I will admit that the Monkees were underrated but I couldn't help but think about The Byrds and their song, "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star" which was, supposedly, their dig at the Monkees. The ironic thing is that on their first single, "Mr. Tambourine Man", only Roger (known as Jim back then) McGuinn played as the rest of the instruments were played by session men/women (including Carol Kaye and Hal Blaine). But that was only that first time that happened. Speaking of underrated bands, it is my opinion that The Byrds along with The Doors were the greatest American bands of the '60s.
Kanye West - Graduation Common - Like Water for Chocolate Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary
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the king is dead - the decemberists thank you happy birthday - cage the elephant kiss each other clean - iron and wine
5th track off of The End Of The Ocean's debut album Pacific-Atlantic on Future Recordings label. <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ht0iOf-jHpI" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe> the band was kind enough to give me an exclusive free download to their track 'We Always Think There Is Going To Be More Time' and it's devastating. Enjoy Clutchfans. http://www.mediafire.com/?f9wwzdfrous6vs2 The End Of The Ocean will be at The Mink in Houston, Texas on March 31st with Lights of Attica.
My vote would go to Buffalo Springfield and CCR. In the same way that the Monkees get points deducted for not writing their own material until their 3rd CD, so must the Byrds for being essentially a Dylan cover band early on in their career. However, yes, they were somewhat pioneers in the country-rock genre with Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The funny thing is that Mike Nesmith of the Monkees was writing and producing country-rock songs before many of the other bands in the 60s ("Papa Gene's Blues" came out in early 1966). That's the thing about the Monkees- if you think about it, the likelihood of them forming a cohesive band and putting out quality music was highly unlikely. You had 4 guys who were hired primarily for their acting ability, with the music as an afterthought (most bands are started because friends know each other growing up, they have a chance to practice together,etc.). Very little in common in real life. Yet, Nesmith was a songwriter and producer, Tork played 12 instruments, and all were very good singers (well, Tork was average). And the albums on which they weren't forced to use outside musicians, such as Headquarters and the 4th CD, were among the best of the 60s. The lyrics are just as relevant today: <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F3e3X5LAB1E" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe> "I remember when the answers seemed so clear We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear It was easy then to tell truth from lies Selling out from compromise Who to love and who to hate The foolish from the wise." But today there is no day or night Today there is no dark or light Today there is no black or white Only shades of gray." Buffalo Springfield is my personal vote for #1 of the 60s, though. You have Stills, Neil Young, and Messina in the same band. The music, to me, is much more diverse than the other bands mentioned (The Doors were diverse, but questionable material on some of the CDs)- the only knock on them is that they only released 3 CDs. Otherwise, they would clearly be more recognized than they are. Top 10 American Bands: 1. REM 2. Cheap Trick (biggest gap on my list is between 2 and 3- for the top 2 on my list, I own every single CD, including live, box sets, etc.) 3. CCR 4. The Ramones 5. Lynyrd Skynyrd 6. Buffalo Springfield 7. Aerosmith (pre 1980s) 8. The Beach Boys 9. Van Halen 10. About 50 tied for 10th- too many to mention- Byrds, Doors, Allman Brothers, Monkees, Heart, Pearl Jam, etc. According to Rankopedia, in their survey of "Best All-Time Rock Band," the best American band is Metallica. 1. The Beatles 1960 41.07 (=) 2. Led Zeppelin 1968 36.14 (=) 3. Pink Floyd 1966 23.93 (=) 4. Queen 1970 22.08 (=) 5. Rolling Stones 1962 21.03 (=) 6. The Who 1964 15.67 (=) 7. Metallica 1981 13.91 (=) 8. AC/DC 1973 13.16 (=) 9. U2 1976 12.61 (=) 10. Nirvana 1987 11.37 (=) 11. Guns N' Roses1985 11.04 (=) 12. The Doors 1965 10.70 (=) 13. Jimi Hendrix 1966 9.31 (=) 14. Chili Peppers 1983 9.27 (=) 15. Black Sabbath1969 6.98 (=) (folds up lectern and puts soapbox back in the closet).
