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The Best hard rock band in US history

Dragonfly said:
First off, I think I'd prefer LZ not try to tour anymore. I hate seeing once great bands trying to re-live their past.

Second, your circle is mighty small I'd guess.

Check these lists:

Hard Rock Bands | List of Best Hard Rock Artists/Groups

AIC = 19 Mountain = 58

Rock On The Net: VH1: 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists: 51-100

AIC = 34 Mountain = 98

Best Rock Bands of All Time | List of Greatest Rock Artists

AIC = 74 Mountain = didn't make the list

Top 25 Hard Rock acts of all time: Where does your favorite rank? – The Mercury News

AIC = 22 Mountain = didn't make the list
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I don't tend to buy into that sort of stuff. we saw lists that say rated Neil Young a better Guitarist than Steven Stills for example or Lennon rated ahead of say Richard Thompson.

BFD
 
Winston said:
I agree with your points about Sabbath and Tony Iomi is a genius... but they are Brits.

the thread was about American Hard Rock, and it sort of veered off into a discussion of metal on accident.
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:doh

My bad.

I need to ponder this. It's sad to think there weren't better American hard rock bands before the 80's/90's.

Some bands are obviously metal, but it's a fuzzy line for others.

Edit : Van Halen. They were hard rock for sure.
 
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TurtleDude said:
LOL, sure. Ask the real legends what they thought of Pappalardi. Guys like John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. I remember an interview of John Myung-who might be the technically most proficient bassist of today, and he had a lot of good things to say of FP So did the late great Jack Bruce who many rate as the best ever
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Wow. We're coming at things from a totally different background, I guess.

There is no most technically proficient bassist today. There a bunch of players who simply reach a certain level and they play pretty much what they please.

And Jack Bruce, the greatest? Very good, but c'mon. Not even remotely.

In any case, my statement still stands: they're hardly remembered today and for good reason.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Wow. We're coming at things from a totally different background, I guess.

There is no most technically proficient bassist today. There a bunch of players who simply reach a certain level and they play pretty much what they please.

And Jack Bruce, the greatest? Very good, but c'mon. Not even remotely.

In any case, my statement still stands: they're hardly remembered today and for good reason.
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Les Claypool, although he plays bass like a lead instrument most of the time.
 
Winston said:
Alice in Chains
Pantera
Clutch
Deftones
Dio

Prolly Alice in Chains or Pantera if you're talking best, as in most successful, widely known, lauded by music critics while retaining widespead appeal, I'd say Alice in Chains.
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TurtleDude said:
I bet 20 years from now, none of those will be really remembered. Mountain will be. Felix Pappalardi is on most lists of the top rock bassists of all time. Plus he was a triple threat-a wonderful vocalist as well as a songwriter and producer. West's guitar skills are at the very top of the heap
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My avatar disagrees.




(I actually haven't heard of Mountain despite listening to quite a bit of music from the era)
 
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Anyway, when I think "hard rock", my first thought is Guns n' Roses. Loud and all jagged edges (I cede that they strayed a bit on the Illusion albums from the earlier sound). And they certainly lived the "rock life".

But I know many put them below bands like Van Halen. But when I try them, I dunno......sounds almost poppy to me. And sometimes so synth-heavy. Ugh. Blasphemy to many, I know. Though I grant that this is a guitar solo.



Though, I overall prefer Slash's "Godfather Solo", which seems to show up in some form or another in every concert.



(Not the best sound quality; to skip the warm up....the better part starts around 2:45).

Alternate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uQ4wLnUjDw


I suppose I tend to go for lighter classic rock (Stones, Beatles, etc), blues, or heavier rock.... AIC, G n' R , Soundgarden, Sabbath/Ozzy, Tool, Korn (well, some. The first and latest albums are more to my taste; much of the rest I'm not such a fan of), Nirvana (moreso the In Utero style), etc.

And of course, the sort of metalish-blues fusion you get with people like Hendrix, SRV, sometimes Bonamassa.




"rock" that falls inbetween doesn't do as much for me.
 
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Dragonfly said:
Bruce was great. Influential.

Just not "the greatest". Not that such a thing isn't subjective, but still.
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so who would you pick? Entwistle? John Paul Jones? John myung?
 
