Greatest American Music - The Genius of Jack White

I have found myself listening to more and more White Stripes lately. Let’s discuss.

I went through a big phase where they were one of my most listened to bands. Then I fell off. I never really pinpointed why. I think it was a number of things. But, the main issue I had was, I despise Jack White. I still do. He seems like a real piece of work. He feels pretentious to me. I don't like the way he speaks. I don't like his dumb little faces he makes when he is out in public. I think he took his persona a little too far, and now that is his whole being, I must have read something negative about him, and that was all I needed to stop listening to his band. I had all the records, I dove into their history, I saw them live, I felt like I did it all. But, due to the fact that I still listen to, and adore, The Black Keys, Spotify put it upon themselves to play more White Stripes when they curated a Black Keys inspired playlist for me. At first I'd skip and move along. But, one day I decided to listen.

The song was "Apple Blossom", off one of their earliest records, and I wanted to hear it again. I think I wanted to understand why I was so into this band at one point in my life. That particular song took me back. I was instantly into the music. I was vibing out. This made me listen to more and more of their music, and I have found it quite enjoyable. I have rediscovered why I like this band so much too. There is one single reason in fact. That reason is, drumroll please, Jack White.

As much as I dislike his personality, as much as others say he is kind of a jerk, as much as his public persona bugs me, the dude is a musical genius. His writing, while simplistic, is dope. I like the old timey blues lean to a bunch of their songs. You can hear the influences. From Robert Johnson to BB King and Muddy Waters, it is all there. You can feel the imprint a band like Led Zeppelin left on him as a younger person. You can hear the ripping guitar and heavy distortion that made them such a big hit in the early 2010's. That, that right there, the sound, that is what I love most about this band. Meg White is a fine drummer. She can keep the rhythm, she does some pretty cool fills and she seems to enjoy drums. But Jack White is the true driving force behind this band. And it is his guitar playing that makes it so listenable.

I was driving my son home from camp today and the song "Ball and a Biscuit" came on. This is a true hit. This song slaps. This is such a simply written song. But the guitar is truly amazing. That is what makes the song so damn good. Jack White shreds solos over and over and over again. He switches from distortion to reverb and back like it is nothing. The guitar in this song gives me mixes of Zeppelin and if Son House had played an electric guitar. It truly slaps. It is probably one of my favorite songs of all time, and it is solely due to the guitar in there. White, for all of his warts, is an undeniably phenomenal guitar player. The dude knows what he is doing and he does it well. He takes risks on that instrument and he hits more often than not. Even when The White Stripes stopped making music, his other projects worked for me as well. The only reason, he shreds guitar over and over and over again. And I cannot get enough of it when I listen. So, for all the reasons I should not like him, his music is reason enough for me to separate the art from the artist. He has not been accused of some things that other famous people have, so maybe I should be a little less angry about his nonsense.

All in all, I'm stoked that I was able to get to this place with his music because Jack White is a really dope guitar player, and if you are on the fence about listening to him, let it go and try it out. You will not be disappointed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Greatest American Band Debate: We Miss Deadboy and the Elephantmen and also Ben Kweller

Instead of singling out one band for the greatest American band debate today, I want to talk about one band and one musician, that I'm a huge fan of both, that just kind of disappeared in the last five or six years. I was very high on both when they released new records, but one day, they both just vanished. I still listen to them in my car, but there has been no new music, at least to the best of my knowledge, from these two in a long time. This won't be like one of my previous blogs when I talked about bands I used to like, like Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals and the White Stripes, who I don't care for anymore. And it will not be like another blog when I wrote about bands on the cusp of greatness, like Alabama Shakes and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. These two each had potential, but they just up and vanished and I have been craving new music from each of them, but I don't know that it will ever happen again.

