Van Halen---The debate to end it all.

I've always thought CCR was America's greatest rock and roll band, but certainly strong arguments can be made for Metallica and Aerosmith (especially in their early days). Some others to consider: the Allmans and Ramones.

 

REM is the greatest American band, according to me and Rolling Stone.



One could begin to make an argument for Pearl Jam as well.

 

Kind of a hard distinction to make. Take away the names, and it would be hard to argue that Tom Petty's role in his band is significantly different from Fogerty's role in CCR.

Anyway, CCR and REM would be on my short list. Aerosmith too, I suppose. The loss of DLR kind of screws up Van Halen for me.

Guns 'n' Roses belongs in the discussion. For me, Pearl Jam has too great a drop-off. (And I realize there's a bit of a contradiction there -- Pearl Jam, in my view, has about as many really good albums as G 'n' R, but I'm giving G 'n' R credit for disintegrating while Pearl Jam gets punished for staying together and putting out stuff that I don't find as compelling as their earlier stuff.)

 

What about the Doors or Lynard Skynard?

And actually, I'd say "body of work" would put Bon Jovi in the discussion.

 

I have no issue with any of the bands brought up.

 

If the age of iTunes has proven anything, it's that Lars Ulrich was right. He's a self-important twit, but he was right.

You can argue that it might have been wiser from a PR standpoint to let the record company fight that battle, but it certainly wouldn't have gotten the same amount of attention that way.