What is the best band ever?


Obviously, answers will be subjective. Wish we could poll this. I guess, just give your personal favorite.

Led Sepellin for me.
128x128john11f
Live: The Clash. Was a roadie on the 1982 tour. Very high energy. Have not seen another band match it. Close but still second: Bruce Springsteen and U2.
Best single live performance I've ever experienced live:

Julien Lourau Groove Gang (french jazz/funk ensemble).

2nd place: Dick Dale

Honorable Mentions: Yes, Moody Blues, Page/Plant, Peter Gabriel.
Superior knowledge is never over the hill.

I see a rookie in my rear view mirror.

Way way back.

In a Yugo I think.
The Grandpa Gang Band is also one to consider. The music is a bit thin on the top end however, and most believe they are over the hill.
The Audio-Fool Band should also be mentioned. However, many believe the band is very arrogant, self centered and obnoxious.

Just to add two not mentioned if we are truly talking only about cumulative blazing talent:

Mahavishnu Orchestra (McLaughlin/Cobham/Hammer)
Weather Report (Zaiwanul/Pastorius/Shorter)

and support for:
Beatles (for breaking new ground)
Floyd (best Stadium guitar/angst rock)
ELP (instrumental speed and agility)
Supertramp (Rick Davies was a genius)
SRV dbltrbl (nobody touches Stevie and JMac on guitar, though Gilmour is close)
they didn't call it beatlemania for nothin' truly bigger than 'you know who'.
It was actually George who felt strongest about not touring. It's in all the books including the Lennon interviews.

Case closed.
I could tell by these posts that many of you were not around when the Beatles were spreading their influence. As a band, they transcended the music and influenced the entire planet. They changed the way people dressed and looked and more inportantly, the way people thought and all of this without a video media. You may get a glimpse of this on some old archive film, but you could not know how much they changed the world unless you were there. Until someone surpasses that influence, they remain head and shoulders above anyone else.
I've read that the Beatles stopped touring because the hysteria was such that they couldn't hear themselves over the screaming! They'd wind up playing like shit and the fans STILL thought they'd heard a miracle.
Actually they gave up touring because Lennon, and to a lesser extent all of them, became weary of the road routine.
hell, the beatles initial success was 'because' they were a great live entity....their evolution(more a revolution) was as songwriters and recording artists
Radiohead. A consistent body of intelligent recordings that all ran counter to the prevailing sounds when released.
Really, the only band left standing coming out of Britpop.
Never relied on hit singles; chosing albums of rare beauty and depth like O.K. Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows. Great live presence--Beatles never evolved into a live entity.
One of the greatest, if not THE greatest working band, in the USA;

LOS LOBOS!!!!!!!!!
Sun Ra Arkestra, early 60's Ornette Coleman band, Classic Coltrane Quartet, The Grateful Dead
To me these were the greatest groups, but of course I could add many more to the list.
1.Beatles
2.C.C.R.
3.Skynyrd
4.Stones
5.Fleetwood Mac
6.Pink Floyd
7.The Band
8. Byrds
9.Travling Wilburys
10.The Strangers
60's Beatles
70's Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd/Rolling Stones
80's Rush/Genesis
90's Nirvana/Black Crowes
00's Beck/Hold Steady/Kings Of Leon

Honorable Mentions: Grateful Dead, Phish, Boston, The Who, CSN&Y, Pretenders, Ramones, and Elvis Costello.


Dude, it's just impossible to pick one :)

Return to Forever, any Miles Davis ensemble, EARLY Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green), any John Lee Hooker ensemble, Beatles, Pink Floyd, Traffic, Steely Dan, Aimee Mann's groups, Radiohead, Wilco, and too many others to list!
Really, can't name one. However, typically I would only list bands with proven staying power as some of the best.
That would lead me to this list:

The Beatles
Rolling Stones
The Who
Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin (I'm not really a fan, but I know many are...)
Yes
Rush
Van Halen
Neil Young variants
U2
Pearl Jam

and my wildcard........

The Tubes

I'm sure there are many more that deserve mention......

Enjoy,

TIC
art ensemble of chicago and sun ra arkestra - both groups, while having top-notch players, were still greater than the sum of the parts. incredible 'telepathy', synergy, etc.
Can't list just one.

Radiohead
Beatles
The Who
Neil Young (with or without Crazy Horse including CSNY)
Van Halen
about the "cultural" thing and the sixties...yeah, i think the beatles were the prime players.

but if u were an adolescent male in the early to mid sixties, the stones were your role model. attitude, looks, and mick was still a few years away from his affected stage schlock...
Miles Davis Sextet (1958-Kind of Blue version), featuring John Coltrane (tenor sax), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (double bass), Julian "Cannonball" Adderly (Alto Sax) and Jimmy Cobb on the drums.

Cheers,
John
sh*t. wrong spelling. thanks for not castigating me. i will add steely dan & dave matthews on my list as well. all though DMB has been on a decline, they still influenced and shaped my love for music.
The band that moved me the most when I was a teen was "Love", now I like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gov't Mule.
Whoever I am listening too at the time.

Probably Fiends of the Necrophiliacs or Radiohead, then again.........
I'm quite sure if you asked the major artists/bands from 1963 to present, the answer would overwhelmingly be The Beatles.

The music for certain. However, no group or individual has come close to approaching their impact on music, politics, and society.

I suspect Dylan, although not a band, would be the next biggest influence.