First, I'm going to address the band. The band that I'm talking about is Deadboy and the Elephantmen. This band was, and is still, great. This was a two piece band, consisting of guitar and drums. They came out in the early to mid 2000's and really used the two piece phenomenon to their advantage. The White Stripes and the Black Keys both started to gain notoriety in the mid 2000's , and a lot of 2 piece bands starting showing up. I listened to most of them, but besides the Black Keys, Deadboy and the Elephantmen really stuck with me. I really enjoyed their sound. It was one guy and one girl. They did the White Stripes thing, the guy playing guitar and being the lead singer and the girl on drums. They did branch out a bit, letting the lady do lead vocals on some songs. They sounded awesome together.

You may be reading this and saying that you have never heard of this band, but I know that you know at least one of their songs. The song that introduced me to this bad was called "Stop, I'm Already Dead". This song was played a ton, and it is still being played. In fact, it's the opening theme song to the show "I Zombie". It was a great, hard rocking song. They sounded a bit like early Black Keys, so I was on board. I loved the single, and I bought the whole album almost immediately. The rest of the record is fantastic. They play mostly rock songs, but there is also some slower, ballady type stuff on the record. I was really intrigued by their sound and I thought that they could take it in all kinds of different directions. I listened to the record on repeat for a long time. I figured they'd be coming out with new stuff soon because their debut album was awesome.

Eight or nine years later, and there is nothing. I don't know if I missed new material or if they just stopped after one record. I really liked this band a lot and I was hoping for a lot of records from them over the next decade. That unfortunately hasn't happened and I don't know what happened to them. I love and miss Deadboy and the Elephantmen. I truly expected great things from them, but I guess I will have to settle for their one record. At least it is a very good, very solid album.

The next person was one of my favorites. He's a solo artist and he is extremely talented. There were rumors that he'd play every instrument on the recordings of his records. His concert is one that RD and I have mentioned on the podcast a couple of times. That artist is Ben Kweller.

Straight out of high school, I loved Ben Kweller. I saw the video for "Wasted and Ready", and I was enamored. Kweller perfectly blended the lines of rock, pop, and even threw some punk in there for good measure. He also knew how to write a beautiful, acoustic love song. This dude was awesome. His first album, "Sha Sha", is about 35 minutes of some of the best rock/pop music that has ever been released. Every song on the record is awesome. The aforementioned "Wasted and Ready", "How it Should Be", "Family Tree" and "Lizzy" are all great and they are all mixed genres. This album was crucial listening in my town house for me and my roommates, one of which was RD. I was hooked on Ben Kweller after this. Just two years later, he released "On My Way". It wasn't as good as "Sha Sha", but I still loved it. This record was more love songs and more ballads, but, as I just said, it was great. I listened to it, and learned a lot of it on guitar, in about 2 weeks. Kweller was still big in my life as an early 20 year old. I anxiously awaited his next album, and two more years later, he released his self titled album. This was good, but it was a bit of a letdown for me personally. There wasn't much growth. He was really honing in on the pop/rock, and I had heard the same thing for two straight records. I still listened to the album, but I wanted something different from Kweller.

With his next album, I got exactly what I wanted. A lot of people aren't huge fans of "Changing Horses", but I think it is wonderful. I wanted different and "Changing Horses" is just that. This record is pure folk. Kweller wrote and plays everything on this album. He can write one hell of a folk song and he is masterful on slide guitar. I loved this departure from the norm. It was a breath of fresh air. He showed me, and his fans, that he could do something different. He didn't just have to write pop songs, he could really branch out. I think this record is a classic, but a lot of his fans will disagree.

I was hoping Kweller would take more chances. But in 2012, he released "Go Fly A Kite", and it was back to his pop roots. It's still good, but after the masterful "Changing Horses", I couldn't help but feel let down. The best thing about "Go Fly A Kite" was the fact that he released the tablature for the whole album. This made it even easier to learn his songs from this album on guitar. But, since then, Kweller has not released any music. It's been four years now, and I don't know if he quit making music, if he got bored of making music, or if he just wanted to focus on being a dad and husband, but I miss his music. I still have all his albums, but "Changing Horses" and "Sha Sha" are the two I listen to the most. Hopefully, he will return to making music, but you never know, and four years is a long layoff for someone that is not that famous.