TurtleDude said:
so who would you pick? Entwistle? John Paul Jones? John myung?
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Those are some names. Sure. I don't ever really try to pick "the best" of anything.

There's also Geddy Lee, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooton, Jaco Pastorius, Flea, Chris Squire, Stuart Hamm...
 
Mr Person said:
(I actually haven't heard of Mountain despite listening to quite a bit of music from the era)
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Yeah I never heard of them either, they cant be that good if theyre that unknown. :mrgreen:
 
PoS said:
Yeah I never heard of them either, they cant be that good if theyre that unknown. :mrgreen:
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I personally wouldn't put Mountain at the top of any list but Mississippi Queen was pretty awesome. Almost everyone has heard of that one.
 
Dragonfly said:
Those are some names. Sure. I don't ever really try to pick "the best" of anything.

There's also Geddy Lee, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooton, Jaco Pastorius, Flea, Chris Squire, Stuart Hamm...
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Les.

F'ing.

Claypool.
 
Dragonfly said:
Yes. Forgot him. He's for sure way high on the list.
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There is no list. There is just one name on it. And that name is Les Claypool. Praise be.
 
TurtleDude said:
I bet 20 years from now, none of those will be really remembered. Mountain will be. Felix Pappalardi is on most lists of the top rock bassists of all time. Plus he was a triple threat-a wonderful vocalist as well as a songwriter and producer. West's guitar skills are at the very top of the heap
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Pantera and Clutch will be. Massively influential bands.
 
TurtleDude said:
and I mean hard rock

so that eliminates most of my favorites such as the Southern Blues rock of the Allman Brothers Band (my vote for the best band the USA has produced), the electric Bluegrass melding into psychedelic sound of the Grateful Dead, or the raw punk of the Ramones.

for me, the best pure hard rock band the USA produced was these guys
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Leaving aside questions of what is or is not hard rock, my highly subjective list, based on personal preference and how influential they where, plus other factors:

MC5/Stooges/Ramones: they largely invented punk and the hard driving guitar sound. Punk is hard rock, no?
Slayer: yeah, no brainer..
Pantera: few bands rocked harder
The Melvins: because you gotta include a Seattle band, so it might as well be a good one
Rage Against The Machine: how many bands get a presidential candidate in their pit, and then mention at a republican presidential debate?
Eyehategod/Crowbar/Down: basically one band more or less, the NOLA sound is hugely influential
Ted Nugent: love him or hate him, he was pretty important
Edit: Alice Cooper: duh...
 
Im too young for most of those bands, so Im going to nominate Foo Fighters.
 
jonny5 said:
Im too young for most of those bands, so Im going to nominate Foo Fighters.
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Some truly amazing songs.

Dave Grohl is an enigma.

Drummer for Nirvana.
Lead Singer, songwriter, guitarist for Foo Fighters.

Just unbelievable quantities of talent.

His acoustic version of Everlong still gives me chills.
 
Redress said:
Leaving aside questions of what is or is not hard rock, my highly subjective list, based on personal preference and how influential they where, plus other factors:

MC5/Stooges/Ramones: they largely invented punk and the hard driving guitar sound. Punk is hard rock, no?
Slayer: yeah, no brainer..
Pantera: few bands rocked harder
The Melvins: because you gotta include a Seattle band, so it might as well be a good one
Rage Against The Machine: how many bands get a presidential candidate in their pit, and then mention at a republican presidential debate?
Eyehategod/Crowbar/Down: basically one band more or less, the NOLA sound is hugely influential
Ted Nugent: love him or hate him, he was pretty important
Edit: Alice Cooper: duh...
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some of those really are important. some of them were important but sucked.
 
Redress said:
I would assume metal would be a type of hard rock. Wouldn't it?
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that's a never ending discussion. When I was a kid, The Who, Mountain, LZ, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, were called "Heavy Metal" apparently in reference to the banks of amplifiers (I think Deep Purple's concert in Osaka Japan, caused the Seismic monitor to record earthquake level disturbances on the richter scale)

I recall an interview with Robert Plant and they asked him about the then more modern metal and he noted something to the effect that the stuff he and similar bands did sounded good SOFT, while the metal had to be played loud
 
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