The Greatest American Band Debate: The Mars Volta

For the greatest American band today, I'm going to nominate the Mars Volta. I truly adore this band, but it took awhile for me to get on board. When I first heard them, I just didn't get it. It sounded loud and weird and very distorted. I'd be lying if I didn't say, it kind of felt unlistenable. But, I gave them another try and I'm very happy that I did. I started to get it after three and four listens. I started to understand what they were doing and the type of music they were playing.

This could be a surprise to some, but Mars Volta was my first taste of prog rock. I had never heard anything like it before, so I feel like that's why it may have been so weird to me at first listen. But, before I gave them a second try, I started to listen to bands like King Crimson, Tool, Procol Harum and ELO. I allowed my musical mind to be expanded to different and newer types of music. I was instantly intrigued by both King Crimson and Tool. Those two bands are absolutely incredible. I've already made quick mention of King Crimson on the site before, but they're not eligible for this debate because they're from England. Tool, who I will most definitely write about at a later date, is eligible and they are some of the most talented and eccentric musicians that I've ever listened to and seen live. They're awesome. Procol Harum was a bit more rock heavy, but they still did prog rock stuff and it was great and way ahead of it's time. And ELO, a band that I avoided for years and years because I thought they were too poppy, is so good. People out there, give them a listen, especially if you like prog rock, because they are tremendous.

All  this new prog rock I had found made me want to give Mars Volta another chance. They also had a semi popular song come out around the same time that I revisited them. That song was "The Widow" off the album, "De-Loused in the Comatoruim". I loved the song. When I heard it on MTV, yes they still had videos and played songs once upon a time, I couldn't get enough of it and I also couldn't believe it was from a band that I once thought was not very good. The song was weird, but in a good way, loud, but in a good way and the distorted vocals and guitar were there and they were excellent. This is one time on my life when one song actually made me change my mind about a band. "The Widow" converted me to a big fan after one listen. It's a great and epic song from Mars Volta. 

After falling back in love with this band, I did some research on them so I could learn more. I learned that the two founding members, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, were in a band before this called At the Drive In. I researched and listened to them, and while they are good, they lean a little more emo rock and they are not as good as Mars Volta. I also learned that Bixler-Zavala was a pretty heavy drug addict and he barely survived after At the Drive In broke up. Thankfully, he had a great friend and a real professional musician, Rodriguez-Lopez, that helped get his head back on straight and convinced him to get back to making music. After getting clean, Zivala teamed back up with Lopez and they formed Mars Volta. What a great friendship and band they had after getting clean.

Their sound was weird prog rock, and after my first misstep, I'm so glad that they stuck around long enough to make excellent and weird music. I've already mentioned "The Widow", but they also have some other great, classic prog rock songs like, "Roulette Dares", "Televators", "Viscera Eyes", "Wax Simulacra", "Goliath", "Since We've Been Wrong" and "The Malkin Jewels". Now, when listening to these songs, know that most of them are 8 minutes plus and they go in very weird and odd directions. They constantly change time signatures, chords, keys and drum beats, but it all works to perfection. Zavala's vocals are some of the loudest and most ear piercing words I've ever heard sung, but he makes it so good. Go and listen to "Roulette Dares" and "The Widow" and be blown away by how extremely awesome his singing is on those songs. It's incredible.

But, the crème de la crème of Mars Volta is Lopez's guitar playing. He is a wizard playing six strings. He does some of the weirdest and wildest stuff that anyone has ever done on guitar. He is my generations Jimi Hendrix and no, I don't think that's blasphemy. Lopez is a guitar genius. I love guys like Dan Auerbach and Tom Morello and think that they are some of the best guitar players ever, but Lopez is better. While I may like the overall music of the other guys better, the things Lopez does is like nothing I've ever heard before. He uses distortion like no one has ever used it before. His pedal board holds all kinds of different effects and noises that he manipulates wonderfully. When I saw them live about 7 years ago, I was amazed at what he was doing and I couldn't take my eyes off him while he was on stage. Lopez held my attention for the entirety of the show and I couldn't have been happier. Lopez is one of the best guitarist of all time and he is probably one of the most underrated as well. The dude is a wizard.

Mars Volta has won Grammy's and been in the Billboard 100 multiple times and they've had their albums ranked in top 100 lists by most publications, but they never seemed to get mentioned as an al time great band. Well, that changes today, because they belong in our greatest American band debate for all the reasons I mentioned above. I may not have liked them at first, but I adore them now and I will adore them forever. Mars Volta rocks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. For ever a decade he thought height of prog rock was Styx. He has since learned of better music. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.