I loved, and still love both Ben Kweller and Deadboy and the Elephantmen, I just wish they kept making more music. They were both unique and interesting in their own ways and I could only imagine how much better and more experimental they could have gotten, had they continued to make music. I miss you guys and I hope you reunite, Deadboy and the Elephantmen, and I hope you get the urge to write and record more, Ben Kweller, because the music business and the fans miss you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Did you know Ty likes guitar music? He even has a favorite kind of guitar. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

For the greatest American band debate I'm going to nominate Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band.

I fell in love with this band right after I discovered the Black Keys. I read an article where Dan Auerbach called Captain Beefeheart one of his biggest influences in music and I had to hear this guy immediately. It was awesome. The first record I bought was "Safe As Milk", and let me tell you, this thing is the earliest form of garage rock that I ever heard and it was totally awesome. The sound that his band made with their instruments, the distortion and reverb from guitars, the fuzzy bass, the weird drum lines and fills, and Beefheart's voice, it was incredible. I had heard stuff like this before, but not this good. I like garage music. Bands like the Black Keys, the White Stripes, the Hives, Bloc Party and the Heavy are all in my normal rotation, except for the White Stripes now, and it is all great, but it is not Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band.

Look at some of the songs on "Safe As Milk". You have stuff like "I'm Glad", "Abba Zabba", "Zig Zag Wanderer", "Grown So Ugly" and "Sure 'Nuff n Yes I Do". All classic and all very different from each other. That's the sign of a great songwriter and a great band. When you can change genres in the course of one album, that takes a boat load of talent and ingenuity. "I'm Glad" is a slower, almost love song, but with the funky instruments playing very fuzzy riffs makes it awesome. "I'm Glad" also has some beautifully written lyrics that come off as legit poetry. Beefheart opining for the good days, saying stuff like, "when we met I was sad, at times I felt really bad, but now I'm glad, I'm glad about the good times, oh, that we had". Wonderful. His backing band, almost sounding like doo wop, is such a great added bonus. "Abba Zabba" is a classic throwback rock song with Beefheart gruffly singing the words to perfection. When he needs to hit higher notes on "Abba Zabba", he knocks that out of the park as well.

Beefheart, his real name is Van Vilet, is one of the greatest writers and musicians of all time. "Zig Zag Wanderer" is your typical 60's rock and roll song made that much cooler by the Magic Band. The guitar and bass are distorted perfection and I could listen to this song over and over again. "Grown So Ugly" has some of the most unique and interesting time changes I've ever heard in one 2 and a half minute song. They start out fast with a heavy guitar riff and Beefheart screaming the lyrics, then just stop completely, come back slow for the verse, then do that over and over again for the glorious duration of the song. I love the Black Keys version of this song,  but the original is so much better and so phenomenal considering when it was recorded.

The opening track to "Safe As Milk", "Sure 'Nuff n Yes I Do" was the perfect gateway to their music for me. It starts out with a fuzzy slide guitar riff, so I'm immediately on board, and it just gets better from there, growing louder and faster and ending with a boom. This song opened my mind to true, original garage rock. Captain Beefeheart and his Magic Band have put out a ton of albums, 9 to be exact, but "Safe As Milk" is the cream of the crop for me. Don't get wrong, their other stuff is very, very good, I just really love "Safe As Milk".

