Who’s The Greatest Band of All Time.

Feb 9, 2010 by Aaron

You may notice that my title end’s with a period. And for the record Microsoft Word didn’t like that every much, it’s underlined in green. But I did that for a reason. I want it to be a statement, because the “who” in this instance stands for a noun, not an unknown subject. The Who is the greatest band of All time!

This is an argument as old as the ages…which band is ranked number one in the history of Rock and Roll. Many propionates say, with fire and stomach acid spewing from their guts, that the Beatles are the best band of all time. Than again, some others like to suggest the Rolling Stones. In preparing for this column I asked many different people what and who they thought was the best band of all time. I got answers like, The Eagles, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, U2, and someone even had the nerve to say Coldplay (don’t even get me started on the terribleness of Coldplay).

There are five bands in my opinion that make the conversation and they are: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and U2. My criteria for this list is: influence, originality, body of work, and genre transition.

The truth is, for a long time, I was one of those people who without a thought, would fight until blue in the face that the Beatles were and are the best band of all time. And in all honesty, it’s still a strong argument. The Beatles transcended music into pop culture unlike anyone before them. They influenced style, sound, and even political movements.
They were truly original and innovate and influenced a whole generation of musicians. I bet some of you are asking yourself, “it sure sounds like he thinks the Beatles are the best band of all time.” Here is my one issue with the Beatles…their body of work isn’t conclusive and long enough.

The Beatles made really great music from 1965 to 1969. I can’t count their early stuff, 1963 and 1964, as serious or influential. Revolver, Rubber Soul, and Sgt Pepper’s maybe the best string of albums ever put back to back to back. If you want, I will throw in the White Album and Abbey Road as great albums too, although the White Album is questionable. For all its greatness, it has some real stinkers too!

But my issue with The Beatles is that they are a time capsule. They are stuck in time; like Nirvana. They never had to make music as a band through the 70’s and 80’s. If they would have, would they still be held in such high regard? My bet, they would have had their Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie 80’s moments too, and that would have diminished their historical presence and importance. But we’ll never know, and it is for that reason, their musical brevity and their smallish body of work that I can not place them at number one.

That brings me directly to the Stones. Unlike the Beatles, the Rolling Stones survived their youth and made more music than maybe any rock band in history. What they have accomplished is very significant. But I can’t place them at number one either because I don’t think they were true innovators like the Beatles were. They are a great band, but I don’t really feel their originality is strong enough to place them at number one. They have a very consistent sound, but they never ventured into musical experimentation enough to wear the crown of Greatest of All Time. Plus lyrically, they came off as the weakest band in my top 5. They were never true poets of a generation, but they are a great band.

Led Zeppelin, what can I say. I love this band. They were poets. They were influential. And they do have a great body of work. Jimmy Page is a Genius, Bonham was as nasty as a gay porn theater in the village in 1976, and Robert Plant is one of the greatest front men of all time. But did they transcend their “Hard Rock” Status? I don’t feel they did. I feel they only really fit in with a certain type of listener. Let’s face it, Beatles fans range from 80 to 12 years in age and cross every hemisphere of pop culture. Led Zeppelin fans don’t. Led Zeppelin are the gods of rock and the Mother Mary of Metal, but they cannot transcend that genre for the most part.

U2 is the greatest band from the 80’s. The have transcended music into politics, art, and style. Their music is multi-generational and originally organic. They have a big body of work and still make great music today. But are they really influential? Do young musicians really grow up wanting to play like The Edge, Larry or Adam? No, they don’t. I have been playing guitar for over 20 years and I have never tried to emulate The Edge; Jimmy Page yes, Pete Townsend yes! U2’s biggest downfall is their musicianship. As pure creative and influential musicians, they pale in comparison to the other bands on this list.

Which leads me to The Who. They ARE the greatest band of all time. They have made music through generations, influenced everyone, transcended genres, and have always been on the cutting edge of originality. Tommy is a masterpiece. What other band could have really pulled off a rock opera? Songs like My Generation and Won’t Get Fooled Again are sonically unbelievable and historical significant.
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
“I hope I die before I get old.”
“Don’t cry it’s only teenage wasteland.”
These are words and lyrics that still ring through our present world, that still cut the soul of the listener, that are as true today as they were 40 years ago. From ballads to rock anthems, from opera to 80’s rock (Eminence Front, no band on this list was making songs that good in 1984!), The Who are timeless, long living, and the greatest band of all time…so tip your hat the new constitution and take a bow for the new revolution and pick up your guitar and play, just like yesterday…

-Aaron

1 comment

Posted in Aaron's Musings from the Outhouse