In my opinion, they absolutely belong in the upper echelon of rock bands. Great frontman with great vocals, excellent song craft, excellent overall musicianship, and The Edge had a completely distinct style on the “lead” guitar. I put lead in quotes because I’m not sure he ever actually played a traditional guitar solo. U2 is truly a great band. And they have the overall music catalog to rival anyone.
I always like Ranker because they are just voted on by everyone. And they seem to think I'm smart The 250+ Best Rock N Roll Bands Ever, Ranked By Fans
Helter Skeltor. Happiness Is A Warm Gun. Me And My Monkey. Etc, etc. The fact is, The Rolling Stones were incapable of producing anything beyond their rough, raw sound people so readily identify with. While The Beatles had the musicianship to push the boundaries, and had the balls to do so.
I think Jimi would have taken the top spot had he not died at 27. And even dying at 27 he was still EASILY the greatest American rock & roll artist not named Elvis.
So good he made the top 10 twice! I'm actually not a huge Jimi fan, although I appreciate how good and revolutionary he was. As long as we're all in agreement The Eagles are overrated we can all still be friends here.
I agree that the Stones, especially comparatively speaking, were sort of a one trick pony. But it was the best trick, IMO. And the Beatles just couldn't do it in that same visceral, gritty way.
I think it's hard to say the Stones were sort of a one trick pony when they made some killer Country songs also.
That's not true either! Time is on My Side, As Tears Go By, Ruby Tuesday, She's a Rainbow, Under My Thumb ... and later stuff like Miss You or Beast of Burden. The Stones could do pop songs too!
I really mean just when compared with the Beatles. The Beatles were a jack of all trades and the Stones were the masters of one.
This isnt about women, its about you needing to put on some Zeppelin and putting some hair on your chest with thumping blues riffs
True that. I think the ultimate one trick pony that still makes all these top 10 lists is Pink Floyd. And I love Floyd.
And he was completely self taught. Truly a brilliant musician. I had the opportunity to listen to some of his studio tracks. A lot of this was the “layering” guitar tracks, well underneath the main body of the song. It was stunning. As a younger person, it was so easy to be overwhelmed by the excellence of his solos. What I came to believe, however, was the true genius was to be found in those backing tracks. They were so freaking beautiful. Like I said, stunning. It was also crazy to hear true brilliance in the tracks, both solo and backing guitar, that were discarded as unusable. I also think he is under appreciated as a songwriter.