What I really want to touch on for the rest of the blog is the many, many bands that they have influenced and Captain Beefheart's relationship with Frank Zappa. Let's look at the people they have influenced first, There's the afformentioned Black Keys and White Stripes, but they also made a mark with bands and musicians like PJ Harvey, Beck, Franz Ferdinand, LCD Soundsystem, Kurt Cobain, Black Francis of the Pixies, John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and my brother Seth's favorite, Tom Waits. That is a murderer's row of very famous singers, bands, songwriters and musicians. I mean, a guy like Beck, who bends all genres of music, calling Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band is a huge feather in their cap and shows how great of a band they truly were. Even a band like LCD Soundsysytem, that mainly dabbles in the electronica notes how influential they were and covers some of their songs on their records. They may be one of the underrated American bands as well as one of the greatest American bands. That list of people they influenced could go on and on.

Beefheart's friendship and relationship with Frank Zappa helped explain a lot of things abut his musical stylings and just the flat out bizarre stuff he did as a musician. They met each other when they were teenagers and bonded over their love for blues and R&B, according to Wikipedia. They also recorded very early, like when they both broke into the industry, and Zappa helped cultivate the Captain Beefheart persona. Before Beefeheart, Van Vilet was just your everyday studio musician and he performed live with Zappa's band, the Mothers of Invention, who I will definitely write about at another date. As they got older and grew in the industry, sometimes their friendship would turn into a rivalry, like when two brothers fight. They fought because they couldn't tour independently due to contract obligations, thanks again Wikipedia. They fought so much at this time, they wouldn't speak to each other, much like when two brothers fight. They went their separate ways for awhile, but when Zappa was diagnosed with the cancer that would eventually take his life, they reconnected. They went back to recording together in the studio and put out some great songs. Stuff like "Muffin Man" and "Willie the Pimp". They remained friends through Zappa's untimely death and I'm positive they were happy they buried the hatchet and became friends again. Anyone that can work with and be almost as musically accomplished as Frank Zappa is a genius in my book and Van Vilet AKA Captain Beefheart is just that.

I suggest, for the young kids out there, if you like the Black Keys and other similar bands, go back and check out Captain Beefeheart and his Magic Band. That was where they all got their influence.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His early musical influences included Rockapella, The Zack Attack, and The B Sharps. Be influenced by Ty and follow him on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Robert Johnson

For the greatest American band debate, I'm going to go off the board and nominate a solo artist. I know this is "against the rules" and it doesn't fit the title, but without this musician, modern rock and roll and modern blues wouldn't exist. Those are, arguably, the two most important genres of music. This person is also a personal musical idol of mine and it pains me that I've waited this long to put this person in the conversation. I know, people will tell me that this opens up a while new can or worms and makes solo artists viable for this discussion, but the person I'm going to talk about today is so groundbreaking, he deserves to be talked about more than any other American musician, in my personal opinion. I did a whole article on influential bands, but this guy deserves his own, separate piece. He is a blues god and, without him, I never would have even thought about picking up a guitar. The artist I'm talking about is Robert Johnson.

It does not get any better than Robert Johnson for me. He is a legendary figure in music. He is, at least to me, the greatest musician of all time. He even has a very cool, very crazy backstory. Anyone that knows blues music, and knows of Robert Johnson, has heard the story about him meeting the devil at the crossroads and selling his soul to be an excellent singer and guitar player. If he did truly do this, he got what he wanted for the large price of his soul. He is the greatest guitar player ever. Go back and listen to him play.

Some will say that it sounds simple and blues music is just three chords and 12 bars. Not true. The stuff he was doing, in the 20's mind you, was so far ahead of the game, it's astounding. He was so ahead of his time as a guitar player. Take a song like "Come on in My Kitchen". It is one of the first times anyone had heard this incredible 12 bar blues and that sliding sound he was playing on the guitar. It was so foreign to people back then and he was just getting started. Some of his songs, which he wrote, are some of the most famous songs in music history and have been covered thousands of times by hundreds of musicians and bands. "Sweet Home Chicago" is one of the most famous blues songs. Robert Johnson wrote that. "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", the first song I learned on slide guitar and has been covered by some famous musician every decade since the 50's, Robert Johnson wrote that. "30-20" blues, the first blues song to break away from the traditional 12 bar blues, Robert Johnson wrote that. "They're Red Hot", the first blues/rag time type song, Robert Johnson wrote that. "Stop Breakin Down Blues", the first rock/blues song, Robert Johnson wrote that. "Phonograph Blues", one of the first songs about getting a phone call, Robert Johnson wrote that. "Rambling On My mind", one of the first country/blues songs, Robert Johnson wrote that. I mean, I could go on and on, but I feel like that is a great sample size of all the brilliant stuff that Robert Johnson created.

