I’d think the “Best” choice(s) are obvious: I gotta go with either the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. Those two bands seem to have more staying power than nearly anything else on the planet. They will stop publishing Shakespeare’s plays before either of these two bands stop selling music.
For the worst?
That’s a toughie.
There have been many bands over the years that have made music that is either boring, stupid, offensive, or all three. The “all three” category kind of made my mind up for me.
For the worst rock band of all time, the winner (loser) is: Black Oak Arkansas.
I saw a show of them playing live on VH1 Classic recently, and I’ve got to say that even though the lead guitarist definitely has some chops, the band is just simply awful, and Jim Dandy the singer just turns the awful “up to eleven.”
You can’t say Beatles and Zep without the Stones. That’s the three leg stool of rock.
Ha… Black Oak… man I remember seeing them several times… I’ve seen some of those videos and have to admit they look awful. I honestly don;t recall them being -that- bad live. I forgot who the drummer was but I seem to recall he was really good.
Man… worst rock band… I honestly don’t know… I once fell asleep in a Kiss concert - waiting to see Bob Seager --, so I’ll go with Kiss. I do appreciate GS as a business man but damn their music has sucked forever imo.
For me, the “best” isn’t necessarily my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin, etc, but I tend towards heavy metal and a lot of the bands I like are usually only known among the headbanger’s circle or Scandinavia. Also, there are some great, very influential bands out there I personally can’t stand. However, in terms of staying power, influence, and timelessness (basically, the bands don’t just reek of their era) these are my best.
The best:
The Beatles. I can go for a 6 hour car ride on Beatles songs alone and not get tired of them.
The Who. Some of the weirdest songs, but unbelievable musicians.
Black Sabbath. Fathers of modern heavy metal. I love Mr. Crowley
Led Zeppelin. It’s forbidden to say so, but I really like Stairway to Heaven.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. One of the few bands that had albums without a single dud song. Full Moon Fever was one of the best rock albums ever released IMO, and it doesn’t get near the amount of attention it deserves.
Honorable mentions: Metallica (points off for their later stuff), AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stones (Aside from a few songs, not my favorite band, but I’ve got to give credit where credit is due. Paint it Black and Jumping Jack Flash are awesome songs too)
Worst bands (I’m going to take heat for some of this):
Guns n’ Roses. Slash is an excellent guitarist, and I like a lot of his stuff that he’s done since GnR, but GnR’s songs are WAY too long, Axl Rose’s voice gets on my nerves, and the band’s sound is very bland and uninspiring. I just don’t see the big draw to them.
Any grunge band except Nirvana. Yep, I don’t like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or Alice in Chains.
Stone Temple Pilots. BOOORRRING!
Limp Bizkit. Easily the least talented on this list, but they only remained relevant for about four or five years so they aren’t #1 on my list.
Korn. I like exactly 2 of their songs, (Falling Away from Me and Here to Stay) and no more. Their music sounds like a flooded engine struggling to start.
(Dis)honorable mentions: Rage Against the Machine. (Tom Morello is an excellent guitarist, but I don’t get off listening to a rhythmic Occupy Wall Street rally) Beastie Boys (Can either be rock or rap but they suck at both) Kid Rock (I don’t like his older rock/rap stuff or his newer quasi-Southern Rock stuff)
As for the worst, all the heavy metal make up wearing screeching 80s hair bands. Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Poison, Ratt, Motley Crue, etc. They all suck so equally bad. Worst godawful noise I ever was subjected to, right up there with country music. You can extract information from me if you have the appropriate shitty music.
Yes you can. The Stones had some hits like satisfaction, get off of my cloud, paint it black, etc. but they lacked the diversity of sound and just didn’t have the punch of the other two. They were the Aerosmith of their day.
For the straight up sound? Van Halen always is close to the top of my list. I’m more into the 80s hair bands than anything so my list could go on for a while from one hit wonders like Autograph to mainstream style like Poison.
Worst? Anything that came out of Seattle in the 90s.
And not much disagreement with any of that either. Rush was the powerhouse band that most people never really heard of. Sadly I think they were eclipsed by early 80s heavy metal nonsense that was more marketable.
Good calls. Except I’m gonna disagree on the Beastie Boys. For 3 jewish kids from Brooklyn they had a better sense of groove than 80% of the R&B artists of the time. They just rocked shit. A lot of people just don’t get them. White rocks kids didn’t dig the crossover style, white kids trying to be black didn’t see them as authentic enough and black kids just saw a group of Larry Birds.
I don’t think I’d put them in any Top Ten greatest group of all time unless it was specifically for rap, but they had talent to spare. Like Run DMC the invented and defined a new sound.
The Stones had some wonderful singles and an appropriately gritty sound. Kudos to them for singlehandedly inventing Sixties Punk, aka Garage Rock, or Frat Rock.
Having said that they had some terribly spotty albums. Talk about filler, especially on the early stuff. The Beatles had a wonderful knack for writing singles even when they were never released as singles. “It Won’t Be Long” is a classic example of a Beatles track that you have to own the album to hear. That song could have been a hit. Ditto “Things We Said Today,” “I’ll Be Back”, and most of the Beatles’ album tracks.
Oh, and whoever says Stone Temple Pilots is one of the worst deserves a permanent ban from this site.
That’s arguable, for sure. Both bands made the mistake of sticking around until they sucked, and that’s why I didn’t mention either of them.
Led Zep and the Beatles both ended their careers just as the bloom was starting to come off the rose. (I think the Zeppelin album “In Through the Out Door” is their worst record by far, and I’m kind of glad we didnt’ get any more like that).
Rush definitely belongs in the top 5. Three of the greatest musicians of our era. Alex has serious chops on the guitar, Geddy is undisputedly one of the best bassist on the planet, and Neil “The Professor” Peart definitely the greatest drummer alive!!!
