The Greatest American Band Debate: The Up-and-Comers

For the greatest American band debate, today I'm going to write about some current bands that I think are on the verge of belonging in the conversation. These particular bands aren't quite at the level of some of the other bands I've written about, but they could be if they continue on their current paths. Some of these bands have only put out one, two or three albums, but the albums they've released have put quite an impression on not only me, but the masses as well.

The first band I want to talk about is Alabama Shakes. I have written about them already on the website, reviewing their most recent album "Sound and Color". As my review stated, I love this album. It's a wonderful array of different genres of rock music. They use cool effects and bring in new instruments to mess around with. Their first album, "Boys and Girls" was an out of nowhere phenomena to me. I had a friend tell me about the record, I bought it not having heard anything from it, and was immediately hooked. It's a throwback to swamp rock. It's funkier than any Creedance album I've heard, and Brittany Howard is a powerhouse. If Alabama Shakes continues to get better and experiment like they have on their first two records, there will be no denying the fact that they belong in the conversation. They are bringing swamp rock to the masses and taking chances that make their music sound that much better. Alabama Shakes are a very good band.

Another band that is on the verge is Ratatat. I've written about their record and concert on the website. They are bringing electronic music to the masses. Their newest album, "Magnifique", was one of the best reviewed records of the year. Ratatat is the newer, better version of a band like YES or ELO. Their electronic music appeals to the masses because it's guitar driven. It's not jump computers and repetitive beats used over and over again. It's actual music that has a beginning, middle and end. There are no words, but you get the gist while listening. You can also tell when the bridge comes in. They are weirdos making some of the best electronic music I've ever heard. They have released more albums than the other bands I will mention today, but they don't have the mass appeal that some of the other bands do. That has begun to change with "Magnifique", and if my father is into an electronic band, they have to be good because he doesn't like electronic music at all. Ratatat is a great band that is finally getting noticed.

Black Joe Lewis has a chance to be huge. On their first two records the band went by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. They played some of the funkiest rock and roll I'd ever heard. Black Joe Lewis almost sounds like a modern day James Brown, scream singing lyrics, and the rest of the band is dynamite. The horn section is absolutely phenomenal. The drums and guitars are totally on point. After the release of their first two albums, they changed their name to Black Joe Lewis. They've released one album under this name and while it's not as funky, it's one of the best rock and roll albums I've heard in a long time. The band uses very heavily distorted guitars and they almost have a metal sound. But, just when you think it's going to be Black Sabbath esque, Black Joe Lewis comes in with his awesome, gruff voice and gives you what you are used to out of the band. The horns even make an appearance on more than half the album. Black Joe Lewis is great. They are one of the best rock bands out there now. They should be playing arenas, but they may like playing the smaller venues more. Black Joe Lewis is incredible. Go out and listen to them now.

The Arcs, another band I've written about before, put out one of the coolest albums I've heard all year. "Yours Dreamily" is a Western movie soundtrack with fantastic musicians playing the music. It's not corny like most Western movie music, it's rock and roll mixed with funk, blues and even a little R&B. It's not literally a Western movie soundtrack, that's just what it sounds like to me. The Arcs are one of Dan Auerbach's side projects. He has many other interests outside of the Black Keys, but The Arcs has been my personal favorite. It doesn't hurt that Richard Swift is the co founder of this band. He's an awesome solo artist, and he's been playing bass with the Black Keys on their most recent tour. Dan Auerbach has a chance to be in this conversation at least twice. He's a musical genius and I'd take him any day over the extremely overrated Jack White. If The Arcs continue to make more and more records, I'd be hard pressed to not write about them for the greatest American band debate.

The last band I want to talk about today is St. Paul and the Broken Bones. They've only released one album so far, but it's dynamite. "Half the City" is 50's and 60's R&B come to life in the 21st century. The band plays excellent, funky music in the background and the lead singer has one of the best voices I've heard in a long while. He can hit very high notes. He reminds me of a modern, better Rufus Thomas. The band is incredible, as I stated before, and they play perfect funk/R&B music. Not too many people know St. Paul and the Broken Bones, but I have a feeling that will change very soon. They have a radio friendly sound and they will start to become more and more popular within the next few years, especially if their future albums are as good as their debut. There are many other bands I'm leaving out of the discussion today, but these five have the best chance to end up in the greatest American band debate in the future. As long as they all continue to do what they're doing, and get better and better, they will all be as famous and popular as the bands I've written about for this debate previous to today.

Go out and listen to these bands if you don't already. You'll thank me later.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He will be travelling a lot this Thanksgiving and plans on listen to these bands multiple times. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Introduction

Time to get the records out.

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

I'm a lover of all music.

All music except for jazz and new age country that is. People often pose the question to me, "Who's the best band"? There is any number of answers to give. Some may say The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etcetera. The one thing you may have noticed in those answers is, those are all bands from overseas. Mainly the United Kingdom. Why no American bands? Is it because most great American musicians are solo artists? We have Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson, BB King, Miles Davis and Woody Guthrie just to name a few. And before I get yelled at online, I don't count Janis Joplin's backing band, The Holding Company, or Bob Dylan playing with The Band(who are all Canadian except for Levon Helm) as great American bands. They're very good, but not great.