Robert Johnson is THE most influential artist of all time. Yeah, he was taught and brought into the music world by Son House, another one of my favorites and a legend, but Robert Johnson took what Son House taught him and rose it to a historic level. He made blues music that much better and that much more influential. And when Son House turned to religion, Robert Johnson stayed dark and continued to make excellent, groundbreaking music.

Let's take a look at some of the artists that have covered his stuff. and yes, not all of these bands are American, but the point is the influence Robert Johnson had on all music. Led Zepellin and the Rolling Stones have covered pretty much every song written by Robert Johnson and a lot of those songs are some of their biggest hits. "Traveling Riverside Blues", on the album "Led Zepellin: Live at the BBC" is one of their biggest and best songs. Jimmy Page does his best Robert Johnson impression and he crushes it. The Rolling Stones "Love in Vain" is a humongous hit for them and that wouldn't have been possible if not for Robert Johnson. Eric Clapton has covered a ton of Robert Johnson songs, hell, he made an entire album that is all Robert Johnson songs, but his best is "Sweet Home Chicago". Clapton shreds this song and he owes it all to Robert Johnson. A band I wrote about last week, The White Stripes, do an excellent cover of "Stop Breakin Down Blues". They make it a rock song, but they also pay homage to Johnson by keeping the lyrics the same. "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" has been covered by everyone from Elmore James to The Red Shirt Freshman(my brothers loving name given to my "band").

Robert Johnson was taken far too young, at the tender age of 28. Some people say it was the devil coming to collect payment, others say he died from syphilis. While the syphilis is the more likely scenario, I like to believe the other version. He could have done so much more, but what he did was so earth shattering and so influential, he 100 percent belongs in this conversation. Without Robert Johnson, we would never have gotten some of the greatest songs and greatest bands of all time. Robert Johnson is the best musician to ever walk the face of the earth.

No doubt about it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. The head editor is going to send Ty a dictionary with and open to the page with the defination for the word band. Have you followed Ty on twitter? Get to it @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The White Stripes

For the greatest American band debate, today, I'm going to nominate a band that I once adored, but now, I cannot stand them and I can't believe that I ever defended them or thought that they were great musicians.

That band is the White Stripes.

I used to love this band, and I mean LOVE them. I thought that Jack and Meg White were two of the most unique, most proficient musicians I ever heard. They burst onto the scene in 2000 with the album "De Stijl". This was a classic blues/rock throwback album. It was a lot of old blues covers and the way they played the songs was quite phenomenal. Jack White's voice and guitar playing was top notch. Meg White was a good drummer, keeping the rhythm, but that's about it for her.

It was also around this time that I discovered the Black Keys, a band that I still adore and I think is ten thousand times better than the White Stripes, but you have to know, I was a teenager when I first heard the White Stripes and my mind wasn't fully developed as far as my musical taste went. Not yet at least. Then, I saw their video for the song "Seven Nation Army" and I was immediately hooked. There was nothing better at the time, not even the Black Key in my mind. I was so, so wrong. But, "Seven Nation Army", the song and the album both, were huge hits that showed the world that a two piece band could make great music.

