r/musicsuggestions • u/RRE4EVR • 4d ago
Best American rock band of all time
This is obviously a subjective post. As post suggest “all time” so feel free to go back to to the 50’s and please consider that bands from this millennium may not hold up in a couple decades. Also genre blending bands welcome.
Greatful Dead my answer
172
Upvotes
8
u/thesoundofwaking 4d ago
Depends on the criteria you use, but there’s certainly a strong argument for the Grateful Dead. Their music and music philosophy combines elements of the blues, country, bluegrass, folk, poetry, and especially jazz, which is the most important American art form. Most rock isn’t truly improvisational, but their music is founded in improvisation, and improvisation, as opposed to other types of written or repeatable music is part of what makes those other forms so important as American musical traditions. Like any important group they original and inimitable. They capture the spirit of what rock is in the most inclusive way of any American rock band. Their open-mindedness, free spiritedness, and commitment to musical exploration - all important features. The idea that anyone should be able to record and share their music, too, is almost punk rock, and certainly part of the American ethos of inclusiveness and exploration. They were as interested in the audience and the philosophy as much as they were in their own egos, which is also unique. There are individual stars who embodied American rock who I think are also very important, but I can’t think of another band that embodied and reflected the American ethos and the rock ethos so charismatically for so long. And the persistent GD scene is testament to this. When I was walking in to the Sphere to see one of their many shows at the Sphere, I spoke to people of all ages in all kinds of clothes from all kinds of backgrounds. The lack of one identity was striking. It was an ecumenical vibe, a tribute to something greater than all of us, which is what Jerry Garcia wanted, I believe. We can discuss the merits of the music itself, or what the band represented at different times to different people, but I can’t think of another band that better captured what an American rock band could achieve over many decades, what it could say to so many people.