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My journey to the Zappa side is almost complete. I've always been a casual fan because of his amazing drummers, but I've been totally immersing myself into his music for a good 2 weeks now. I literally can't get enough. Apostrophe We're Only in It for the Money Joe's Garage Zappa in New York Bongo Fury
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Good post and I agree for the most part; however, Gene Clark was a very solid and skilled songwriter and some of the Byrds' best songs on their first 2 albums were written by him. Just take a listen to: "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "Set You Free This Time", "Here Without You", "If You're Gone", "The World Turns All Around Her", "She Don't Care About Time" and "Eight Miles High" All some of the best songs the Byrds ever did. Unfortunately, Clark had a myriad of personal problems and left the band during the recording of their 3rd album (which did NOT feature a single Dylan song on the album). It is true that the group did feature "My Back Pages" on their 4th album but by this point, McGuinn along with both David Crosby and Chris Hillman had sharpened their songwriting skills. As a matter of fact, a big reason for Crosby being booted out of the group was his dissatisfaction with McGuinn and Hillman doing "Going Back", a Goffin and King number, as he felt that the band was past the point of doing cover songs since they had 3 original songwriters. The Byrds released 12 studio albums and going by the ORIGINAL album tracklisting, they had a whopping 6 Dylan covers on their first 2 albums. However, after "My Back Pages" showed up on "Younger Than Yesterday", the Byrds only had 4 other Dylan songs show up on the remainder of their albums (5 if you count The Ballad of Easy Rider which Dylan refused songwriting credit for). And of those 4 songs, 3 were Basement Tapes songs that were unknown to the general public and the last song was a radically different arrangement of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". So what I am saying is that the group tremendously diversified over the years into something more than a Dylan cover band. They along with The Band were one of the biggest influences on the burgeoning country rock movement. I mean 2 of their former members in Hillman and Gram Parsons founded the Flying Burrito Brothers. Springfield was great, no doubt about it, but in my opinion, their body of work is pretty lean with only 3 albums. Granted they did have Neil Young and Stephen Stills plus Richie Furay and others but I can't see how their members' future accomplishments make up for the small body of work. If you go by the more influential band, then the Springfield was probably the greater group but going by the body of work of both bands, you have to give it to the Byrds in my opinion simply because they had 12 studio albums to BS's 3.
Actually, you would have to give it to one group based on quality, with quantity a secondary factor. If you want to rate the Byrds ahead based on quality, that makes sense. But if it were based on quantity, then I'd have to rate the Stones better than the Beatles. The way I look at it is like this: how do you rate each group's top 3 albums? Then, does the quantity of the Byrds override the fact that the B.S' 3 albums are better (that is, if that is one's opinion). I just remember listening to the first 4 from the Byrds, and I did like them (I'm a huge fan of the Rickenbacker), but they just didn't affect me that much as other groups like The Animals. I always felt the Buffalo Springfield was much more diverse and interesting. JMO.
Moby Grape FTW!! Check out this live clip of them from the Mike Douglas show; <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-r6eGG6Y-zs" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe> Triple stacked guitars and every member of the band sings, they were hyped to the gills when they came out but are named as an influence by greats like Robert Plant. HIGHLY underrated!
The thing is that you are probably right that the Springfield had more quality than the Byrds as I feel that the last decent Byrds album was the Untitled double album that included Chestnut Mare plus several live cuts. They had 3 albums after that one and they were all below average (including the final one which was a reunion of the original members). Many people felt that they were "played out" once Gram left them after Sweetheart of the Rodeo but Clarence White was a phenomenal guitarist and Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) was a steady drummer. They just couldn't keep a decent bass player, lol. The material was also lacking but that version of the group might have been the best version of the band from a musical standpoint. T n F - thanks for the video, don't know much about the Grape but would like to find out more!
Trying to find rock songs that include a banjo- so far: The Eagles: Take It Easy, Midnight Flyer, Journey of the Sorcerer The Who: Squeeze Box Neil Young: Old Man Grateful Dead: Cumberland Blues REM: Wendell Gee, I Believe Fleetwood Mac: The Chain Guns N Roses: Breakdown (yes, G&R has a song with a banjo- weird) Aerosmith: Kings and Queens The Monkees: You Told Me Buffalo Springfield: Bluebird The Doors: Running Blue Doobie Brothers: Black Water That's all I could come up with- no list on the 'Net, from what I could find. Any others?
Thank you!! Trying to find this stuff on other sites but not much to find. AND THIS THREAD IS AT 200 PAGES!!! MUSIC LIVES!!!
How obscure you willing to consider? Ministry - "Nursing Home" on Dark Side of the Spoon has Banjo and Saxophone and is an awesome song. Can't remember the tunes, but Primus has some banjo here and there, "The Air is getting Slippery" has some pretty meager banjo on it, and "De Anza Jig" has it but is pretty traditional if also meager in terms of a banjo tune. But I know there are others, including a full "Primus Banjo Set" that is all over google. Never seen that, but now I wanna. I woulda guessed Beefheart and the Magic Band had some, but can't find any in the tunes I have, at a glance. I've been thinking I need a banjo, especially since I saw Steve Martin play "Atheists don't have no songs" (Thanks VoodooPope, very cool).