So, from about 2001 to 2004 I was one of the biggest White Stripes fans there was. I devoured every record they put out. I already owned "De Stijl" and "Seven Nation Army", but then I went out and bought "The White Stripes", "White Blood Cells" and "Elephant". Their very first record, "The White Stripes" was a lot like "De Stijl". It was raw, old timey blues covers that Jack White turned into rock and roll. It was a good album, at least I thought it was at the time. Then I bought "White Blood Cells". I absolutely loved this album when I first heard it. It wasn't all covers this time around. Jack White was making his own versions of old timey blues/rock songs and they were good. He also threw in some acoustic stuff that I really enjoyed. The song, "We Are Gonna Be Friends" is still, even though my feelings on the band have changed, one of my favorite songs to listen to and play on guitar (plus it is featured in my favorite movie ever, Napoleon Dynamite). My kids, especially my son, loves when I start to finger pick this song. This is still a very good song that I will always enjoy, no matter how big my hatred gets for this band. Then, the album "Elephant" blew me away. It was mixtures of old and new songs. Some of the songs on the record are timeless. And then there was another awesome video for the song "The Hardest Button to Button". That video is incredible. Go check it out if you haven't seen it. The White Stripes, to their credit, knew how to make a memorable music video.

In my personal opinion, their album "Elephant" was the last great record they made. In 2005, they released "Get Behind Me Satan", and that was when I started to lose interest. The album is okay. Songs like "My Doorbell", "The Denial Twist" and "Instinct Blues" are all classic White Stripes, but I was growing weary of their sound. 2005 was also the year that my love affair really took off with the Black Keys. That was the first or second time I'd seen them and I loved everything they were doing. They definitely took the throne, as far as two piece bands, away from the White Stripes. It was also around this time, either 2004 or 2005, that I saw the White Stripes live, and that's when I kind of gave up on them. They were okay live, but it was their demeanor on stage, especially Jack White's, that made my distaste for them first appear. He was rude, arrogant and seemed like he didn't want to be there. The songs sounded boring, almost like they were recording in the studio. He yelled at the techs that were back stage whenever his guitar would go out of tune. He's a professional musician, I'd think he'd be able to tune his own guitar. His solos lacked proficiency and flare. He kind of just picked a pattern, and that was his solo. No fuss, no muss. I need some excitement out of my lead guitar player when I see a band I enjoy live. And then there was my big revelation about Meg White during that show. She is the second luckiest person in the history of music, behind only Ringo Starr. She's not that good of a drummer I realized. In fact, she's quite terrible. She just banged away simple 4/4 rhythms all night and seemed brain dead. Even when she sang, it was boring and pretty awful. After that show, I kind of lost interest in the band.

The White Stripes seemed to lose interest as well, only putting out one more album, a live one, in 2010. Jack White went off and did other projects like, The Raconteurs and Dead Weather and produced new records for old country singers like Wanda Jackson and Loretta Lynn. The Raconteurs and Dead Weather are fine, just not my cup of tea. They are too emo to be rock and too rock to be blues. Both bands are White Stripes light, and that's not a compliment. Meg White, I haven't heard from her in about 7 years now. I'm sure she's living large on the enormous amounts of money that the White Stripes made.

What angers me the most about this band though is Jack White's off stage attitude. He's a bully. He picks fights with random other musicians and when they call him out on it, he verbally abuses them via social media. He has a bad attitude. I don't buy the tortured genius bull shit either. He is a straight up bully, there's no other way to put it. He should be happy that he gets to live his dream life, but he picks fights and complains about the state of pop music. Screw you Jack White, you're a supreme asshole. I just can't believe I invested so much of my time, energy and money on this band. I got caught up in the hype, and for five years, they reeled me in. I'm glad I got out and found much better two piece bands, like Deadboy and the Elephant Men and, of course, the Black Keys. When the White Stripes were great, they were awesome. But, their attitude and off stage act became too much, at least for me, to handle. They definitely belong in the conversation, but I can now say, without any hesitation, that I loathe the White Stripes and more importantly, Jack White.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He finds it therapeutic to write about musicians he used to like and now hates. Is Puff Daddy next? Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Influencers

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

When  it comes to music, no one is completely unique.

