Greatest American rock band

Grand Funk Railroad.

They're an American band.

 

Eclectic. But no Cleveland bashing will be tolerated.

 

I'm going to throw Red Hot Chili Peppers out there. I believe they've had 11 number one hits and as evidenced by Stadium Arcadium, they are still going strong. I think they have to be considered along with Pearl Jam for best of the last 20 years.

 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

 

I've always thought CCR was the greatest American rock band. John Fogerty proved to be one of the greatest American songwriters of any era. Their music just fucking rocked.

Many other great ones have been mentioned and I'll throw out four others for consideration: J. Geils Band, the Allmans (with Duane), ZZ Top and the Brothers Ramone.

 

Ramones a close second after Springsteen/E Street.

Alway thought the Geils band was underrated, mainly because of the success of the mediocre "Centerfold." Early 70s Geils rocked.

 

We had a discussion in the office several years ago. Top three American bands of all-time. One of our parttimers, who isn't the brightest porch light on the block, immediately says "Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who." Uh, those bands are from England. "Oh, how about Kool and the Gang." And he's been with us for 15 years. Any wonder why he's still parttime?

 

Grateful Dead

 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, if only because their live shows are beyond anything the other big names crank out.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers belongs in any discussion.

 

I say this as a Springsteen fanatic (90+ shows and counting) .... should we be considering Bruce & the E Street Band, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, etc. BANDS in the same sense of a band that CCR, the Doors, Aeorsmith and REM are bands. Petty put out a solo album, Bruce has toured twice solo and with two bands (92-93, Seeger Sessions) besides the E Street Band.
The other thing that might disqualify the E Street Band from this discussion.... only one Springsten album has been released as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (Live 1975-85). Every other album has simply been released as Bruce Springsteen.

 

But you know as well as I do, his shows with the E Street Band are like nothing else.

 

I think so, because in most of the other examples you cite, the bands have one dominant leader (CCR/Fogerty, Doors/Morrison, Aerosmith/Tyler, and REM/Stipe), and the distinction between them and groups such as Bruce/E Street, Petty/Heartbreakers and Seger/Silver Bullet is mainly semantic.

If you wanted to go with "bands with no one truly dominant personality," I guess you'd have to go with the Eagles, The Band, and probably the Dead (although Jerry was close to 'the leader' of the band).