What is the Best Band of All Time

[BatteringRambo]

If you don't know you're an ALIEN. I do that daily when I'm not driving. F$## the rest.

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

just in case you need more convincing...





.

 

[CeeZar]

How is Pink Floyd not in this thread? Dark Side of the Moon was on the Billboard top 200 for 917 weeks!! The next closest is The Best of Bob Marley at 386.

To add to that, there are a bunch of Pink Floyd tribute bands that regularly sell out all shows.

The only exceptional musician is Gilmour but their combined styles meld perfectly to create their unique sound. Production quality of their studio work is top notch and their live shows are beyond belief as a complete sensory experience.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJZYG5qwHHI

 

[CeeZar]

Neil Peart ...Drums greatest of all time

Eddie Van Halen...Guitar (not the greatest but the most creative)

Prince...Guitar (Top three and song writer)

Geddy Lee...Bass/Back up Vocals(better bass players but likely not both)

Freddie Mercury & Steve Perry...Lead Vocals (because one would quit due to Van Halen. The other would make some Albums before Van Halen drove them to quit. Then the other would return)

I’ll take the criticism and accolades lol

Geddy Lee is a very underrated bass player. Dude is amazing. Watch some of the live stuff, he shreds on the bass. His voice fits Rush and works well in the studio. It just doesn't hold up well concert.
Alex Lifeson is never/very rarely on a list of top guitarists. But he is also amazing.
Neil Peart - no comment necessary

I wouldn't pick Rush as the best band ever, but just from the standpoint of the best pure musicians (not county Geddy's voice), no band has ever had all of the members as talented. Just my HUMBLE opinion

 

[1maGoh]

Geddy Lee is a very underrated bass player. Dude is amazing. Watch some of the live stuff, he shreds on the bass. His voice fits Rush and works well in the studio. It just doesn't hold up well concert.
Alex Lifeson is never/very rarely on a list of top guitarists. But he is also amazing.
Neil Peart - no comment necessary

I wouldn't pick Rush as the best band ever, but just from the standpoint of the best pure musicians (not county Geddy's voice), no band has ever had all of the members as talented. Just my HUMBLE opinion

They are definitely the music version of the 2004 USA men's olympic basketball team.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Geddy Lee is a very underrated bass player. Dude is amazing. Watch some of the live stuff, he shreds on the bass. His voice fits Rush and works well in the studio. It just doesn't hold up well concert.
Alex Lifeson is never/very rarely on a list of top guitarists. But he is also amazing.
Neil Peart - no comment necessary

I wouldn't pick Rush as the best band ever, but just from the standpoint of the best pure musicians (not county Geddy's voice), no band has ever had all of the members as talented. Just my HUMBLE opinion

Geddy's voice held up very well live up until maybe 2005ish? 30 years of relentless touring took its toll on his voice eventually. Before that...what you got on album was what you got on stage.

Speaking of vocalists who could never bring it live(purely a studio voice) was Vince Neil. Crue was a great live band but he sounded like an imposter with no power.

 

[IowaRam]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whQQpwwvSh4



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44XYEeD1A1U



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEPmA3USJdI

 

[Neil039]

Geddy's voice held up very well live up until maybe 2005ish? 30 years of relentless touring took its toll on his voice eventually. Before that...what you got on album was what you got on stage.

Speaking of vocalists who could never bring it live(purely a studio voice) was Vince Neil. Crue was a great live band but he sounded like an imposter with no power.

Agreed, same with Joe Elliott from Def Leppard.

 

[IowaRam]

Agreed, same with Joe Elliott from Def Leppard.

Vince Neil just plain sucked

Joe Elliott , I think he was a good singer , just that his voice never held up

another one I always thought sucked live was David Lee Roth , Van Halen , worst concert ever went to

 

[Mojo Ram]

Subjective topic but based on my own experiences....

Rush. Longevity, musicianship, eclectic sound that evolved thru time, excellent live.

Pink Floyd. Transcendent sound. Not much else i can say really.

U2. From the Boy album('80) thru the Zooropa album('93)...brilliance. Excellent live. Longevity in this case was not a good thing IMO.

The Police. I like trios. Great live band. Although they weren't around long(relatively), they also evolved their sound a bit and we got five albums of energy and creativity.

Soundgarden. IMO the best sound coming out of that particular period of time and space. Alice in Chains as well.

Jimi Hendrix. As i like to say, he never really died...he just visited Earth to show us what was possible on the electric guitar...then left to do the same for some other civilization on another planet.

The Beatles is probably the right answer but this is a subjective thing and the bands i mentioned touched me the most.

 

[IowaRam]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERt7Rx8LBHA



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzkSg9e3Uw

 

[AvengerRam]

I attended Freddie Mercury’s last performance in 1986. Queen is definitely up there.

U2 in the 80s/90s (saw them twice on original Joshua Tree tour) was amazing.

Best group I’ve seen in last 5 years...The Shins.

 

[Juice]

I guess I could have made myself more clear. What makes the best band of all time. Is it the sum of its parts? Is it the fact that they are the best at their instruments? Is it clearly just the one you like best? Is it who sold the most records or had the most fame. What defines the best band?

I think The Who with Keith Moon should get a mention as well.

 

[Memento]

I guess I could have made myself more clear. What makes the best band of all time. Is it the sum of its parts? Is it the fact that they are the best at their instruments? Is it clearly just the one you like best? Is it who sold the most records or had the most fame. What defines the best band?

I think The Who with Keith Moon should get a mention as well.

If we’re talking favorites, I’m going with Mastodon. Brann Dailor is an extremely underrated drummer.

 

[1maGoh]

I guess I could have made myself more clear. What makes the best band of all time. Is it the sum of its parts? Is it the fact that they are the best at their instruments? Is it clearly just the one you like best? Is it who sold the most records or had the most fame. What defines the best band?

I think The Who with Keith Moon should get a mention as well.

I think you've touched on an impossible question, which is why no one is answering what you've asked. There's plenty of bands that sell tons of records that I think are awful. Wouldn't rate in my top 100. There's some, like Rush, that are great at their instruments but wouldn't make my top 20.

Unfortunately, as you suggested here and in your first post, it must be a very unique and individual thing.

If it was just records sold out would be cut and dry. If it was concert tickets sold, also cut and dry. Top live performance? I hope not because I don't think KISS should really be in the running for best band of all time.

There has to be more to it than personal preference though. My favorite band is Pink Floyd, but I wouldn't call them the best of all time.

If you think about it in terms of another discipline, say who's the best athlete of all time or who's the best sports team of all time, it's easy to see the question is way too vague to have a real answer. There's not enough commonality among athletic events sports or music genres to call out one single best of all time across all of it (it being music or sports or athletics).

If there was a gun to my head and I had to give an answer, I'd say Led Zeppelin because it's an easy answer and hard to argue against. But if i had a deaf friend who had a miracle surgery to give them hearing and they asked me to play them the first piece of music they could actually hear, I'd probably play Van Halen (I also don't think they are the best but it's a good starting point).