Continuing our discussion on the website of the greatest American band, I want to focus on influential bands today. I'm not going to single out one specific band, I will give my readers many examples. The one problem I ran into doing research for this piece, it was hard to find American bands that were truly influential. It was easy to find bands from the UK that were influential. You can take Pink Floyd and see their influence on many current bands like Radiohead or Muse. You can take Led Zeppelin and see their influence on bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys. There's so many more from the UK that have influenced American bands. Doing further research, I found that these bands from the UK were influenced by American musicians, but not bands. Zeppelin and Cream were heavily influenced by guys like Robert Johnson and Son House. In fact, a lot of the UK musicians were very influenced by blues musicians from the 20's and 30's. So, like I said, it was tough, but with help from my father, we found a good number of influential American bands.

When we talked, the first band that came up was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If you listen to our most recent podcast, you know that's my dad's favorite band. What makes them so influential, they had great musicians playing great, rocking blues music. Their writing was top notch. You take a band like the Black Keys, and as much as Zeppelin influenced them, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was just as important to shaping their music. The same could be said for a band like Buffalo Springfield. This is another band that had great musicians and wrote great songs, and members of Buffalo Springfield would break away and do some really big things in the music industry. Stephen Stills and David Crosby were in Buffalo Springfield before they were Crosby, Stills and Nash. I love music that has distortion in it. It's my favorite effect on guitar. That's where a band like Ike Turner's Rockin 88's come into play. The story goes, while traveling, their amps fell off the car and were sliced. Ike and the band didn't know what to do or where to get new amps, so they used them. While playing, the guitar sounded gruff, but they all liked it. Distortion was born. Look at any number of rock bands, be it RATM or Soundgarden or Alabama Shakes, and you can hear how important distortion is to their music. Another, bigger band, Sly and the Family Stone, brought the concept of playing funky rock and roll, while having a big band feel. The way they injected horns and funk in their music reminds me a lot of what a band like Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are doing right now. You can take bands like the Eagles and Three Dog Night and see the influence they have on bands that focus on the vocals and harmonies in their music. Take a band like the Killers and see how much the Eagles and Three Dog Night meant to them getting started in music. A band I never really listened to until my dad told me about and have recently listened to and kind of enjoy is ELO. They have a unique electric sound and most of their music is all instrumental. I can see how a band like Ratatat was influenced by ELO. Some of their songs sound identical. It's uncanny.

Even bands from the 80's have influenced current bands. Look at Blondie, they had a cute blonde girl as their lead singer, and a bunch of dudes begin her. Tell me Grace Potter and the Nocturnals weren't influenced by that. They have the exact same makeup to their band. The Talking Heads were this avant garde, take all kinds of risks kind of band. If you just listened to them, I bet you wouldn't be able to guess what they looked like. I look at someone like Har Mar Superstar and feel the same way. He and his band play funky, R&B music, but Har Mar looks exactly like Ron Jeremy. When I first heard him and the Talking Heads, I felt the same. I loved the music, but I had no idea what these musicians looked like. Devo had a big influence on electronic/rock music. They took big chances and hit home runs every time. I look at a current band like TV on the Radio and see they were heavily influenced by Devo. Aerosmith, with their accessible to all ages rock music reminds me a lot of the Foo Fighters. Even a band like Nirvana has influenced younger musicians. I look at Conor Oberst and I just know that he listened to a ton of Nirvana. His lyrics are almost as poetic as Kurt Cobain and just as sad sometimes.

So, there are a lot of influential American bands. You have to do some research, but you can see how influential a lot of the bands from the 60's and 70's are on current day musicians. Go check out some of the bands I've mentioned today and compare them to who you are currently listening too, it may surprise you.

Go out and seek older music too, you will see the influence, I promise you.

Ty (With a little help from his dad)

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. The biggest musical influence in his life is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. 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