Your Top 5 Favorite Rock Bands Of All-Time

[Mirror Image]

Your Top 5 Favorite Rock Bands of All-Time! GO!

[Mirror Image]

I'll start...

1. Genesis



2. Pink Floyd -



3. King Crimson -



4. Rush -



5. Yes -

[ibanezmonster]

*awkward moment, when as a rock/whatever guitarist I can't even think of 5 Rock Bands I actually like*

Umm... King Crimson? Even though that's prog rock, I guess that'd still count...

[Mirror Image]

*awkward moment, when as a rock/whatever guitarist I can't even think of 5 Rock Bands I actually like*

Umm... King Crimson? Even though that's prog rock, I guess that'd still count...

Prog rock is rock music, Greg, so no need to second guess yourself here.

[ibanezmonster]

Prog rock is rock music, Greg, so no need to second guess yourself here.

Considering all 5 of your choices are prog bands... 

but really, though it is, some King Crimson stuff can sound more like experimental music with guitars than actual rock music, though I guess that's more of a side note than anything else. Though the question of non-prog bands would be an interesting one. I'm a big fan of Tool's Lateralus album and have liked a few songs here and there by other popular rock bands, but nothing significant, which is kind of funny.

[Mirror Image]

Considering all 5 of your choices are prog bands... 

but really, though it is, some King Crimson stuff can sound more like experimental music with guitars than actual rock music, though I guess that's more of a side note than anything else. Though the question of non-prog bands would be an interesting one. I'm a big fan of Tool's Lateralus album and have liked a few songs here and there by other popular rock bands, but nothing significant, which is kind of funny.

Greg, metal, which Tool are classified as, is apart of the rock genre. I'm still waiting for your top 5 list...

[ibanezmonster]

Greg, metal, which Tool are classified as, is apart of the rock genre. I'm still waiting for your top 5 list...

So metal counts, too? Then my list:
1. Meshuggah



2. Between the Buried and Me


3. Opeth


4. Gorguts



5. Decapitated or Deathspell Omega (tie)



(no photo of Deathspell Omega, since they don't reveal themselves to the public)



I wouldn't classify Tool as metal, though I've heard others do so before. Even wikipedia classifies them as rock... they don't sound metal at all, even if Meshuggah influenced their rhythmic thinking and toured with them.

[Mirror Image]

Cool, Greg. My problem with metal, in general, is the lack of dynamics in the music, but, also, that some bands need to resort to screaming, or grunting, into a microphone. This, for me, is not very musical and is more of a distraction than anything. I suppose it's just an acquired taste, but I never have gotten into those aspects of metal. The heaviness also starts to grate on my nerves, but this stems back from what I perceive as a lack of variety in the music.

Anyway, just my two cents.

[ibanezmonster]

Cool, Greg. My problem with metal, in general, is the lack of dynamics in the music, but, also, that some bands need to resort to screaming, or grunting, into a microphone. This, for me, is not very musical and is more of a distraction than anything. I suppose it's just an acquired taste, but I never have gotten into those aspects of metal. The heaviness also starts to grate on my nerves, but this stems back from what I perceive as a lack of variety in the music.

Anyway, just my two cents.

I guess sometimes it's possible to acquire a taste for the vocals (I got used to the cookie monster vocals but the bands that do pig squeals or frog vocals... not so much), though the vocals are normally the least important aspect of the music. I can understand those being issues when listening to Meshuggah or Decapitated, but BTBAM, Gorguts, and Opeth are all progressive so they have enough dynamics involved to keep the music interesting. And BTBAM and Opeth have just as much normal singing. The cookie monster vocals are there just to bring out the extra feeling of aggression- for example, Meshuggah with singing just wouldn't sound good.

You'd definitely find stuff you'd like in Opeth's output, though likely none of the other bands. Opeth has plenty of tuneful, gorgeous, melancholy music with no growls or distorted guitars, and they're basically an emulation of the 70's prog rock scene nowadays with no plans to return to metal. The Damnation and Heritage albums and some songs like Harvest or Still Day Beneath the Sun, for example.

I still say if there is an "objectively" best band I'd go with BTBAM... I've never heard a band that can pull off not only so many styles but also simply display such mastery of every aspect of music at the same time. At least that's how I'd define objectively good, though that itself is a subjective definition. 

[drogulus]

     Based on live performance/albums, I'll choose my San Francisco trinity.

     1) Grateful Dead Live/Dead

     

     After this album (released in 1970) the Dead listened to the pleading of their record company to produce more commercial products, and the band did achieve some commercial success. As a live band they kept their improvisational focus but the avant-garde-ish influence of composer/bassist Phil Lesh was curtailed. The band rebelled, not just the record company. What the members wanted was to be a rock band, sort of, distinctive but comprehensible to a wider audience. They accomplished that goal and by the mid-'70s they developed quite a following. From my own experience I know that most of these fans had not heard Anthem of the Sun, though in time all of the "Deadheads" (as they came to be known) became familiar with this glorious monstrosity and even professed to enjoy it. Live/Dead they probably did enjoy once they heard it.

     This documentary depicts the transformation from commerce to art to commerce with some art in it. The band started as a cover band doing Beatles, Stones and Dylan.

     https://www.youtube.com/v/K9by0Yhlrns
     

[Hollywood]

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s so my top 5 choices are pretty much from that time. I am also a native Southern Californian so you may notice that 4 of my 5 picks are California bands. 

1. The Beach Boys
2. The Doors
3. Creedence Clearwater Revival
4. The Monkees
5. Herman's Hermits

[Rinaldo]

Deerhoof

https://www.youtube.com/v/aoD0WVxrsfQ

the pAper chAse

https://www.youtube.com/v/ZzLd1oaAILA

Leatherface

https://www.youtube.com/v/gnXbeK6LopI

Pixies

https://www.youtube.com/v/wB8jB6kh3CE

Converge

https://www.youtube.com/v/efioLa0JDcY

[Jay F]

Linda Ronstadt in the 1970s

The Beach Boys

The Beatles

Warren Zevon

Bruce Springsteen

[Sergeant Rock]

Grateful Dead

The Band

Ramones

Blondie

Dire Straits


Sarge

[mn dave]

Assuming you mean BANDS and not SOLO ARTISTS (otherwise Bowie would be in there)...

The Beatles
The Stranglers
DEVO
Talking Heads
Judas Priest

...or something like that.

[Sergeant Rock]

Assuming you mean BANDS and not SOLO ARTISTS (otherwise Bowie would be in there)...

I too assumed singers (without a permanent band) and singer/songwriters weren't eligible (so I couldn't include Van Morrison post Them).

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

Van Halen
Black Sabbath
The Police
Def Leppard
Pink Floyd

[mn dave]

Some bands I like off others' lists:

Van Halen
The Police
Dire Straits
Blondie
CCR
The Monkees...

[mn dave]

Cool, Greg. My problem with metal, in general, is the lack of dynamics in the music, but, also, that some bands need to resort to screaming, or grunting, into a microphone. This, for me, is not very musical and is more of a distraction than anything. I suppose it's just an acquired taste, but I never have gotten into those aspects of metal. The heaviness also starts to grate on my nerves, but this stems back from what I perceive as a lack of variety in the music.

Anyway, just my two cents.

There are "clean singing" heavy metal bands. Also there is "prog metal" where you will find as much variety as you do in prog rock.

[Sergeant Rock]

There are "clean singing" heavy metal bands.

Rainbow, for example.

Sarge