Best Band Of All-Time Game (From A Semi-Objective Standpoint)

[Sapper]

I came up with this among friends whom I like to debate music with, but wanted to share with the huddle to get input. I am sure a lot of people will be 'tl;dr' and that is fine, but I thought it would be interesting to give it a shot.

Harking back onto the best songwriters of all time thread, I thought of a make-shift way of figuring out the greatest band of all time informally.

Digitaldreamdoor is one of the few sites that has extensive lists of top 100 of just about everything. Ranker is up there as is RollingStone (but RS makes the list only readable 1 by 1, which would be more time consuming than this already is).

So the rules are: Either by your point of view, or by a site you find like Digitaldreamdoor, you have to rank 5 categories by best all time:

1. Vocalist

2. Songwriting

3. Guitarist

4. Bassist

5. Drummer

I would include album and single but I figured that would skew the ratings too much since one song could change the order tremendously. Once you get your numbers for each, you divide that by the number of band members involved. This makes it fair because a band like Rush has 3 members since Geddy Lee sings and plays bass. Also, The Doors had a keyboardist, but I am not counting that as an instrument since not every band has one.

I admit there are fallacies to this game. Elton John is technically a 1 man band, as is Billy Joel; Bob Dylan, etc... So they would rank only for singing/songwriting. Also - I could be missing a huge aspect or be silly for neglecting keyboard or another instrument. So feel free to give input/criticism of the way the rules should and could work.

I used http://digitaldreamdoor.com for my rankings. This is all subjective; so nobody is right or wrong - but it was a topic that intrigued me.

I came up with 5 bands that would probably be in the top 5 in some order (and I wanted to try Rush to see where they would land).

So here are my results:

1. The Who: AVG - 15.25

2. Led Zeppelin: AVG - 21

3. The Beatles: AVG - 21.5

4. The Rolling Stones: AVG - 84

5. Pink Floyd: AVG - 91.75

?. Rush: AVG - 144

Entwhistle and Moon carries The Who with 2 and 3 by position respectively, and where my pick for who would win (no pun intended) Zeppelin got hurt by Bass and Songwriting, 21 and 51 respectively. If Paul was a little higher on vocals the Beatles might have taken it (33). Jagger was 103 twice for bass and vocals - that did them in. Pink Floyd's highest was 14 with Gilmour on guitar. Peart and Lee were 1 and 7 respectively for bass and drum, but got killed on lyrics (not even on the list) and vocals (197).

If we were to factor in all time #1 hits I am sure The Beatles take the cake. Same with highest grossing albums. Hell, maybe I should include The Eaglles in my final writeup.

Yea, you might say I have too much time on my hands, but it is a piece I am working on for a site I sometimes write for. So any input would be great :)

[NCstoner420]

Nickleback

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

Hmmm

Zeppelin is high on this list. Page, Plant, Bonham. Poor JPJ is usually the odd man out but very underrated IMO.

From top to bottom you can't go wrong with the Who.

One of my fav is Van Halen. I'll put their 1st 4 albums against any.

[g5jamz]

Name the number one American band in history. This gets pretty hard.

[Sapper]

Hmmm

Zeppelin is high on this list. Page, Plant, Bonham. Poor JPJ is usually the odd man out but very underrated IMO.

From top to bottom you can't go wrong with the Who.

One of my fav is Van Halen. I'll put their 1st 4 albums against any.

So I did Van Halen and they averaged 125.5. Hagar finished 20 slots better than Roth. Eddie was 3rd on guitarists. That seems to low for them, so maybe I should include albums and hits.

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

All time? I guess it would be Aerosmith. My favorite at the moment are the Foo Fighters.

[Sapper]

Name the number one American band in history. This gets pretty hard.

In this order:

1. Pearl Jam

2. The Doors

3. The Cars

4. The Eagles

5. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

So I did Van Halen and they averaged 125.5. Hagar finished 20 slots better than Roth. Eddie was 3rd on guitarists. That seems to low for them, so maybe I should include albums and hits.

Roth is a douche but 20 slots better? IDK

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

In this order:

1. Pearl Jam

2. The Doors

3. The Cars

4. The Eagles

5. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Beach Boys

[Sapper]

Beach Boys

Yeah, Brian Wilson is one of the best musicians of all time and he doesn't even know it. Pet Sounds has to be a top 5 album.

[mmmbeans]

american? objectively? prolly pearl jam, rem or the dead.

[DC Amp]

• Three dog night
  

• Creedence Clearwater Revival
  

• Bachman Turner Overdrive
  

• Grand Funk
  

• War
  

(Sleeper, Styx)

[CRA]

Nickleback

They suck.

Creed FTW!!

[BountyHunter]

• Three dog night
  

• Creedence Clearwater Revival
  

• Bachman Turner Overdrive
  

• Grand Funk
  

• War
  

(Sleeper, Styx)

Love the Grand Funk choice. I would put Steppenwolf ahead of War.

Good list!!