So, let's break it down. Who is the greatest American band? Do they come from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or 2000's? Is there even an American band that can hold a card to the great bands from overseas? I don't know that for sure, but I'm going to throw out a lot of great American bands today and we can all decide together.

Let's take the 50's. One band that comes to mind for me is The Crickets. You may know them as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The Crickets played on some of the greatest songs in the history of music and were just as important to Buddy Holly's music as Buddy Holly was. Some people may put The Crickets into The Holding Company category, but go back and listen to some of their stuff and you will see how influential they were on modern day rock and roll.

In the 60's, we got some more psychedelic rock bands from America, but I'm not too crazy about some of these bands. First, we have The Doors. I am not a fan of the Doors, but they were hugely popular and definitely put their stamp on rock music. Jim Morrison was fine as a poet and songwriter, albeit super overrated in my opinion, but his band was really pretty good. They just had an unfortunate choice in picking their lead singer and were stuck with Jim Morrison. Then there's the Beach Boys. I CANNOT stand the Beach Boys. They made crappy pop music and are an abomination to rock and roll. That being said, they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a lot of people not only like the Beach Boys, they love them. Their fans will also defend Brian Wilson to the heavens, no matter how difficult of a person he is to work and deal with. My favorite American bad from the sixties, by far, is Creedance Clearwater Revival. Their brand of rock music, mixed with blues and soul is undeniably great. They've had a ton of hits and a ton of fans, are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Fogerty is still making pretty good music as a solo artist.

The 70's brought along a lot of great talent to American rock and roll. We got the Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Each one is great in their own right, and in the case of Aerosmith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers they are still making music. In Tom Petty's case, he is still making great music. Many people might even say that The Eagles are the greatest American rock band of all time. I disagree. The 70's did put out some great music from all corners. We also got KISS, the Ramones and Sly and the Family Stone. Another band from the 70's that people love is Grateful Dead. Not me though. In my opinion, they are a jam band that has no structure to their jams. I don't want to hear one song that's usually three and a half minutes long turn into a 30 minute song. no thanks. My older brothers will be pretty upset at me for trashing the Grateful Dead, but I just don't like them. When it comes to 70's American bands, it gets no better than the Allman Brothers Band. They played great songs with a beautiful mixture of rock and blues. Robert Johnson introduced me to the blues and Son House introduced me to slide guitar, but the Allman Brothers made slide guitar and rock/blues music cool. They are not just one of the best American bands, they're one of the greatest bands of all time period.

The 80's changed what rock music could be in America. Bands like Heart and The Runaways showed that girls can rock just as hard as guys. Blondie blended all different types of music, and did it very well. And yes, Blondie is the band name, Debbie Harry is their lead singer's name. But, when it comes to 80's rock bands in America, the Talking Heads are the greatest. David Byrne is a genius and still making fantastic music. The Talking Heads were innovators and way ahead of their time. They tried so many different things with their music and, more times than not, hit it out of the park.

The 90's brought on the grunge era in American rock music. We got great bands like Green Day, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Each band is great in it's own way. Green Day brought back punk/pop music. Soundgarden brought back the psychedelic rock from the 60's and 70's and Pearl Jam was dark a brooding. A very cool version of emo. Then came Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was a musical genius. Especially as a lyricist. His lyrics are profound and prolific. He died way too young and became way too famous too fast. His two band mates, Kris Novaselic and Dave Grohl were excellent. Most people know Dave Grohl and all the work he's doing right now and Kris Novaselic has played bass for many different bands. When it comes to 90's American rock for me, it gets no better than Weezer. I love Weezer. Rivers Cuomo is a great writer and very excellent, very underrated guitar player. Their first album, "The Blue Album" is a work of art. Then, they released "Pinkerton" which is just as good and maybe even a bit better than "The Blue Album" Weezer is awesome.

Which brings me to the 2000's. Time will have to tell with this era. It's only been 15 years and these bands still need a bit more seasoning. That being said, there are some bands on their way to greatness for sure. The White Stripes could've been on their way if they were still making music. Jack White has also become an unfavorable character and a shell of his former self as a musician. He's also a well known asshole too. Bands like the Black Keys and TV on the Radio still need time, but in the Black Keys case, they are well on their way. There are other bands such as, Alabama Shakes and The Shins, but like I said earlier. Time will tell.

See, in this long piece I couldn't single out just one American band. There's a lot to choose from and if I was told that I had to name one right now, I'd pick the Black Keys, strictly because they're my favorite band. I didn't even touch on rap groups and yes, rap groups can be considered great American bands. I'll leave that for a future piece. So people out there reading this, let me know which American bands are great in your eyes. Who did I leave out or who did I bash that you like. Or, do you agree with me. Leave a comment and until later, keep listening to good rock and roll music.

Be it American rock or otherwise.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is eager to write another 1000 words on music. Follow him on twitter @tykulik