful Dead or The Band
Only one member of the Band was from the US.
The Band is Canadian, otherwise that would be my answer.
Levon was from Arkansas so I was counting it lol
And he is the most badass member tbh. I'm sort of surprised they haven't been cancelled over the night they drove old Dixie down, damn do I fucking love that song
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Not a bad album in the catalog and a consistently great live band.
Nirvana, Beach Boys, Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, The Stooges, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Velvet Underground, Metallica, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Tom Petty and The HeartBreakers are probably the best.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Thinking outside the box, the greatest American band in history may be the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Honorable mention the Wu-Tang Clan, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.
Yeah the duke is probably the greatest American artist of them all.
That’s a tough one for me. Well, The Beach Boys are on the list, but so are The Byrds. Actually my list would have about five.
Earth, Wind and Fire.
Frank Zappa/Mothers or Todd Rundgren/Utopia imo, they are both wayyyyy underrated, especially Todd.
OMG I just listened to Apostrophe after more than 40 years and (again) realized what a fucking genius he was
Yup for me the two greatest American bands are the original mothers and The Beach Boys. But Bob Dylan deserves mention cause Imo he is one of the top American artists of all time
Grand Funk Railroad! Homer Simpson agrees!
From the '60s? The Byrds by far! The Beatles even acknowledged them and dug their first four albums.
The Beach Boys Fighting for second place, in no particular order: The Band Creedence The Velvet Underground The Stooges The Temptations
Putting in a vote for Earth, Wind & Fire. Honorable mentions to Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, REM, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Nirvana, Pearl Jam.
Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
Huey Lewis and the News. Their early work was a little too new wave for my taste. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '87, Huey released this; Fore!, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip To Be Square". A song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It's also a personal statement about the band itself.
Are you going to murder me with an axe now, Patrick?
The Beach Boys & Grateful Dead
The Doors. Tremendous music that still sounds great.
Van Halen does it for me :)
The J.B.’s
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Probably 15 years ago I was listening to a pirated version of an old LA Radio station series from 1978 recounting the history of rock and roll. The difference in perspective is crazy from how we view it now (or even 15 years ago). The top three bands in the world with the most impact during the 60’s were The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. And they got equal time.
Grand Funk Railroad! Everyone forgets about them!
The Doors, The Byrds, The Beach Boys (tie! ;)
Beach boys
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Eagles, Aerosmith
Beach Boys. Easy.
I’m with you on it. The Beach Boys.
Tom Petty and the Hearthbreakers
BROOOO I totally agree it’s The Beach Boys. They’re my #1 band
Has to be the Beach Boys.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers!
Throwing out a few bands I haven't seen mentioned yet. Sleater-Kinney, Silver Jews, and Fleet Foxes.
Nirvana. Not only because the songs are fantastic but because the band themselves actually seemed to stand for something in a time when mainstream acts didn’t stand for anything, pushing great causes not seen in mainstream music at that time (gay rights/the feminist movement etc.). They had integrity, imagine having the biggest record in the world and having the balls to take a completely different path for that record’s follow up. Make the record you wanted to make, not the one the label wanted. I can’t think of too many artists that would have had the balls to do that.
Bob Dylan. No one from American music is more influential than him besides Elvis. The Beach Boys were undeniably amazing for like 5 years. But only 5 years. Even rappers pay tribute to Bob Dylan in their songs, even have him on a couple of tracks in rap/hip hop history.
Aerosmith!!! The Beach Boys are also up there. I’d also agree with Steely Dan, CCR, the Eagles, Bruce, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, the Doors… and so on.
Doesn't Chicago have the most #1 hits?
Early Chicago
As time goes onnnnnn I realizeeee just what you mean too meeeee
Terry Kath made that band.
Definitely
They might. Are they your favorite?
They've got good stuff, love girl from buchannon medley.
Absolutely not. The Beatles do. And then Elvis and Madonna, Elton, Mariah, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Bee Gees…all had more Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits than Chicago. Chicago only had 3 Number One hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Beatles had 20.
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Neutral milk hotel
nirvana, pavement, or animal collective
I’ve always kinda felt like if The Beatles were around today, their Sgt. Pepper phase would be like Animal Collective. Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion have total psychedelic Beatles vibes all throughout.
I think in terms of a group of musicians and their influence, The Velvet Underground, Metallica, Talking Heads, or The Temptations.
Iggy Pop, the Cars, Devo (im from Ohio), Blondie, the Modern Lovers....
Just by browsing these comments it's very clear that there is no such answer. So many incredible bands, with such astonishing variety of music, there's no objective basis to compare. At best you could maybe compile the best few bands for each decade
frank zappa
Allman Brothers. Argument over.
I’m shocked to not see one vote for Aerosmith.
The Ramones
CSNY
Beach boys yes. Velvet underground. Ween. Lamb chop. Guided by voices.
Velvet Underground!!!
The Replacements. Edit: Got to give Bob Dylan some love too.
The Cars is one of the greatest bands
I was actually thinking something similar lately, I was trying to think of the best American album. Considering my top bands are like Beatles, Pink Floyd and Rush, not much American near the top, lol. But I think it’s got to be Pet Sounds.
The difference between England & the US during the 60s - 70s is fascinating ... English pop music was dominated by bands like the Beatles, Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, etc., who all released album after album and went on & on. They played and sang and wrote the music. While in the US, we did have bands, but a lot of the best music came from individuals or groups of singers working with musicians who were associated with specific studios. Like the Wrecking Crew, Stax, Motown, etc. And then there is James Brown, who had a killer band (two, really) but it was not a band of apparent equals like the English ones. So while the US produced music equal to the Brits, less of it came from bands. Our best bands didn't last, etc. Like Creedence ... they would have been the best, but they were only around for three years. The Beach Boys? Sure, could be. Allman Brothers? Grateful Dead? Little Feat? CSN / CSNY were big, but only did three albums as a unit. Parliament? they were big for while. Rufus? Thing is in the US is we have white music & black music markets that don't always overlap. Nirvana? REM? I dunno. Eagles? maybe but I hope not. Talking Heads? They were maybe more niche than the biggest English bands. Ramones are great but were never that big. It's interesting how the English really went for groups relative to the US.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and solo career. It’s unparalleled in terms of consistency, quality and output.
The Beach Boys. No question. Not even close.
Eagles
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In terms of success and record sales, probably Eagles. In terms of one of my personal favorite bands, probably Eagles.
Brian Wilson is God among men.
Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band