Peak Music

I'd argue they first achieved greatness with Beggar's Banquet, peaked with Sticky Fingers and capped off an unparalleled run with Exile (for all the well-deserved accolades Exile gets, Sticky Fingers is better)

 

There was another thread about this someplace. And yes, they could really play. Clifford's drums looked like a basic starter kit you could buy in every music store in America - four drums and three cymbals, and he played the hell out of them.

My favorite CCR songs are "Have You Ever Seen the Rain." And the instrumental part of "Ramble Tamble."

Steve Earle, I'd go with "I Ain't Ever Satisfied." Heard that on the radio in 1984 or 1985 and I immediately went out and bought "Exit 0."

 

Who's Next is peak Who even though the album itself was a salvation project of songs from the aborted Lifehouse. But subjectively,and this is all subjective, Quadrophenia is still my favorite Who album (and they're my favorite band) and it's miles if not galaxies better than Tommy.

Subjectively Springsteen's has to be Born to Run because I love every song and find everything else the man's ever done to be tedious beyond comprehension.

Totally agree on U2 -- Achtung Baby is their best album start to finish, even if Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree both have songs (Bad, A Sort of Homecoming, Where the Streets Have No Name, One Tree Hill) that are better than the best songs on Achtung Baby.

For my other favorite band, Iron Maiden, their peak would be 1982 (when Bruce Dickinson joined the band and they released "Number of the Beast") to 1988 with "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son." Most people would say their peak was 1984-85 with the release of "Powerslave" and the tour that went with it, which produced the epic live album, "Live After Death," but I'll give my hot take and say "Somewhere In Time" is actually the best album during that run, even if Powerslave is the popular choice. I'll also say their last 2 albums (released in 2016 and 2021) are really, really damn good and aren't that far off their peak.

 

Lyres is/was a garage band from Boston. I saw them like 30 years ago one night in a small club down South.

This song flat-out kicks ass. It tops my list of "Best Rock Songs That Never Hit It Big." ... Anyone else know it well?

 

This is true, but Sam’s Town is criminally underrated.

 

For the folks referencing the Creedence doc (another endorsement from me as well), you may enjoy this ranking of CCR songs by Steven Hyden: https://uproxx.com/indie/creedence-clearwater-revival-best-songs-ranked-list/

 

That's a great article, thanks. For all of the band/record company stuff that tore them apart, the word that comes to mind to me is workmanlike. They built like craftsmen, plumb, square, and on the level. Not fancy or elaborate, but solid. Throw in that John Fogerty was a punk in a flannel shirt a long time back. It's just such good music.

 

Kid A/Amnesiac is Radiohead's peak.

 

Regarding Steve Hyden, he's written a few of those rankings pieces. I've gone back to re-read ones he's done on Springsteen, Petty and Oasis.

 

It's all a matter of opinion, of course, but I consider "Let It Bleed" far better than "Sticky Fingers." Consider "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" -- they stand out as rock anthems more than anything else the Stones have done before or since.

So, I'm changing my vote. "Let It Bleed" is the pinnacle of Rolling Stones artistry.

 

Tom Waits -- "Rain Dogs."

 

thing I find most intriguing about CCR is that few, if any, of their best songs have anything to do with love, romance, sex -- the typical rock n'roll subjects.